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.1 As noted previously, cannabis that has high levels of the psychoactive cannabinoid, Δ9‐THC, and low levels of the non/anti‐psychoactive cannabinoid, CBD, is generally referred to as “marijuana,” while cannabis that has high levels of CBD and very low insignificant levels of Δ9‐THC is referred to as “industrial hemp,” or “hemp.” The leaves and flowering tops of cannabis plants contain at least 489 distinct compounds among 18 different chemical classes, and contain at least 100 different phytocannabinoid compounds identified thus far, potentially holding therapeutic benefit individually, or in variable combinations.79, 80 The primary cannabinoids studied to date include Δ9‐THC, CBD, cannabinol (CBN), cannabigerol (CBG), and tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), although there are many others.79, 81-84 The percentage present of these and other cannabinoids vary depending on the cannabis strain, climate, soil, and techniques of cultivation, and these factors also account for the wide variability in medicinal benefits as well as side effects.85, 86 Delta9‐THC is the most studied and responsible for most of the physical, and particularly the psychotropic effects of cannabis.87 All species contain the psychoactive component, Δ9‐THC, in variable amounts, although C. sativa contains the highest Δ9‐THC, while C. ruderalis contains the least.1, 78 The other cannabinoids including CBD, CBN, and CBG have little to no psychotropic properties,87 which makes them very attractive for potential therapeutics. Delta9‐THC was first isolated in 1964,88 and is a partial agonist at both CB1 and CB2 receptors, but also acts at other non‐CB receptors. Its actions at the CB1 receptor account for the psychoactive effects of cannabis, thought to be mediated to some extent by suppression of both glutamate and GABA release.39, 64, 89-91 CBD was isolated in 1963, lacks psychoactivity, and does not appear to bind to CB1 or CB2 receptors, but rather interacts with a multitude of various ion channels, enzymes, and other receptors that are felt to explain its potential analgesic, anti‐epileptic, anti‐nausea, anti‐emetic, anti‐inflammatory, anxiolytic, anti‐psychotic, and anti‐ischemic properties.39, 64, 92-95 Its potential analgesic and anti‐inflammatory effects are mediated by both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibition, and its anti‐inflammatory effect is several hundred times more potent than aspirin in animal studies.84, 96 Both CBD and Δ9‐THC also have strong anti‐oxidant actions, more potent than α‐tocopherol and ascorbate, and have been shown to reduce NMDA, α‐amino‐3‐hydroxyl‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazole‐propionate, and kainate receptor‐mediated neurotoxicities.97, 98 CBN may have some immunosuppressive properties, and CBG may have some analgesic and anti‐inflammatory properties as a partial agonist at CB1 and CB2, as well as actions as a 5HT1A receptor antagonist and α2‐adrenoceptor agonist.94, 99-103 It has also been suggested that THCV may have some anti‐convulsant properties104, 105 by acting as a CB1 receptor antagonist and CB2 receptor partial agonist.106, 107 Cannabinoids including Δ9‐THC have been shown to have anti‐nociceptive effects in the PAG gray matter,108 an area in the brainstem that has been suspected to play an integral role in migraine generation,109 as well as involvement in both descending and ascending pain transmission.108, 110 CB1 receptors have also been shown to have a dense concentration in the hypothalamus.56 Cannabinoid analgesic properties are mediated through CB1 receptors111 in the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves.108, 110, 112-117 Studies suggest that the endogenous cannabinoid system may modulate anti‐nociceptive effects in isolation, or through simultaneous potentiation of specific opioid receptors.118-129 CB1 receptors are 10 times more concentrated then μ‐opioid receptors in the brain, and cannabinoid receptors co‐localize with opioid receptors in many regions such as the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, leading to synergistic augmentation of the analgesic opioid effects, with subsequent lower dose requirements of opioid therapy.11, 119, 120, 123, 127, 130-135 Administration of cannabinoid receptor agonists leads to endogenous opioid peptide release and chronic Δ9‐THC use increases endogenous opioid precursor gene expression in supraspinal and spinal structures involved in pain perception.130 This interaction is suspected to be from pharmacodynamic mechanisms, since studies show marijuana use does not affect blood levels of oxycodone or morphine.11, 136 Little is known about the potential therapeutic role of the extensive number of other compounds that cannabis contains, including flavonoids, terpenes, phenols, amino acids, vitamins, proteins, steroids, nitrogenous compounds, enzymes, glycoproteins, simple alcohols, hydrocarbons, ketones, aldehydes, fatty acids, simple esters and lactones, and pigments.79, 137 This makes it difficult to appropriately assess the potential beneficial contribution by each of these compounds in studies evaluating possible therapeutic uses of cannabis, since different strains have different ratios of Δ9‐THC, CBD, additional cannabinoids, and other compounds. Variable routes of administration add to this complexity. Ultimately, studying each isolated constituent is mandatory to determine each compound's individual therapeutic benefits. For example, the terpenes are thought to contribute to the distinctive differences in fragrance among cannabis strains, as well as the smoking qualities and character of the subsequent “high.”86 However, terpenes have a broad range of other actions including anti‐inflammatory, anti‐anxiety, anti‐oxidant, anti‐neoplastic, anti‐bacterial, and anti‐malarial properties.86
Potential Medicinal Uses of Cannabis for Headache Literature review shows that medicinal marijuana and its derived cannabinoids have reported therapeutic benefit in an extensively wide area of medicine encompassing many specialties,118, 137, 138 as compiled and referenced in Table 1. This is not an all‐inclusive list, and it is important to remember that much of the included data are anecdotal, case based, or laboratory‐based scientific research, although there are some randomized trials as well. One of the most documented uses of medicinal marijuana is in the treatment of pain, particularly chronic pain, and suppression of hyperalgesia and allodynia, with most studies involving endocannabinoids, Δ9‐THC, or synthetic cannabinoids.58, 139, 140 The cannabinoid–opioid interactions and “opioid‐sparing effect” of cannabinoids has attracted interest in medicinal marijuana for a possible alternative to narcotics with less potential for dependence, addiction, and abuse. These interactions also raise the question of a theoretical role in helping patients to wean down or off of opiates. Table 1. Medicinal Uses Reported With Cannabis and Cannabinoids Central Nervous System (CNS) Chronic non‐cancer pain: 45, 58, 136, 140, 150, 267-289 136, 139, 277, 287-301 302 300, 303-307 308-311 312-318 150, 244, 268, 319, 320 Headache and facial pain: chronic headaches, 146, 196 49, 192-196, 321 217, 221, 222 198 226 Epilepsy 80, 104, 105, 322-339 Spasticity and related central pain and bladder dysfunction in multiple sclerosis 35, 121, 140, 226, 250, 328, 340-376 121, 140, 328, 340, 341, 362, 377-382 Additional multiple sclerosis associated symptoms: tremor, 343 383 345 Reduce muscle cramps and fasciculations in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), 384 385-387 Reduce intracranial pressure in traumatic brain injury, aid in cerebral ischemia and neuro/excitotoxicity, 199-203, 388 372, 373, 389-391 Tourette's syndrome 392-403 Dystonic movement disorders, 399, 404-408 409 Parkinson's disease; reduction of levodopa‐induced dyskinesia, 399, 410 411-414 Huntington's disease 415-417 Meige's syndrome 418 Intractable hiccups 419 Depression, anxiety, and mood disorders 143, 144, 203, 266, 290, 376, 420-437 Post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 242, 438-448 Neuroprotective antioxidants 97, 98, 201, 202, 391 Alzheimer's; behavioral/agitation, 449-451 452, 453 Insomnia (majority in setting of pain relief) 242, 277, 290, 297, 303, 306-308, 314, 346, 347, 349, 362, 377, 379, 435-437, 454, 455 Fulminant hepatic encephalopathy 456 Autism and autistic spectrum disorders 457-461 General Medical Systems Nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy in adults 93, 276, 462-497 497-500 Appetite stimulation in healthy subjects as well as cancer and AIDS‐associated anorexia/cachexia syndrome ± altered chemosensory perception 143, 162, 203, 435-437, 455, 463, 482, 497, 501-519 519-521 Reducing intraocular pressure in glaucoma 204-216 Gastrointestinal disorders (irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, pain) 312-318, 522-536 Anti‐cancer/neoplastic including breast, brain (glioma), lung, colon, skin cancer (melanoma), leukemia 489, 537-568 Asthma (oral or aerosol rather than smoked) 569-571 Regulation and decrease of inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases 572-574 Components of the endocannabinoid system are found throughout the nervous system in supraspinal, spinal, and peripheral pain pathways. Both Δ9‐THC and CBD have analgesic properties, although they act through different mechanisms, and the psychotropic side effects of Δ9‐THC may be a limiting factor in its use.141-144 Medicinal cannabis and its cannabinoid extracts increase pain thresholds145 and possess analgesic properties.66, 146-149 Delta‐9‐THC doses of 15‐20 mg have been shown to be comparable to the analgesic effects of codeine 60‐120 mg.150 Therapeutic uses of cannabis are reported in a wide range of chronic pain disorders as detailed and referenced in Table 1. A review of 38 published randomized controlled trials evaluating cannabinoids in pain management revealed that 71% (27) concluded that cannabinoids had empirically demonstrable and statistically significant pain‐relieving effects, whereas 29% (11) did not.45 Given the pharmacology and reported therapeutic benefits of cannabis in pain medicine, it is only logical that this benefit may extend to the arena of headache medicine, including migraine. There is supporting literature for this, although it is primarily anecdotal and case based. Cannabinoids are active through CB1 receptors in areas of the brain and brainstem involved with migraine pathophysiology including the PAG (which may be a migraine generator area), rostral medulla, area postrema of the medulla, nucleus trigeminal caudalis,49, 151-156 and trigeminal ganglia.11 The endogenous endocannabinoid AEA modulates pain signaling in the central nervous system in various ways. AEA inhibits dural blood vessel dilation induced from neurogenic, calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP), electrical stimulation, capsaicin, and nitric oxide (NO) sources, and this effect is reversed by a cannabinoid antagonist.40, 153, 154, 157, 158 AEA also activates the transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor on trigeminal ganglion neurons, modulating the release of CGRP, and influencing vasomotor tone.157, 159 Modulation of serotonergic pain transmission is well established in migraine treatment, particularly with the mechanism of action of the triptans. Endocannabinoids interact with serotonergic neurons in the brainstem dorsal raphe to modulate pain mechanisms,160, 161 and AEA potentiates 5HT 1A and inhibits 5HT 2A receptors.153, 154 Cannabinoids have been shown to inhibit 5HT release from platelets during a migraine.162 Endocannabinoids, via CB1 receptor activation, have anti‐nociceptive effects by descending modulation of pain at the spinal level through PAG and RVM connections,163-168 and modulation of descending cutaneous‐evoked C‐fiber spinal nociceptive responses from the brainstem regions including the ventrolateral PAG and RVM.168, 169 CB1 receptor activation inhibits dural trigeminovascular nociceptive responses.158, 170 When CB1 receptors are activated in the ventrolateral PAG, there is subsequent descending attenuation and modulation of dural‐evoked nociceptive trigeminovascular processing and transmission, including Aδ‐fiber and C‐fiber responses, and basal trigeminal neuronal tone in the trigeminocervical complex.171-174 Furthermore, variations in the cnr1 gene on chromosome 6, which encodes for the CB1 receptor, in a region that has shown linkage with migraine, are associated with a greater risk of developing migraine.175, 176 The CB1 activation pathways are notable, given that triptan activation of 5HT 1B/1D receptors in the ventrolateral PAG also leads to descending modulatory inhibition of dural nociceptive Aδ‐fiber and C‐fiber neuronal responses and basal trigeminal neuronal tone in the trigeminal nucleus caudalis, but not cutaneous responses.177 Experimental studies show that in the ventrolateral PAG, the CB1 receptor‐mediated trigeminovascular responses are modulated by the serotonergic system, particularly via the 5HT 1B/1D triptan receptor,171 and other studies of neuropathic pain models have shown that serotonergic neuron firing in the brainstem dorsal raphe are modulated by CB1 receptor activation.160, 161 Furthermore, 5HT 1B/1D antagonists inhibit CB1 responses in the ventrolateral PAG.171 These findings show how serotonergic and endocannabinoid neurons in the brainstem can modulate the effects of either system as trigeminal or spinal nociceptive inputs are processed.171 This suggests that the endocannabinoid neurotransmitter system is a potential target for treating migraine, and that triptans may help to break migraines by activating the brain's endocannabinoid system.171 Triptans are suspected to inhibit GABAergic and glutamatergic signaling in the PAG by preventing neurotransmitter release from nerve terminals as part of their mechanism of action.178 Similarly, activation of CB1 receptors in the PAG and RVM also inhibit GABAergic and glutamatergic transmission by preventing release of neurotransmitters.179, 180 Triptan action may in part be secondary to modulation of endocannabinoidergic neurons in the brainstem, and descending control of trigeminovascular nociceptive transmission may occur through interactions between serotonergic and endocannabinoid receptor systems.171 Pharmacological manipulation of the CB2 receptor suggests a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of migraine as well.181 The endogenous endocannabinoid AEA, the phytocannabinoid Δ9‐THC, and synthetic cannabinoids suppress glutamatergic neurotransmission via inhibitory modulation of the NMDA receptors, mediated by CB1 receptors.153, 154, 182-186 Activation of CB1 receptors suppresses cortical spreading depression (CSD). This is suspected to be due to decreased glutamatergic transmission via inhibitory NMDA modulation, although modulation of NO, CGRP, or lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase pathways are also possible contributors to the suppressive effect of cannabinoids on CSD.183 Activation of CB1 receptors may stop migraine pain by inhibition of CSD and subsequent trigeminal neuronal activation.183 Endocannabinoid deficiency has been theorized as a possible cause for migraine and other chronic pain disorders, including chronic migraine and medication overuse headache.187, 188 Levels of AEA are decreased in the cerebrospinal fluid of individuals with chronic migraine compared with normal controls, while levels of CGRP and NO (normally inhibited by AEA) are increased.153, 189, 190 Platelets of female migraineurs as opposed to male have also shown increased activity of the AEA‐degrading enzyme FAAH, suggesting increased endocannabinoid degradation.191 A widely recognized migraine trigger, nitroglycerin, increases activity of endocannabinoid degrading enzymes, leading to increased breakdown of endogenous endocannabinoids in the midbrain, where the PAG is located.156 Unfortunately, there have been no controlled clinical trials evaluating smoked or oral formulations of medicinal cannabis or prescription cannabinoids for either acute or prophylactic therapy in migraine or other headache disorders. A small case series of cannabis use for patients with pain included 3 subjects with chronic headaches that were relieved by smoking cannabis, with results similar or superior to ergotamine and aspirin.146 Another small case series of 3 patients reported that abrupt cessation of chronic daily marijuana smoking was followed by migraine attacks, while subsequent remission of headaches was seen with resumption of episodic marijuana use in 1 of the patients.192 It is not certain whether this suggests effective prevention by the marijuana or medication overuse headache with withdrawal headache upon cessation. A case of a migraineur who had failed standard medical therapy, and ultimately received relief with small doses of smoked marijuana was reported.193 Similarly, this author has encountered multiple patients with chronic migraine, and a similar history of failing all standard medical therapy, but receiving a significant positive response to smoked cannabis (usually admitted reluctantly) or synthetic cannabinoids. One study suggested that cannabinoid compounds may provide benefit in migraine treatment due to platelet stabilization and inhibition of serotonin release.194 A small survey of 54 patients in a drug treatment center reported that marijuana use was commonly used as a self‐medication treatment for migraine.195 An anonymous standardized survey investigating reasons for self‐medication with cannabis in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland was conducted by the Association for Cannabis as Medicine (Cologne, Germany).196 There were 128 patient questionnaires evaluated, and of the many reported medical uses, 6.6% used cannabis for migraine, and 3.6% used it for headache. Another survey of 2480 patients of the Oakland Cannabis Buyer's Club revealed that 5% used it for migraine relief.197 Medicinal cannabis may have a role in headache disorders other than migraine as well. A case study reported a woman with pseudotumor cerebri would smoke a marijuana cigarette about once per week when her headache was more severe. She would have complete resolution of her headache within 5 minutes, and it would not recur that day.198 This is interesting given other studies that suggest that cannabinoids may reduce intracranial pressure in traumatic brain injury,199-203 as well as intraocular pressure in glaucoma.204-216 The synthetic cannabinoid, Dexabinol, has no psychotropic activity, but blocks NMDA receptors, and suppresses production of tumor necrosis factor. In phase II trials in Israeli hospitals, it lowered intracranial pressure with a trend toward faster and better neurologic outcome.199, 203 Cannabis has been reported to treat cluster headache. In a case report,217 a 19‐year‐old male who was refractory to a multitude of preventive and abortive medications reported that smoking marijuana at the onset of a cluster headache attack would consistently give complete headache relief within 5 minutes of inhalation, and was the only thing that helped. Given the dramatic improvement with smoked cannabis, his physician decided to substitute the smoked cannabis with Dronabinol (Marinol®) 5 mg, a synthetic cannabinoid. Dronabinol taken at the onset of cluster headache consistently provided complete and rapid relief within 5‐15 minutes. Notably, CB1 receptors have a dense concentration in the hypothalamus,56 of which the posterior inferior ipsilateral hypothalamus has been suspected to be a site of activation in cluster headache.218-220 A survey of 113 patients with chronic cluster headaches in France found that 26% regularly consumed cannabis, although whether cannabis was used for treatment of cluster headache or only recreationally was not further evaluated.221 In another study conducted in 2 French headache centers with a patient questionnaire evaluating marijuana use in cluster headache patients, 63/139 (45.3%) had a history of cannabis use, of which 27 patients (19.4% of total cohort) had used it to treat cluster headache attacks.222 Efficacy was reported in 25.9%, variable or uncertain effects in 51.8%, and negative effects in 22.3%. Thus, in almost three quarters, the cluster headache subjects did not report efficacy. The authors noted the need for controlled trials with synthetic selective cannabinoids to show a more convincing therapeutic benefit. Similar to cluster headache, this hypothalamic region is also activated during short‐lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks, including those with specific conjunctival injection and tearing,223 paroxysmal hemicranias,224 and hemicrania continua,225 raising a theoretical question of whether refractory cases of these headache disorders may also be responsive to medical cannabis and the cannabinoids. A trial of 112 patients with MS who smoked cannabis reported that 90% had significant chronic pain relief, and particularly 70% had relief of MS‐associated trigeminal neuralgia.226
Pharmacokinetics Cannabis can be used by smoked, vaporized, oral, oral mucosal, topical, or rectal routes of administration. The majority of cannabinoid metabolism occurs in the liver, with variable levels of different metabolites, dependent on the route of administration.227-229 Health Canada (US FDA equivalent) published an excellent in‐depth review of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabis, and it is recommended for more detailed discussion of these topics.137 Smoked cannabis results in the fastest onset of action, within minutes, due to the lipophilicity of Δ9‐THC, and results in higher cannabinoid blood levels and shorter duration of effects compared with oral routes.227, 228 When smoked, the psychotropic effects start within seconds to a few minutes, peak in 15‐30 minutes, and wear off within 2‐3 hours. Depending on efficiency and method of smoking, bioavailability of Δ9‐THC ranges from 2% to 56% based on puff duration, breath hold duration, and depth of inhalation, but typical use is predicted to be about 25‐27%.228, 230-232 Smoking cannabis by vaporization is a more recent technique of smoking cannabis, developed due to the fact that inhalation of a combustion product is an undesirable delivery system.233 The goal of this technique is to suppress irritating respiratory toxins by heating cannabis to a temperature where active cannabinoid vapors form, but below the point of combustion where smoke and associated toxins are produced.234 Vaporization may be advantageous to smoking due to less toxic byproducts such as tar, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and more efficient extraction of Δ9‐THC.234-238 Plasma concentrations and effects are similar to those of smoking cannabis by standard methods, although absorption has been suggested to occur faster.233 Oral administration is associated with a slower onset of action with delayed psychotropic effects beginning in 30‐90 minutes, slower peak at 2‐3 hours, lower peak blood Δ9‐THC levels (5‐6 times lower as compared with smoking239 ), and longer duration of action and effects lasting 4‐12 hours, depending on dose and specific psychotropic effect.227, 230 Delta‐9‐THC is often ingested by adding it to foods such as brownies, oils, butters, cookies, and teas. There are 2 synthetic pharmaceutical versions of oral Δ9‐THC available. The first is Dronabinol (Marinol®), which comes in 2.5 mg, 5 mg, or 10 mg Δ9‐THC tablets. It is typically used once to twice daily, and dose ranges vary from 2.5 to 40 mg/day.240 It is Schedule III and approved by the FDA for nausea/vomiting associated with chemotherapy, and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)‐associated anorexia and weight loss. The second is Nabilone (Cesamet®), which comes in 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg Δ9‐THC tablets, and is used once to 3 times daily, with dose ranges varying from 0.2 to 6 mg/day.241, 242 It is Schedule II and FDA approved for nausea/vomiting associated with chemotherapy. These 2 medications contain only Δ9‐THC, without other cannabinoids such as CBD, which typically provides much of the analgesic effects of cannabis. Another oral formulation from the United Kingdom is called Epidiolex©. It has received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA for the treatment of severe, drug‐resistant epilepsy syndromes such as Dravet and Lennox‐Gastaut syndromes, and is currently in clinical trials. An oral mucosal formulation called Nabiximols (Sativex®) is available in the United Kingdom for spasticity in MS. It is also approved by Health Canada as an adjunct treatment for neuropathic pain in MS, and for moderate to severe cancer‐related pain for patients who have failed the highest tolerated opiate dosing. In April 2014, the FDA granted Fast Track designation to Sativex® for the treatment of pain in patients with advanced cancer, who experience inadequate analgesia during optimized chronic opioid therapy, and it is currently undergoing phase III clinical trials in the US for this indication. It is also undergoing phase III trials in the US for MS spasticity. Each spray delivers a total dose of 2.7 mg Δ9‐THC and 2.5 mg CBD, along with additional cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenoids since it is a tincture of cannabis, made from cannabis plants rather than a synthetic form, and doses range from 1 to 16 sprays per day.243, 244 Peak plasma concentrations of the CBD and Δ9‐THC occur in 2‐4 hours, although there is wide variation between patients in peak blood levels, time to onset, and peak of effects.243 Similar to the oral formulations, Δ9‐THC and cannabinoid blood levels are lower as compared with smoking, although Δ9‐THC blood levels are similar to Dronabinol.243, 245 Topical transdermal formulations of cannabinoids exist in ointments, creams, and lotions, although there are no clinical studies evaluating these. However, some research has been done evaluating a dermal patch for delivery of synthetic cannabinoids with good permeation results, suggesting the utility for development of a transdermal therapeutic system.246-248 Rectal formulations have been studied, and blood concentrations of Δ9‐THC are dose and vehicle dependent.249 The pro‐drug Δ9‐THC hemisuccinate is absorbed rectally rather than Δ9‐THC, and this in combination with decreased first‐pass metabolism leads to higher bioavailability of Δ9‐THC (52‐61%) as compared with the oral route.249-253 Intramuscular and intravenous Δ9‐THC has been evaluated in limited studies,251, 254 and the authors of 1 study involving monkeys suggested that intramuscular Δ9‐THC may be a useful alternative route of administration, since it is more completely bioavailable as compared with the oral route.251
Adverse Effects of Cannabis There are a multitude of variables that may influence the presence or severity of adverse effects with cannabis use, as well as benefits. The majority of information regarding adverse effects reported with cannabis use come from studies and case reports primarily evaluating recreational users, rather than from controlled therapeutic clinical studies. It is important to remember that none of the studies or reported adverse effects of cannabis specifically compare and take into account many potential variables. These include route of administration, patient age, concurrent medications being taken, patient comorbidities, standardized dosing, type of cannabis strain, ratio of the phytocannabinoids in the cannabis strain (particularly the CBD:THC ratio), sterility of cannabis growing conditions, cannabis analyzation for commonly encountered issues of toxins, pesticides, and fungal and bacterial microbial contaminants, among others. The importance of sterility and potential side effects from non‐sterile growing environments is illustrated by a case of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis due to microbial contamination from smoking moldy cannabis.255 These variables will be extremely important in future studies, as there are suspected to be at least 100 different types of phytocannabinoids, and only a few of them have been studied and evaluated. Some (such as Δ9‐THC) cause psychoactive side effects, while others (such as CBD) have no psychoactive side effects, as previously discussed. Therefore, these reported adverse side effects are based on entirely non‐standardized evaluations, similar to many of the anecdotal and case‐based reports suggesting benefit. This is synonymous to evaluating adverse reactions in a random combination of the widely variable antidepressant medications, and then lumping all reported adverse effects into the same adverse effect profile for antidepressants as a general class. However, in reality, it is understood that different antidepressants have different pharmacologic properties and adverse reactions. Cannabis use as a medication should be thought of no differently. Therefore, these reported adverse side effects should not be assumed to be universal cannabis side effects, but need to be more appropriately correlated with specific phytocannabinoids, phytocannabinoid ratios, and the aforementioned variables as medical research moves forward. This is critical for evaluating adverse side effects, as well as therapeutic benefits. Unfortunately, cannabinoid science and associated medical research is in its infancy, and these many variables and factors have yet to be evaluated and incorporated into research for more specific data regarding both benefits and adverse side effects. With that said, adverse reactions reported in the central nervous system and cardiovascular system are seen in Table 2, while adverse reactions in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal, reproductive, and immune systems are reported in Table 3. Table 2. Adverse Effects Reported With Use of Cannabis and Cannabinoids on Central Nervous and Cardiovascular Systems Central Nervous System (CNS) Adverse Effects Reported Sedative Somnolence, generalized CNS depression, additive with other CNS depressants, amotivational syndrome in chronic use 137, 232, 272, 290-292, 303, 314, 346, 347, 435, 436, 575-578 Psychological Euphoria (“high”), dysphoria, depersonalization, anxiety/panic attacks (primarily from Δ9‐THC and lessened by presence of CBD), aggravation of psychosis in those predisposed for or having psychotic disorders (however, a study of 10,000 psychiatric hospital admissions found no evidence that use of cannabis induced psychosis in previously asymptomatic patients, 578 579 87, 137, 232, 259, 292, 303, 314, 427, 580-603 Perception Synesthesia (stimulation of 1 sense stimulates a totally different sense; hearing colors, seeing sounds, feeling/tasting sounds, etc.), distortion of sense of time and space, heightened sensory perception, misperceptions, hallucinations 137, 259, 488, 594, 597, 604-607 Motor function Ataxia, weakness, disequilibrium, incoordination, dysarthria 84, 137, 232, 291, 605, 608 Psychomotor/cognitive function Mental clouding, thought fragmentation, impaired memory, impairment in general cognitive performance (especially complex/demanding tasks), and driving may be impaired in occasional > chronic smokers (less as compared with alcohol, but increased in combination with alcohol), 137, 314, 605, 609-627 628, 629 Dependence Physical and psychological dependence associated with chronic, heavy cannabis use 258, 259, 630-632 Stroke Limited and somewhat loosely associated case reports of stroke following recent use of smoked cannabis (one of which was cardioembolic from myocardial infarction) 137, 633-636 Cerebral blood flow Increased with acute cannabis use, chronic use may decrease, variations exist between regions, 137, 637, 638 639 636 Other Headache, 240, 241, 243, 290, 359, 362 640 Cardiovascular Adverse Effects Reported Peripheral circulation Conjunctival injection, vasodilatation, postural hypotension, supine hypertension, 137, 144, 490, 577, 635, 637, 641-643 644-647 Heart rate Tachycardia with acute use, but tolerance develops with chronic use 137, 144, 232, 303, 314, 490, 637, 648-654 Heart rhythm Ventricular arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular contractions 635, 652, 653, 655-658 Myocardial infarction (MI) Possible increased risk of MI after acutely smoking cannabis, particularly with pre‐existing cardiovascular disease, increased myocardial oxygen demand 137, 642, 653, 659, 660 Table 3. Adverse effects Reported With Use of Cannabis and Cannabinoids on Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, Reproductive, and Immune Systems Respiratory System Adverse Effects Reported Carcinogenesis Cannabis smoke contains many similar chemicals as tobacco smoke, and cannabis smoke condensates may be more cytotoxic and mutagenic then tobacco smoke condensates, 137, 661, 662 137, 663-666 Inflammation Chronic cannabis smoking associated with histopathologic changes, cough, wheezing, bronchitis, and phlegm production 137, 667-671 Bronchial tone Acute use of smoked cannabis causes bronchodilatation, 667, 672-674 137, 667, 670, 671, 675, 676 Gastrointestinal System Adverse Effects Reported General Decreased secretion, decreased motility and gastric/colonic emptying, anti‐inflammatory 137, 312-315, 535 Pancreas Pancreatitis has been reported with heavy acute and chronic daily use 137, 677-680 Liver Possible increased risk of hepatic fibrosis/steatosis, particularly in patients with hepatitis C 137, 681-686 Reproductive System Adverse Effects Reported Females Inconclusive and unclear as most data are from animal studies; dose‐dependent stimulatory or inhibitory effects on sexual behavior, 137, 687 137, 688-690 Males Inconclusive as most data are from animal studies with limited human studies. With chronic and daily use, possibly decreased sperm count, morphology, and motility, anti‐androgenic, 137, 490, 689, 691-693 220, 304 Immune System Adverse Effects Reported General Complex and unclear with both suppressive and stimulatory actions reported 137, 574, 694, 695 Regarding cannabis dependency, the problem may be less significant compared with other substances. A study reported by the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, The Institute of Medicine, showed that dependency occurs in 32% of tobacco users, 23% of heroin users, 17% of cocaine users, 15% of alcohol drinkers, and 9% of marijuana users.256 Withdrawal symptoms following prolonged cannabis use have been reported to include anger, depressed mood, irritability, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, strange dreams, weight loss, and decreased appetite. The question of cannabis overuse headache and withdrawal headache remains unstudied.257-259 To date, there has been no documented evidence of death exclusively attributed to cannabis overdose or use.137 A recent comparative risk assessment to quantify the risk of death associated with commonly used recreational substances using the margin of exposure approach was conducted.260 The margin of exposure is defined as a ratio between toxicological threshold (benchmark dose) and estimated human intake. This method uses the most recent guidelines for risk assessment of chemical substances, which also takes the population‐based exposure into account. The toxicological margin of exposure approach validates epidemiological and social science‐based drug ranking approaches. Results showed that alcohol was the deadliest substance, followed by heroin, cocaine, tobacco, ecstasy, methamphetamine, and lastly, cannabis. These results suggested that cannabis was approximately 114 times less lethal than alcohol, and reinforced similar results in comparative toxicology studies and drug safety rankings developed decades prior under different methodologies.261, 262 The ratio between Δ9‐THC and CBD appears to be an important factor in relation to side effects based on currently available literature, and some cannabinoids such as CBD may modulate the activity of Δ9‐THC.263 Delta9‐THC accounts for the vast majority of the psychotropic and physical side effects of cannabis.87 In contrast, as noted, CBD lacks psychoactivity, which is why the specialized bred high‐CBD, low‐THC strain of Charlotte's Web™ has become such a popular treatment for refractory childhood epilepsy.38 CBD‐mediated attenuation of Δ9‐THC side effects may be observed when the CBD:THC ratio is at least 8:1 (± 11.1),264, 265 while CBD may potentiate some of the THC side effects when the CBD:THC ratio is around 2:1 (± 1.4).264 CBD has been shown to have anxiolytic effects in animals and humans by reducing the anxiety reaction induced by Δ9‐THC.266 There are no studies evaluating the therapeutic benefits correlating to varying cannabis strains or CBD:THC ratios, despite the wide spectrum |
debate.The Bridge will be a 3-hour eSports TV show broadcast from their studio in London every weekday focusing on the various eSports titles including Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Fortunately it will be available for free viewing on Twitch or if you're feeling generous you can do pay-per-view on Sky TV (470) or Virgin TV (290).The hosts for the show will be CS:GO's Alex “Machine” Richardson, Marcella “Nysira” de Bie and ESL's stage host O.J.Borg. The first episode of The Bridge will be broadcast on Monday 28th November at 8pm CET.Both Sky and ITV recently bought stakes in the British eSports company as part of a strategy to target younger audiences, with a total of $3.1 million invested into the TV channel.First-person, physics-based exploratory mini-golf game set in an alternate dystopian steampunk universe, Vertiginous Golf, will launch on Linux, Mac and Windows PC later this year, according to developer Kinelco and Lone Elf Creative.
The game takes place in a world that has been ravaged by the industrial revolution, where cities are enveloped in smog and only the wealthy can afford to live on islands elevated above the clouds and darkness. A Tesla-like inventor has created a device that allows commoners to experience these above-the-clouds islands virtually, and offers the city's workers a temporary escape into the sunny Vertiginousphere to play mini-golf.
When transported into the sky, players control a disembodied putter and have to get the ball into a hole at the other end of an often complex obstacle course. The Rube Goldberg Machine-like courses sit atop the clouds, and players will have to chip and putt up ramps, through tunnels, through the air and above helicopters.
Players will have control of a mechanical hummingbird, whose function is to allow them to fly around and see the mini-golf course before they begin putting. Not all courses are linear, and many can be completed in more than way, so by flying around the course, players can see what paths they can take. The game also offers a course editor, which allows for course customization.
The game is a race to the hole and is playable in both single-player and multiplayer modes. In multiplayer mode, all players start at the same time, and the player to make it to the hole first in the fewest strokes wins. The winner then returns to the game as a hummingbird who can manipulate the course that everyone else is playing: they can move objects, turn fans on or off, and help or hinder the remaining players.
Vertiginous Golf plans to launch with Oculus Rift support, Steam achievements, both local and online multiplayer and more than 45 holes spanning five courses. The game is currently available on Steam Early Access.BRUSSELS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union agreed on Wednesday to work together to prepare possible tougher economic sanctions in response to Russia’s behavior in Ukraine, including on the energy sector, and to make Europe less dependent on Russian gas.
U.S. President Barack Obama said after a summit with top EU officials that Russian President Vladimir Putin had miscalculated if he thought he could divide the West or count on its indifference over his annexation of Crimea.
Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial powers decided this week to hold off on sanctions targeting Moscow’s economy unless Putin took further action to destabilize Ukraine or other former Soviet republics.
“If Russia continues on its current course, however, the isolation will deepen, sanctions will increase and there will be more consequences for the Russian economy,” Obama told a joint news conference with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
In the keynote address of his European trip, Obama later told an audience of 2,000 young people that the West would prevail if it remained united, not by military action but by the power of its values to attract ordinary Ukrainians.
Russia would not be “dislodged from Crimea or deterred from further escalation by military force. But with time, so long as we remain united, the Russian people will recognize that they cannot achieve security, prosperity, and the status they seek through brute force,” he said.
In the speech in a Brussels concert hall, which resembled a point-by-point rebuttal of Putin’s March 18 Kremlin speech announcing the annexation of Crimea, Obama voiced respect for a strong Russia but said “that does not mean that Russia can run roughshod over its neighbors”.
He also said NATO would step up its presence in new east European member states bordering on Russia and Ukraine to provide reassurance that the alliance’s mutual defense guarantee would protect them.
Russian forces in Crimea captured the last Ukrainian navy ship after firing warning shots and stun grenades, completing Moscow’s takeover of military installations in the Black Sea peninsula. Kiev has ordered its forces to withdraw.
Western concern has focused on an estimated 30,000 Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s eastern border amid Kremlin allegations of attacks on Russian speakers in that industrial region of the country.
But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it seemed likely that the firm Western response so far would stop Russia undertaking what he called “other acts of aggression and interference on the territory of Ukraine”.
The new Ukrainian authorities announced a radical 50 percent increase in the price of domestic gas from May 1, meeting an unpopular condition for International Monetary Fund aid which Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovich had refused before he was ousted last month. Russia has said it will increase the price it charges Ukraine for gas from April.
The IMF concluded talks with Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, and was likely to announce an aid deal on Thursday for Kiev to help plug the government’s budget gap and put its economy on a growth track. Ukraine has been seeking a bailout package of between $15 and $20 billion.
DEVELOP YOUR OWN
In response to EU pleas to expand U.S. gas exports to Europe to reduce reliance on Russian supplies, Obama said a new transatlantic trade deal under negotiation would make it easier to license such sales.
However, he said Europe should also look to develop its own energy resources - a veiled reference to environmental resistance to shale gas extraction and nuclear power - and not just count on America.
People fish on a pier at the port of Mariupol, located on the north of the Sea of Azov in eastern Ukraine March 26, 2014. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis
Russia provides around one third of the EU’s oil and gas and some 40 percent of the gas is exported through Ukraine.
“You cannot just rely on other people’s energy, even if it has some costs, some downside,” the EU ambassador to Washington quoted Obama as telling his EU hosts over a working lunch.
The World Bank warned that the economic impact of annexing Crimea from Ukraine could drive Russia into a sharp recession this year even if the West stops short of trade sanctions.
A World Bank report on the Russian economy, compiled before the most recent evidence of the scale of capital flight, made clear Moscow was already set to pay a significant price in lost growth due to the most serious East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
Gross domestic product could contract by as much as 1.8 percent in 2014 if the crisis persists, it said. That high-risk forecast assumes that the international community would still refrain from trade sanctions.
Under a low-risk scenario, assuming only a short-lived impact from the crisis, GDP could grow by 1.1 percent, just half the bank’s 2.2-percent growth forecast published in December.
RUSSIAN STOCKS REBOUND
Russia is refusing to recognize the Kiev government chosen by parliament after the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22 following months of street protests against his refusal to sign a pact on closer ties with the EU.
So far, the United States and the EU have imposed personal sanctions against Russian and Crimean officials involved in the seizure of the peninsula and Washington has slapped visa bans and asset freezes on senior business figures close to Putin.
Slideshow (10 Images)
Russian markets and the ruble have been shaken, resulting in massive capital outflows, now estimated by the Economy Ministry at up to $70 billion in the first quarter alone compared with $63 billion in the whole of last year.
However, Russian stocks clawed back more ground on Wednesday and the ruble strengthened as a relief rally continued due to signs of an easing of tensions over Crimea. Russian assets have rallied as investors calculate that the annexation will not trigger more serious Western sanctions.There is one thing the “Defy” does not defy – and that is gravity 😉
This is the 1990 model, and it looks like it’s never been serviced before.
Zenith make their own movements, which I can only applaud – too many big name watch manufacturers use third-party movements, and Zenith could have easily used an ETA chronograph movement. But they decided not to, and that may be the “Defy” bit!
The movement beats at 36,000 bph / 10 bps, and there is a reason for that. When measuring time with a stopwatch, you want to be able to account for 1/10 of a second, and the only way to do that is to let the movement beat at such a high rate. Nothing gained for accuracy of the watch, but a stopwatch that can measure 1/10s isn’t to be sniffed at.
The movement is only sparsely decorated and fairly plain. Form follows function, and I think that’s right for a chronograph. Apparently, Rolex used this movement in the Daytona, albeit in a modified version that only did 8 bps.
This is no watch for the faint-hearted, and my wrist wouldn’t take it without additional support 😉
The left sub-dial just has a normal second hand, the middle sub-dial counts the hours the stopwatch has run, and the right sub-dial counts the minutes the stopwatch has run.
The case back is as chunky as the rest of the watch.
If you want to open a watch without risk of scratching, here is a tip I got from Owen Gilchrist – use a small children’s bouncy ball! You just press it against the back and turn it. That easy. The hard part is defending the bouncy ball against abduction attempts by my 5 children….
Feast your eyes on this! It’s only the top plate assembly as a technical drawing, and what I need here is the oiling chart. When putting together the watch, I will meticulously follow what the manufacturer prescribed. This is a highly complex chronograph movement, and you got to get it right.
Not for the faint-hearted! Apparently, the Zenith calibre 400 has 280 components, of which 225 are different. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can see that there is quite a lot of dirt.
You can see the dirt quite well in this photo.
The timegrapher confirms this – the lines aren’t straight, and the watch is gaining. Hopefully, cleaning it will set this right.
I work my way through the top plate without taking the movement out – not that it matters – I could have just as well taken the movement out first.
Slowly but surely ….
Before taking the balance out, I remove the top jewel for cleaning.
Lifting the balance out.
As I remove the components, I make sure to take a photo of each component with its screws – this will make putting the movement together a lot easier.
Now I remove the movement from the case and take the hands and dial off.
No expense spared when the movement was designed.
Now I work my way slowly through the bottom plate which is decidedly less complicated than the top plate!
Here, we have a broken unlocking date spring. Look at the spring at 2 o’clock of the balance jewel – the long arm is broken in half. No problem, as parts for the calibre 400 are readily available.
With the bottom plate done, I can turn my attention back to the top plate.
The wheel bridge covers large parts of the movement, and the escapement wheel has its own little bridge at the top of the photo.
With the wheel bridge removed, you can see the gear train.
No lack of dirt and old lubricant.
The barrel has “DO NOT OPEN” stamped on it – and for good reasons. The mainspring of this watch is a powerful little blighter, and if this thing is unleashed, it may well end up wrapped around the back of your eyeballs. You buy the mainspring complete with barrel for replacement.
And the top plate done.
Without detailed photos taken when disassembling the movement, I wouldn’t stand much of a chance of putting this baby back together again. Well, with the technical drawing, it would be ok, but the photos help immensely – especially when matching the right screw to the right thread.
Time to order parts, clean everything, and to take a deep breath!
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
A quick update – the parts are cleaned, rinsed and dried, and now waiting in a clean, airtight container with a silica gel bag for reassembly.
Monday, June 4th, 2012
Cousins delivered the wrong unlocking date spring, and I’m now stuck in their returns process. I’ll give that another week, and, if it leads nowhere, I’ll make the spring myself.
The story continues here…Looking for news you can trust?
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When the streaming-video site Netflix suffered an outage on Christmas Eve, millions of Americans confronted the terrifying possibility of an evening of spent talking with their relatives instead of re-watching Die Hard. But Netflix’s technical snafu wasn’t the only streaming-related news infuriating Americans over the Christmas holiday.
Last Tuesday, the Senate quietly altered a key privacy law, making it much easier for video streaming services like Netflix to share your viewing habits. How quietly? The Senate didn’t even hold a recorded vote: The bill was approved by unanimous consent. (Joe Mullin of Ars Technica was among the first to note the vote.)
Here’s what changed. For the last 24 years, ever since a local reporter easily obtained failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s video rental records without his consent, the law has required video rental companies to get your permission each and every time they share information about the movies you rent or buy. Although Bork himself had no respect for the idea of a constitutional right to privacy, part of his legacy ended up being one of the strongest privacy-related laws in the country.
As of last week, that’s all in the past: Video streaming companies that want to share your data now only need to ask for your permission once. After that, they can broadcast your video-watching habits far and wide for up to two years before having to ask again.
If Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) had his way, Americans would have gotten something in return for this reduction in video privacy rights. The law governing law enforcement’s access to online material, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), was written when email was a relatively new technology, well before anyone imagined the amount of personal information the average person could store online. The ECPA makes it a trivial matter for law enforcement to access just about any of your personal data stored in the cloud—even without a warrant.
Leahy always supported the video privacy changes. But his version of the Netflix bill, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in late November, would also have updated the ECPA. Civil libertarians saw Leahy’s proposal as a trade-off—in exchange for weakening the video privacy law, Congress would strengthen protections for your personal online content, including photo albums, documents, and archived emails. Video-streaming and rental companies wouldn’t have to ask permission every time they wanted to share your data, but the feds would have to obtain a warrant to access your online correspondence—just as they must if they want to read the letters in your desk at home.
But the trade-off never happened. Last week, the House passed a version of the video privacy bill without Leahy’s added protections. That left Congress with a choice between the House bill, the Senate bill, or a compromise. On Tuesday, the Senate caved and approved the House version of the bill. Why? Because the video streaming and social media companies really, really wanted this change. Media companies have lobbied hard on the measure; Netflix alone spent more than half a million dollars this year lobbying Congress on this and similar proposals.
As the Senate was preparing to scrap the video privacy protections, Leahy gave a speech urging Congress to take up his online privacy reforms again next year. But now that Netflix and the media companies have gotten what they wanted, there’s no trade to be had. Congress would simply be protecting Americans’ privacy of its own initiative, unprompted by any kind of trade-off or by the kind of outrage that Republicans felt when Bork’s video rental records were exposed. And as David Petraeus recently learned, not even the CIA director losing his job in the wake of an FBI investigation that led to no actual charges could provoke Congress into updating the country’s digital privacy laws. So Leahy’s calls for reform appear likely to go unanswered.MyNamakek,
Changing Times
I've followed Gorillaz for years and have bought vinyls for each album and love every bit. This album was pretty good, but it wasn't Gorillaz, it's leaning more to the visual side of what made them popular and not focusing on the music side, or yes they are focusing on music, but it's being overtaken by the visuals, you can even see that by looking at the Saturn Barz. To be honest I honk they're just doing what they did back in 2000 that made them popular, mixing genres, but to be completely honest, they are focusing more on pop, and not really mixing it's honestly a 90-10 mix of 90 being pop and 10 being something else, don't get me wrong I like some pop or rap etc, but this album just doesn't sound like Gorillaz.Background The Living Wage Calculator was first created in 2004 by Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier at MIT.
Introduction to the living wage model
Analysts and policy makers often compare income to the federal poverty threshold in order to determine an individual’s ability to live within a certain standard of living. However, poverty thresholds do not account for living costs beyond a very basic food budget. The federal poverty measure does not take into consideration costs like childcare and health care that not only draw from one’s income, but also are determining factors in one’s ability to work and to endure the potential hardships associated with balancing employment and other aspects of everyday life. Further, poverty thresholds do not account for geographic variation in the cost of essential household expenses.
The living wage model is an alternative measure of basic needs. It is a market-based approach that draws upon geographically specific expenditure data related to a family’s likely minimum food, childcare, health insurance, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities (e.g. clothing, personal care items, etc.) costs. The living wage draws on these cost elements and the rough effects of income and payroll taxes to determine the minimum employment earnings necessary to meet a family’s basic needs while also maintaining self-sufficiency.
The living wage model is a ‘step up’ from poverty as measured by the poverty thresholds but it is a small ‘step up’, one that accounts for only the basic needs of a family. The living wage model does not allow for what many consider the basic necessities enjoyed by many Americans. It does not budget funds for pre-prepared meals or those eaten in restaurants. It does not include money for entertainment nor does it does not allocate leisure time for unpaid vacations or holidays. Lastly, it does not provide a financial means for planning for the future through savings and investment or for the purchase of capital assets (e.g. provisions for retirement or home purchases). The living wage is the minimum income standard that, if met, draws a very fine line between the financial independence of the working poor and the need to seek out public assistance or suffer consistent and severe housing and food insecurity. In light of this fact, the living wage is perhaps better defined as a minimum subsistence wage for persons living in the United States.
Family Compositions The living wage calculator estimates the living wage needed to support families of twelve different compositions: one adult families with 0, 1, 2, or 3 dependent children, two adult families where both adults are in the work force with 0, 1, 2, or 3 dependent children, and two adult families where one adult is not in the work force with 0, 1, 2, or dependent children. For single adult families, the adult is assumed to be employed full-time. For two adult families where both adults are in the labor force, both adults are assumed to be employed full-time. For two adult families where one adult is not in the labor force, one of the adults is assumed to be employed full-time while the other non-wage-earning adult provides full-time childcare for the family’s children. Full-time work is assumed to be year-round, 40 hours per week for 52 weeks, per adult. Families with one child are assumed to have a ‘young child’ (4 years old). Families with two children are assumed to have a ‘young child’ and a ‘child’ (9 years old). Families with three children are assumed to have a ‘young child’, a ‘child’, and a ‘teenager’ (15 years old).The 'Forever Alone' stamp, however, is still in preproduction
Pssshh...fly swatters are for pansies.
This voyage to Antarctica was to last until August of 1947. The fleet arrived in the Ross Sea on December 31, 1946 and began their mission. After multiple losses of life, including 3 servicemen who's bodies were
The official reason given for cutting the mission short was "worsening weather conditions."
coolantarctica.com Apparently, there was quite a bit of snow and ice. This voyage to Antarctica was to last until August of 1947. The fleet arrived in the Ross Sea on December 31, 1946 and began their mission. After multiple losses of life, including 3 servicemen who's bodies were never found, the entire armada hastily returned back to the United States in late February, 6 months before they were scheduled to do so.The official reason given for cutting the mission short was "worsening weather conditions."
While on board the USS Mount Olympus, Admiral Byrd gave an interview to Lee Van Atta of the International News Service that can be seen While on board the USS Mount Olympus, Admiral Byrd gave an interview to Lee Van Atta of the International News Service that can be seen here. It was published by El Mercurio, a Chilean newspaper, on March 5, 1947.
In the interview, Richard Byrd discussed many of the accomplishments and discoveries that his expedition had made while surveying the south pole. He then gave a surprisingly stern warning to his home country:
"Admiral Richard E. Byrd warned today that the United States should adopt measures of protection against the possibility of an invasion of the country by hostile planes coming from the polar regions. The admiral explained that he was not trying to scare anyone, but the cruel reality is that in case of a new war, the United States could be attacked by planes flying over one or both poles."
Wait...what?
coca-cola
Just a lump of coal for making the 'Naughty List'?
Yeah...I'm kicking things up a notch.
So either Santa decided to go medieval on bad children, or maybe some of those wacko Nazi base on Antarctica conspiracy theories aren't as crazy as they first sounded.
It's already a bit strange that such a huge military force was sent down there under the pretense of being a scientific discovery and testing mission. But there are a few other anomalies that add some spice to this theory.
The Germans had already attempted to lay claim to parts of Antarctica in the 1930's. They had dubbed it "Neuschwabenland," (which would actually make an awesome name for a Q-tip company), and had even invited Admiral Byrd to help them explore it, which he declined to do.
But awesome name aside, why the heck would anyone actually want to set up a base in Antarctica?
usahitman.com It's not really the heat, but the humidity that'll kill ya.
Well, if you were a Nazi and the Allies were beating down your door, fleeing to a place with no other people (and that you had already laid claim to and explored) sure as heck beat the Nuremberg Trials
South America, a known place that fleeing Nazis were found after World War II, was relatively close to Antarctica from it's southern most point.
Near the war's end, two large German supply submarines, U-977 and U-530, were captured near Argentina, which is the closest country to the south pole. Combine that with multiple reports and speculations about the Nazis working on all types of unusual aircraft prototypes, and things have officially gotten weird with a dash of plausibility.
thiskevin.blogspot.com Time to start mass producing these bad boys!
So is it true?
stretch the truth a bit Even though Richard Byrd seems like a pretty straight forward and non crazy source, there is some evidence that the man may have liked to
It seems his accomplishment of being the first to reach the North Pole by air (for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor) may have not actually been completed.
I got my shotgun and told that punk that he better not even get near my lawn!
That being said, the man was still a war hero, an incredibly skilled aviator, and someone who had a history of well documented and successful explorations. Maybe he was just speculating on the north and south pole's strategic capabilities...though it seemed to be a bit of an oddly stern warning to give directly after World War II had officially ended and before the Cold War with the U.S.S.R. had really ramped up.
But if there was a Nazi base down there, than the folks who try to say that it may still exist today (and somehow survived Admiral Byrd's massive strike force) would be hard pressed to prove it. There are currently 30 research bases scattered around the continent with a fluctuating population of 1,000-4,000.
Unless the Nazi's have become incredibly adept at hiding against bleak, white backgrounds, masking their heat signatures and electrical outputs, and never needing any food or supplies, then it's probably a pretty safe bet that the south pole is third reich free.
scaryfilm.blogspot.com Why does that snowman keep giving me a murderous glare?
So if it wasn't the remnants of the Nazi military that Admiral Byrd was warning us about, then what was it? Why issue such a stern warning about aerial attacks from such remote locations right after a major enemy had been officially defeated?
Remember that he also said the North Pole was an area from which we should an expect an attack; maybe Santa really is just getting tired of our crap.
And maybe Futurama really is predicting our unfortunate future.It is quite easy to remove the magnets from the Magz. Just a squeeze with the cutters and then tapping the metal onto the magnet will remove them. Please note that this is a little wasteful - if you need to buy Magz or magnets for this project just buy the magnets. They should be fairly easy to find online. They must be 5mm diameter and you can stack two 3mm magnets (the size the Mags come with) or buy 6mm magnets for the best strength. I was given the Magz and used them for a little while before deciding that I would have more fun with the magnets. I used the steel balls on top of the soil in a potted plant to keep the cats from digging the dirt up. The plastic pieces were thrown out.Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Gabi Garcia will meet 52-year-old veteran Shinobu Kandori on Dec. 31 at RIZIN FF's year-end event. The promotion announced the booking late Friday night.
Kandori, a former Japanese professional wrestler turned politician, will be competing in mixed martial arts for the first time since 2000. Standing just 5-foot-7, and weighing under 165 pounds, she will be vastly outsized by the 6'1", 210-pound Garcia.
A decorated, world-ranked grappler, Garcia (3-0) is undefeated in her young MMA career, having won all three of her professional fights via first-round stoppage under the RIZIN FF umbrella. The 31-year-old Garcia knocked out Lei'D Tapa in her pro debut, then submitted Anna Malyukova and Destanie Yarbrough to maintain her unbeaten record.
She'll now face Kandori (4-1), a longtime veteran of the Japanese pro wrestling scene who now works as a politician in Japan's House of Councilors. A world-class judoka before ever entering the squared circle, Kandori fought five times under the LLPW banner from 1995 to 2000, but has not competed since. Kandori won all four of her professional victories via first-round submission.
Of note, Kandori's 1993 wrestling match with Akira Hokuto is considered by many to be one of the most celebrated women's pro wrestling matches in Japanese history. At the time, the match set a new all-time attendance and gate record for women's pro wrestling.
RIZIN FF's year-end show is a two-day event taking place on Dec. 29 and Dec. 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event will feature the final rounds of RIZIN FF's Openweight Grand Prix, which features Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Filipovic, and Shane Carwin, among others.
Video of a staredown between Garcia and Kandori can be seen below.Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Injuries are part of the game of football, but there is no denying that certain players are tough to replace. Star players are nearly impossible to replace during the season, teams just have to do their best to patch things together. The best a team can ask for is to have a serviceable replacement and hope that the other players around him elevate their play.
The Denver Broncos had to perform without outside linebacker Von Miller for the first six games and went 6-0, but that doesn’t minimize the impact he had on their defense. Losing Miller right as the team headed into the playoffs could have been disastrous.
A collapse by the defense might have enabled opponents to keep pace with the Broncos’ offensive production or to control the clock to limit it. It happened a few times with Miller, so the possibility of it happening more frequently with him out remained a real possibility.
Instead, the Broncos’ defense has been spurring their Super Bowl run.
Linebacker Danny Trevathan has replaced Miller’s knack for making big plays, Nate Irving has done well replacing Miller against the run and defensive end Shaun Phillips has proved to be valuable as a pass-rusher. The Broncos will need all three players to continue their fine play in the Super Bowl.
Measured Impact
In their first six games without Miller, the Broncos allowed 2.03 points per drive. Had that trend continued, the Broncos would have finished 24th in the NFL in that statistic. With Miller, the Broncos allowed just 1.82 points per drive and finished 18th in the league at 1.83 points per drive allowed.
At roughly their season average of 12.9 drives against per game, Miller was worth about 2.7 points per game to the Broncos without adjusting for strength of opponent. Once making that adjustment, the impact would be even greater.
Points Per Drive With and Without Von Miller Split Points/Drive Allowed # of Games Under Opponent Points/Drive Average First 6 Games 2.03 1 of 6 8+ Games with Miller 1.82 4 of 8 Last 4 without Miller 1.50 4 of 4 Playoffs 1.94 2 of 2 Pro-Football-Reference.com
The Broncos held only one of their first six opponents under their season average in points per drive. That team was also the Philadelphia Eagles, who switched from quarterback Michael Vick to Nick Foles with great success after playing the Broncos.
In the little over eight games Miller played, the Broncos held their opponent under their average points per drive in half of them. The Broncos lost two of the four games they didn’t hold their opponents under their average points per drive.
Without Miller, it would have been reasonable for the Broncos to revert to the type of defensive performance they had over their first six games. Instead, the Broncos are averaging just 1.5 points-per-drive allowed in the nearly four games since Miller tore his ACL.
In the playoffs, the Broncos have allowed 1.94 points per drive. That’s less than their first six games when the only playoff team they played was the Eagles. The third-best offense they played Weeks 1-6 was the 23rd ranked Oakland Raiders (by points per drive).
Impressive was the fact that the Broncos held both the San Diego Chargers and the New England Patriots below their season averages in points per drive. The Chargers finished second only to the Broncos in points per drive, and the Patriots finished ninth.
The defense has picked up the slack when the Broncos have needed it most. It’s a small sample, but the NFL is full of small samples—the playoffs in particular.
Danny Trevathan
One of the constants for the Broncos this season has been Trevathan. Without him, it would have been very difficult for the Broncos to survive without Miller’s services. Trevathan has picked up the slack both as a run defender and in coverage.
According to ProFootballFocus (subscription required), Trevathan hasn’t had a negatively graded game since Week 12 and only has two all season. Trevathan led the team in tackles during the regular season and has continued to in the postseason.
Trevathan intercepted three passes and forced three fumbles in 2013—only Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David eclipsed his six forced turnovers. DeAndre Levy equaled Trevathan but was otherwise unmatched.
One of Miller’s underrated qualities is his ability to stop the run. Everybody knows how great he is as a pass-rusher, but not everyone realizes how great he is thwarting the opposition’s rushing attack.
If not for Trevathan, the Broncos would have been in trouble against run-heavy teams like the Chargers and Patriots in the playoffs. It’s worth noting that the Broncos also lost defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson to an injury, putting the pressure on the linebackers to stop the run.
Trevathan’s ability was on display against the Patriots, his plays key in shutting down running back LeGarrette Blount and wide receiver Julian Edelman. On multiple occasions, Trevathan’s play was a big part of shutting down entire drives.
On a couple plays late in first half, Trevathan makes underrated plays for the Broncos. In the first, Trevathan takes on the lead block, sheds the block and makes the tackle in the running lane. If not for Trevathan, it’s likely a sizeable gain for the Patriots on the ground.
Game Rewind
A few plays later, Trevathan fills the running lane and brings down Blount after only a couple yards. The disciplined Trevathan knows he can’t overrun his gap. Once in position, he makes the solid tackle.
Game Rewind
The Patriots couldn’t get the running game going because Trevathan proved to be very difficult to block, either with a lead-blocking fullback or with an offensive lineman. The Patriots had to go to the air, but Trevathan made his presence felt there as well.
Edelman ran a quick crossing route that he caught in open space. From there, it’s up to the defense to converge. Pulled deep into coverage by his man, Trevathan is in poor position to make a tackle in the open field against the faster and more agile wide receiver.
Game Rewind
Had Trevathan read the play a little slower, the Patriots may have been able to get a block on him that would have allowed Edelman to score a touchdown. After a sack on the following play, the Patriots had to settle for a field goal.
Trevathan’s ability to quickly read and react to what he is seeing in coverage isn’t just something he did well against the Patriots. Trevathan’s ability in coverage was a big reason Chargers tight ends Antonio Gates and Ladarius Green combined for four catches for 17 yards in the divisional round.
Asked to cover Green one-on-one, Trevathan quickly realized the ball was going to Gates. Trevathan quickly came over to help and was able to make a solid tackle on Gates without letting him gain extra yardage.
Game Rewind
Trevathan’s work in coverage has been exceptional. Not only has he covered well, but he’s also done a great job making up for the weaknesses around him.
Without Miller forcing hurried throws, the Broncos have had more struggles in pass coverage. Trevathan picking up the slack has been a key reason why the Broncos have had such a successful postseason.
Nate Irving
As far as replacing Miller, Irving is the player who has taken his spot at strong-side linebacker. Irving is playing only about half the time, but the role he is playing is an important one.
While Trevathan has picked up the slack in multiple areas, Phillips has stepped up as an edge rusher and defensive tackle Terrance Knighton has become a nightmare for opposing interior linemen—Irving has flown a little under the radar.
“Nate Irving, I think he'll come in and do a solid job,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said after losing Miller via Mike Klis of The Denver Post. “But a guy like Von Miller, you can't replace what he can do on the field."
As it turns out, Harris may have undersold Irving and the ability of his team to replace Miller. A month later, the Broncos would also be replacing Harris because of the same injury.
Irving’s job is to be Miller when he isn’t rushing the quarterback. That means playing the run and occasionally dropping into coverage.
According to ProFootballFocus (subscription required), Irving has allowed just three receptions for 16 yards this postseason. Only being targeted three times this postseason is a clear indication Irving has been doing his job in coverage.
More importantly, Irving’s role against the Chargers and Patriots was stopping the run. Like Trevathan, Irving has been instrumental in helping the Broncos stuff the run to keep opponents from successfully milking the clock.
Considering the Seattle Seahawks were one of the most run-heavy teams in the league in 2013, the continued production of Irving, Trevathan and Knighton are going to be among the keys to winning the Super Bowl.
Game Rewind
On one play against the Chargers, Irving blew Gates off the line and stuffed running back Danny Woodhead. The play set the tone for the rest of the game as the Chargers had trouble getting yards on first or second down to setup manageable third downs.
From there, Phillips went to work on Chargers slow-footed right tackle D.J. Fluker, and the Broncos never looked back. Irving wasn’t quite as effective against the Patriots, but in the four games since Miller was hurt, he has been good in three of them.
Getting hot at the right time seems to be the key to winning the Super |
beautiful place to be! I met some really awesome people here. Great vibe up at the mountain, on the mats, and at the after-party as well. I snowboarded for the first time and did pretty well, I learned some really good Jiu Jitsu techniques from very helpful instructors, and you’ll also be pleased to learn that I survived Jägermeister! All the lessons and time spent here were really worth the experience, especially with people from all parts of the world. You go home feeling positive because you’ve learned to become a better person. I’m very grateful to be a part of this camp. I’ll see you cool people at the next one! “
– Patrick, Indonesia
“I really did not know what to expect when I signed up for this camp. I went in with zero expectations and an open mind. It was truly one of the best life and Jiu-Jitsu experiences – living on an exotic island and training with top-notch individuals. Christian put a lot of effort into putting this camp together; absolutely everything that you can think of was taken care of, and it was really relaxing. Everything about Saint Barthélemy was beautiful; the many beaches, the hiking trails, training BJJ outdoors between the mountains, riding quads across the island, and a sailing trip on a catamaran just to name a few. You will not want to go home! I arrived by myself but left with 30+ new friends from across the world. I can’t wait to visit another camp. Do yourself a favor and join the Globetrotters community!”
– Marlon, United States
“It’s hard to describe the BJJ camp in Leuven. It’s a week full of über-intense training, rolling, beer tasting, dancing, partying, fraternizing, bullshit-talking, philosophical madness. But all in a good way. Picture the most intense party weekend you’ve ever had, and then imagine doing it for a week whilst training in the art of breaking people’s bodies and slowly choking them. All this in the company of old and new friends in the hundreds, everyone with a story of their own and a whole life of experiences behind them, still hungry for something new. It’s no surprise that this crazy swirl of life-giving insanity made me see straight, and I truly feel like this is the real life. Everything else is means to an end.”
– Carl, Sweden
“Well, I’m back home and trying to put into words what I experienced this week. As someone that’s been on and off with Jiu Jitsu over the years, and being a fairly quiet and private person, taking prt in this camp was a massive step out of my comfort zone. And I’m so glad that I made the decision to do it – it has confirmed that Jiu Jitsu is what I love and enjoy doing, and that you guys and girls are awesome. Massive thanks to Christian Graugart and all the instructors that went into making this as fantastic as it was. This definitely won’t be my last camp. Also a final thank-you to Scott Tudope, Bev Coker, and the rest of the guys from UTC Blackpool!”
– Anthony, United Kingdom
“The last BJJ Globetrotters camp that I went to was Copenhagen in 2014, and yet I was greeted on day one of the Leuven camp like I’d just seen everyone yesterday. This camp is for you if you want a week packed full of fun classes and open mats, if you want a week packed full of opportunities to go out and drink amazing (and cheap!) beers, and if you want to spend time training and partying with an incredible bunch of people from all over the world, who will become friends for life.”
– Carlie, Australia.
“So Leuven was my first camp, and what can I say – it was great!! First time travelling alone, so I didn’t know what to expect. I knew it would be fun and I would learn a lot. I was still nervous since I didn’t know anyone, but that was gone right after the first open mat. I knew BJJ had one of the best communities but that topped everthing. Thanks for all the rolls, for the fun, and especially for being so awesome.”
– Jing, Luxembourg
“This was my first Globetrotters Camp, and what can I say apart from… EPIC. Every single person I met at the camp was very welcoming. The classes were great and well thought out, and the instructors were awesome. The only question you need to ask yourself is – why havent you booked one yet? See you next year.”
– Pete, United Kingdom
“Having never done a Globetrotters camp before, I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect going into it. I thought it was going to be seminar-based learning with sun, but what I found was so much more. People from all over the world came, and friendships were formed as we trained, surfed, explored, visited beaches, explored cultures, ate, drank, and trained some more. I was humbled by everyone’s passion for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and their desire to help each other, for on and off the mat we were all equals. I believe everyone who came left with a magical experience that is hard to describe and will be hard to beat. But I’m willing to try – as I look forward to returning next year!”
– Karl, United States
“One week rolling around with 220 other BJJ addicts sounds like a dream. Well, it felt like a dream. Over the six days, I had 32 hours of training from top instructors from all over the world. The vibe during the week was awesome; everyone is here for one reason – to learn and have fun. I thought it was a bit scary to go by myself, but I’ve met so many cool people and made new friends. Some of them I still speak to everyday! As a girl, sometimes it’s hard to find other girls to train with. So it was really nice to train with other girls for a week. Besides rolling around, there was time to party! Some drinks and a lot of dancing. Or was it a lot of drinks and some dancing? There is only one downside of the camp: it leaves you with this unbelievable yearning that keeps you wanting more! This turnes into the famous PCB – post camp blues. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you! I wish every day could be a Globetrotters camp day.”
– Diana, The Netherlands
“To sum up the experience I had at the Summer Camp in one word, it would be… AMAZING! The friendly, feel-good environment is simply incomparable to any other. Being welcomed with open arms by students and coaches from all around the world has left me emotionally attached to the Globetrotters. The ‘high’ I felt during that week is somewhat addictive, and I want more! I had expectations before I left for Europe, but I’m very happy to say that this camp has exceeded them all by far. If BJJ, making new friends, and traveling are things you enjoy, then you have to do it (you will thank yourself, trust me!). One camp down… many more to go! See you at the next camp.”
– Chris, Australia
“When I started training BJJ, I was immediately drawn to the network of people I met through the art. The Globetrotters camps are even more special, because everyone is not just looking to improve their own game but also to share and encourage their secrets and strategies among others on the mat. This was my second year at the USA camp. It only got better compared to last year, because I was again meeting more new people with the same love of Jiu Jitsu, but I also got to catch up with people I had met the year before. The positive energy and upbeat vibe makes it a fun environment to learn and improve. It has been an awesome adventure, and I look forward to future camps to build on my training and the fantastic friendships that I build along the way.”
– Katie, Canada
“The 2016 USA BJJ Globetrotters training camp was a wonderful experience. I’d never been on a trip alone before, especially a training camp. Words cannot express the special camaraderie we felt between each other through out the camp. What makes the camp so special is not just the training, but the people. The love of Jiu Jitsu is felt by instructors, staff, and especially all of the people who attended this event from all over the world. The coolest part was that I was assigned to a cabin with nine other people that I have never met before. We ended up being great friends, and I couldn’t be happier with my bunk mates. To think that we all come from different locations, Jiu Jitsu schools, and belt ranks, yet none of that matters here. My only regret is that I didn’t find out about this stuff earlier in life! I can’t wait for the next one!”
– Benson, United States
“I enjoy traveling. I love BJJ. It seemed perfect that I could do both on one trip! Coming from New Zealand, I got the full ‘Murca experience all in one hit – from cuisine to camp life. I appreciated the care that training partners put into assisting white belts, echoing the sentiment of Christian – #whitebeltsmatter. From the USA camp, I came away with a group of friends for life, invitations to live and train, and the hope to do it all again!”
– David, New Zealand
“I was thinking about how cool it was that everyone there was great to train with, but then I realized there are factors that make it inevitable. We’re already dealing with a laid back organization of people. That group of individuals then self-selected to join this camp. Combine that with instructors that obviously care about helping everyone they encounter. I don’t know how else you could so easily guarantee an environment that concentrates those who are passionate about Jiu Jitsu.”
– Paul, United States
“I can also say that this was one of the best weeks of my life, having met so many passionate and talented people. It was more than inspirational, and for me personally it couldn’t have come at a better time… since I’m literally in the process of moving and having to move on from my mixed martial arts training. I definitely feel that I have found home in team BJJ! A very special thank you to all of the instructors for passing along their knowledge and wisdom, to everyone at the USA camp for being invaluable training partners and for the great rolls, and to everyone involved in the planning/facilitation that made such a special trip possible! This was camp #1 for me, and there will without a doubt in my mind be a #2, #3, and beyond! Can’t wait to see what the journey brings, and it was a true pleasure meeting all of you. Until next time… train hard! Oss!”
– Nicolas, United States
“Just returned from the Summer Camp in Belgium. So hard to distill and put into words what a unique and incredible week it was! A week full of fun (still aching from laughing so much!) and training sessions delivered with skill and expertise that I know have changed my game forever. And at the end of the week I received my blue belt, which I never expected – so, so proud! I’ve always loved to travel and see new places, I love meeting people and making new friends, and I love BJJ. The Globetrotters camps have provided me with a way to do all of these things I love at the same time!! Super excited to get booking the next one!!”
– Bev, United Kingdom
“Attending the USA Globetrotters camp is one of the greatest memories I will ever have. Meeting and sharing laughs with like-minded Jiu Jitsu practitioners from around the world was truly an amazing experience that I will never forget. I am truly thankful and blessed to have met such great individuals, and I look forward to attending more camps in the future!”
– Stephen, Canada
“The Globetrotters community is absolutely awesome! I took part in an intensive Winter Camp in the Alps and had an absolute blast. The days were filled with skiing, rolling, and after parties, and after a few days you kind of lost track of time and place and just do stuff. It’s amazing how fast you connect with people in an intensive setting like that. Will definitely do another one in the near future!”
– Kimmo, Finland
“To describe the Globetrotters experience accurately, I would need a thesaurus to find enough words that mean amazing! Everyone I met there had a fantastic personality, the venue was epic, and the BJJ and snowboarding classes were of a very high calibre! I learned a lot and had the time of my life. The camp was so energetic that I needed a holiday afterwards to recover.:) Before the camp, I was nervous about travelling by myself, but now I’m hooked. I will definitely be at future camps! If I can offer some friendly advice, before you die… make sure you go to one too!”
– Sonny, United Kingdom
“The BJJ Globetrotter camps are an absolute blast. Travelling all the way to Denmark from the United States just to train Jiu Jitsu was worth it! On top of all the amazing instruction, you meet people from around the globe and share awesome experiences on and off the mat. I’ll be back for as many camps as I can. Have to keep up with my new Jiu Jitsu friends somehow!”
– Ben, United States
“The BJJ Globetrotters camp was a unique experience. I never shared the mats with that many different people, different nationalities, backgrounds, and styles. In spite of being so different from each other, the vibe in the gym was great – it felt like we were all friends already. I made many new friends, and I’m definitely coming back next year, God willing.”
– Francisco, Ecuador
“I was nervous, I was excited, and I was a little bit scared when stepping into the gym with all these people the first time. I have been to a few competitions, and the feeling of everyone sizing you up is usually very strong, so thats how I expected to feel. However, I had absolutely no reason to be worried, as the feeling quickly faded from my mind, and the relaxed but hardcore attitude of camaraderie and love for BJJ started shining through in everyone’s faces as we greeted and talked. The mood at a BJJ Globetrotters camp can only be described as awesome, loving, and focused! Until next time – OSS!”
– Carl, Norway
“I am a 35-year-old blue belt and train very often at a small, relatively new gym. I often attend seminars hours away to supplement my training and meet people. When I heard of the European BJJ Globetrotters camps, I knew I had to go. One in the U.S. finally made it possible for me. Within hours of getting to camp, I made a few friends and learned a few techniques. By the last day, I made great friends and was very sad to leave. Not only was the instruction top notch, but the everyone got along great! I will not only go to other camps, I will bring friends into the fold!”
– Harley, United StatesThe virtual Easter egg has been around for more than three decades now. Coined -- as far as anyone can tell -- by Atari's Adventure, which was released in 1979, the virtual Easter egg is a hidden message or in-joke built into a computer program, icon, or video game. Apple has been playing along since the very beginning, building small Easter eggs into many of their most famous icons.
Earlier this week, Electricpig called attention to many of the secret messages hidden inside the icons, sparking a series of follow-up posts on other websites and blogs. But they got some things wrong -- "Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet Etiam" is not Latin for "Hello world! Etcetera," but rather a Latin-esque string of nonsense that's been used as a placeholder by designers and editors for years -- and guessed on others: Does the Find My iPhone app actually show the location of Steve Jobs' Manhattan apartment in the San Remo building?
Here, we pulled together nine Apple Easter eggs that were definitely added to the icons on purpose and one that has been a mystery for years:
Apple's calculator icon displays the number 12374218.75. In putting this story together, I spent a considerable amount of time looking for an explanation, a reason this number is the default. It must mean something, right? All of Apple's other dates and icons have been carefully chosen. At least a dozen forums and message boards pose the question, but none seem to point to a definitive answer. One discussion on the official Apple support forum dates back to September 11, 2006: "Curious minds want to know... what is the significance of Calculator's icon having 12374218.75 as the number?" Any idea?
Update: After this article posted, Redditors offered up a potential solution. Steve Wozniak appears to have confirmed that they got it right.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.Optical Menu Home
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Institute in Washington lobbying for the rights of farmers nationwide.
Company selling aroma soaps and candles to calm the nerves of the hen-pecked husband or boyfriend.
Here you can find some multimedia archives on chicken farming. Actually, it's really Three Drives on a Vinyl by Greece 2000. Have your Real Player ready. I'm sorry, I just had to.
Putting an End to the Pecking Order Once and for All
Pecking Problems No Longer In the world of chickens, all eyes are not equal. The world of chickens has screamed for hundreds of years for a solution to the untimely death of thousands, nay, millions, of chickens each year, worldwide, through the horrible process of inter-chicken pecking. We have heard those clucks, and have responded with a solution to stop the senseless loss of avian life - our unique patented Chicken Lenses. We are fulfilling what many animal lovers, food lovers, farmers and optometrists have long dreamed about. Through our corrective lenses, we are allowing chickens to live out their lives, and to obtain, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....well, maybe not liberty, but as they say, 2 out of 3 ain't bad. How are we doing this? Quite simply, with our patented Chicken Lenses that use a variety of approaches to not only extend the chickens' life and quality of life, but also makes the chickens more productive. Those lenses are tinted red for a reason - studies have shown many advantages that red lenses provides (we have since expanded to different colors - see below). While the production cost, feasibility, and distribution are all questions, it is important to not underestimate the marketing and PR concerns (as well as component import and export concerns both costing and Customs-wise). Specifically, animal rights groups have grown substantially in both membership and reach over the years; their ability to obtain media time has, accordingly, increased as well. Red lenses have a dramatic visual effect for the observer - think how many horror movies have you seen where the zombies or monsters have red eyes? While red was perhaps the most undesirable color we could have chosen from the PR aspect, it had also been scientifically the most effective in preventing chicken deaths. Marketing and PR cost, therefore, must not be discounted when preparing a cost-income analysis. You can read more about that, along with other such information, in Optical Distortion, Inc.'s marketing report, prepared in part collaboration with several MBA students at the graduate school Instituto de Empresa Business School. If you're interested in saving money from the debeaking and also cutting out the drop in productivity that it causes, or are tired of other such dated methods, we're your company. Contact us for detailed pricing and order options, however, before doing so, we strongly suggest you read further information, below, on our Chicekn Lenses products. Over the years, our team of researchers have determined that different colored ocular manipulations in fact altered the behavior of the fowl. We have significantly expanded our product line to include various colored lenses. Therefore, our lenses are not only able to prevent inter-fowl aggression (often fatal), but are able to re-direct that aggression to different inclinations - for example, mating (cyan; passive mating with red center), melancholy (green; less vocal with red center), and organization (blue; horizontal vs. vertical organization with red center). See examples of some of the lenses at work: "Really, what gives?" It's good you asked. By now I'm sure you realized that most links lead back to the index page. As I'm sure you can tell, this is not a "real" website; it was created to serve as a 1 minute ending for a presentation done on a Harvard Business School MBA Business Case, titled Chicken Lenses, that my "group" presented in my particular MBA marketing class, Instituto de Empresa Business School, year 2002 (wow, a lot of time has passed). "I'm covering this case now, can you help me?" I am an International Trade Law and Customs Law attorney, so I know a thing or two about the international sale and movement of goods. Unfortunately, however, I do not work with marketing, and I'm afraid I do not remember much of my marketing class. In fact, I don't even know if I have a copy of the Chicken Lenses marketing report we prepared. However, if you have any questions, I can try my best to help. Chances are you are taking at least one international trade course (if you're not, shame on you!), and I would be happy to help, time permitting and to the best of my abilities, with any general questions you may have on that front. "I'm still in college, not even in Grad School yet!" A college degree is good, but it's not what it used to be - and there is a continual degradation of the college degree's value. I strongly suggest considering graduate school. The joint JD-MBA program has become increasingly popular, as have masters in law (LLM) programs. If you're considering an MBA program, I strongly recommend an international program; business isn't getting any less globalized, so straddle the markets. But that's not all that there is to it. With the number of students swelling graduate school ranks, the question you should be asking yourself now is not just which programs have the best reputation and are the best for your field, but more important, how are you going to differentiate yourself? You can attend a top 50 business school and study international business, but surprise, probably at least 20% of those top 50 business school students are also studying international business - and we're not even taking into account the overseas top 50 business schools... In Conclusion.... If you are interested in using this space for your presentation, let's talk. Either drop me an e-mail - from your university email account - and we can try to figure something out. If you are interested in I.E., and down the road decide to apply, let them know that you learned about the school through this website and receive 20% off the tuition (that was a joke!). If you have any serious questions about academic direction or career, I'm happy to help young minds, you are welcome to e-mail me or contact me through LinkedIn. While I can't gaurantee I won't be swamped, I'll do my best to provide any guidance I can (except for legal advice. I do not give legal advice!).
Last updated: 16 June, 2017JaMarcus Russell knows a good majority of the people following his comeback are focused on one thing: his weight.
He also knows there are plenty of people writing him off before NFL teams even have a chance to give the former No. 1 overall pick a look to see if he's serious about trying to get back into the league.
Today, we follow Russell into the gym and watch as he pushes himself with the goal of getting back into the NFL hanging over every movement, every bead of sweat. Does he have what it takes to be great?
Let us know in the comments below how you think Russell is looking in his attempted comeback and if you think there's a team in the NFL that might give him a shot.Image caption Thousands of South Korean tourists used to travel each year to Mt Kumgang
The opening of North Korea's Mount Kumgang to South Korean tourists led to hope, bordering on euphoria, of reconciliation between the two hostile states.
The North's decision to seize South Korean assets at the tourist resort site and expel the remaining Southern officials looks like a dismal end for the project.
A North Korean spokesman accused the South of breaking its agreements over the resort.
"There will be neither magnanimity nor generosity for such hooligans...the puppet group has no intention to resume the tour of Mt Kumgang and is using noble tourism for the purpose of confrontation," the spokesman said.
The resort opened in 1998. Then, for the first time in almost half a century, South Koreans were allowed to enter the once hermetically-sealed North of the peninsula.
First they came by boat, but within a few years, thousands of visitors were crossing by land through the front lines of the world's most heavily-fortified border.
There are still no telephone or postal links between the two states and unauthorised contacts between individuals are strictly forbidden.
Image caption The route to the resort was tightly controlled to restrict interaction between tourists and locals
But each day, convoys of tourist buses would snake through the demilitarised zone - a once unimaginable journey through a no-man's land of tank traps and minefields, flanked by two of the world's largest armies.
The apparent success of the Mt Kumgang resort was the high-water mark of South Koreas "sunshine policy" - an attempt to prise the North out of its isolation by encouraging economic co-operation and personal contacts.
But the reality was never as encouraging as the rhetoric. South Koreans were only allowed onto clearly marked trails in an isolated mountain wilderness just north of the DMZ. Contact with the population was out of the question.
Bewildering experience
Before leaving the South, the visitors were ordered to hand over their mobile phones, computers and newspapers to their guides.
They were warned not to take photographs on the journey and to avoid any sensitive topics during encounters with the small number of North Korean "guides" they would encounter on the trails.
It was a bewildering and disheartening experience for many of the South Korean tourists - up to 300,000 a year - who had dreamed of national reunification or finding long-lost relatives.
They found everything was immediately and depressingly different on the other side, even inside the demilitarised zone itself. The Northern half is barren and eroded, cleared of the lush foliage to open up fields of fire for the army.
The road - built exclusively for the tourists - was sealed off from the North Korean countryside by a high wire fence. The designated tourist zone at the foot of Mt Kumgang's trails was also fenced off.
Armed North Korean soldiers with red flags stood at the entrance of neighbouring North Korean villages.
Get too close and a guard would angrily wave his flag and slap the gun at his side.
Shot dead
It became clear that the North Koreans wanted money from the South Koreans - a fixed sum for each visitor - but would do everything possible to prevent meaningful contact between people.
Image caption The Mt Kumgang project was a key symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement
In 2008, tragedy occurred. A 53-year-old South Korean woman was shot dead by one of the guards and the South Koreans suspended the tours.
Hopes for reconciliation were already on the slide. The conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak in South Korea had reversed the "sunshine policy" of his liberal predecessors.
He cut the big annual shipments of free rice to the North. Such largesse would now be conditional on the North Koreans shutting down their nuclear weapons programmes.
North Korea's decision to seize the tourist complex at Mount Kumgang underlines the return to confrontation. It follows North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island last year and allegations that it sunk a South Korean warship.
But optimists in the South say that all is not lost.
Both sides still appear committed to the other big joint project - at the opposite, western, end of the DMZ.
There 120 South Korean firms continue to produce light industrial products at the Kaesong industrial park.
Some 46,000 North Koreans are employed at the factories earning just over $60 a month. There have been disputes and the North Koreans have, on occasion, blocked access across the DMZ.
But Kaesong is a source of badly-needed hard currency for the North, and the South Koreans have plans to keep their industry competitive by exploiting vastly cheaper Northern labour.
The two sides are still reluctant to sacrifice those benefits on the altar of tit-for-tat diplomacy.
But the North Koreans do appear to have given up hope of extracting further financial gains from the South, at least while President Lee remains in power.
The state media has reverted to old insults in its references to the South - denouncing the government as puppets, thieves and hooligans.
Looking elsewhere
North Korea is now looking to its closest ally, China, to revive the tourism project - although without the emotional draw of national brotherhood and reunification, it is doubtful the area will have much appeal to Chinese tourists.
Kim Jong-il has gone to Russia to seek aid and economic co-operation with Moscow and the North Korean leadership is also sending possible signals to the United States.
North Korea is well practiced at playing off its neighbours against each other and exploiting regional rivalries.
The concern is that some in the leadership will want to go further and punish the South Koreans for their defiance.
In recent years, when tensions have been high across the DMZ, it has felt the need to test ballistic missiles and nuclear devices to show off its destructive power.US Marines are set to arrive in Australia’s tropical north next month as Washington increases its military presence as part of a renewed emphasis on the Asia-Pacific, reports said Tuesday.
State radio said about 250 Marines were set to deploy to Darwin from early April as part of a process that will see about 2,500 in Australia by about 2016, according to a plan announced byPresident Barack Obama last year.
“This first year, of course, we start pretty small,” the commander of Australia’s First Brigade, Brigadier General Gus McLachlan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We have got about 250 arriving in early April. This first year is almost just a foot in the door, proof of concept, and obviously it will build up in a pretty measured pace in the next few years.”
Obama announced plans to increase the number of troops, aircraft and ships that will come to the Northern Territory during his first visit as president to Australia in November.
The move rankled China and caused concern for some Asian neighbours who saw it as a statement by Washington that it intends to stand up for its interests in the region amid concern about Beijing’s growing assertiveness.
But there will be no US bases on Australian soil, with the Marines accommodated in existing Australian bases as they conduct exercises and training on a six-month rotational basis.
During his visit to Australia, the self-declared “Pacific President” told reporters at a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard that when it came to the region: “We are here to stay.”
“This is a region of huge strategic importance to us,” Obama said.
“And we are going to make sure that we are able to fulfil our leadership goal in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Australia and the United States also agreed to enhance cooperation between their air forces, resulting in increased rotations of US planes through northern Australia, which is closer to Asia than it is to Sydney and Melbourne.
The United States currently has only a limited deployment in longstanding ally Australia, including the Pine Gap Joint Defence Facility spy station near Alice Springs.Chief executives usually have big egos. Ursula Burns, though, is handing bragging rights to the billionaire investor Carl C. Icahn.
Ms. Burns, the Xerox chief executive, says Mr. Icahn was not involved in the board’s decision to split the company in two, which was announced on Friday. But he is getting board seats at one offshoot while Ms. Burns, unusually, has not yet grabbed any role in the new structure.
Mr. Icahn agitated for the split and revealed a stake in Xerox last November. Ms. Burns told investors the previous month that the board was seriously considering strategic options for the company. Xerox suffers from shrinking sales in its photocopying and printing business, known as document technology, and from a steady decline in its stock price since late 2014.
Ms. Burns does have one problem relating to the new plan. Her defining bet in 2009, the same year she took the helm at Xerox, was to buy Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion. This so-called business-process outsourcing operation – managing often paper-based administrative tasks for companies in health care, finance and other sectors – is now being separated again.When rescuers arrived at the Fiorini home, they found a confusing scene. Two children were outside the burning house, while just inside the door was an unconscious woman and another child. It was obvious that the children had barely escaped a devastating fire.
As WLTX News reports, at about 2 a.m. on October 29th, Angel Fiorini woke up coughing and realized her house was on fire. As flames and smoke filled their small home, the Newman Lake, Washington, mom of three tried to save her children.
Angel grabbed 18-month-old Rosalie and 3-year-old Vinny and took them outside. But that wasn’t enough to keep them from harm. The two small children were worried about their mom, and Angel needed to ensure they wouldn’t get back into the house.
So she closed the front door, shutting herself in with the flames. With the door closed, smoke filled the house. Meanwhile, Angel looked for her 7-year-old daughter, Gianna. Angel’s friend, Carla Klauder, told KREM News:
“She had to shut the door and she couldn’t find the door when she came back out so she laid on top of Gianna.”
Angel succumbed to the smoke and was badly burned by the fire. She and Gianna were still there when a passerby saw the smoke and dragged the unconscious mom and girl out of the doorway.
Family members: "God was with her that night." They say Angel would do anything for her kids pic.twitter.com/tnRBHwF6r6 — Ryan Simms (@RyanTVNews) October 31, 2016
Emergency crews soon arrived and put out the fire. The two youngest children had minimal injuries and were discharged from the hospital after a short stay. Gianna, who was shielded from the flames by her mother’s body, had second-degree burns on approximately 14% of her body. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and released in mid-November.
Angel, however, spent weeks in critical care recovering from her injuries. The 29-year-old mom suffered second- and third-degree burns over nearly half of her body and required extensive skin grafts.
According to KREM News, Angel’s only request as she was taken to the hospital was that someone call her husband and let him know what happened. The brave mom’s sacrifice didn’t surprise friends and family, who say Angel would do anything for her children. One family member told KREM‘s Ryan’s Simms:
“God was with her that night.”
After five weeks in the hospital, Angel is finally back home with her children again, but there are still challenges ahead. The family lost everything in the fire and must now start over. Fortunately, the community is coming to their aid.
Other then her injuries, one of the hardest things for Angel was not seeing her kids for more than a month pic.twitter.com/yAF6BKki7e — Ryan Simms (@RyanTVNews) December 5, 2016
Friends have set up donation pages on Facebook and GoFundMe. Local stores and businesses have held fundraisers for the Fiorinis as well. The Greenacres Vendor Mall has even set up a “tree of sharing” to benefit the Fiorini family. In addition to getting necessities, they want to make sure the children have a merry Christmas.
Angel told friends that other than her injuries, one of the worst parts was being away from her children. As far as this “supermom” is concerned, having her family is together again is the best gift of all.Milwaukee Bucks' Larry Sanders, right, fouls Detroit Pistons' Josh Smith during the first half. The Pistons woes continued as they lost 98-86 to the Bucks Tuesday. (Photo: Morry Gash / Associated Press)
Milwaukee — The cracks are beginning to show in this carefully crafted facade to a Pistons season where it claims there's a new attitude but raising the same old issues.
Just like Stan Van Gundy couldn't escape using the number "19" Tuesday night.
It kept appearing in the Pistons' 98-86 loss to the surprising Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center, their fifth straight loss and eighth in nine games.
Nineteen offensive rebounds allowed by a team that supposedly begun to hang its hat on getting balls off the rim.
Nineteen turnovers from a team whose ball-handling skills were hailed as a strength by its coach after the morning shoot-around.
And two numbers Van Gundy failed to mention — 19 points in each quarter of the second half that saw the Bucks run away, delivering the second-largest losing margin for the Pistons in what's no longer a young season.
They were without point guard Brandon Jennings, who missed playing against his former team with a sprained left thumb.
Tweaks that were supposed to open things up, and did for Andre Drummond, as his 23 points and 10 rebounds was the lone bright spot in an otherwise miserable finish.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
"I have no idea. I'm not concerned," said Van Gundy when Drummond's performance was brought up. "You give up 19 offensive rebounds, turn the ball over 19 times, I'm not gonna find any positives."
Drummond, Josh Smith and Greg Monroe grabbed 28 rebounds, and no Bucks player collected more than nine. However Bucks guards went to the glass to help out, creating a 50-36 advantage, while the Pistons guards were relegated to spectator status in that respect.
Starting guards D.J Augustin had two rebounds and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope none.
"We didn't rebound too well. That's not just on the bigs, that's on the guards too," Augustin said. "We have to help them and it affected |
a year of experience,” says Ovbiagele. “If 10,000 lawyers use ROSS for a year, that’s 10,000 years of experience.”
Which jobs will go next? Artificial intelligence is already on the brink of handling a number of human jobs (see main story). The next jobs to become human-free might be: Taxi drivers: Uber, Google and established car companies are all pouring money into machine vision and control research. It will be held back by legal and ethical issues, but once it starts, human drivers are likely to become obsolete. Transcribers: Every day hospitals all over the world fire off audio files to professional transcribers who understand the medical jargon doctors use. They transcribe the tape and send it back to the hospital as text. Other industries rely on transcription too, and slowly but surely, machine transcription is starting to catch up. A lot of this is driven by data on the human voice gathered in call centres. Financial analysts: Kensho, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is using AI to instantly answer financial questions which can take human analysts hours or even days to answer. By digging into financial databases, the start-up can answer questions like: “Which stocks perform best in the days after a bank fails”. Journalists at NBC can already use Kensho to answer questions about breaking news, replacing a human researcher.
This article appeared in print under the headline “You are being replaced”Photo
SANTIAGO, Chile — As the Chilean government employed helicopters and boats to extend aid to earthquake-battered regions, President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday began to grapple with the enormous cost of rebuilding the country, saying it could extend into the tens of billions of dollars.
The death toll from the earthquake rose to nearly 800, Ms. Bachelet told reporters during a visit to the shattered city of Curicó. Overall damage estimates ran as high as $30 billion, Ms. Bachelet said earlier in the day, with about 500,000 homes destroyed and serious damage done to bridges, roads, ports and public transportation stations.
Some of Chile’s economic engines, like its forestry companies and its wineries, were also hard hit, economists said. The country’s important copper mines, which produce about a third of the world’s mined copper, are mostly in the north and appear to have been largely spared.
When pressed for a monetary estimate of the damage at an appearance with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Santiago airport, Ms. Bachelet, whose term ends soon, gave a heavy sigh and said, “All I can say is it’s going to be a lot.”
She added, “Chile has the capacity, but I think it’s going to take a long time and it will mean a whole lot of money.”
Mrs. Clinton, on a tour of Latin America, greeted Ms. Bachelet with an embrace and vowed to help Chileans with whatever they needed to get back on their feet. Delivering 25 satellite phones, one of which she handed to the Chilean president personally, Mrs. Clinton said that the United States was already preparing to send eight water purification units, temporary bridges, a field hospital and other medical supplies to the damage zone.
“We’ll be here to help when others leave because we are committed to this partnership and this friendship with Chile,” Mrs. Clinton said.
Access to the country began opening up Tuesday as the government announced that the damaged passenger terminal at the Santiago airport would be replaced with tents to allow more flights in and out.
Although a large aid effort was under way, tens of thousands of Chileans affected by the quake that struck early Saturday remain with little or no food, drinking water and shelter, and reports of looting and other lawlessness continued. In Concepción, one of the hardest-hit cities, thousands of government troops were sent in to restore order, extending an overnight curfew until midday.
Ms. Bachelet said that putting an end to the violence in affected areas was her most pressing concern, while her successor, Sebastián Piñera, called the wave of vandalism “unacceptable.”
The potential for serious economic setbacks in a country considered one of this region’s success stories was a central concern among government officials on Tuesday. Mr. Piñera, the first conservative elected to office since the end of the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, said he had not abandoned his campaign promises to grow Chile’s economy this year and create about 200,000 jobs.
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But in some outlying areas, entire towns have been utterly destroyed or have “totally disappeared,” according to World Vision, an aid organization. People are camping in the streets, in tents and in the hills, and “supplies are low nearly everywhere,” the group said, but bringing in aid has been difficult because many roads are impassable.
In Constitución, a town on the Pacific coast that endured both the earthquake and the tsunami that followed, the bodies have begun to smell. The gym has been turned into a makeshift morgue, and residents gathered in the plaza on Tuesday in the hope that relief trucks would arrive.
“The best moments of my life, I’ve had there,” said Karina Murga, 27, whose family fled Constitución to stay with her brother in Talca after their house was ruined. Her brother has electricity but still no water, so Ms. Murga has to use a fire hydrant. Many residents of Constitución say they will not return, Ms. Murga said, but she wants to go back.
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“Part of my heart is there,” she said, beginning to cry.
At the United Nations, Catherine Bragg, the deputy head of humanitarian relief, said that Chile was probably the best-prepared country in Latin America for such a disaster and as such required relatively little aid from the world body. Still, she said, “No matter how prepared you are, there are going to be repercussions from something as big as this.”
Wine is a major segment of the Chilean economy, and the Maule Valley, Chile’s oldest and most productive wine region, was struck hard. Viña Concha y Toro, the country’s largest wine maker, said its wineries were significantly damaged, leading the company to stop production and sales for a week.
“There is much destruction,” Mario Lobo, director of Los Vascos in the Colchagua Valley, north of the epicenter, said in an e-mail message. “We are looking after our people first to provide the neediest with shelter, water and food. There is still no electricity, water or any type of phone service.”
Elsewhere in the countryside, the story was much the same: wine casks destroyed; huge vats cracked, their wine spilling out; ruined equipment; and structural damage that could threaten the coming vintage as well.
“It was a double whammy,” said Michael Evans, founder of The Vines of Mendoza, a winery in Mendoza, Argentina, a region that felt the earthquake on the other side of the Andes. “This is all happening when the harvest is beginning, when the grapes are ready to be harvested.”
In the central valley of Colchagua, a three-day party to mark the wine harvest was to begin next week. Not this year.
“This is no time to celebrate,” said José Miguel Viu, the third-generation owner of the Viu Manent vineyard near the tourist town of Santa Cruz. Wine barrels were ruined, about 132,000 gallons have been lost and broken bottles littered the floor. The smell of wasted wine was everywhere.
In contrast, copper prices that rose after the quake began to fall on Tuesday when reports came in that damage was less than anticipated, Reuters reported. Chile’s Codelco, the world’s top copper miner with annual production of 210,000 tons, said that all operations at its major Andina copper mine would be back online soon.
For many Chileans, though, normality seemed a long way off. Daniela Aguero, 24, who works in Santiago, the capital, was still trying to reach her missing relatives in Concepción. “I am desperate, been waiting for days with no news,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I fear the worst.”Mesut Ozil says Jack Wilshere’s goal in the 4-1 win against Norwich was so good it looked like something you would see in a PlayStation game.
The England international’s strike - which came after a flowing move involving Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud - is already being talked of as the Goal of the Season.
"It was real 'tiki taka' - almost like they were playing PlayStation! It was an unbelievable goal" Mesut Ozil
Ozil, who scored twice in the match, was pleased with his own display but was in no doubt as to the real highlight of a thrilling 90 minutes.
"I've got to praise the three players involved for the first goal,” he told Arsenal Player. “It was real 'tiki taka' - almost like they were playing PlayStation! It was an unbelievable goal.
“I know that I can still improve but I'm happy with my display and the performance of the team. Aaron Ramsey showed that any player who comes on will do his best for the team and will get involved in tackles and attacks immediately.
“That's why we've been in such good form. I'm really proud of the team. We're taking what the manager wants us to take into games and are making strides. Now we've got another three points and can be pleased with that.
“[Confidence] is really high. We know what we can do but we won't get carried away. It's still very early but we know how much potential we have in the team. We just enjoy playing and it shows on the pitch. We fight for each other and we are always there for one another. That's why we've been so successful.”
Ozil admitted he was touched to hear the supporters chanting his name at the end of the game and says it capped off a perfect day.
“It was an emotional experience for me,” he said. “I had goosebumps when I heard! I'm so thankful to the fans, who have supported both myself and the whole team.
“We're showing our thanks with our good performances on the pitch. I hope that they can continue to get behind us as they have been and I can guarantee that we will continue to play attractive football.”With Eldar and Tau just being released we have a unique opportunity (so far) to look at two battle brother armies for 6th edition. Yaya, Daemons and Chaos Marines are Battle Bros as well but that’s pretty simple, right (and all that instability stuff)? Heldrake and go! Tau are perhaps the most complete army we’ve seen from Games Workshop in a long, long time and certainly the best in 6th edition and Eldar have hopefully brought stronger mech lists back where transports are actually a common sight. But what do they do for each other…?
First, Eldar and Tau have some fantastic characters and a fantastic list of USRs which can transfer from squad to squad. Off the top of my head we have Stealth, Shrouded, 3D6″ JSJ moves, Hit & Run, Skilled Rider, Tank Hunters, Monster Hunters, Stubborn, Night Vision, Fearless, Move Through Cover and Infiltrate (take your arguments elsewhere, we know them all) not to mention psychic powers. That’s a lot of damn rules which characters or units can start handing around to other units from other books.
So, what does this mean for each army? Each combination is likely going to be quite common but there are generally an area each of the books significantly suffers which the other book could assist with. For Tau, it’s mobile and durable scoring – hello Jetbikes or full units in Wave Serpents. For Eldar, it’s anti-air (and a more varied unit usage) – hello Broadsides, Skyray, Crisis Suits, Riptide, Commander, etc. That’s the basics and it’s pretty simple really. A Farseer on a Jetbike plus 2x6x Jetbikes w/2x Shuriken Cannons is cheap (374 points), mobile, Marine durable and brings good support and shooting to the Tau army. A Commander with some bells and whistles plus Kroot and Broadsides is still quite cheap (405 pts) with a lot more options to build around and brings very good shooting/anti-air with lots of utility for the Commander. That PENchip works for all Eldar units, too. So does Night Vision from a BSF. As does Hit & Run from vectored-retro thrusters. Oh and the Eldar powers work for all friendly models now. Guide, Fortune, Doom, Prescience, Misfortune and Perfect Timing all work here. Do you get where I’m going with this?
Tau and Eldar already have solid army builds by themselves so it’s not about trying to take the best of both and shoving them together but getting one of the Allies to help the rest of your force. Neither army’s top notch stuff is exactly cheap so trying to make an army with masses of Jetbikes, Crisis Suits, Riptides, Broadsides, Wave Serpents, Hammerheads, etc. is going to fall on its face or be 3000+ points. As ever you need to pick and choose what you want to build your army around and this is again where understanding what each army can bring is going to be important particularly given the changes of Eldar firepower. There’s a whole lot of S7 stuff in there now – Wave Serpents, Night Spinners, Warp Spiders for example – and oh look, you can get them in every single FoC slot.
The easiest examples are two we just discussed – a Farseer or a Commander. The Farseer just brings buffs galore and if you want to run two Riptides, your next stop is a Farseer – it lessens your reliance on Markerlights whilst still providing benefit to the rest of your army. The Commander is just a plethora of USRs – name a unit which couldn’t take advantage of Tank Hunter or Monster Hunter at any given point in the game. Grots?
So, here’s a few things I’d be looking for as a Tau army when seeking Eldar allies:
Farseer; we said it above. Twice. They are force multipliers galore and are a good choice no matter what. I’d never really run two Tides without a Farseer unless not running Eldar allies. Best run as always on a Jetbike and with Runes.
Autarch; yes the Farseer is an insanely good buffer but if you have tons and tons of markerlights in your army, an aggressive Autarch can be very useful. Remember though, a Solitaire an aggressive force, does not make.
Wave Serpents; if you’re not using Crisis Suits and maybe want to limit your Broadsides or run with Rail Rifles, Wave Serpents bring S7 (and S6) and ignores cover and armor saturation. Again, this limits your reliance on Markerlights if your S7 shooting is ignoring cover already and you’re bringing in some mobility for scoring units. Max of three of these unfortunately (four if you really want to take Dark Reapers).
Jetbikes; if you’re not taking Guardians/Avengers in Serpents, you’re taking Jetbikes. Squads of six can be active, squads of three hide for late-game objectives. Mobile, durable, good anti-infantry shooting and scoring.
Fire Prism or Night Spinner; both make good ranged choices and bring anti-tank and anti-infantry. I feel the Prism is the better option here as Wave Serpents or Markerlights are better Ignores Cover options and the Prism has extra utility against heavy vehicles (and is better against AV14).
Warp Spiders, Shining Spears or Swooping Hawks; o.O right? All three of these provide a good harassment option – I prefer Spiders as it’s another essential S7 choice against vehicles allowing Tau firepower to focus elsewhere but Spears are a good clearing unit or can help the Autarch be more scary (and they work with a Jetbike ally theme; cinematics are important).
It’s not an exhaustive list but those are generally the things I am reaching for first. Notice I didn’t mention the infantry for the Wave Serpents – Fire Dragons are obviously a great choice to bring some reliable anti-tank and Guardians/Avengers are infantry shredders who hide in the Serpents until necessary, etc.
I find Eldar allies for Tau are pretty straight forward – you’re either going for utility or straight up nasty (i.e. more firepower) but when adding Tau to Eldar, there’s a lot more which could be done to slightly change an Eldar list.
Velocity Trackers; whether you’re a Commander, Riptide, Crisis Squad or Broadsides – a direct anti-flyer option is great and something Eldar don’t have.
These same units bring massive weaponry options as well – Fusion, Plasma, Missiles, etc.; pick what you need.
Commanders; again – it’s USRs galore. Tau units are still the prime recipients for many of these but imagine Shuriken weaponry with Monster Hunter or all that S6/S7 some of the units can put out against vehicles. Remember as well, Commander can join Jetbike units and they can both still jump around, just trail some units back to the Commander to maintain coherency.
Shadowsun; the real Stealth and Shrouded (unlike Karandras) and she brings Infiltrate (again; arguments elsewhere). Large Jetbike squads not needing Warlocks and getting 3D6″ jumps is great.
Riptides; I didn’t really mention this with Tau but another MC to add to Wraithlords/Wraithknights can be an annoying proposition and brings a large blast which gets lost without Prisms/Spinners.
Piranhas; they’re better than Vypers in every way so if you’re looking for a blocking unit – bang. Oh look, they have Fusion Blasts. Now where did I put my Guide…
Although its the usual suspects (Commanders, Riptides, Crisis, Broadsides) which are seeing playing time as Tau allies for Eldar, the flexibility of those units to handle many threats (do we really need to go through the identified unit flexibility?) allows Eldar to build several types of list and plug holes as needed and the Commander utility again comes to the fore where there are a lot of units he can advantage. Not needing a small markerlight squad really helps Tau as Eldar allies as well due to the Farseer support generally included in the list already and this means the allies can be more focused and cheaper.
Hopefully this gives you an idea of what to look for with your allies in these type of armies. Remember, it’s not necessary to take them and often not necessary to take much to get a significant benefit and forgetting these can often see this combination not be as potent as it could be. As ever – KISS. Now get discussing on what you’re using as I know that’s all you guys really care about…Tuesday is normally the scheduled day off for the Washington Redskins, but Alfred Morris may have missed the memo.
The Tuesday before Christmas, Morris was in the locker room at FedEx Field doling out toys with U.S. Marines. The week before that, he was passing out winter coats to children at Macy’s downtown. Then there was the Tuesday before that, and the one before that.
Whether he is giving out toys and coats to children in need or dressing up like Captain America and swooping down on youngsters in the pediatric ward of a local hospital, Morris has used his rookie season with the Redskins to be everywhere in the name of charity.
“Anytime I get an opportunity to give back, I give back,” Morris said in an interview during the Marine toy giveaway. “My heart for giving was shaped by others who gave to my family. I saw how selfless they were. It is not always about receiving, but giving, so every time they have some type of event to give, I am always there.”
This season, Morris has gone from obscure sixth-round draft choice from Florida Atlantic University to star running back in the National Football League. As the Redskins won the NFC East against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night, he ran for more than 200 yards, breaking the single-season rushing record of 1,516 yards that had been set by former Redskin Clinton Portis in 2005.
Redskins running back Alfred Morris talks about giving back to the community at a charity drive at FedEx Field. (Hamil R. Harris/The Washington Post)
But off the field, Morris is often mentioned in the same breath as Redskins greats Joe Gibbs, the legendary head coach, and Darrell Green, the Hall of Fame cornerback, when it comes to his charitable good works and his quiet religious faith.
Jane Rogers, executive director of the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation, said Morris has been a role model. “Alfred Morris can always be counted on to get involved in any event the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation conducts in the community,” she said. “He has a unique ability to connect with kids and make them feel special and engaged on all levels.”
As a child growing up Pensacola, Fla., Morris said humility was one of many lessons that he learned playing football at Pine Forest High School and attending church at New Dimensions Christian Center on the blue-collar west side of the coastal city.
During one service at New Dimensions, Morris’s mother, Yvonne, preached using three passages from the Bible that have been a road map for her child’s life.
The first was from John 15:5 — “Without God, we can do nothing.” The second was from 2 Thessalonians 3:10 — “He who will not work, will not eat.” The third was from Matthew 23:12 — “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
“I never got to go to a stadium when I was young,” Morris said during the toy giveaway at FedEx Field. “Just giving back to these kids is a great feeling. I once was in their shoes — wanting things like this so that I could have Christmas presents under my tree.”
As the playoffs approach, Morris seems as proud of his charitable work as he is of his rushing record. “It is a great feeling to give back,” he said. “It is a great feeling to see the joy, the happiness and the smiles, and these kids’ faces light up. It makes it all worth while.”With 14 nominations Wednesday, Guillermo del Toro’s fantasy romance The Shape of Water led the film nominees for the 23rd annual Critics' Choice Awards, which will be presented Jan. 11 at a ceremony to be broadcast live on The CW. On the television side, Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Bette and Joan topped the list with six nominations. The awards are voted on by the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association.
Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, Lady Bird and The Post each collected eight mentions and, like The Shape of Water, all were nominated for best picture. Rounding out the 10 best picture nominees were The Big Sick, Darkest Hour, The Florida Project, Get Out and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Kumail Nanjiani was among those who collected multiple nominations: He scored three — for best original screenplay alongside wife Emily V. Gordon, and best actor in a comedy, both for The Big Sick, and best supporting actor in a comedy series for HBO's Silicon Valley. Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards), Jordan Peele (Get Out) and del Toro were all nominated for both best director and best original screenplay. James Franco was nominated for best actor and best actor in a comedy for The Disaster Artist, and Tiffany Haddish was nominated for best supporting actress and best actress in a comedy for Girls Trip. And Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan will compete against each other in two categories — best actress and best actress in a comedy — for their respective roles in I, Tonya and Lady Bird.
For TV, following close behind Feud, Big Little Lies and Fargo both picked up five noms, while GLOW notched four mentions.
“2017 has proved to be an incredibly exciting year in movies — and one of the most wide-open in terms of awards possibilities," announcing the nominations," said BFCA president Joey Berlin. "The mix of legendary filmmakers and performers along with vibrant new voices representing fresh and varied styles and perspectives has entertained and challenged critics and audiences alike. It’s been a joy to experience these films and we can’t wait to celebrate them all on January 11.”
Added BTJA president Ed Martin: “Choosing a handful of outstanding programs or personalities to nominate in any category is a daunting task given the sheer volume of high-quality options today on broadcast and cable television and streaming services. But after much careful consideration and thoughtful debate, I believe we have filled all of our categories with the most deserving nominees.”
The awards show will be produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment. The BFCA and BTJA are represented by Dan Black of Greenberg Traurig and WME.There are vegans who think it's ok to eat
oysters and mussels. I want to go a step farther: vegans should be ok with dairy. Specifically, under pretty conservative assumptions you do much more good donating just $5/year to the Against Malaria Foundation than by avoiding dairy.
How valuable is not eating dairy? The cows don't have good lives. Not as bad as farmed chickens or pigs, but still bad enough that their lives are, all things considered, probably not worth living. By consuming dairy you increase the demand for it, which increases the demand for farmed dairy cattle. If you consume one cow's worth of dairy products, then there will be roughly one more cow in existence to support you.
How big is your lacto-bovine footprint, then? How many cows does it take to supply your dairy desires? Much less than one, actually. Cows are extremely productive, with 6-7 gallons of milk per day on modern farms. Even after accounting for things like cheese being a 10x concentration of milk and 6-7 gallons being only the production during the peak milking years, the typical American's lacto-bovine footprint is just 1/45th of a cow. (Hurford). In other words, if 45 people stop eating dairy then on average there will be one fewer dairy cow suffering. [1]
Let's jump somewhere else: the AMF. GiveWell estimates their "cost per DALY" as being under $100. What's a DALY? It's the cost to give a human an extra year of healthy life. It can mean giving someone an extra year or, giving someone ten years that they would rate as 7/10 instead of 6/10, or anything in between. Now, these weights are kind of a mess and DALY calculations are very sensitive to changes in the initial assumptions, but this number is approximately right. In fact, it's on the pessimistic end, because GiveWell estimates the DALY value without "includ[ing] the many possible benefits of malaria control aside from saving the lives of children under 5". Many people get sick from malaria without dying, and including their suffering would bring the cost/DALY down further.
Now we have a difficult comparison. On one side, keeping a cow from having to spend a year on a dairy farm. On the other side, giving someone an extra year of life. You probably value humans more than cows, but a year on a dairy farm is probably more unpleasant than a human year is enjoyable. I think most people would still lean pretty hard toward the humans here, but let's be conservative and say we think they're equivalent: we would be just as happy for someone to get an extra year of healthy life as we would for a dairy cow not to have to exist for a year.
By avoiding dairy for 45 years you avert one cow year, or by donating $100 to the AMF you give a human an extra year of life. At a 1:1 ratio this means you would achieve similar benefit by giving $100 to the AMF as giving up dairy for 45 years. So you could equivalently give $2/year more and eat typical quantities of dairy or you give $2/less and eat no dairy. Let's pad that to $5 for another round of being conservative: is a year's worth of dairy something you'd rather have than $5?
Some objections and caveats:
This doesn't include the environmental effects of cows. I see estimates of 17.6 lb CO2e per gallon of milk, 396.4 lb of milk per year, via all dairy products, for the typical American and $2 to offset the emission of a ton of CO2. So a year's worth of dairy needs 50 gallons of milk, which would emit 0.4 tons of CO2e, which would cost $1 to avert. Now, I think $1 to the AMF does much more good than $1 to averting CO2 emissions, so you could raise your minimum donation from $2 to $3 to account for the environmental effect of milk production. You can build a movement around "no animal products". You can't build a movement around "no animal products except some that aren't that bad". This is a real concern, but given how much people like dairy it seems pretty rough to say "you could offset the direct harm of your food choice for under $5/year but we think that's too complicated to communicate and so instead dairy is forbidden." Also, this argument seems to hold against the people who think eating honey or bivalves is ok for vegans: these also violate "no animal products" rule and make things more complex. It's not about complexity, it's about consistency. "We don't exploit animals" is a principle we can rally around while "we don't exploit animals unless we think it's worth it" is slippery. That's fair, and I think it's one of the strongest objections to my argument here. I agree movements need to be built on consistent principles. I like the principle of "do as much to help others for as little cost to yourself as you can" but if you think most of the best opportunities to help others are in helping animals then "don't enslave animals" is probably a good general rule to push. You probably wouldn't have posted this if you'd found the offset number was much higher, like $1000/year. Publication bias! Yes, at $1000/year this isn't a very interesting argument and I wouldn't have bothered with it. On the other hand, the numbers are pretty far below the threshold of interesting; $2/year is much less than, say, $100/year, which would still be interesting. This doesn't hold for eating meat or eggs; those involve much more suffering so they're harder to offset. Yes, that's true. This isn't an argument that vegans should eat all animal products, just dairy. On the other hand, beef in particular isn't much worse than dairy; something like 2x worse (Hurford), which would be $4/year. Shouldn't I be comparing the enjoyment I get out of eating dairy to the suffering the cow goes through to produce the dairy? When you spend a dollar on yourself do you first ask "is there anyone out there who would get more benefit from this dollar?" If so, that's awesome! If not, though, this is probably because you're willing to value your enjoyment over others to some extent. Valuing yourself infinitely more doesn't make sense, but a simple "do they need it more than me" isn't enough. Instead you should pick a level of sacrifice you're willing to accept and try to do as much to help others as you can within that bound. Which means that if giving up dairy has a better benefit-to-others:cost-to-self ratio than donating to the AMF then you should do that, but if not then you should give to the AMF instead. This post argues that the AMF has a much better benefit-to-others:cost-to-self than avoiding dairy. I don't eat dairy for health reasons. That's fine. I'm not arguing (here) that you should change your diet then.
[1] Dairy consumption is somewhat elastic; Hurford estimates this brings the ratio from 1:45 to 1:73. But let's ignore this to be conservative.Amazon, which has been nosing around the video game world for the past several years, is making its boldest play yet to establish a foothold.
The company has released a new, high-end game engine called Lumberyard that will allow developers to create games for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. And, in a twist on the industry’s standard practices, Amazon (amzn) will not charge game makers any sort of royalty or subscription fee.
Instead, the company will monetize the engine through the use of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing arm. The engine also integrates Twitch, the game stream service Amazon bought in 2014 for $970 million.
In the coming months, the engine will also support mobile games and virtual reality titles on devices from Oculus.
“When we’ve talked to game developers, they’ve asked for a game engine with the power and capability of leading commercial engines, but that’s significantly less expensive,” said Mike Frazzini, vice president of Amazon Games in a statement.
The company also introduced a separate service for operating and scaling broad multiplayer games, an extremely popular (and profitable) part of most of today’s AAA games.
For more, watch:
Amazon has steadily been building a presence in the gaming world for the better part of the past two years. Prior to its surprise purchase of Twitch, it had already begun laying the groundwork for a bigger push in the industry, launching its own in-house game development studio.
At the same time, it acquired Double Helix games, makers of Killer Instinct on the Xbox One and the classic title Earthworm Jim, and recruited top-level talent from around the industry, including Kim Swift, designer of Valve Software’s Portal and Far Cry 2 lead Clint Hocking. (Hocking left the company last August to rejoin Ubisoft.)
While there have been whispers that it planned to use its own Fire TV or Fire Tablet line to challenge consoles and mobile devices, Amazon has increasingly been taking a flanking approach as it establishes a foothold the industry. Twitch, for instance, has become the world’s leading social video platform for gamers, with over 100 million unique visitors per month and an average view time of 106 minutes per person per day.
And by luring game developers with a free, high-end graphics engine, it can drive more traffic to AWS, which will only increase that division’s bottom line.
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With Lumberyard, Amazon is giving developers—both large and independent—the ability to create games with strong community elements, including news feeds, leaderboards and in-game messaging.
By offering those features freely up front and charging game makers on the number of active daily users their game has, it could win over independent developers. That’s increasingly important, as titles from those studios have been growing in popularity with players who are looking for a break from the big-budget sequels that tend to dominate the sales charts.CLOSE Ford has named Jim Hackett as its next CEO, replacing longtime Ford star executive Mark Fields, according to media reports. Elissa Robinson/ DFP
Buy Photo New Ford CEO Jim Hackett, left, and Executive Chairman Bill Ford announce and discuss the company's management shake-up on Monday, May 22, 2017 at the Ford Motor Company World Headquarters in Dearborn. (Photo: Elaine Cromie, Detroit Free Press)Buy Photo
Ford confirmed Monday that Jim Hackett will become the automaker's new CEO in a wide-ranging reshuffling of the company's top management, bringing the tenure of CEO Mark Fields to an abrupt end after just under three years.
Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford praised the tenure and achievements of Fields, but then pivoted and said the automaker needs to make decisions faster, break down its hierarchical structures and communicate its strategy more clearly to the public.
"Mark had a tremendous career at Ford and did great things, starting with the Way Forward plan in North America (in 2005), that was a huge building block," Ford said. "But this is a time of unprecedented change."
[Who is Jim Hackett? Click to read about his business achievements across Michigan]
Ford's decision to change courses after three years with Fields as CEO comes amid pressure from shareholders to improve the company's stock price. Ford's stock price has declined 40% since Fields became CEO even though the company has been extremely profitable.
Hackett, Ford said, "Will continue to transform the culture of Ford Motor Co."
As of 10:19 a.m. Monday, Ford's stock price rose 13 cents, or 1.2%, to $11.02 in morning trading.
Related:
Hackett, 62, has a long track record of innovation as CEO of Steelcase and as interim athletic director at the University of Michigan, where he is credited with sealing the deal to hire Jim Harbaugh as head coach of the football team. He also has developed a close relationship with Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford as a member of Ford's board of directors and as chairman of Ford Smart Mobility.
For his part, Hackett said he hopes to foster an environment of teamwork at Ford and a structure that is better able to take on challenging issues, such as the coming revolution of the auto industry from autonomous vehicles.
"What I want to help impact is where we are going," Hackett said. "I want to see us differentiate ourselves."
Ford also made a number of other changes to its management lineup. The changes set up a structure with three top executives with expansive portfolios that will report to Hackett: They are:
Jim Farley, president of Europe, will become executive vice president, global markets. Farley will oversee Ford’s regional divisions, including the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific. He also will oversee Lincoln Motor Company and global marketing.
Joe Hinrichs, president of the Americas will, is appointed executive vice president and president, global operations. Hinrichs, previously president of the Americas, to a broader global role that encompasses product development, manufacturing, labor affairs, quality, purchasing and sustainabilit
Marcy Klevorn is appointed executive vice president and president, Mobility
Mark Truby is appointed vice president, communications, and elected a company officer. He succeeds Ray Day, who plans to retire from the company next year and |
that lets users check if they were affected by known data breaches, thinks that it’s highly likely for the leak to be legitimate. He had access to around 1 million records from the data set.
“I’ve seen a subset of the data and verified that it’s legit,” Hunt said via email.
Lucian Constantin A hacker is selling 167 million stolen LinkedIn account records on a dark market website.
LinkedIn suffered a data breach back in 2012, which resulted in 6.5 million user records and password hashes being posted online. It’s highly possible that the 2012 breach was actually larger than previously thought and that the rest of the stolen data is surfacing now.
LinkedIn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attempts to contact the seller failed, but the administrators of LeakedSource, a data leak indexing website, claim to also have a copy of the data set and they believe that the records do originate from the 2012 LinkedIn breach.
“Passwords were stored in SHA1 with no salting,” the LeakedSource administrators said in a blog post. “This is not what internet standards propose. Only 117m accounts have passwords and we suspect the remaining users registered using FaceBook or some similarity.”
Best security practices call for passwords to be stored in hashed form inside databases. Hashing is a one-way operation that generates unique, verifiable cryptographic representations of a string that are called hashes.
Hashing is useful for validating passwords, because running a password through the same hashing process should always result in the same hash, allowing its comparison with one previously stored in a database.
Converting a hash back into the original password should be impossible, which is why it’s safer to store hashes instead of plain text passwords. However, there are old hashing functions, such as MD5 and SHA1, that are vulnerable to various cracking techniques and should no longer be used.
When the 6.5 million LinkedIn password hashes were leaked in 2012, hackers managed to crack over 60 percent of them. The same thing is likely true for the new 117 million hashes, so they cannot be considered safe.
Worse still, it’s very likely that many LinkedIn users that were affected by this leak haven’t changed their passwords since 2012. Hunt was able to verify that for at least one HIBP subscriber whose email address and password hash was in the new data set that is now up for sale.
Many people affected by this breach are also likely to have reused their passwords in multiple places on the Web, Hunt said via email.
LinkedIn users who haven’t changed their passwords in a long time, are advised to do so as soon as possible. Turning on LinkedIn’s two-step verification is also recommended. If the LinkedIn password has been used on other websites, it should be changed there as well.Astronomers using the SPHERE-ZIMPOL instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have confirmed the presence of the circumstellar dust disk around an ageing red giant star called L2 Puppis.
L2 Puppis, also known as HD 56096, lies in the constellation Puppis at a distance of about 200 light-years. It’s one of the closest red giants to Earth known to be entering its final stages of life.
With a mass in a range from 1 to 3 solar masses, this red giant shines at a luminosity that is somewhere between 1,500 and 2,400 times that of our Sun, radiated from a surface with a temperature of 5,660 degrees Fahrenheit (3,127 degrees Celsius).
The new observations with VLT’s SPHERE-ZIMPOL show the dust that surrounds L2 Puppis in exquisite detail. They confirm earlier findings of the dust being arranged in a disc, which from Earth is seen almost completely edge-on.
The astronomers – Dr Pierre Kervella of the Universidad de Chile in Santiago and his colleagues from France and the United States – found the dust disc to begin about 900 million km from the star (slightly farther than the distance from the Sun to Jupiter) and discovered that it flares outwards, creating a symmetrical, funnel-like shape surrounding the star.
Dr Kervella and co-authors also observed a companion star about 300 million km from L2 Puppis. This companion is likely to be another red giant of slightly lower mass, but less evolved.
The combination of a large amount of dust surrounding a slowly dying star, along with the presence of a companion star, mean that this is exactly the type of system expected to create a bipolar planetary nebula.
“The origin of bipolar planetary nebulae is one of the great classic problems of modern astrophysics, especially the question of how, exactly, stars return their valuable payload of metals back into space — an important process, because it is this material that will be used to produce later generations of planetary systems,” explained Dr Kervella, lead author of the paper reporting the results in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
In addition to L2 Puppis’s dust disc, the astronomers found two cones of material, which rise out perpendicularly to the disc.
Importantly, within these cones, they found two long, slowly curving plumes of material. From the origin points of these plumes, the scientists deduce that one is likely to be the product of the interaction between the material from L2 Puppis and the companion star’s wind and radiation pressure, while the other is likely to have arisen from a collision between the stellar winds from the two stars, or be the result of an accretion disc around the companion star.
The astronomers said there are two leading theories of bipolar planetary nebulae, both relying on the existence of a binary star system.
The new observations suggest that both of these processes are in action around L2 Puppis, making it appear very probable that the pair of stars will, in time, give birth to a butterfly.
_____
P. Kervella et al. 2015. The dust disk and companion of the nearby AGB star L2 Puppis. SPHERE/ZIMPOL polarimetric imaging at visible wavelengths. A&A, vol. 578, A77; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201526194Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) has announced a slew of advertising in support of lawmakers advocating for clean energy solutions in the U.S.
The group, which describes itself as a nonprofit advocating for comprehensive and responsible solutions to the U.S.’ energy issues, has launched TV and radio ad buys in Nevada and Iowa, as well as continued radio advertising in Alaska.
Specifically, the group is applauding Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev.; Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, for their leadership in support of clean energy solutions in Congress.
CRES says it spent $155,000 on the TV and radio ads in Reno, Nev., and $106,000 on the radio ads in Des Moines and the Quad Cities in Iowa. The statewide radio ad buy in Alaska represents a continuation of a $110,000 ad spend launched recently.
In addition to these ads, CRES says it has spent $710,000 supporting candidates and committees in 2016. The group is aiming to aggressively support Republican House and Senate candidates who speak out in support of commonsense, clean energy solutions on the campaign trail and Capitol Hill.
“More than seven in 10 voters are more likely to vote for a congressional candidate that supports an agenda that promotes the diversification and growth of clean energy resources like wind, nuclear, solar and hydropower,” stated Andrew Bird, the group’s director of federal affairs.
“In addition to achieving substantive progress in advancing clean energy technology on Capitol Hill, CRES remains firmly committed to ensuring that voters demanding action in support of renewable energy are familiar with the records of clean energy champions who place results and good policy before partisanship in Washington.
“We stand firmly behind elected leaders focused on supporting clean energy policies that grow the economy, strengthen our national security and preserve our environment for future generations,” he said.
The ads can be heard here.Ontario Children and Youth Services Minister Tracy MacCharles says families who have children five years and older on the IBI wait list will receive a one-time payment of $8,000 to purchase community services or supports. New Democrat Monique Taylor was ejected from the Ontario legislature today when she refused to stop railing at the government over cuts to Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) therapy for autistic children.
Taylor, a Hamilton Mountain MPP, ignored the Speaker's order to sit and kept yelling at Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals for cutting children over the age of five off the waiting list for IBI therapy.
Wynne says the government wants to get kids off the waiting list by providing a less intensive type of therapy, but parents who oppose the changes are staging a protest outside the legislature on Thursday.
In April, the Liberal government announced a new Ontario Autism Program with $333 million in funding, but changes include limiting IBI to children between two and four. Families with kids five and older on the IBI wait list will get $8,000 to pay for treatment as they are cut off the wait list.
Last month, Minister Tracy MacCharles called the Ontario Autism Program "a historic investment."
"What this new program will do is take children off that wait list immediately," she told reporters. "They'll transition to a new, enhanced ABA program that will be longer in duration, will be as intense as it needs to be based on clinical assessments.
"We need to move away from these IBI/ABA distinctions and make sure we're getting the right treatment for children at the right time," MacCharles said.
Taylor is the NDP's Children and Youth Services critic.In the final hours of the Values Voters Summit, social conservative icons like former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins expressed optimism about the libertarian influence on the conservative movement and Republican politics.
Santorum has never had kind things to say about libertarians, and his speech at the Values Voter Summit mentioned them only once.
“So economic conservatism—libertarian types can say, oh, well, we don’t want to talk about the social issues. Without the church and the family, there is no conservative movement. There is no basic values in America in force, and there is no future for our country,” he said.
When Santorum was leaving he said to reporters that he thinks the libertarian influence in the Republican Party isn’t necessarily a bad thing, contradicting several statements he has made before.
“I think it can be very positive but you have to understand I am a conservative not a libertarian,” he said.
When asked who is a bigger threat to social conservatives he said, “Liberals, hands down.”
During a press conference Perkins went so far as to suggest Santorum has played a large part in this alleged libertarian-social conservative alliance.
“I think Rick Santorum, I think his candidacy, was a large part of that by making the economic argument for marriage and the family,” said Perkins, standing outside the Values Bus, a touring bus for the FRC.
“If you look at the libertarian viewpoint, which I share in terms of a wanting a smaller government, I want less government, well how do you do that? You strengthen the American family. Because if you look at the government that has expanded, it has expanded to make up for where the family is in decline and that is a large part of the large deficit,” he said.
Perkins added that this is a key point of agreement for libertarians and social conservatives.
“So, right here is a good starting point to bring libertarians and social conservatives together. It’s an economic issue, but it’s a cultural and moral issue, too,” he said.
Pete Bond, an attendee from Delaware said he’s sees common ground with libertarians on things like opposition to Obamacare.
“Obamacare is a big one because it infringes on religious freedom,” said Bond, 65.
He added that it forces taxpayers to pick up the tab for abortion and sterilization.
“The legalization of drugs, though, is something I can’t condone,” he said.
Not all though were excited about this chummy libertarian-social conservative alliance.
“You libertarians and us conservatives side with each other on 85 percent of everything, however we don’t on life,” said Jim Yarborough, an attendee from Texas.
Yarborough isn’t impressed with the pro-life libertarian arguments because they don’t come from the Judeo-Christian perspective.
“The sanctity of life trumps all other decisions. Sanctity of life is the key issue,” he said.Billionaires bank on bridge to trump poker By Martha T. Moore, USA TODAY Poker may be all the rage with junior high school kids, but the two richest men in the country are betting a million dollars they have a better card game to offer young people: bridge. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, left, and investor Warren Buffett play in a bridge tournament. By Nati Harnik, AP That's contract bridge, the four-player card game whose popularity peaked a half-century ago and is now played largely by senior citizens, country clubbers, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffett. The two billionaires are passionate bridge players who compete in tournaments and online under the names "Chalengr" for Gates and "T-Bone" for Buffett. Now they want to fund a program to teach bridge in schools. Pastimes of the 1950s are already being revived among kids: Poker is popular, and schools have turned to ballroom dancing to teach teamwork. Now Gates and Buffett have hired Buffett's bridge partner, Sharon Osberg, to start a program to teach contract bridge in junior high schools. They've anted up $1 million to fund it. "Bill Gates and I kind of cooked it up together," says Buffett, who thinks bridge would teach kids math skills, logical thinking and how to work with others. "We hope we could get a school program someplace, where the kids were taught the game and... develop a lot of competition between schools." In bridge, two pairs of partners take turns bidding how many tricks, or rounds of cards, they think they will win. Partners signal to each other what kind of cards they hold and which suit of cards they want to be "trump," or winner over all other suits. Gates learned bridge from his parents but took it up seriously when he began playing with Buffett 10 years ago. "Bridge is a game where you can keep improving and feel great about it without ever hitting the limit of what can be done," he said in an e-mail. The idea to teach bridge in school is modeled on inner-city programs teaching chess and dancing. Chess-in-the-Schools, a New York program started in 1986 by philanthropist Lewis Cullman, teaches chess in elementary and junior high schools. A 10-year-old program in the city teaches ballroom dancing, and a similar dance program began in Chicago this fall. The billionaires' bridge program has yet to get a bid, says Osberg, a two-time world-champion bridge player and bank executive who has played bridge with Buffett for 15 years. The first school district she approached, San Francisco, said no deal. Buffett was surprised. "You'd think that even if a proposal came in from Bill Gates that they didn't want to do, they'd follow through because they'd think, 'We'll sell him something else,' " he says. Marley Kaplan, president of Chess-in-the-Schools, says she has pitched the idea of bridge to New York schools but found little enthusiasm among principals. "They said, 'We're not playing cards in class.' " But at lunchtime, those budding Kasparovs are dealing Texas Hold 'Em anyway, she says. "In the cafeteria, the cards come right out." Kids who are crazy about poker should love bridge, says Buffett, who spends nearly every evening playing online — 4,800 hands last year, he figures. "There's intellectual development involved and working as partners with people," he says. "If a lot of kids are exposed to bridge, a number of them are going to benefit in a very significant way." Most bridge players have been out of school about as long as Buffett, 75. The average age of American Contract Bridge League members is 67. The league is also trying to appeal to kids: Last year, nearly 4,500 students learned the game in classes taught at schools by league members. In September, the league launched a website, www.bridgeiscool.com. "The problem is, all the action takes place inside your head," Osberg says. "It doesn't translate well to television." And unlike poker, there's no money involved. "We play only for glory," says Linda Granell, marketing director for the bridge league. What bridge has over chess and poker is that it requires players to learn to work with someone else, Buffett says. "You have to learn to understand your partner, to be tolerant, sympathetic, encouraging," he says. "Those are skills that are not bad to have in life." If a program gets going, Buffett and Gates have promised to take on the winners of a school tournament. "We'd go down and play the best team," Buffett says. "It would be fun for me and Bill to play the champions. And it might spur them on some."Buy Photo Fermi II (Photo: David Coates / The Detroit News)Buy Photo
Routinely and quietly, nuclear power generates a large amount of energy without loading the atmosphere with global warming emissions.
Yet more than a half century after the Big Rock Point nuclear plant in Charlevoix began producing the first nuclear-generated electricity in Michigan, even as public concern over climate change continues to grow, nuclear power’s role is being questioned and challenged as never before. The textbook case is what’s been happening with efforts to renew the operating license of the Fermi 2 nuclear plant and possibly build a third reactor at the Newport site.
Why this debate about the only source of zero-carbon base-load electricity, which accounts for 27.6 percent of Michigan’s electricity generating capacity but 91 percent of Michigan’s emission-free power? There are the traditional concerns: nuclear safety, waste storage, and the cost of building new nuclear plants.
According to the Energy Information Administration, over the past three years, Michigan nuclear plants on average have produced electricity nearly 87 percent of the time. Most fossil fuel plants are far less efficient.
But an abundance of cheap natural gas and a state renewable electricity standard that might require an increasing use of wind, solar and biomass power has changed the energy calculus.
The planned shutdown of a number of Michigan coal plants for environmental reasons raise anxieties about the cost of electricity in the years ahead. Some worry that competition from natural gas and subsidized wind power could also result in the premature shutdown of Michigan’s four nuclear plants – Cook 1 and 2, Palisades, and Fermi 2. Last year two nuclear plants, Kewaunee in Wisconsin and Vermont Yankee, were shuttered.
There’s something else: understandable concerns that a major shift to natural gas in electricity production could lead to a spike in gas prices that could harm consumers and make Michigan industries, especially chemical companies, less competitive in global markets.
To ensure that Michigan can meet its energy needs will require additional base-load generating capacity, along with improvements in demand management and energy efficiency. Using more renewable sources will help only modestly. Nuclear power will need to play a central role.
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1FNttBDCopyright by KHON - All rights reserved President-elect Donald Trump, accompanied by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, speaks to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Copyright by KHON - All rights reserved President-elect Donald Trump, accompanied by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, speaks to members of the media at Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Donald Trump gave himself kudos for the creation of 8,000 new U.S. jobs by a Japanese tech mogul, saying it was proof of "the spirit and the hope" stirred by his presidential win.
But for those particular jobs, Trump was basically taking a bow for the second time. The jobs were part of a public commitment made on December 6 by Masayoshi Son upon emerging from the elevator bank at Trump Tower after a meeting with Trump. Son pledged that companies controlled by his firm SoftBank would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs.
On Wednesday, Trump celebrated the planned creation of 5,000 jobs by wireless carrier Sprint and 3,000 jobs by OneWeb-both companies where Son is a dominant investor.
Speaking from the front door of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump did not outright mention Son's previous commitment but used the opportunity once again to declare a victory for U.S. workers. Although 8,000 jobs - on their own - are unlikely to dramatically move the needle toward the faster economic growth he has promised, the Trump transition team treated the jobs as a preview of things to come.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Thursday.
Ever the dealmaker, Trump has actively courted and shamed companies. The president-elect has pushed defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed-Martin to reduce their costs via his Twitter account, while he fulfilled a campaign promise by preserving 800 jobs at the Carrier furnace plant in Indianapolis that were previously bound for Mexico.
With the Sprint and OneWeb announcement, there may be slightly less than meets the eye. There is one clear winner, though: Son, worth an estimated $19 billion. Since the presidential election, Sprint stock has soared roughly 40 percent. Son's SoftBank controls 83 percent of the Kansas-based carrier.
Here are some more facts about the SoftBank commitment.
No.
Of the 5,000 jobs Sprint said it would create or bring back to the United States in its upcoming fiscal year, some would be at outside contractors. The jobs will help "support" its customer service and sales teams, among other divisions at the company. Details about pay and benefits are being finalized, according to Sprint.
The company also said it will discuss with business partners, states and cities about where to create these jobs- but a spokeswoman told The Associated Press that it will not receive any federal, state or local government incentives for adding these positions.
Still, Sprint will likely have fewer workers than when Son's firm SoftBank acquired a controlling stake in 2013. Sprint has shed about 9,000 employees since 2012; it now employs roughly 30,000, according to annual reports.
Son's SoftBank invested $1 billion this month in OneWeb, which is building a network of satellites to provide broadband internet. The investment will help finance the construction of a factory in Florida that could produce 15 satellites a week, generating 3,000 engineering, manufacturing and support jobs over the next four years, according to a December 19 statement.
Son linked his investment to meeting with Trump.
"Earlier this month I met with President-elect Trump and shared my commitment to investing and creating jobs in the U.S.," he said in a statement about the investment. "This is the first step in that commitment."
In addition to those who get hired for the new jobs, a clear victor is Masayoshi Son.
Trump twice praised the Japanese billionaire in December, signaling that Son might as well have a direct line to the White House. This could be helpful for Son's other business plans. Under the Obama administration, he saw a marquee deal to merge Sprint with rival T-Mobile fail. Regulators opposed combining two of the four largest mobile telecom companies in the United States. Analysts say a Trump administration would be more likely to approve telecom mergers.
The exposure with Trump has already been lucrative for Son. Before the election, Sprint stock was trading for less than it did after SoftBank acquired the company. At the current price of about $8.80 per share, the value of SoftBank's stake has risen by more than $8 billion since Trump's victory. Son founded SoftBank in 1981 and is the company's CEO, chairman and major shareholder.
The 8,000 jobs sure sounds like a lot. But the U.S. economy is so massive that the figure is basically a rounding error - representing just 0.36 percent of the 2.25 million jobs employers have added over the last 12 months. Ultimately, Trump's administration will need to introduce policies to generate faster economic growth, rather than securing promises from individual companies. Trump has said that tax reform and regulatory cuts can help lift overall economic growth to 3.5 percent annually, substantially above the 1.6 percent growth expected for 2016.There are no simple answers to Islamist terrorism, particularly when individual nutjobs are determined to kill a bunch of innocent people.
But I know that some answers to the problem are wrong. So when politicians like Hillary Clinton say we should have more gun control, I side with police chiefs who recognize that an armed citizenry is a much more effective approach.
Simply stated, we’re dealing with evil people who want to maximize death, so they pick out places where they are less likely to encounter armed resistance.
The European response to terrorism is especially insipid. Law-abiding people are disarmed while terrorists have no problems obtaining all the guns they need.
Which leads to terrible consequences with tragic regularity.
I’m not sure how to categorize this sarcastic look at how Europe responds to a terror attack compared to how Texas responds, but it does make the key point that it’s better to shoot back than die meekly.
Consider this the terrorism version of the joke comparing how the governors of Texas and California respond to a coyote attack.
Though this is a deadly serious issue, not a joking matter.
P.S. If you want some genuine terror-related humor, look at the bottom of this post.
P.P.S. And if you want something truly pathetic, look at how statists try to rationalize terrorism.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The two minutes Larry Sanders played Tuesday night may be among the most intricate and celebrated 120-second stretches in NBA history.
Let's see: Sanders missed his lone shot and committed two fouls in the Cavs' 128-96 win over the Detroit Pistons.
And yet he was greeted by a standing ovation from Cleveland fans; made the subject of a postgame speech by LeBron James; and was the reason coach Tyronn Lue sent a ball boy into the stands to go find general manager David Griffin and ask him Sanders could play at the end of a blowout.
"I had to get permission," Lue explained. "I really just wanted to introduce him to the crowd and have him get in, give him a chance to have a standing ovation. I thought it was good for him. When you go through what he's went through, and you have a chance to get back in the NBA on a pretty good team, I thought it was cool."
If you know Sanders' story, you understand the hullabaloo.
Sanders, 28, hadn't played in the NBA in more than two seasons, as personal issues stemming from marijuana use, anxiety and depression drove him from the sport. His last game was with the Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 23, 2014. The Bucks bought him out of his $44 million contract in February, 2015, after he'd been suspended for 10 games and it was apparent he wanted to walk away.
The Cavs signed him Monday to a multiyear deal. This was to be his second chance. Hence the standing ovation.
It was also the root of James' speech to the entire team, about Sanders, in the locker room afterwards.
"We're here to protect him, we're here to be part of his comeback, to be a part of something he's been wanting to do for quite a while now," James said. "We're happy he chose us and it's up to us to make sure this is everything he wanted and more. We're happy to have him."
Sanders said James' words "meant a lot.
"LeBron's reiterated again that they're behind me, they're supportive," Sanders said. "He thanked me for my decision. It was all love. It was a great moment."
Now, about Sanders getting out on the court.
Before the game, both Lue and Griffin made it clear that Sanders was heading for the D-League to get in shape and get back to playing pro ball for a period of days before he really joins the Cavs. He was going to sit on the bench Tuesday and Thursday for Cleveland's home games in uniform, Lue said, because Sanders didn't have a suit jacket with him. But the playing was supposed to happen Saturday in Canton.
And then the Cavs found themselves up by 38 on the Pistons late in the fourth quarter. The best laid plans of Griffin went astray. Sanders checked in with 1:58 remaining.
"He kind of gave me a look and I just started stretching," Sanders said, talking about how Lue signaled to him that he might get in the game. "Hopefully I get used to that look."
And Griffin?
"He said he had two minutes," Lue said.Canadian Milos Raonic upset top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-3 to claim his fifth title at the Thailand Open on Sunday.
The No. 11-ranked Raonic put up 18 aces to beat his No. 6-ranked opponent in the final at the Impact Arena in one hour, 17 minutes.
It was Raonic's fifth tour victory, adding to the three in San Jose from 2011-13 and Chennai in 2012.
He also improved his unbeaten record over Berdych to 2-0 after also beating the Czech player in the Cincinnati Masters last year.
Berdych had his chances in the match with a set point at 6-5 in the first but Raonic used his big serve to force a weak return before sending a forehand winner to escape.
The Canadian then relied on powerful serves to force the tie-break, which he sealed with another booming serve.
Raonic managed an early break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead in the second after Berdych netted two successive shots.
I'm serving well and doing a lot of good things, I want to keep that up and put myself in a position to win more. - Canadian tennis player Milos Raonic
At 5-3, Raonic produced another ace to set up a championship point before blasting a forehand winner to take the match.
"It feels great to win the title," said the 22-year-old from Thornhill., Ont., now 37-17 this season.
"The first set was about finding rhythm. Once I did I was solid after that," he said.
"I knew I had to play slightly more aggressive, not just put the ball in play. I did that and was able to take control, I got some insight into what I needed to do to beat him."
Raonic's next challenge will be in Tokyo, where he lost the 2012 final to Japan's Kei Nishikori.
"I'll have to carry this momentum onto Tokyo," he said before flying overnight to the Japanese capital for a Monday arrival.
"The only thing I'm worrying about is what I need to do in the first match (against Japan's Go Soeda).
"I'm serving well and doing a lot of good things, I want to keep that up and put myself in a position to win more."
Raonic said he's been working hard on his game since losing to Rafael Nadal in the Rogers Cup final in Montreal in August.
"I maybe wasn't playing my best tennis there but I've been improving a little at a time," he said.
And the payoff for the work came in Bangkok.
"I'm happy with how I dealt with this whole week, I fought my way through and put the pieces together to win," he said.xayraa33 rangefinder user and fancier
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Quote: serg-k3 Originally Posted by Thank you. And what is the length strips of film channel?, And that will be there for them if you cut it along the length movie channel? it does not interfere with anything?
If I remember correctly, as it has been 20 years now, I used this camera on a tripod to try to do a 180 deg shot by panning the camera a prescribed distance to get an albeit crude panorama shot from several consecutive frames. I also remember it worked fairly well with a little practice and if I managed to keep the camera the same level for each shot that made up the panorama.
This was the time before today's digital panoramic stitching and I did not want to spend the money on an expensive Widelux camera or on the rather uncommon for here and unreliable Soviet Horizont camera back then.
Filing the film frame never interfered with the camera's mechanics. The length was about 40mm which was the exact length needed to eliminate the frame spacing on the negative but not overlap the frames.If I remember correctly, as it has been 20 years now, I used this camera on a tripod to try to do a 180 deg shot by panning the camera a prescribed distance to get an albeit crude panorama shot from several consecutive frames. I also remember it worked fairly well with a little practice and if I managed to keep the camera the same level for each shot that made up the panorama.This was the time before today's digital panoramic stitching and I did not want to spend the money on an expensive Widelux camera or on the rather uncommon for here and unreliable Soviet Horizont camera back then.Filing the film frame never interfered with the camera's mechanics.
My Gallery __________________We had Team NP ranked last in our power rankings heading into the event, but after securing a top-three finish at Manila Masters Day 3, they have clearly shown their potential.
Manila Masters Day 3 – Pre-TI7 Roster Shuffle Pays Off
Teams usually take their time to gel after adding new members. However, for Team NP, that isn’t necessarily the case.
With four out of their five members having previously played together under the Cloud 9 banner, team chemistry was the least of their worries.
After losing to OG in the opening rounds on Day 1 of the tournament, Team NP looked like they were headed to an early exit. However, the team would recover in Day 2, taking out the heavily-favored Team Secret. In Manila Masters Day 3, Team NP started off strong early in the day, taking out DAC 2017 champions, Invictus Gaming, 2-0.
After a back-and-forth series between OG and Team Faceless saw the SEA powerhouse take down the crowd-favorites, the stage was set for the two unlikeliest teams to battle it out for a chance to secure a top-three finish and fight against Evil Geniuses in the lower bracket finals.
Team NP vs Team Faceless
Although underdogs heading into the event, both teams have proven their doubters and naysayers wrong with their strong showing in the tournament. Team Faceless seems to have finally redeemed their LAN tournament curse. Team NP is finally showing signs of life after lackluster showings these past few months.
In a way, it seemed poetic justice that both teams would face off at the end of Manila Masters Day 3.
In Game 1, Team Faceless, high off of their win against four-time major winners OG, could not be stopped. iceiceice (Nyx Assassin) and Black^ (Invoker) simply took full control of the map and killed off Team NP’s heroes everywhere they went.
Desperate to stay alive in the tournament, Team NP decided to pull off their hat-trick of a hero in Bristleback. The decision proved successful as EternaLEnVy and his Bristleback was nigh unkillable and dominated throughout the whole match.
In Game 3, Team Faceless chose not to ban out the hero that took them down in Game 2. Team NP was more than happy to capitalize, giving EternaLEnVy the Bristleback once again. And that was basically all she wrote.
The early-game proved disastrous for Team Faceless as Team NP carried a 2K gold lead just five minutes into the game. Things just spiralled out of control from there, as Team Faceless ended up losing all their towers in under 20 minutes.
The Singaporean-team simply could not offer any resistance as Team NP cornered them inside their own base. So helpless were they that EternaLEnVy even casually shopped items from their own fountain.
Team Faceless would admit defeat soon enough. They ended their run at the Manila Masters with a 4th-place finish and $20,000 in winnings.
North-American Showdown
With their win at Manila Masters Day 3, Team NP will now face off against Evil Geniuses in a BO3 match.
The winner of the match will then face off against Newbee in the Grand Finals in a BO5 series.Houthi fighters have won a new victory in war against Saudi invaders.
Ahlul Bayt News Agency -ABNA- Yemen satellite TV, Al Masirah, yesterday has announced that the city of Al Raboah in southern of Saudi Arabia now is under the full control of Houthi Shiite fighters.
Since last two days Saudi troops in the border city of al Raboah have come under the attack from Yemeni forces and were forced to flee the city.
Yemeni forces also destroyed a large number of Saudi military armored vehicles and successfully seized dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles.
In recent months Yemeni forces have made more advances in the Saudi soils and killed hundreds of Saudi invaders.
Yemen has been witnessing ceaseless attacks by Saudi Arabia since March 26. The military strikes are supposedly meant to undermine the Ansarullah movement and bring fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, back to power.
The Saudi aggression has reportedly claimed the lives of more than 7,100 people and injured nearly 14,000 others. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.
Please Join ABNA24 News Channel on Telegram: https://telegram.me/abna24english
/149Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks.
THE number of Americans denouncing their president's plans for health-care reform as unvarnished socialism would presumably rise dramatically if Barack Obama decided to institute price controls for drugs. Yet a study published this week in Health Affairs, an industry journal, suggests he should do exactly that.
Governments around the world are struggling to cope with the rising cost of health care, and of drugs in particular (see chart). Many rich countries have resorted to price controls, and some on the American left advocate them noisily. But drug firms maintain that America, where they are free to price patented pills largely as they please, is the engine of global pharmaceutical innovation, while price-controlling Europeans are free riders. That, says PhRMA |
Dustin effectively storming off:
February 2014
Steam tags are introduced, and just one day in, several gaming news sites flip out after discovering that gamers have tagged Gone Home and other indie games with a “not a game” tag. This leads to Steam implementing a “report” feature for tags, eventually banning the “not a game” tag (among others) outright. Some gamers go on to register their displeasure at game journalists’ reaction.
July, 2014
Leigh Alexander, Editor-in-Chief at game site Gamasutra and writer for Destructoid, The Guardian, and numerous other websites, doxxes someone, revealing their name and email address to over 42 thousand followers on Twitter (doxxing is where one’s personal information is revealed in public).
August, 2014
Indie developer Zoe Quinn releases her 2013 game Depression Quest on Steam in the wake of Robin William’s suicide. Popular opinion is divided on whether this was an appropriate thing to do.
Just days later…
Eron Gonji, Zoe Quinn’s ex-boyfriend, creates a WordPress blog and pens several lengthy entries detailing his relationship with her, explaining that he’s writing “to warn you to be cautious of Zoe.” He posts screenshots to back up many of his points, and when allegations of photoshopping arise, he posts a video where he pulls up a Facebook conversation between him and Quinn. In his posts, many allegations are made regarding lying and manipulative behavior, but the most relevant part is where he claims that she slept with game journalist Nathan Grayson. This leads many to suspect that Quinn slept with Grayson for positive press, and while these claims rely on circumstantial evidence and vague dates, Kotaku publishes a reaction that confirms that Grayson and Quinn were indeed involved in a romantic relationship. However, it’s also confirmed that Grayson never reviewed Quinn’s games. At most, he wrote an article about a failed “game jam” that Quinn was involved in.
End of August, 2014
Many gamers who began digging into the possibility of a “sex for favors” link between Zoe Quinn and Nathan Grayson turn their attention to other potential corruption that could help bolster their arguments about the industry being plagued with problems. They soon uncover Twitter conversations between indie game developer Anna Anthropy and game journalist Patricia Hernandez that show a close relationship between the two that had never been disclosed in Hernandez’ articles about Anthropy’s games. Once this is discovered, disclaimers are silently slapped onto old articles where they didn’t before exist. However, archives of those reviews prove that these articles existed without disclaimers for quite some time.
The Hunt for the Gay Planet article (now)
The Hunt for the Gay Planet article (July 2014, after the article’s been up for a year and a half)
Patricia Hernandez was also found to have been friends (and if a certain Twitter conversation is to be believed, lovers) with game developer Christine Love, who likewise had her game covered by Hernandez without a disclaimer.
Hate Plus article (now)
Hate Plus article (June 2014, after the article’s been up for a little under ten months)
August 21, 2014
Phil Fish, the developer of indie hit Fez infamous for offending as many people as possible with unpopular comments about PCs, gaming channels on Youtube, insulting people he disagrees with/doesn’t like, and cancelling Fez 2 because gamers “don’t deserve it,” is an early supporter of Zoe Quinn after Eron’s blog goes live. He goes on to disparage those looking into the many allegations made regarding Quinn, and on August 21st, his website Polytron is hacked and personal information pertaining to the company is leaked. The hack claims to have been perpetrated by the “leader of 4chan and [activist and hacker collective] Anonymous”, but many users of 4chan notice that /V/ is capitalized, and point out that this isn’t a mistake any real 4chan user would make.
This, combined with initial reports that Polytron uses Cloudflare, which has 2-step verification that would have made hacking it neigh-impossible, lead many to suspect that Fish hacked his own site. This is later debunked.
August 24, 2014
Devin Faraci compares those who have come to dislike Zoe Quinn to ISIS. This isn’t the last time the comparison is made, and the attacks become uglier (that’s from a game journalist who has written for Polygon, Ars Technica, and others) and uglier over time.
August 26, 2014
Anita Sarkeesian is sent several threatening tweets from a new account, prompting her to leave her home out of fear. Many gaming news sites have news of this up within 1-3 days.
August 27, the birth of #Gamergate
As more and more incriminating rumors regarding Zoe Quinn continue to come out and more people become involved in discussions stemming from the allegations (and proven facts like game journalists contributing to her Patreon), a campaign of mass censorship begins. People are banned off of forums all over the internet for even bringing up the subject (this is still happening on NeoGAF and many other forums), posts are mysteriously deleted, and people on Reddit are shadowbanned. It becomes abundantly clear that this is a topic that many people don’t want to discuss at all, though to their credit, gaming news website The Escapist allows users to discuss the topic.
This mass censorship only galvanizes many Youtube personalities, and they create video after video about the Quinnspiracy and censorship of things that gaming media has shown a zeal for covering in the past (the charges mentioned in that article were later dropped). This time, however, no one from these sites bothers to look into the claims, having already made up their minds that “the sickening facts of the attacks easily overwhelms [any merit to those accusations].” This is later proven to be the consensus among many game journalists in a private email list that game journalists were involved in and that later has many posts leaked to the public by Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart.
On August 27th, actor Adam Baldwin tweets two of the Quinnspiracy Youtube videos using the hashtag #Gamergate, which then takes off, becoming a rallying call of sorts to alert people to the censorship, the corruption of game journalists like Patricia Hernandez, and a million other complaints people have with gaming journalism dating back to the 2007 Gerstmann scandal. Zoe Quinn chimes in on Twitter, accusing Baldwin of “contributing to a campaign of harassment on an indie game dev.”
August 28 and 29, 2014
Game journalists suddenly weigh in on the controversy, but only do so to tell those voicing their concerns that they’re irrelevant and need to go away. Leigh Alexander, Editor-in-Chief at game industry site Gamasutra, writes the most talked-about version of these articles (all of which being eerily similar, indicating some level of collusion in the minds of many) in which she states that “These obtuse shitslingers, these wailing hyper-consumers, these childish internet-arguers — they are not my audience. They don’t have to be yours. There is no ‘side’ to be on, there is no ‘debate’ to be had.” Gamergate explodes at the perceived coordinated attack and rallies around the hashtag in the following days.
September 1, 2014
Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart posts an article titled “Feminist bullies tearing the video game industry apart.” Some members of Gamergate flock to him, desperate for representation after being painted as extremists and misogynists and bullies, while other members remain skeptical of his right-wing politics and keep their distance. He goes on to write several articles on the subject of Gamergate.
Around the same time…
The first Indie-fensible video is published on Youtube by user ShortFatOtaku, titled “Indie fensible! The Maya ‘Legobutts’ Kramer Story!” Actually explaining all of the weird coincidences and suspicious industry stuff contained in the video would take forever, so it’s probably best to just watch it yourself:
Some of the more minor claims in the video would be disputed by involved parties, and this is addressed in a followup video posted on September 7th (I’ll embed that video further down).
September 2, 2014
Fed up with being labeled as white, misogynistic men, the hashtag #notyourshield emerges and many minorities speak out against the sweeping generalizations being made about gamers. Many also express solidarity with Gamergate. While this tag seems to have existed in some form prior to being used on Twitter, a Twitter search shows that the earliest existing tweet using the tag was made on September 2nd. The opposition to Gamergate would claim that many of those using the tag are sockpuppet (duplicate) accounts made by white male 4chan users trying to feign diversity. As a result, many are compelled to provide pictures or other proof in order to avoid being ignored.
September 5, 2014
Leigh Alexander, Editor-in-Chief of Gamasutra and author of the most infamous variant of the “Gamers are dead” articles, pens a piece for Time’s website where she references Zoe Quinn and claims that “the misogynistic ‘scandal’ — and fans’ fear of women ‘censoring’ their medium by seeking more positive and diverse portrayals — has launched an ‘ethical inquiry’ by fans campaigning to unearth evidence of corruption and collusion among people who they feel are too close to the games and developers they write about.”
September 6, 2014
A Storify link is posted titled “Gameovergate,” and many of those vocally opposing Gamergate tweet out the link to their followers using the hashtag #Gameovergate. On the Storify page, there are many screen captures (the majority seemingly made by Zoe Quinn herself) that opponents argue show that Gamergate was pre-planned as a cover for misogynists to harass women. These images are later proven to have been taken out of context in order to rally people against Gamergate and mislead newcomers to the debate.
September 7, 2014
Board game designer Greg Costikyan writes an article for Gamesutra titled “Gamergate: STFU” in which he engages in a profanity-filled rant against gamers. Some quotes from the article:
Who cares who Zoe Quinn fucked, or didn’t fuck? It’s none of your fucking business, unless you were one of the people involved, and most of you would give your left kidney to fuck her, if you had any brains. You are unlikely ever to touch anyone with an iota of her talent or intelligence.
“Deal with the fact that not all games are, or will be in the future, the same corporate crap that you apparently love so much.”
“You are assholes. Worse, you are poor examples of men. Men, good men, defend women. They do not attack them. To which end: To defend the honor of Anita Sirkeesian [sic], Zoe Quinn, Leigh Alexander, or yes, Anna Anthropy, I will be willing to meet any of you, on horse or afoot, with sword or pistol, at a time and place of your choosing.”
This article is later removed from the site, existing now only in archived form.
On the same day…
The second Indie-fensible video goes live, titled “Indie-fensible! Bigger Fish to Fry!” This video explores some of the leaked information that came out after Polytron was hacked:
CameraLady, who was primarily involved on the research side of things, eventually takes these videos down out of caution as a result of vague threats of legal action made toward her.
September 11, 2014
Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart links to a tumblr post with a transcript of someone’s conversation with the relevant police regarding Anita Sarkeesian’s death threat, with the quoted officer claiming that he’s “unable to locate any record on the date or name with the information provided.” This sets off rumors that the death threats were faked, but this is quickly debunked.
September 12, 2014
Game developer Daniel Vavra is interviewed by TechRaptor and weighs in on the topics of Gamergate and misogyny in the industry, as well as providing examples of games that game journalists have accused of “misogyny/racism/homophobia/sexism” and commenting on his own experiences with such accusations.
September 15, 2014
Indie developer Christopher Arnold writes a tumblr post about Gamergate, stating, “To those who have allowed Gamergate to get to where it is now, you have my undying thanks.”
September 16, 2014
Cracked.com allows Zoe Quinn to publish an article. David Wong, Executive Editor of Cracked, later authors several forum posts suggesting that he has a preexisting ideological bent, something backed up by his censorship of opposing viewpoints.
Also on the 16th…
Christina Hoff Sommers, self-professed fan of equity feminism and outspoken critic of modern feminism, posts a video titled “Are video games sexist?” In it, she claims that gamers are having to “deal with a new army of critics: gender activists, hipsters with degrees in cultural studies, and these critics are concerned that gaming is largely a hetero-patriarchal capitalist pursuit.” Critics of the video (including gaming sites like Polygon) claim that she represents right-wing politics; this is later debunked.
September 17, 2014
The Mirror posts an article titled “What is #GamerGate and why did it make some men so angry?” In the article, the claim is made that Gamergate “basically boils down to an attack on two women.” No mention is made of the proven allegations against game journalists like Patricia Hernandez and Ben Kuchera or the fabricated allegations of Gameovergate, instead focusing exclusively on Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn.
Also on September 17…
A reddit post goes up showing that Zoe Quinn tweeted a website out to her followers that doxxed a minor.
September 19, 2014
Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart has 90 rolls of toilet paper sent to his home address. Two days later, he also receives a syringe in the mail.
Later on the 19th…
Gamergate supporter Alexander/Alexandra Wuori is doxxed and receives a threatening phone call, presumably from those opposed to the movement. The tweet pictured has since disappeared, but a later tweet by the same account confirms that this did indeed occur.
September 20, 2014
The Escapist’s thread about Gamergate suffers a DDoS attack.
September 21, 2014
Milo Yiannopoulos publishes a piece for Breitbart in which he releases the names of the game journalists (and some marketing/PR people) involved in the private GameJournoPros mailing list. A day later, he leaks some of the group’s discussions that paint certain game journalists in a poor light.
September 22, 2014
Gamergate supporter GGfeminist is doxxed after posting a faculty ID to avoid claims of being a sockpuppet account. She then receives an explicit death threat warning her to “stop posting this gamergate bullshit” or else suffer the graphic consequences listed in the message. As of mid-October, not a single major game site has run an article about the threat made against her.
Also on September 22nd…
After Emma Watson delivers a stirring speech to the UN about feminism and gender equality, hoax site Fox Weekly posts a piece claiming that 4chan is planning to release nude photographs of her. This is eventually proven to be a hoax, but not before many users and websites attempt to link it to Gamergate.
September 28, 2014
At some point toward the end of September, free speech haven 4chan has its moderators start to close down conversations about Gamergate. Suspicions run rampant about the site owner’s relationship with a PR rep who works for Gawker Media (who owns gaming site Kotaku). None of these are ever confirmed, but the sudden censorship turns many users off and they begin an exodus to other sites. On September 28th, Gamergate support KingofPol is doxxed on 4chan.
September 30, 2014
Developers of the irreverent Postal series, Running With Scissors, release a statement titled “Gaming Is Not A Crime!” In it, they state that games “are not intended as a direct blow to either men or women. The men in a lot of these games are dressed just as scantily or sexy as the women. We don’t hear too many complaints about the lesser dressed men no matter how big their muscles or other appendages seem to be. Could it be that the people doing all the complaining are simply looking for their 15 minutes of fame or a way to make easy money without too much actual work?”
Also on the 30th…
Youtuber Sargon of Akkad publishes a video showing industry person Alex Lifschitz (I literally have no idea what he actually does, but people listen to him for whatever reason) railing against modern games and symbolically destroying a copy of Grand Theft Auto V.
October 2, 2014
After receiving emails as part of Operation Disrespectful Nod (an email campaign designed to let advertisers know about the behavior of the sites they’re advertising on), Intel pulls its ads off of gaming website Gamasutra. Those who oppose Gamergate criticize Intel for its move, claiming that they’re buckling to an “anti-feminist campaign.” Intel later apologized for sending the impression that they were taking sides in the Gamergate debate, but nevertheless stressed that “for the time being, Intel has decided not to continue with our current ad campaign on the gaming site Gamasutra.”
October 3, 2014
Photographer Mallorie Nasrallah posts on her Facebook page that she was the photographer for some old pictures of Zoe Quinn, and claims that “7 years later, Zoe is still BY FAR the worst client I have ever had.” She goes on to claim that Zoe talked to her about killing a would-be rapist by stabbing him in the face and then not reporting it to the police and backs this claim up with a heavily censored screenshot of a conversation between the two (note: Zoe was modeling under the name “Locke” at the time).
Also on October 3rd…
According to some sources (as in, take this with a grain of salt because it’s almost too ridiculous to be true), some anti-Gamergate people attempt to doxx a Gamergate supporter on 4chan, only to find out that said supporter works in the Department of Defense.
The day isn’t over yet, though…
The first usage of the Gamergate protest tag #neverkissagamer occurs on October 3rd. Many go on to point out the irony of the tag, and it eventually disappears as quickly as it appeared.
October 6, 2014
After hosting an hour-long discussion between many prominent individuals with differing views on the topic of Gamergate (including Youtube superstar TotalBiscuit and game journalist Greg Tito), Erik Kain writes a piece where he argues that gaming journalists need to engage Gamergate. He writes, “It’s time to for video game writers–however nervous or exhausted they are–to engage with gamers, and it’s time for gamers–however burned and jaded they may feel–to do likewise. At the same time we need to continue to condemn hateful speech and harassment, and to crowd it out with healthy discussion and debate.”
Also on October 6th…
Like Intel before them, the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) pulls their advertising from Gamasutra, claiming that they discontinued the ads as soon as they “became aware of their [sic] being an issue with negative journalism,” going on to state that they’re “very sensitive to issues of this nature.”
Lots of stuff happened on the 6th…
George Reese, Executive Director of Cloud Computing at Dell, makes the following tweet (along with several other similarly offensive ones):
The tweet is later deleted.
October 8, 2014
In response to GaymerX not taking what Gamergate’s opposition believes to be a strong enough stance against them, they’re bullied on Twitter by familiar names such as Christina Love (one of Patricia Hernandez’s undisclosed relationships from earlier) into officially denouncing the movement.
October 9, 2014
After The Verge posts an article claiming that Gamergate is a hate mob against women, Erik Kain responds with one of his own explaining that Gamergate “Is Not A Hate Group, It’s A Consumer Movement.”
October 10, 2014
Game developer Brianna Wu receives a Twitter threat that prompts her to leave her house. Within five days, she’s appeared on MSNBC (which many view as suspicious seeing as how her friend’s site is partnered with NBC) and The Huffington Post, and has articles written about the incident on Polygon, The Escapist, Kotaku, Giant Bomb, and even mainstream news sites.
October 11, 2014
Former game journalist and current president of “a consultancy firm for entertainment and media,” Adam Sessler, tweets that he’s not disappointed that there have been no articles about harassment that caused a Gamergate supporter to lose his job.
October 12, 2014
John Walker of RPS claims on his blog to have received “thousands of tweets that have been insulting, offensive, outrageously inaccurate, spiteful, cruel, or disturbing.” He goes on to claim in a Twitter conversation that the abuse “had the hashtag in it. Hundreds and hundreds of times.” This is later proven to be a lie.
October 14, 2014
Despite claiming to be anti-harassment, Brianna Wu appears to make a derogatory remark towards CameraLady (who has Autism). It’s later shown that this post originated from a fake account that uses an uppercase I rather than a lowercase L, making it look authentic at first glance. The fake account has since been suspended by Twitter.
On the same day…
Boogie2988, having recently been banned from the NeoGAF forum for not condemning Gamergate enough, receives a death threat on Youtube where his home address is posted and the offending user threatens to murder his wife.
The day isn’t over, though…
The ever-infamous WikiLeaks posts on Twitter in support of Gamergate, writing, “So you found out your media is corrupt. It is.”
This day never ends…
Anita Sarkeesian cancels a speech at Utah State University scheduled for October 15th after the school receives a death threat threatening “the deadliest school shooting in American history.” Anita later explains on Twitter that she canceled because she “didn’t feel the security measures were adequate.” The Washington Post (and many others) publishes a piece claiming that the threat “is just the latest one in the ongoing saga of Gamergate, an increasingly nasty culture war between video-game critics like Sarkeesian and a mob of gamers.” To date, no evidence of the connection between the threat and Gamergate has been established.
Apparently something else happened, too…
A Twitter search seems to indicate that the first use of #StopGamerGate2014 occurs on October 14th, with the first few tweets using it setting the overall tone. The hashtag goes on to explode in popularity, though some of this is proven to be bot activity. This leads to some strange moments. The tag’s sudden explosion in popularity also brings the trolls out, and Gamergate supporters use the same arguments that have been used against them for the past month to create amusing moments of cognitive dissonance.
October 16, 2014
Gamergate-supporting Youtuber Socks posts a video reacting negatively to a front-page New York Times article that casts Gamergate in a negative light, instead suggesting that the harassment is the work of third parties. She also highlights an 8chan post claiming that a coordinated anti-Gamergate media effort is soon on its way, though cautioning her watchers to “take this with a grain of salt. […] This could be legit, or it could be a panic troll.” By the end of the day, there are eight articles on different news sites focusing on the harassment of Sarkeesian, Zoe Quinn, and Brianna Wu (the Washington Post article was written a day earlier). Not one of these articles mentions the proven allegations against Patricia Hernandez, nor is ggfeminist’s death threat brought up. Toward the end of her video, Socks reminds her viewers, as she often does, to “be nice to confused new people.”
Also on October 16th…
CameraLady posts a TwitLonger post showing that someone tried to doxx Zoe Quinn on 8chan for real (a claimed earlier doxx against her was full of fake information), only to have Gamergate supporters spamming threads in order to delete the information from the site and protect Quinn’s privacy.
However, this “good” spam is eventually removed from a hidden board, and a user who appears to be the board moderator claims that “doxx are allowed.” According to the site’s FAQ, it “allows anyone who wants to to become the owner of their own board. They are given free reign to institute whatever rules they wish on their board, as long as they do not affect the global rules.” The one global rule is to “not post, request, or link to any content illegal in the United States of America.” After many condemn this behavior, the doxx is eventually removed and—in a spectacular display of missing the point entirely—the board rules are changed to: “Doxx are allowed, but not posted direcly. Use pastebin.”
Even later that day….
Gawker writer Sam Biddle tweets that Gamergate “is reaffirming what we’ve known to be true for decades: nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission,” as well as making a other derogatory posts. Gawker’s editor-in-chief would also admit to harassing individuals.
And capping the 16th off…
An anti-bullying charity campaign is kicked off and raises over $10,000 in the following day.
October 17, 2014
Mercedes-Benz pulls its advertising from Gawker as the result of its employees bullying and inciting violence against gamers on Twitter.
Later that day…
Several major gaming websites such as Eurogamer, Polygon, and Gamespot release articles addressed to their readers, all parroting the same general message: Gamergate is bad.
Also on the 17th…
Jonathan Blow, developer of indie hit Braid, tells Gamergate supporters not to play his games and implies that supporting the movement means supporting harassment.
October 18th, 2014
Alex Lifshitz tells Gamergate supporters that the money they raised for the anti-bullying campaign doesn’t undo the harassment they’ve done. To date, no proof has surfaced indicating that any of the threats were sent by Gamergate supporters. However, evidence comes out around this time suggesting that threats sent to Anita Sarkeesian were at least partially the work of a Brazilian game journalist from a site called Celebrinando. Gamespot writer Kevin VanOrd would later complain about harassment coming from someone at that same site going back years.
Also on the 18th…
An individual looking to create a way of automatically blocking Twitter harassment goes through 1500 Twitter mentions received by Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu over 20 hours and finds that “in those 20 hours neither Anita or Brianna received a serious rape or death threat (which doesn’t meant they never get them, just that they did not receive them in that time-frame). But what they did get was an endless stream of almost exclusive negativity.” He goes on to state that he “thought the biggest damage would be the high-profile death & rape threats, but the problem is much worse than that.”
October 19, 2014
Soon after challenging Gawker writer Sam Biddle to a boxing match (offering a donation of $10,000 to an anti-bullying charity as an incentive), prominent Gamergate supporter Mike Cernovich has many old tweets uncovered where he himself bullies other users. He goes on to welcome criticism of his past behavior and admit that it was “juvenile.”
Also on the 19th…
Mangotron posts an interview with two prominent figures in Gamergate on both sides of the issue.
October 20, 2014
According to the Washington Post, Mercedes-Benz reinstates its ad campaign on Gawker.
Also on the 20th…
Two days after having a GameJournoPros conversation leaked in which he seems to blacklist former Destructoid writer Allistair Pinsof (see: Destructoid controversy from April 2013), Editor-in-chief Dale north announces on his tumblr that he’s resigning from the site:
But the day’s not over yet…
Noted anti-Gamergate journalist Tadhg Kelly declares on TechCrunch that “Gamergate is effectively dead.” Despite this declaration, the tag is being used twice as much as it was a month earlier.
October 21, 2014
Adobe claims on Twitter that they’re not an advertiser with Gawker, but that they asked Gawker to remove their logo from the site, afterwards affirming that “Adobe stands against bullying.”
Also on the 21st…
Gaming website Revue Labs steps away from its position supporting Gamergate, stating that “the hope was that the conversation could be steered constructively and that our intentions would be very clear. This has not turned out to be the case. […] We feel the best way that we can contribute to this incredibly diverse culture is to do our best to be an example of what a gaming website should be.”
Later that day…
Former NFL player Chris Kluwe writes an article titled “Why #Gamergaters Piss Me The F*** Off” in which he expresses a hope that those using the hashtag develop genital warts. He writes: “Because you’re lazy. You’re ignorant. You are a blithering collection of wannabe Wikipedia philosophers, drunk on your own buzzwords, incapable of forming an original thought. You display a lack of knowledge stunning in its scope, a fundamental disregard of history and human nature so pronounced that makes me wonder if lead paint is a key component of your diet. You think you’re making piercing arguments when, in actuality, you’re throwing a temper tantrum that would embarrass a three-year-old.”
October 22, 2014
Actor and game voice actor Felicia Day posts on her tumblr about how Gamergate has made her afraid, only to be doxxed minutes after the post goes live.
Also on the 22nd…
Digital video game retailer Gamersgate (notice the “S”) puts out a statement explaining that they have no affiliation with the movement, as well as claiming to have “received threats and harsh words from around the world.” Apart from their downloader technically being a form of DRM and a general lack of DRM-free offerings, the store is absolutely wonderful and should be left out of this.
October 23, 2014
This video of a feminist, mom, and non-gamer who supports Gamergate explaining her reasons for doing so starts making the rounds:
Also on October 23rd…
Salon posts an article titled “#Gamergate is really about terrorism: Why Bill Maher should be vilifying the gaming community, too” in which the movement is labeled as a terrorist movement (the archive cuts off a large part of the text, but the missing part can be seen here). It’s also argued in the article that the reason no one has called those involved in Gamergate terrorists yet has to do with the fact that they’re assumed to be white, though this argument seems to only be made to score points against Bill Maher after some of his comments about Islam and Muslims upset people (as evidenced by the end’s disclaimer that it’s “grossly unfair to label a whole, diverse community of individuals based on the example of a small, violent and extreme element”).
October 24, 2014
Gamergate supporter Kingofpol, who was formerly doxxed, receives a knife in the mail with a handwritten note saying only “please kill yourself.” Once again, the gaming and mainstream media ignore the harassment perpetrated against a Gamergate supporter and choose to publish no stories on the incident.
October 25, 2014
Newsweek reporter Taylor Wofford, who just days prior echoed Sam Biddle’s statement about bullying by writing on his Twitter that “Bullying—actually—is good,” writes a piece for Newsweek in which he attempts to break down some Twitter numbers in order to demonstrate that Gamergate is objectively an attack on women. Within the same day, a writer on Medium breaks down the numbers and finds major flaws in the methodology that suggest that the data was deliberately framed to make Gamergate look bad rather than being reported on objectively.
October 27, 2014
Journalist David Pakman conducts an interview with Brianna Wu where he asks her some of the tougher questions Gamergate has wanted addressed. Brianna responds by claiming that it’s a hit piece:
The next day, Pakman conducts an interview with Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart to give him an opportunity to respond to some allegations she made about him in her interview. He’s asked similarly tough questions, especially in regards to his views on transsexualism and some of his more controversial statements published over the course of Gamergate.
Also on the 27th…
Youtuber AngryAussie posts a profanity-laced video living up to his name in which he rails against Gamergate:
October 28, 2014
Slate writer David Auerbach writes an article titled “How to End Gamergate” in which he states that “the key to reducing the movement’s size lies in the little known but surprisingly numerous species I call the Gamergate moderate (Gamergater moderabilus), which by my estimate constitutes well over half the movement,” going on to state that the key to dissolving Gamergate is to appeal to its moderates. He also calls for the firing of some of gaming journalism’s more toxic elements, and later states that “Gamergate’s flaws are, for the most part, flaws of the Internet, of online discourse, and of humanity.”
Also on October 28th…
Anita Sarkeesian writes an article for the New York Times in which she claims that “the time for invisible boundaries that guard the ‘purity’ of gaming as a niche subculture is over. The violent macho power fantasy will no longer define what gaming is all about.”
Even more from the 28th…
Equity feminist and Gamergate supporter Christina Hoff Sommers appears on Ronan Farrow’s MSNBC show to clear up some misconceptions the outlet and watchers have about the movement after the one-sided rundowns provided by Zoe Quinn, Brianna Wu, and Leigh Alexander. In it, Ronan presents the debunked Newsweek study as fact and continually interrupts Sommers. The speaking time Gamergate figures on MSNBC were allotted is later broken down in a forum thread on The Escapist, ultimately showing that anti-Gamergate voices were given 14 times more speaking time.
October 29, 2014
Anita Sarkeesian appears on The Colbert Report to talk about Gamergate: “We’re seeing this influx of different kinds of games and that’s what Gamergate is responding to. They’re actually responding to the fact that we’re saying gaming can no longer be this little boy’s club anymore.” (I wrote a response to this from my position as an early Gamergate supporter, by the way.)
October 30, 2014
The Verge posts an article titled “Gamergate is dead” in which it’s stated that “Gamergate began in August as an organized attack on a single woman in the video game community, and expanded to be a life threatening attack on many women in the global community. During that window, acutely aware of their own negative image, members redirected the movement’s public-facing purpose to be about ethics in game journalism — an agenda that was literally set after journalists reacted to a week of swatting, rape and death threats directed towards both men and women in the industry.”
Despite their declaration, Gamergate’s exposure on The Colbert Report leads to a sharp upswing in tweets using the hashtag.
Also on October 30th…
A Reddit post goes up showing that a transwoman was banned from discussion by a moderator because they demonstrated “a fundamental lack of gratitude for your allies on the left who have campaigned for social justice for decades.” The message goes on to state: “You, as a transwoman, are indebted to us, and the very least you could have done would have been to abstain from this ugly flame war until it passed. Instead, you have decided to reinforce the tokenism of the reactionaries by endorsing them and by participating in their forums. You may not be our shield, but you are our property. We own you. Your very existence is protected by the institutions and laws we have made for you. Never forget this, and in the future, show some fucking gratitude.”
The moderator in question has since been removed.
Note: If I missed anything important or got something wrong in the flurry of links and details, feel free to email me here:On Thursday, the ever-struggling AMD announced its fourth straight quarterly loss—at $197 million—putting total losses for the first nine months of 2015 at $557 million.
Over the last 17 years, the company has sustained a total net loss of nearly $8 billion.
As part of the earnings release, the company also announced a new joint venture with Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics for assembly and testing.
The Chinese company has acquired an 85 percent share in AMD’s two facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and Suzhou, China, which will net AMD around $371 million.
The new venture seems like yet another desperate move on the part of the chipmaker that once saw itself as a scrappy underdog to Intel.
On Wednesday, Phil Rogers, the president of the Heterogeneous System Architecture Foundation, left AMD after 21 years to join rival Nvidia as its "Compute Server Architect." Earlier this month, the company also announced it was cutting 500 white-collar jobs, or about 5 percent of its global workforce.
Back in April 2015, AMD said that it was leaving the high density microserver market, effective immediately—more than three years after acquiring SeaMicro in 2012 for $334 million.
What Atiq Raza, the company’s former president, CTO, and COO, told Ars more than two years ago seems to still hold true.
"There's no control on spending—even now, one of the problems is if you take a look at the salary structure," he said, "[AMD is] a sinking ship, fundamentally."Schematic of a spin-torque nano-oscillator, consisting of a non-magnetic spacer (gold) between two ferromagnetic layers, with magnetization m for the free layer (blue) and M for the fixed layer (silver). A current injected into the oscillator induces magnetization precessions of m. For our experiments we used a nano-oscillator with a diameter of 375 nm; however, diameters of 10– |
the release of the beer. While I see his point of celebrating a wheat beer, I think there is more to this day. For a state that sees such harsh winters and unpredictable weather, Oberon Day is a nice way to celebrate warmer weather on the way. It is also a great day for restaurants to offer some good food pairing and infusions with the wheat beer.The discovery in a Center Valley home last fall of the highest radon reading ever in Pennsylvania has its roots in a mystery that started in Berks County almost 30 years ago.
For Brian Redmond, professor of geology and chemistry in Wilkes University's Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, the story that brought radon from obscurity to well-known household hazard is one worth recalling.
"Pennsylvania's the reason this all exists," Redmond recently said.
Radon is a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that occurs naturally through the breakdown of uranium in soil and rocks, entering structures through cracks in the foundation or other openings.
About one in 15 homes in the U.S. has elevated radon levels, and radon is responsible for approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
It was a strange coincidence in a new eastern Pennsylvania nuclear plant 30 years ago that first brought the threat of radon to light.
Redmond was involved in radon research in the 1980s, when awareness of the problem first surfaced.
He said the story started Dec. 14, 1984, at the then new Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County.
One of the employees, Stanley J. Watras, set off the radiation monitoring devices.
"He went in and the thing went crazy," Redmond said.
What was odd was that at the time, there was no radioactive material at the site that could have triggered the detectors.
However, the devices were accurate, Redmond said.
Watras was covered with radioactive material — but it wasn't from the plant.
As it turned out, the Watras family's new house in Colebrookdale Township, Berks County, had massive amounts of radon in it.
News on the discovery broke about a month later and the story quickly spread internationally.
In weeks to follow, the state Department of Environmental Protection — then known as the Department of Environmental Resources — worked to track down the source of the radon.
That's where Redmond came in: "I'm a geology professor, so when all of this hit, they wondered where the radon was coming from," he said.
Redmond, a Detroit native, holds degrees from Michigan State and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition to his tenure at Wilkes University, where he has taught in different areas including geology, geography, environmental science and astronomy since 1976, he volunteered for several years with the Peace Corps and also has done research and consulting, including work with radon.
Along with a physics professor, Roger Maxwell, Redmond tried to correlate the high radon levels in Berks County with a physical cause.
As it turned out, the Watras house was on the Reading Prong, a belt of uranium-rich rock stretching from the Reading area to northern New Jersey, passing through the Lehigh Valley.
Although found in trace amounts in rock and soil almost everywhere, the radioactive element is particularly associated with certain kinds of rock, including granite and black shale, Redmond said. The Marcellus Shale, the source of massive amounts of natural gas in Pennsylvania, is also high in uranium, he said.
Uranium decays into radium, which in turn decays into radon, a colorless, odorless chemical element. Radon is a gas, and it decays down fairly quickly, but it remains floating in the air for some time, Redmond said. Radioactive particulates — called "radon daughters" because they continue to decay and emit radiation — will settle on surfaces, as they did throughout the Watras house, he said.
The Watras case made state and federal environmental agencies realize that radon in peoples' houses could be a problem, Redmond said.
Within months, as scarce radon kits became available, the state began to test in the Lehigh Valley, turning up positive results.
Although there are no short-term risks associated with radon, long-term exposure can lead to lung cancer, and it is second only to smoking as the cause of the disease, according to the National Institute of Health.
The discovery of residential radon and its risks made headlines around the world, and spurred U.S. government agencies to take action. The EPA had to come up with an acceptable level for indoor radon, and settled on 4 picocuries per liter. A picocurie is a measurement of radioactivity related to the rate of decay.
The Watras house tested at an astounding 2,700 picocuries per liter — almost 700 times the recommended level.
Today, residential radon testing is "as common as testing for termites," as Redmond put it, but in the 1980s it was a new territory.
Redmond was a certified radon tester and mitigator in those early days, but, he said, "As it became routine, I pretty much backed out of it."
Watras would also get into the field, becoming a certified radon mitigator, per newspaper accounts. Efforts to reach him for this story were unsuccessful.
Redmond thinks the risks of radon are "a little bit inflated." The level of 4 picocuries per liter is based on a yearlong testing of radon in a house under normal conditions, he said. Short-term test results can be 4 to 6 times higher than the results of annual tests, he said.
Nonetheless, Redmond does advocate having homes tested — just in case it turns out there are high levels of radon.
"Until you test, you don't know," he said.
Last fall, the highest radon level ever recorded in Pennsylvania — 3,715 picocuries per liter — was discovered in a house in Upper Saucon Township. Officials said the homeowner decided to do the test.
The detection in the home, and high levels in several others, led the state to issue a call to homeowners in the Center Valley area to have their homes tested.
The high level of radon discovered in Center Valley even took remediation professionals by surprise.
"I was kind of shocked to see radon levels were over 1,000," said Bill Brodhead, whose company, WPB Enterprises, has been installing radon mitigation systems in homes since the 1980s.It was a WhatsApp message Monday morning that alerted Tina Dabi about the existence of more than 35 fake pages and profiles under her name on Facebook. Each had photos of the 22-year-old UPSC exam topper posing with her parents or with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, or giving an interview to a news channel. They also had quotes that were falsely attributed to her.
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One status on a fake profile said, “Dear obstacle, I will destroy you…”, while on another, a user posing as Dabi tells her 465 followers, “May the god gives endurance and encouragement to all the human beings so that they can live joyful life”.
A distressed Dabi says over the phone, “It’s very creepy. I never said these things about hard work or dedication. These profiles are quoting someone else and attributing it to me. In future, they may do something worse.”
Of the many “quotes” circulating on WhatsApp and Facebook attributed to Dabi is one that involves Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dr B R Ambedkar.
[related-post]
“…I know who has been inspiring me and he our P.M. Narendra Modi. Am I compelled to admit Ambedkar ji as my idol just because I belong to S.C. category? Why this ‘Jai Bhim’ comments everywhere? I am a great admirer of Baba Saheb. What he had done for the backward categories is laudable. He had worked towards the upliftment of the dalits but he had never supported ‘reservation’. The system of reservation was in our constitution for very short period but the politicians are using it as a tool for their vote banks”, says the statement. Dabi is the first Dalit girl to top the UPSC examination.
She says, “There is a dispute between who I idolise. During all my interviews, I said it’s a deeply personal question and I maintain that I have great regard for both these personalities but I did not make that statement.”
On Monday afternoon, the Facebook team sent her emails notifying that due to repeated complaints by Facebook users, her fake profiles are being deactivated. A few hours later, in the evening, Dabi updated her Facebook status, clarifying that “…none of the ridiculous statements being made under my name are my opinions…”
The Lady Shri Ram College graduate has attained a mini-celebrity status since the UPSC exam results were announced a week ago, resulting in a slew of fan pages on social media. While the fake profiles have been taken down, the pages remain, often misquoting her or falsely attributing statements to her.
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“I am a simple 22-year-old girl who has needlessly been dragged into this controversy. It’s heartbreaking that some people won’t let me enjoy my success after all the hard work I put in,” says Dabi.The Asian swamp eel, swamp eel, rice eel, or white ricefield eel (Monopterus albus) is a commercially important, air-breathing species of fish in the family Synbranchidae. Originating in the waters of East and Southeast Asia, it has been identified as an invasive species in the North American Everglades.
Taxonomy and evolution [ edit ]
The Asian swamp eel is a freshwater eel-like fish belonging to the family Synbranchidae. This family is native to the fresh, brackish, tropical, and subtropical waters of Asia, but is now present in West Africa and North, Central, and South America.[1] Its taxonomy, however, is incorrect. Though Monopterus albus was initially thought to be a single species, four known populations of the “species” in the southeastern United States may actually be three distinct species or taxa,[2] each originating from a different area in Asia.[3] Monopterus albus is placed in the class or subclass Actinopterygii. It arose from the Osteichthyes, the first bony fish, whose fossil record dates back to the Triassic period. In turn, the bony fish came from the Acanthodii class of bony and cartilaginous fish. The common name of M. albus is somewhat of a misnomer, as the Asian swamp eel is not an eel, per se. Eels are of the order Anguilliformes, while M. albus is of the order Synbranchiformes.
Characteristics [ edit ]
Close-up of the heads of Asian swamp eels from Mindanao, Philippines
The Asian swamp eel has a scaleless, anguilliform (snake-like) body that grows to a meter or less, typically 25 to 40 cm as an adult. As a swamp eel, it has a tapering tail and blunt snout, and lacks pectoral and pelvic fins. The dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are rudimentary, with the caudal fin often absent.[1] These fins serve to protect the swamp eel against rolling, and assist in sudden turns and stops. Its gill membranes are fused, but one v-shaped gill is located beneath the head. Such a shape prevents reverse flow. Its body and head are dark, with dark olive or brown dorsal coloring and light orange ventral coloring. This coloration camouflages the aquatic predator; however, some are brightly colored with yellow, black, and gold spots.
The mouth is large and protractile, and both upper and lower jaws have tiny teeth for eating fishes, worms, crustaceans, and other small aquatic animals at night.[2]
Life history [ edit ]
M. albus is an evasive nocturnal animal. Its diet includes other fish, shrimp, crayfish, frogs, turtle eggs, aquatic invertebrates such as worms and insects, and occasionally detritus. Unlike the traits of its diurnal counterparts, M. albus life history traits (e.g. absolute density and survival) are difficult to measure accurately and can require decades of data to detect trends, as expressed by the lack of data available on the topic.[4] This results in an increase in the population of the invasive species without adequate time for population control methods.[4] Hence its wide distribution.[5]
The Asian swamp eel has versatile motility and is even capable of moving over dry land for short distances. This behavior is used for relocation according to resource availability. In the absence of water and food, the Asian swamp eel is able to survive long periods of drought by burrowing in moist earth. If its home becomes unsuitable, M. albus simply crawls ashore and makes its way to a more suitable home by slithering over the land in a snake-like fashion. These characteristics enhance its ability to disperse widely.[6] The swamp eel is a voracious general predator, making it a threat to native fishes, amphibians, and aquatic invertebrates.[6]
The survivorship of a species or cohort can be found by calculating the number or proportion of individuals surviving at each age. Type I survivorship is characterized by high survival in early and middle life,[7] followed by a rapid decline in survivorship in later life because of physiological changes. Type II survivorship[8] exhibits a constant mortality rate regardless of age because of consistent environmental threats.[9] M. albus survivorship falls between Type I, physiological, and Type II, ecological. They exhibit a great deal of parental care,[2] indicative of physiological survivorship. Large males construct bubble nests at the mouth of burrows and guard the eggs and young. Additionally, eel populations are dependent upon resource abundance, making their survivorship partially ecological.
Lifecycle [ edit ]
The Asian swamp eel is hermaphroditic. All young are females. As juvenile fish begin to mature, some take on the masculine phenotype. Males are capable of changing sex, allowing them to replenish female populations when female densities are low. This change from one sex to another can take up to a year.[10]
Spawning can occur throughout the year. Eggs are laid in bubble nests located in shallow waters. These bubble nests float at the water’s surface and are not attached to aquatic vegetation. Females produce up to 1,000 eggs, each, per spawning event.[11]
Distribution and habitat [ edit ]
M. albus is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of northern India and Burma to China, Asiatic Russia, Japan, and Indo-Malayan Archipelago. It is one of the common fish found mainly in Asia, from India, Southern China to Malaysia and Indonesia. The fish is an important protein source for people in the northeastern part of Thailand. In Asia, the swamp eel is wide-ranging, occurring in both tropical and temperate climates. Swamp eels live in ditches, ponds, streams, and rice paddies.
Native habitat [ edit ]
The preferred environment for the Asian swamp eel includes a wide variety of freshwater-like shallow wetlands, stagnant waters, marshes, streams, rivers, ditches, canals, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. While they prefer fresh water, they are also able to tolerate brackish and saline conditions, as seen in their colonization of American marshlands. Depths of less than 3 m are optimal. M. albus also easily tolerates cold temperatures — well below 0 °C[citation needed] - and a wide range of oxygen levels. This fish can obtain up to 25% oxygen from air cutaneously if not using gills underwater. Factors that typically limit dispersal — temperature, oxygen, and salinity — do not limit the Asian swamp eel.
Nonnative habitats [ edit ]
Invasive Asian swamp eels from Georgia in the United States
The Asian swamp eels were first introduced to the Hawaiian Islands around 1900.[12] Locations in the southeastern United States were not colonized until the end of the 20th century.[6] As early as 1990, Asian swamp eels were introduced to several ponds at a nature center near Atlanta, Georgia, within the Chattahoochee River drainage basin; individuals have since migrated to an adjacent marsh of the Chattahoochee River.[13] As a general predator, the Asian swamp eel has disrupted the ecological balance of the Everglades. In 1994, eel specimen were collected in ponds at the Chattahoochee Nature Center north of Atlanta. Subsequently, eels were collected from Florida waters in 1997 at two widely separated areas: one in southeast and the other in west-central Florida.[14] Tens of thousands of swamp eels are estimated to inhabit nearly 55 miles of two water canal systems in southern Florida, one in the North Miami area and another on the eastern side of Everglades National Park. Two other populations of the eel have been discovered since 1993: one outside of Tampa, Florida, and one in southern Georgia near the Chattahoochee River.[15] One or more of the populations are believed to be the result of an intentional or accidental release of the creature from a home aquarium or fish farm. Some populations may have been the result of an attempt by a few local residents to establish the eels as a food source. Asian swamp eels pose a threat to the homeostasis of Everglades National Park [6] by disrupting the natural interactions between native species and their environment. The species has an incredible ability to survive in adverse conditions, and the Everglade food web presents no known natural predators. Swamp eels survive even in the dry season when other non-native species normally die. To combat Asian swamp eel resilience, the American Fisheries Society is investigating methods for control, containment, and possible eradication.[13]
Control [ edit ]
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) proposed and implemented several methods in controlling the Monopterus albus population in Southern Florida.[2] Having documented eel distribution, behavior, and biology, the USGS discourages catching and transporting the eel for use as bait, food, or aquarium pets.[2] Water management practices are also changing to combat the invasive species. Selected water-control structures near established swamp eel populations are not being opened to prevent or at least retard dispersal, particularly into the waters of Everglades National Park.[6] Adult and juvenile swamp eels are obligate air-breathers, while young absorb oxygen directly through the skin. As such, standard fish poisons or pesticides (e.g., rotenone and antimycin-A) that are transmitted across the gill membrane may not be effective.[13] Serial pesticide dilutions of antimycin-A were tested and found to be innocuous. No change in morbidity and mortality were observed.[13]
Since all individuals begin as females before maturation, it would be best to implement removal of the species at the juvenile stage of the life cycle so as to affect the largest number of the reproductive population.[6]
Cuisine [ edit ]
In Indonesia, Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and other Asian countries, swamp eels are farmed in polyculture rice fields and sold as a food product with the rice crop.
Disease [ edit ]
Swamp eels are an important host for Gnathostoma spinigerum. Eating raw or undercooked swamp eel can cause gnathostomiasis, a common disease in Thailand, Laos, Burma, and Vietnam. [16][17][18] Neurognathostomiasis has been reported in the US, but a link to imported swamp eels has not been proven.[19]
Gnathostoma binucleatum (which is native to the Americas) has not been previously reported to cause neurognathostomiasis, suggesting that G. spinigerum has been introduced to the Americas, but a survey of isolates has not confirmed this.[20]British teen Rahmaan Mohammadi was questioned by "anti-terrorism" police for wearing a "Free Palestine" badge to school, numerous media outlets in the U.K. have reported.
The 17-year-old student at Challney High School for Boys in Luton was referred to police by his teachers last summer. They cited Prevent, the U.K.'s so-called anti-radicalization program.
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Mohammadi says he was characterized as an "extremist" and was "interrogated" by police, who warned him not to talk about Palestine in school.
He also says that school staff pressured his 14-year-old brother Rahmaan to tell him to "stop being radical."
In addition to wearing "Free Palestine" badges and bracelet, Mohammadi says he was treated as a criminal for bringing a leaflet to school from the non-profit Palestinian human rights organization Friends of al-Aqsa.
Friends of Al-Aqsa and as many as 25 other pro-Palestinian organizations recently had their bank accounts abruptly closed by the U.K.'s Co-op Bank. The bank did not give the newspaper The Independent a reason why it closed the groups' accounts.
Mohammadi spoke at Goldsmiths University in early February at a meeting of the group Students Not Suspects, which protests the government's Prevent campaign.
"I'm targeted in the U.K. because I'm from Afghanistan," the teen explained. "If I go back to Afghanistan, I'm targeted because I've lived in the U.K. So I don't really have a home."
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A recent report found that the British government deported 2,748 unaccompanied child refugees back to war-torn areas from 2007 to 2015, including 2,018 young Afghan asylum-seekers. Human Rights Watch says the deportations are "cruel" and "disturbing," and likely violate international law.
"As a Muslim, I fight for justice, the equality of freedom, and Prevent itself is fighting that. It takes basic human rights away," Mohammadi added.
Critics of Prevent say the program is racist, anti-Muslim and draconian. In 2015, hundreds of academics signed an open letter in The Independent condemning the program, saying Prevent has a "chilling effect" on free speech and dissent in the U.K.
Between 2012 and late 2015, more than 4,000 people were referred to Prevent, approximately half of whom were under age 18, including children as young as three years old.
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"Prevent creates paranoia," Mohammadi told Britain's The Sunday Times. "When police come to your house and say, 'I want to speak to you,' with this massive folder with your name on it, that's intimidating. It makes you feel alienated."
Yusuf Hassan, vice president of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, told the Huffington Post "Instead of allowing our young people to critique and explore their opinions on such issues, the government are policing thoughts with initiatives like that of Prevent."
"Would a child wearing a badge in support of the illegal Israeli settlements be treated in such a manner?" Hassan asked. He answered his own question: "I highly doubt it."
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Students who support Palestinian human rights have faced similar repression in the U.S. The Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal documented this backlash in their report "The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the U.S."
Between January 2014 and June 2015, legal advocacy organization Palestine Legal says it responded to nearly 300 incidents of suppression of Palestinian solidarity work, 85 percent of which was targeted at students and professors on more than 65 U.S. college campuses.
Palestinians have lived under illegal Israeli military occupation since 1967. In the past decades, Israel has accelerated its colonization of the occupied West Bank, expanding its illegal settlements and slowly taking more and more Palestinian land. More than 600,000 Israeli settlers now live in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in what the U.N. says is a flagrant violation of international law.
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For almost a decade, the Israeli government has also imposed a blockade on Gaza, maintaining effective control over everything that goes into the strip. U.N. experts have explicitly said the blockade is illegal. Supporters of Israel claim the Israeli siege on Gaza is legal, citing the U.N.'s Palmer Report, but human rights groups like Amnesty International say they are purposefully misinterpreting the U.N.'s statement.
Furthermore, legal experts say that, according to international humanitarian law, despite Israel's withdrawal of illegal settlers from the strip in 2005, Gaza is still under effective occupation, as Israel maintains control over Gaza's airspace, territorial waters, electromagnetic field and population registry, as well as most of Gaza's six land crossings. The U.S.-allied Israeli and Egyptian militaries also regularly fire at Palestinian fishers and farmers. Because of Israel's blockade and continuous wars, the U.N. warns Gaza will be "uninhabitable" by 2020.
The violence has escalated since October. Since then, close to 170 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces or illegal settlers. 27 Israelis were killed by Palestinians in the same time period. The majority of attacks Palestinians carried out against Israelis have been in the illegally occupied territories.
OCHA reported in early January that roughly 14,000 Palestinians had been injured in the recent increase in suppression of protests or in raids by Israeli occupation forces.VIENNA, Va. — On a recent sunny afternoon, a half-dozen grinding and spinning cement trucks helped lay the foundation for what many real estate developers see as the most promising housing opportunity in postrecession America: apartment living.
Here in suburban Vienna, about 16 miles west of downtown Washington, Joshua Solomon’s DSF Group is remaking a congested but nondescript intersection into a haven for young adults of the millennial generation. Like many other developers who survived the housing bust, he now expects a coming wave of renters who intend to stay that way for a while to help lead the industry to a brighter future.
“That generation of folks has seen people really get hurt by homeownership,” said Mr. Solomon, president of the company, which is based in Waltham, Mass. “The petal has really fallen off the rose as it pertains to homeownership. People don’t want to be tied down to a mortgage they can’t get out of quickly.”
That is true of Cabell Dickinson, 30, who had rented an apartment in Arlington, Va., for eight years when she and her boyfriend decided in May to get more serious about their relationship. Instead of marrying and buying a home, however, they followed friends to Mr. Solomon’s complex, known as Halstead Square, moving into a $2,000-a-month apartment.In this inaugural podcast episode, I sit down to chat with Christopher Eccleston who is a professor at the University of Bath, UK, and a leading researcher in the area of pain research.
We talk about Chris’ most eye-opening discoveries in his area of pain research, why men don’t attend to pain stimuli enough, the 10 neglected senses, the link between breathing and panic, and the similarities between yawning and itching as evolutionary behaviours.
Listen to the podcast
Show highlights
In this episode, Chris and I discuss:
The life of a leading researcher in the area of pain research [1:01]
Why some admit pain into their conscious awareness while others are better at distracting themselves from experiencing pain [2:34]
Why men don’t pay enough attention to pain stimuli [4:19]
Some of Christopher’s most eye-opening discoveries in his field [5:07]
The neglected senses and why aren’t they widely accepted yet [7:13]
What the 10 neglected senses are [9:53]
What the neglected sense of breathing can teach us about stress, anxiety, and panic [11:40]
Panic being caused by hypoventilation, not hyperventilation [13:35]
The neglected sense of itching, why we scratch, and whether itching is a useful sense or one that is harmful [14:51]
The problem of itching [17:19]
The comparison of itching and yawning as adaptive evolutionary behaviours [18:38]
Quotes
“As men, we don’t attend to pain enough. We don’t attend to signals of possible danger or injury.”
On the dominance of vision in our culture: “Vision is most dominant of all. If you look narratively in our culture, at many of our metaphors, much of our language is very visually orientated. We say ‘see you later’, we say ‘it is interesting how you look at that’…language in our lives is very visually dominated.”
“We can understand that children can only understand certain things so let’s start with the Big Five (vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch). But I think psychology has no excuse.”
On why there are neglected senses: “If I’m really going to be contentious, I think it comes from the lack of understanding of the history of psychology.”
“Because you’re breathing all the time, very quickly you are seconds away from the terror of being suffocated, at any point, at anytime as you move around your life.”
On the link between breathing and panic: “It could be exactly the opposite. That you are hyperventilating and have been for some time. It might be triggering a suffocation response, an appropriate suffocation response which leads you to panic, which makes you want to breathe more.”
Resources
Embodied: The Psychology of Physical Sensation by Christopher Eccleston, Oxford University Press.
***
Special thanks to Christopher Eccleston and a big thank you to Jeff Goins for being an inspiration.
AdvertisementsIs Summer almost here? Well, you wouldn’t really think so if, like me, you are based in England. I have slowed down things considerably as April was a bit crazy for me. My highlight was definitely a trip to Abu Dhabi, which literally was one of the best trips I have ever taken – and I have been around. In May, I went to Cyprus after a 10-year break and also had a fantastic weekend in Bordeaux, France. I ended the month in the South of England, in Devon, to be more precise. I stayed in Exeter for the first time, and loved the Magdalen Chapter hotel.
Where have the group been? Well well well, you won’t be disappointed!
Kim-Marie, aka Luxury Travel Mom went to Cuba – as an American, it is something quite unusual. She gives us a lesson on cocktail history – I bet you will learn a thing or three.
Katie from Traveling Panties shares with us an experience at the amazing Four Seasons in the Seychelles – a paradise which is definitely on my list.
Paul, from A Luxury Travel Blog went to Athens, in Greece and shares 8 things he saw. I stopped at this one – can you see the man jumping? I couldn’t quite believe it!
And last, but certainly not the least, the lovely Nadine Jolie went to Nantucket in New England. I so want to go there – I loved the bits I saw on previous trips (Newport and Cape Cod) and a return is due. Mark my words.
Only one more trip to go for me – the 5th destination from my Top 5 picks for Spring. Italy is definitely calling my name and I cannot wait.
xo
Mrs. OMost Americans have access to some sort of recycling program. However, the rules, practices and community norms around recycling vary considerably from place to place, contributing to dramatically different local recycling levels. People who live in places where social norms strongly encourage recycling are more likely to be aware of recycling rules, say they have more options for recycling, and see more of the waste they generate being recycled rather than landfilled, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
The survey, part of a study covering issues involving climate change, energy and the environment, found that about three-in-ten Americans (28%) say their local community’s social norms strongly encourage recycling and re-use. About a fifth (22%) say most people in their communities don’t really encourage recycling; the remaining half live in places where, they say, norms around recycling are somewhere in the middle.
The study comes as U.S. recycling rates, after rising for decades, have plateaued. The Environmental Protection Agency says that in 2013, the most recent year for which it has data, Americans recycled or composted 1.51 pounds of waste per day, a figure that’s changed little since 2006. On the other hand, Americans are doing better at creating less trash in the first place: Per-capita waste generation has fallen from 4.7 pounds per person per day in 2006 to 4.4 pounds in 2013, and total municipal solid waste generation fell by 3 million tons.
A recent study conducted for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, an industry group, estimated that 94% of the U.S. population has some type of recycling program available to them: About 30% have curbside collection only, 43% have both curbside service and drop-off centers and 21% have drop-off programs only. (This generally aligns with findings from the EPA, which has estimated that in 2011, there were more than 9,800 curbside recycling programs throughout the U.S., covering more than 70% of the population.)
Curbside collection is more common in larger cities and towns: 93% of the communities in the SPC study with populations greater than 125,000 provided single-family curbside recycling, as opposed to 65% of communities with populations below 50,000. (The Pew Research Center survey, interestingly, found a similar pattern but with lower rates: About seven-in-ten people living in urban and suburban communities said they had curbside recycling, compared with just four-in-ten rural residents, or 40%.)
But just because recycling programs exist doesn’t mean everyone with access to them actually recycles. According to the EPA, only 34.3% of the 254.1 million tons of municipal solid waste generated in 2013 was recovered through recycling or composting; the overall recovery rate has actually slipped a bit since peaking at 34.7% in 2011. (“Municipal solid waste” is the term of art for what most of us think of as trash; it excludes construction and demolition debris, wastewater treatment sludges, and non-hazardous industrial wastes. “Recovery” includes recycling and composting, but not burning waste to produce energy.)
Other researchers using different methodologies have come up with higher waste-generation estimates and lower recovery rates. For example, a new report from the Environmental Research & Education Foundation estimates U.S. municipal solid waste generation in 2013 at 347 million tons, with 27% of it being recycled or composted. Columbia University’s Earth Engineering Center, using a broader definition of municipal solid waste than the EPA, surveyed state and local waste management agencies and came up with an estimate of 389 million tons generated in 2011, with 29% recycled or composted.
Using data from the Columbia study, we calculated that California (53.4%), Maine (51.5%) and Washington state (50.1%) had the highest recovery rates for municipal solid waste in the nation in 2011; Oklahoma (3.7%), Alaska (4.5%) and Mississippi (4.8%) had the lowest.
Looking beyond these overall recovery rates, local recycling programs vary considerably in which materials they accept and the degree to which residents must separate different materials. The Pew Research Center survey found that 59% of the public believes that “most types of items” can be recycled in their community; another 26% characterize their options as “some,” and 13% say only a few types of items can be recycled where they live. And the people who live in places that strongly encourage recycling also are more likely to say that most types of items can be recycled there.
But the perception that communities recycle “most types of items” obscures the markedly different rates at which various types of waste actually are recycled or composted. According to our analysis of the EPA data, 99% of lead-acid batteries (the sort found in cars and trucks), 88.5% of corrugated cardboard boxes, and 67% of newspapers, directories and the like were recycled as of 2013. On the other hand, only 28.2% of high-density polyethylene containers (such as milk jugs) were recycled, as were 13.5% of plastic bags and wraps and only 6.2% of small appliances. Three-fifths (60.2%) of yard trimmings were composted, but just 5% of food waste was.
One category of solid waste that’s grown rapidly, in both quantity generated and amount recycled, is consumer electronics – TVs, computer equipment, phones, DVD players and the like. According to the EPA report, 40.4% of the 3.1 million tons of consumer electronics that entered the wastestream in 2013 were recycled, up from 30.6% in 2012.
About half (48%) of adults in the Pew Research Center survey say their community has services for recycling electronic devices, though about a third (34%) say they aren’t sure. People living in places that strongly encourage recycling in general are much more likely to say that electronics are recycled in their local areas most or some of the time, compared with people who live in communities that “do not really encourage” recycling (62% versus 15%).
A challenge for many community-based recycling programs, especially in recent years, is that they’re losing money. Recycling, at root, is a commodity business, and lower prices for wood pulp, aluminum, oil (out of which plastics are made) and other feedstock commodities are pushing many recyclers into the red. That, in turn, has forced localities to pay recycling companies to accept their collected bottles, cans and paper, when just a few years ago the recyclers paid them.
Advocates say there are other important considerations in favor of recycling – prime among them that making products with recycled materials rather than virgin stock uses less energy and thus creates fewer greenhouse-gas emissions. The EPA estimates that the 87.2 million tons of materials recycled or composted in 2013 reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of more than 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. However, critics point out that almost 80% of those greenhouse-gas benefits come from paper and paperboard recycling, and most of the remainer comes from recycling steel, aluminum and other metals.
Note: The topline for the Pew Research Center survey is available here (PDF), and the methodology is here.
Topics: Energy and EnvironmentActivists have identified the senior New York Police Department officer who allegedly pepper-sprayed young women at the “Occupy Wall Street” protests, and it’s not the first time he has been accused of civil rights abuses.
The Guardian confirmed that the officer is Anthony Bologna, who was also accused of civil rights |
Congress just can’t sit by and let the president defy the constitution and defy his own his oath of office.”
Obama has threatened to veto the House-passed measure. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said last week the Senate was “stuck” and that the next move was up to the House.
Netanyahu trip to Congress provokes harsh reaction from US Jewish leaders Read more
Boehner said Senate Democrats should be blamed if the department funding lapsed. Republicans control 54 seats – 60 votes are needed to clear procedural hurdles.
Netanyahu’s speech, meanwhile, which is set for 3 March, has caused controversy in the US and in Israel. Some Democrats plan to skip it because they consider it a divisive stunt, potentially aimed at sabotaging nuclear negotiations with Iran, and a breach of protocol that suggests the US is taking sides in coming Israeli elections.
Boehner was asked by Fox why he told Israel’s ambassador to the US not to mention the invitation to the White House in advance. He said he “wanted to make sure that there was no interference”.U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz talks during a press conference in Pensacola on April 10, 2017, about problems with the Navy's T-45 fleet. (Photo: News Journal file photo)
Rep. Matt Gaetz is calling on Congress to end the tax-exempt status of the NFL's business office in the wake of controversy over players and team owners kneeling during the national anthem.
Gaetz, Northwest Florida's Republican congressman, took to the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday and said players have a constitutional right to free speech, but Americans shouldn't subsidize a sport whose players act unpatriotically.
More: Moon: Do you always stand for the national anthem?
"When people kneel during our national anthem, they don't simply indict the issue with which they have some particular grievance," said Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach. "They indict our country, our service members, our first-responders, our founding fathers and the principles that made this country great."
Gaetz's office also announced in a press release that he has become the lead sponsor of the Pro Sports Act, a bill that removes the tax-exempt status of the NFL's League Office, which was created in 1966.
Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, introduced the bill in January, but it has been without a lead sponsor since Chaffetz resigned from Congress in June.
“If players want to protest, they have that right — but they should do it on their own time, and on their own dime.” Matt Gaetz
The tax exemption only applies to the NFL's central office. The NFL voluntarily relinquished its tax-exempt status in 2015. Individual teams pay taxes on their profits.
Gaetz said he wanted to make the voluntary relinqueshment permanent under the tax code.
"We must close this loophole in the tax code, and end taxpayer subsidies for professional athletics," Gaetz said in the release. "If players want to protest, they have that right — but they should do it on their own time, and on their own dime."
Read or Share this story: http://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/2017/09/26/matt-gaetz-tax-exempt-status-nfl-national-anthem-protests/706153001/The so-called PROTECT IP act, sequel to the much-criticized COICA, is under fire again as it enters the process of becoming law. We’ve talked about it on this blog before and no doubt the discussion will continue after it passes or is rejected, but it’s important at this critical moment that everyone concerned weigh in and make an unambiguous statement regarding the quality of this bill. So then: PROTECT IP is a lunatic proposal, penned by a dinosauric industry concerned solely with the preservation of its own profits. It will do nothing to curb piracy while at the same time eroding fundamental freedoms of the internet.
The only people who can possibly be in favor of this bill are either ignorant of its implications or stand to gain by its passage. This desperate power grab by a diminishing elite fails to even comprehend the problems it aims to solve, and its blunt force methods are wide open for abuse, and very possibly unconstitutional. Make no mistake about it: this is a kill switch, and if it’s passed, it will revisit us for years to come in ways we never suspected possible. If you think that’s an overstatement, think about it again next time you’re posing naked for the TSA, and ask yourself how that came about.
The full text of the Senate and House versions of the bill can be read here and here, respectively. Can it be fixed? No. The problems it attempts to address are simply not going to be solved by any approach suggested in this bill. Activist groups, law professors, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and many more have already spoken out.Contact your Senator and Representative and urge them to reject S.968.
Acknowledging the problem
No one opposes this bill (which I will refer to as S.968 because its other names leave a bad taste in the mouth) because they are in favor of piracy or copyright infringement. The problem is real — but that doesn’t mean that the fictions regarding its effects on sales and so on are as well. Trying to make sense of the various studies, separating the propaganda from the facts, and the fluff from the insight, is a big job. The consensus is that there is no consensus, and that’s probably consensus enough. After all, if piracy were having the kind of devastating effect on music sales or theater-going that the record and movie industries say it is, that would be very clearly reflected in the numbers.
Instead, we see healthy growth in some areas, cannibalized sales elsewhere, and yes, huge illegal download numbers. But to put these pieces together properly apparently requires more than all the RIAA’s horses and all the MPAA’s men have got. Instead, they choose the data that fits their hypothesis. But this is all known; it’s enough to say that the entertainment industries have poisoned the well with their antics, and nobody should take anything they say or propose seriously.
Again, their dishonesty and absurd lawsuits do not mean the problem doesn’t exist. Music, movies, TV shows, and games are available online in a dozen places the day they are released, and thousands upon thousands of people download them. If that’s not a problem, I don’t know what is. Of course, some would say that thousands of people consuming your product, at no cost to you or them, is one of those good problems. And then there’s the whole continuum of lost sales, outright theft, distribution, fair use, and so on to consider. It’s a complex issue to say the least.
Sometimes complex issues require simple solutions, as Alexander demonstrated. Simple, but not simplistic, which is what many would call S.968.
If it ain’t broke, break it
A straw-man problem requires a straw-man solution. And that’s exactly what S.968 proposes. The approach of the bill to combating piracy is laughably inappropriate, yet at the same time so vague in critical portions that it’s hard to believe it wasn’t done that way on purpose.
Briefly stated, the bill allows for the law to target services connected or tangential to infringing sites, which not only means any financial support in the form of advertisers or payment processors, but also the search engines that index the sites and the DNS registries that direct queries to the correct IP. They would all be required, within five days, to remove the site in question from their services, listings, and registries, or be in violation of the law.
First, this notion of creating a special United States DNS listing with blacklisted sites excised. The folly of this design can’t be overstated. I feel I can say with confidence that many a security expert and network technician must have laughed aloud at this proposal. The real world equivalent, if a shop was alleged to be selling stolen goods, would be to make them take their sign down. Workarounds for a DNS blockade would be plentiful and effective and need not be described here.
This measure has been described by its proponents as akin to door locks on cars — not foolproof, but we should still use them. There’s some sense to this, but of course the fundamental difference between material theft and “content theft,” i.e. making a copy, is ignored. The situation changes somewhat when it’s impossible to steal what’s in your “car.” If people were going around making perfect copies of the CDs, radios, and umbrellas in our cars, door locks wouldn’t really be necessary, would they? Admittedly, it’s a little disingenuous to mischaracterize their metaphor in this way (half the meaning is that we should take simple precautions if they are available), but it’s also disingenuous of them to mischaracterize the problem they say they are working against.
In addition to the fact that this alternate DNS registry would be completely inadequate for its stated purpose, it’s fundamentally a bad idea to fiddle with international standards. Domain name universality is one of the underpinnings of the web. When I type Facebook.com into my browser, it goes to Facebook because of a principle set down and agreed upon by the internet infrastructure worldwide. But not everyone is on the same system: there are, of course, some countries that already have a blocking or filtering system in place. Places like China and Iran.
First, they came for the cyberlockers
A blacklist for sites, whatever the intention, is simply an idea that has no place in a free society. This is inarguable. It is censorship, plain and simple, and it is exactly as audacious as banned book lists and other more recent forms of moral, political, and ideological bootheeling. It sounds inflammatory, but this bill is a wedge to be driven over time. Permitting this blacklist would be surrendering an important guarantee of the internet, and opening the door to worse. The slippery slope argument doesn’t always hold up, but with the parties involved, there is precedent in abundance for excess and abuse. And the law is not structured to prevent such abuse.
The first red flag is the casual contravention of internationally agreed-upon standards. Any site can be blocked, regardless of where it is registered or hosted, or where the content is stored. It falls short of imposing US copyright law on the rest of the world, but it demonstrates a troubling lack of respect for the international structure of the web. The world looks down on China and Saudi Arabia for their filtering of internet content to make it comply with their local laws and beliefs. Now they will look down on us.
Next, S.968 appears to ignore due process and the presumption of innocence. These are, you will agree, somewhat elementary civil rights. Yet under S.968, sites would be eligible for takedown without any involvement on their part, and their supporting services, like advertisers, hosts, and payment processors, would be required to take action as well or share liability. All it takes is for a copyright holder to fill out the paperwork, and they’ve had that process automated for years. It’s worth noting that DOJ-issued orders are required for search engines and domain registries to take action. Copyright holders may “only” affect payment processors and advertisers without a court order — so they’re limited to only crippling the site financially. But let’s be honest. The same people who will be researching and filing complaints pretty much wrote this law. Getting the DOJ to rubber-stamp an order is trivial.
And on the topic of liability, the burden has been shifted, or rather multiplied, to include service providers. Google, for example, has long existed within a “safe harbor” provision of the DMCA, providing as it does only an information-locating and caching service. But the new bill calls for service providers specifically to immediately comply with the blacklist — in five days or less. Considering it might be quite a while before a small site can even get on a court calendar or have their request reviewed, this puts service providers in an awkward situation: take the site down, or be in violation of the law until it works its way through the courts? Very few will choose the latter.
Even then, we can’t trust the courts to make the right decision. We’ve seen numerous examples of credulous judges being taken in by industry lawyers. Sony, for example, showed no compunction at all while it took one incompetent for a ride, extracting years of irrelevant and private payment and IP records for a website during a protracted jurisdictional hearing. There are bright spots here and there, but for the most part the entertainment industry has been pillaging with impunity.
The consequences of a takedown are also totally out of proportion with the cause. One infringing file or “portion” (e.g. a forum thread) could be used as the basis to take down an entire website (or at least have them take down their sign). This has happened plenty already: Google deleted several large and legitimate music blogs after complaints about a microscopic portion of the content. That’s a hell of a lever to have at your disposal, and the process for review is slow enough that it could easily be used as a perfectly legal kill switch for any site on the internet. Despite the claims that the bill is narrowly focused on piracy-centric sites, the definition, viz. “engaging in, enabling, or facilitating the reproduction, distribution, or public performance of copyrighted works, in complete or substantially complete form” is hopelessly open to interpretation. You could find a thousand videos on YouTube in an hour that facilitate the public performance of copyrighted works, and browbeat a judge with them tomorrow. And again, while it’s trivial to get past the DNS blacklist, the compulsory compliance of associated services could be harmful.
There is little or no allowance for a site to defend itself against accusations before action is taken, which means fraudulent or predatory takedowns and embargoes will be easy to make and very effective. And as many have pointed out, the most popular sites in the world today would probably be considered “notorious” if they were introduced today, but are exempt because they have had time to establish themselves as legitimate services. For small sites and startups, however, which have neither the immunity of established services nor the money or time to fend off a damaging takedown attempt, it could be fatal. There are penalties for anyone who “knowingly materially misrepresents,” but that seems a pretty high bar, and lawyers likely already have themselves a “safe harbor” of their own — reasonable suspicion, that sort of thing.
And it is not limited to any particular kind of site; after all, infringing content could be hiding anywhere. Or information that shows that a site is “facilitating” infringement, or “enabling” it. On evidence that could be easily cherry-picked or modified and in which many judges would be unable (or too busy, as they will be) to detect the flaws, any website could be hobbled. With a little organization and legwork, one could compel the owners, advertisers, hosts, and DNS registries to stop acknowledging any website, almost instantaneously. As internet services are disproportionately US-based, S.968 is a loaded gun pointed at the rest of the world.
There is a built-in provision for a yearly review. One would expect that after a year or two, the report would conclude that the act had done nothing to inhibit copyright infringement. That much would be given. But the response to this would be far more likely to spawn further, more draconian measures (such as more complete blockage at the IP level) than produce an admission of failure.
Reject S.968
S.968 will be completely ineffective at preventing copyright infringement or any other kind of undesired activity. Every measure it takes is trivial to circumvent, and will not deter the people doing the vast majority of illegal content distribution. It does, however, provide a set of tools that are not only easy to leverage for private or nefarious purposes, but also align the US with the human rights abuses of oppressive regimes.
The bill is transparently the work of an entertainment industry which, failing to raise itself to the standards of demand, wants to drag the law down to its level with more avenues for litigation and greater weapons at its disposal. That we are even entertaining the idea of government-ordered blacklists of certain websites is repugnant and un-American.
Everyone who cares about the freedoms provided by the internet is opposing S.968. And then there’s everyone else.We’ve got our hands on the first official teaser trailer of How To train Your Dragon 2, the upcoming CG adventure animated movie sequel from Dreamworks, you may watch it below:
How To train Your Dragon 2 directed by Dean Deblois
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2
Plot:“The thrilling second chapter of the epic How To train Your Dragon trilogy brings back the world Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless five years later. While Astrid (America ferrera), Snoutlout (Jonah Hill) and the rest of the gang are challenging each other to dragon races (the island’s new favorite contact sport), the now inseparable pair journey through the skies, charting unmapped territories and exploring new worlds. When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace.Hiccup and Toothless will lead hundreds of hero dragons in defense of Dragon Mountain, battling against Drago Bloodfist’s huge army of Dragon Hunters and their ruthless war machines.”
Now that Hiccup is a grown up man, we may expect a hell of a great adventure: feel like the sequel will be even better than the first film!
What do you think of this first trailer of How To train Your Dragon 2? I bet you want to have your own dragon and go fly in the sky with it? Share your thoughts below!
The film will hit theaters on June 20, 2014.
:)WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving in place a lower court ruling that a federal employment discrimination law doesn’t protect a person against discrimination based on their sexual orientation.
The court on Monday declined to take up the question of whether a law that bars workplace discrimination “because of…sex” covers discrimination against someone because of their sexual orientation.
President Barack Obama’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took the view that it does. But President Donald Trump’s administration has argued that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination based on gender but doesn’t cover sexual orientation. Federal appeals courts are split on the issue. That means the issue is likely to come to the court again.
The case the Supreme Court declined to take involved Jameka Evans, a gay woman who worked as a hospital security officer in Georgia. Lower courts said she couldn’t use Title VII to sue for discrimination.
The Supreme Court didn’t explain why it was declining to hear the case. But the hospital where Evans worked, Georgia Regional Hospital, told the court there were technical legal problems with the case.Pissed off this evening. Well, for the past three evenings, ever since the underwhelming Dreamhost shut down the Scribble Designs website. I came home from work to receive the following message:
Your script found at /server-path/index.php (your WordPress installation) has been exploited and was being used to send out spam emails through our system. We have disabled the script to help prevent our servers from being used for this purpose, as it is adversely affecting the stability of our mail system. Please do not re-enable it until the security hole has been fixed (you can go to http://www.wordpress.org for upgrade instructions). We thank you for your attention to this matter.
That’s my business website, fools! Why’d you shut it down? WordPress doesn’t generate email spam, does it?
Well, it doesn’t bloody seem to. I googled for a solution, hit the support forum and the WordPress Codex. Nothing.
I emailed back, asking for an in-depth answer. Why my website? What led you to diagnose this problem and pinpoint my website? Was a plugin at fault? What response did I get:
You’ll need to contact the authors of wordrpess for more information on patching the software. We do not provide support for third party scripts.
Don’t provide support for third party scripts??? You just offer a one-click install of the damned thing. You’re reknowned as a WordPress/blog hosting company. The guys at WordPress actually recommend DreamHost. They know WordPress well enough to diagnose a blog as a source of spam, but not well enough to advise of a solution. Hmmmm.
Oh yeah, and I’m sure Matt Mullenweg loves to wade in and intervene in individual support calls. Hi Matt! I’m having this problem with Dreamhost…..
So, as of right now, I’m a web designer without a website, all thanks to those lovable chimps at Dreamhost! No straight answers. No fault resolution. Oh, and did I mention that their servers are running at a snail’s pace at the moment?
Do I get my money back when I decide to move to another – better – host? I’ll keep you posted.
Advertisements“What’s so perverse,” Mr. George said, is that the houses conceal “the very information necessary to know whether a royalty is due.”
The California law, which applies to living artists and those who have died in the past 20 years, states that if the seller is not able to locate the artist within 90 days, he or she is required to send the payment to the California Arts Council, a state agency charged with locating the creators.
Sotheby’s responded to the suit with a terse statement: “We believe the claim is meritless, and it will be vigorously defended.” Christie’s said that it “views the California Resale Royalties Act as subject to serious legal challenges” and that it “looks forward to addressing these issues in court.” The law has so far survived two legal challenges, and experts in art law are divided about whether it might be vulnerable on constitutional grounds.
The larger issue of whether visual artists should receive a cut of future sales remains a subject of vigorous debate. Dozens of countries already have a version of a resale royalties law, generally referred to by the French phrase droit de suite. Starting in 2012, Britain and other members of the European Union will adhere to a uniform standard that applies to both living artists and those who have died within the past 70 years. Indeed, Christie’s, on its Web site, informs prospective clients that it collects the royalty mandated in Europe at the time of the sale.
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For many visual artists, the issue is clear. “We need legislation to enact the right to royalties,” said Frank Stella, the president of the International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts, “and we need to align it with what goes on in Britain and the E.U.” Literature, music, film, computer programming and patents all have better intellectual-property protection than American visual art, Mr. Stella added. The Visual Artists and Galleries Association, a nonprofit group that seeks to protect the intellectual-property rights of artists, also supports a national law.
The idea has never really caught on in the United States, though, and California remains the only state that requires royalties when a painting is resold. In 1986 Senator Edward M. Kennedy was unsuccessful in efforts to include a similar provision in the national Visual Artists Rights Act. A study by the Copyright Office in 1992 concluded that it was “not persuaded that sufficient economic and copyright policy justification exists to establish droit de suite in the United States.”
In the 34 years that the California law has been in effect, about 400 artists have received a total of $328,000, said Patty Milich, the resale royalty act coordinator at the California Arts Council. That list includes the estates of the Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia (who made drawings), Jean-Michel Basquiat, Albert Hirschfeld and Larry Rivers.
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Most artists and galleries either don’t know about the law or ignore it, several art lawyers in California said. People often don’t realize, for example, that if a California hotel with paintings on the walls changes ownership, or if a donated sculpture sells for more than its original price at a fundraising auction, a royalty may be due.
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Sellers, museums and galleries generally dislike the idea, which they view as an added tax that raises the cost of doing business and cuts into profits. They contend that the law’s main beneficiaries are artists who need it the least: those, like Mr. Close or Mr. Stella, whose work is famous enough to sell again and again.
Opponents add that resale royalties can hurt new artists selling their work for the first time — on what is known as the primary market — by reducing future resale value.
Some artists agree. In 2006, when Britain agreed to adhere to the European Union’s policy on resale royalties, David Hockney argued: “The arrival of this levy will do little or nothing for the vast majority of British artists. It will undoubtedly envelop the market, on which we as artists depend, in red tape, and it will discourage art dealers from buying particularly the work of emerging artists.”
According to one study of the droit de suite in France, approximately 70 percent of the royalty payments went to the estates of a handful of famous 20th-century artists, like Picasso. Still, in California, Ms. Milich said that while it was easier for well-known artists to track resales, “I have contacted artists with a $2,000 royalty, and they were really happy to get it; one was living on Social Security.”
John Henry Merryman, a law professor at Stanford University and an expert on art and cultural-property law, said that advocates of the droit de suite ignore how the art market operates. The increased price for Rauschenberg’s “Thaw” at the Scull auction was due not only to the artist’s continuing creative efforts, he said, but also to the dealers, collectors, auction houses and critics who took a risk in supporting and buying Rauschenberg’s work before he was famous. He noted that the increased price for a single painting simultaneously raises the value of all the artist’s work.
Mr. Merryman dismissed the argument that the droit de suite was analogous to music or literary royalties. “The idea that somehow artists are hurt because they don’t have copyright is nonsense,” he said. Artists retain copyright and must be compensated if their work is reproduced. The difference, he explained, is that “the realization of a work of art is in exhibition, not in duplication.”
The Whitney Museum of American Art at one time compensated artists for exhibiting their work. Mr. Merryman said the idea never caught on, but that it made more sense.TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -- A Northport woman unknowingly watched and heard her 79-year-old husband beaten to death after he went out to check on a problem with their air conditioner on Tuesday night, authorities say.
In custody today and charged with murder is a man who had a history of trespassing on the couple's property. Officials say it appears he lured the homeowner outside by disabling the air conditioner.
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton said Christopher Dewayne Patton, 29, is accused of killing Kenneth McDaniel at McDaniel's home.
Deputies were called to a residence on Highway 43 North between Charlie Shirley Road and Mitt Lary Road at 10:39 p.m. when a woman called 911 to report a disturbance involving a man beating on something or someone with a stick, said
A deputy arriving on the scene saw a man who appeared to be holding a pipe standing about 30 feet from the driveway of the house. The man dropped the pipe and fled when the deputy approached him.
McDaniel's wife told deputies that her husband went outside with a flashlight after they heard a loud pop and the air conditioning in their house went out. She said she saw a man hitting something with what appeared to be a stick. Another witness at the house said she saw him hitting something with a pipe.
Deputies found the body of Kenneth McDaniel, 79, lying beside the air conditioning unit on the west side of the house, Sexton said. It appeared that McDaniel had been struck several times in the head by a blunt instrument.
Patton was taken into custody at the intersection of Candlewood and Highway 43 North at 12:56 a.m. following search by the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office that included the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, a bloodhound search and the Sheriff's Office aviation unit.
Sexton said there does not appear to be any established relationship between Patton and McDaniel, but Patton has had previous contact with the residents of the house. Authorities have responded to three calls at the residence when it was reported Patton trespassed on the property in the past.
"There was no indication that copper had been taken," Sexton said. "What there was an indication of was that the breaker box at the back of the house -- four breakers had been flipped from on to off. That appears to have lured Mr. McDaniel out of his residence to the air conditioning unit where he was attacked by the alleged suspect."
Patton was arrested on the charge of murder after speaking to Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit investigators and was transported to the Tuscaloosa County Jail. His bond was set at $70,000.Paris-based Plume Labs launched their interactive global pollution map earlier this year, and then followed it up co-organizing a presentation at the COP21 U.N. climate summit called “Data Against Climate Change”.
Plume Labs sources its data from a diverse range, collecting half a million open data measurements from 11,000 stations each day to build predictive air quality models for more than 200 cities in 40 countries, and then maps the result on an hourly basis in its app, available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
A little surprisingly, Vancouver at this moment has crested above its normal average rating with air quality rated at “low pollution” levels, while Montreal has dipped below its normal levels to qualify for “fresh air” status.
Things get a little more worrying, though, when you look at cities like New Delhi, Nanjing, both rated at “extreme pollution”, or Lima, rated “high pollution”.
Meanwhile, Paris, Phoenix and Warsaw all rate at a more reassuring “low pollution” level.
The site uses the ratings system to offer practical advice, such as “go for it” under “low pollution” levels in New York when it comes to outdoor exercise, eating outside or bringing the baby for a walk.
Aside from providing air quality data as a lifestyle accompaniment, though, Plume Labs hopes that eventually data can help to improve emergency response systems, and that data from mobile devices will detect stress signals during natural disasters.
One recent study suggests that particle pollutants killed 3.15-million people in 2010, mostly through strokes and heart attacks.
Co-founders Romain Lacombe and David Lissmyr started the company on the premise that “Information is the answer to fight off pollution.”
Robert Kirkpatrick, who works for UN Global Pulse in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General, was invited by Plume Labs to participate in their COP21 panel.
Kirkpatrick said “a country not willing to implement data analysis programs won’t be able to tackle sustainable development issues.”
The “Data Against Climate Change” panel emphasized the need for climate data to be open source, allowing governments and individuals full access to use the information in the most effective way possible.
With a team of 14 employees, they’re developing a Plume sensor prototype that will allow individuals to contribute to Plume’s worldwide air quality map.
One recent study suggests that particle pollutants killed 3.15-million people in 2010, mostly through strokes and heart attacks. In China, which is unsurprisingly one of the places in the world with the dirtiest air, ir pollution is a leading cause of death, killing more people that road transport or HIV/AIDS.
Surprisingly, air quality in Bejing is improving, according to new data from the U.S. State Department. But the city still has a ways to go: just 21 per cent of the city’s days met the U.S. standard for healthy air, measured at or below 35.4 micrograms per cubic meter for a 24-hour period.
Bejing’s worst day of 2014 was really bad. 449.8 micrograms per cubic metre was measured on February 25th, a level that only earned the country’s second highest pollution designation, an “orange alert”.Lu Zhengrong, Party chief of the CPC branch in Yaozhuang township, Zhejiang Province, organizes members to study the new CPC Constitution on Monday night. Photo: IC
"How can a Communist organization coexist with a German enterprise? Will it affect our business?"Those and other thoughts were the concern of German-Chinese Yang Zhiming, the manager of the Nanchang subsidiary of the medical supply company Fresenius Kabi, when members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed setting up a branch there."The Chinese and Germans have different cultures, different customs and different ways of thinking. We were afraid that the Party might interfere with our business," explained Yang.So, what changed their minds? One reason was the behavior of CPC members at the subsidiary in responding to a labor shortage problem, where they got the entire staff to pitch in on a recruitment drive. They also used this effort to help iron out any other disputes within the company.The German managers found the CPC members to be more disciplined and willing to take on challenging tasks and, they would take on more responsibilities and show an interest in the business.A Party branch was then set up at the subsidiary in 2016, with the approval of the German head office.Zheng Changzhong, a Party development specialist at Shanghai's Fudan University, said, "CPC membership is not just a matter of political identity, but a symbol of excellence, where moral integrity and competence in one's work are both criteria. That's what makes the CPC different."A similar transition took place at a shopping mall in the city of Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province, owned by the German retailer Metro Group, where the management's attitude about Party members underwent a change."Once we had a big order to fill and our forklift broke down," said Chen Siying, head of the company's Party branch, "and some CPC members worked nonstop for more than 10 hours, loading the freight with their bare hands."Now, as a result, CPC membership is a preferred qualification for any new staff. The CPC Constitution calls for a member to be in the vanguard in the fight for the working class and, they should serve the people wholeheartedly and be ready to make any personal sacrifice.It's not surprising that the CPC has increased its presence in the business sector in the past few years, with foreign-funded enterprises and joint ventures being a key part of the expansion.The CPC Constitution states that the Party exercises overall leadership over all areas and every part of the country and this was reaffirmed at the recent 19th CPC National Congress.Now, there is a major campaign to keep up the spirit of the congress that involves all Party members.For those at the Sedrin Brewery Co., Ltd., the Nanchang subsidiary of the Belgian brewer AB InBev, the spirit of the congress can be felt. The Party branch at Sedrin has 18 members and a clear organizational structure and set of internal regulations."To give people a better life, we need both technology and craftsmanship and to improve the quality of our products. That is how we'll implement the congress spirit," commented Zheng Wenqing, head of the company's CPC branch during a class in Party theory.On October 18, CPC members at the company watched the opening session of the 19th CPC National Congress on television and discussed the revised CPC Constitution.In Nanchang, CPC branches at foreign enterprises have organized more activities since the congress and some Party members have been given more time for study and discussions.China has more than 100,000 foreign-funded enterprises, 70 percent of which had Party organizations at the end of 2016, said Qi Yu, deputy head of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department.How far would you go for science? No matter what your answer, there is an elite cadre of scientists who have dedicated their lives to going a lot further. Meet the sperm collectors. They're doing it to make the world a better place.
Why, Why, Why?
At best, this procedure is going to result in a war story told to younger scientists. At worst, it’s going to end in a once starry-eyed intern quietly crying in a corner. Why it something like this necessary? Surely the entire point of evolution is that animals can do this on their own. Thanks to us, it has become a little complicated.
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For one thing, agriculture got involved. This includes industries like dairy, in which cows, which produce milk, and bulls, which produce nothing, are not of equal value. Hens and roosters skew the same way, in terms of usefulness of the sexes. Farms aren't always willing to support freeloading males to sexual maturity simply to preserve mate parity. When the time comes to make the next generation, in the absence of males, they need a supply of genetic material – usually from a dealer. Dealers also supply to farms that just want better genetic stock, sperm that’s guaranteed to have no diseases, and even sex-selected sperm. Even when enough males stick around, as with turkeys, generations of breeding them to the tastes of the public has played hell with their physiology. Some species of commercial turkey can’t breed naturally, due to their large breasts. In some species, males get so big that females collapse under their weight.
Agriculture looks like a sure bet for species survival, but it’s fickle. Navajo Churro sheep were introduced into America half a millennia ago. They were the standard for wool production for centuries. Before industrialization, they numbered in the millions. When it was discovered that their wool was unfit for industrial purposes, the population plummeted. Nowadays, they’re seen on a few farms, and in zoos that preserve “heritage breeds.” In the 1970s, when the conservation effort first got started and people seriously thought the sheep might be wiped out, scientists and conservationists stockpiled sperm as a genetic reserve. The same principle applies to more well-known endangered species all over the world.
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And then there are the labs and the zoos. Sometimes, scientists just need a semen sample. Sometimes they need a supply for directed breeding. And occasionally, they just need cooperation. Bonobos are well-known as the kinder, gentler alternatives to chimpanzees. They’re well |
going on in the world as far as terrorism."
An officer was driving by the Boston Police substation on West Broadway in South Boston and saw a fire near a police cruiser Friday around 8:15 a.m., police said.
Police moved the cruiser and a device exploded. The device appeared to be a propane tank, but authorities are still working to determine the specific type of device used, Evans said.
There was some type of firework or explosive device on the tank, the commissioner said. There were two explosions. Evans said there were minor injuries, but no serious injuries.
Evans said investigators worked with the FBI and Daniel Bennett, the state Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, in order to find Kieta.
Through surveillance images and witness accounts, police were able to place a car at the scene. Police said Kieta was seen leaving the car with a grocery bag and then heading back to the car.
Investigators then began searching for the vehicle. They found Kieta in his car in Charlestown.
"I'm glad we got this dangerous guy off the streets," Evans said.
Police said the booking photograph of Kieta was not released because of the ongoing investigation.
Kieta was charge with possession of an explosive device, assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer and arson of personal property."Pupil performance has remained “flat” since the mid-90s despite a sharp increase in investment in the education system, it was revealed.
The respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) told how the proportion of national wealth spent on schools and colleges soared from 3.6 per cent to 4.5 per cent in 2009 – the sixth highest total in the developed world.
By the time the last Government left office, around £64 billion was being spent on education.
But today’s study revealed that the hike led to “no improvement in student learning outcomes”, with Britain slipping behind many other countries in reading, mathematics and science.
The disclosure – in a 565-page report – will be seen as a damning indictment of Labour’s education policies and led to claims from the Coalition that billions of pounds was wasted on costly reforms that failed to boost standards.
In other findings, the OECD told how:
• British education was highly socially segregated, with immigrants more likely to be bunched together in a small number of schools than in most other countries;
• Primary school class sizes in England were larger than almost anywhere else in the developed world, with around 26 pupils sharing the average lesson, compared with an international average of 21;
• English primary school are paid £4,200 more than peers in other advanced countries and salaries are £3,300 higher in secondaries;
• Some 96.7 per cent of four-year-olds were in some form of pre-primary education, much higher than the 81.4 per cent international average, even though Britain spends less per child on nursery provision;
• Britain did better than many other countries overall in improving life chances, with more than four-in-10 young adults achieving a higher level of education than their parents, compared with an OECD average of 37 per cent;
• Britain had more young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – 15.9 per cent – than the international average and significantly more than the 14.8 per cent registered throughout the EU.
The latest study – Education at a Glance – found that the share of gross domestic product (GDP) invested in primary, secondary and college education soared from 3.6 per cent in 1995 to 4.5 per cent. in 2009. It lifted Britain from below the international average to well above the four per cent spent worldwide.
Separate figures released by the Office for National Statistics has shown that total Government spending on education between 2000 and 2009 soared from £35.3bn to £63.9bn.
The OECD administers its own tests in core subjects for 15-year-olds in 70 different countries every three years. The last results issued in 2010 showed the UK fell from 17th to 25th for reading, 24th to 28th for maths and 14th to 16th in science.
Andreas Schleicher, deputy director for education at the OECD, said: “Spending in the UK has gone up really a lot and has not been reflected in changes to [exam] scores. You have seen huge effort on the part of Government and at the same time outcomes have been flat.”
A spokesman for the Department for Education insisted the latest study “raises some concerns”, adding: “Our results have stagnated and other countries have overtaken us”.
Officials said reforms such as the academies programme and the pupil premium, which aims to give schools extra cash to teach poor pupils, would help accelerate the pace of improvement.
Meanwhile, the study found the British education system was more segregated than almost anywhere else in the developed world as large numbers of immigrant children are clustered in a small number of schools.
Some eight-in-10 pupils from other countries currently attend schools with a “high concentration” of fellow migrants, it was revealed, compared with two-thirds in other countries.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operate and Development suggested that foreign pupil cluster rates were the fourth highest in the world.
It was also revealed that children from poor backgrounds were more likely to be segregated from peers born into well-off families than other countries.
Mr Schleicher warned that the composition of schools posed "significant challenges" for poor pupils.• Fans unconvinced by summer transfers even though Alexis Sánchez stayed • ‘We lost at Liverpool but we can redress the situation very well and quickly’
Arsène Wenger continues to believe Arsenal can challenge for the title despite the negativity around the club and he has called for perspective in the face of the early-season crisis.
Arsenal’s supporters went into meltdown after the 4-0 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield before the international break while they were unconvinced by the club’s summer transfer dealings, even though Alexis Sánchez ended up staying. The forward was close to a £60m move to Manchester City but Arsenal failed to get Monaco’s Thomas Lemar as a replacement, so they held on to Sánchez. Mesut Özil also stayed put in the absence of any compelling offers.
Wenger signed Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac, and the chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, has argued the pair have improved the quality of the team – particularly as Sánchez and Özil have remained. There is relief in some quarters at the club that the transfer window has shut and they can now get back to the football, even if there is the realisation they must beat Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.
Arsène Wenger tells Arsenal legends: you weren’t perfect either Read more
“Am I convinced we will be title challengers? Yes,” Wenger said. “Why not? We have only played three games – and two away games. OK, we lost at Liverpool but we can redress the situation very well and very quickly. Some teams who are the new favourites are not in a better position than us.
“I think we are strong enough, yes. Stronger than last season? I think it depends on what period of the season. We had contrasting periods of the season last year.”
The Frenchman added: “We have to show that you can improve by being together and improving together. Last year we made 75 points and we won the FA Cup. This year we know we have to do better.”The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild makes some massive shake-ups to the 31-year-old series but Link and Zelda themselves haven't changed much. Did you know it could have starred a gritty, bearded Link, or a modern-day hero with a smug grin and a dirt bike instead?
A new making-of documentary series from Nintendo reveals several new pieces of concept art for the hero and the princess, and I have to say.... I think they made the right call. See for yourself.
Link could have been a one-armed swordsman with a beard
This is pretty much Bionic Commando with a creepy mask
He could have been a generic JRPG hero
Or even more weirdly old looking than in Twilight Princess
How about Fantasy Spike from Fantasy Cowboy Bebop?
Maybe the protagonist of a Disney Channel original movie?
What if Metroid was a boy? Also Link?
The designs for Princess Zelda didn't get quite so outlandish (at least not the ones Nintendo was willing to show) but the videos did still reveal some interesting directions for the character.
This toon-y Zelda bridges the gap between Wind Waker and Ocarina
Here she is all dressed up in slightly more modern fashion
And last but not least, Zelda with a pixie (fairy?) cut
Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!US police spark outrage by using wartime acoustic weapon to disperse G20 protesters in Pittsburgh
Only a few hundreds protesters took to the streets of Pittsburgh to mark the opening day of the G20 summit of world leaders, but the police were taking no chances.
Sonic weapons or long-range acoustic devices have been used by the US military overseas, notably against Somali pirates and Iraqi insurgents.
But US security forces turned the piercing sound on their own citizens yesterday to widespread outrage. Pittsburgh officials told the New York Times that it was the first time "sound cannon" had been used publicly.
[Warning: the video below contains very loud audio from the start]
The sonic weapon appear to be more effective than the Metropolitan police's highly contentious kettling tactics used against G20 protesters in London. But it is equally controversial.
It is feared the sounds emitted are loud enough to damage eardrums and even cause fatal aneurysms.Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar met the French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron at an election rally in Paris at the weekend.
The Minister for Social Protection attended the rally in a personal capacity. It was held a week before polling, was attended by thousands of people.
Mr Varadkar (38) met the centrist candidate – who is 39 – towards the end of the rally and posted a photograph of the meeting on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.
In the Twitter post, he wrote: “Bon chance M Macron. For a stronger France is a stronger Europe. ”
Later on Monday, Mr Varadkar said it was “a privilege to attend Macron’s rally in Paris. He’s a man whose character and values I admire.”
He added that instead of pandering to Marine Le Pen’s “nationalism, statism and illiberalism as some have, he has done the opposite and doubled down on defending our values through a pro-Europe, socially and economically liberal campaign”.
Nationalism and fear
“He speaks confidently and hopefully about the future and how we can change globalisation, Europe, business and our own countries to work better for citizens. He rejects philosophies of nationalism and fear that are nostalgic about a better or greater past that never really existed.”
The Fine Gael leadership hopeful said “the political division in the world is no longer one of left versus right. It’s increasingly been progressivism and open on one side versus regressivism and closed on the other.”
Earlier at the rally, Mr Varadkar also met the former presidential candidate Ségolène Royal and tweeted that there was an “amazing atmosphere” there.
Mr Macron, the front-runner, will face Marine Le Pen, leader of anti-immigrant party Le Front National, in the second, decisive round of the elections next weekend.
Polls show him running well ahead of Ms Le Pen with French voters.Hani Khalaf kicked, punched and stamped 62-year-old Jairo Medina to death hours after being bailed for shoplifting
A homeless man has been jailed for at least 26 years for murdering a “kind and peace-loving” carer in London’s Hyde Park after the authorities failed to deport him on at least six occasions over two years.
Hani Khalaf, 22, an Egyptian national, survived on the streets of Britain by stealing food and clothes after arriving in the back of a lorry posing as a Syrian asylum seeker, the Old Bailey heard.
Khalaf was bailed for shoplifting hours before he kicked, punched and stamped Jairo Medina, 62, to death near Speakers’ Corner on the evening of 11 August last year.
He pocketed Medina’s cash and stole his mobile phone, which he tried to sell on hours later.
Following a retrial, Khalaf was found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum of 26 years.
The judge Wendy Joseph QC said Khalaf had been sent back into the community time and again because of a failure to deport him and Medina had paid for it “with his life”.
She said: “It is clear that Hani Khalaf, having absconded, came to the attention of authorities on at least six occasions. On each, he was rebailed because they could not make arrangements for securing his deportation in a reasonable amount of time.”
The result was that Khalaf, with no way of “lawfully maintaining himself”, was sent out into the community again and again and told to report to authorities, which he never did.
Joseph said he showed “no respect for the law” and became a danger to himself and others. “The extent of that danger is one Mr Medina paid for with his life.”
The court heard that Khalaf is likely to be deported to serve the remainder of his sentence in Egypt once he is no longer a category A prisoner.
Khalaf arrived in Kent in the back of a lorry in August 2014 and survived by stealing sandwiches from Tesco and sleeping rough in a park.
The day before he met Medina, he was arrested for shoplifting at the Superdry clothes shop in Regent Street and gave police the false name he had previously given to immigration officials.
He appeared at Westminster magistrates court and was bailed hours before the killing.
On 11 August, Khalaf met Medina in Hyde Park, where the victim had gone hoping to have sex with a younger man, the court heard. Medina’s body was discovered early the next day by a groundsman on his way to work.
Giving evidence through an Egyptian translator, Khalaf admitted being with Medina before and after the attack, but claimed he was buying food at a convenience store at the time of the killing.
Afterwards, he tried to sell his victim’s mobile phone and gambled away some of his cash in a bookmakers, jurors heard.
He was arrested on 16 August for fare evasion and told police he was Hanni Hassan, later giving the name Khalaf, the prosecutor Oliver Glasgow QC said.
Then on 18 August he was arrested again for shoplifting and taken to Charing Cross police station, where an eagle-eyed officer recognised him from CCTV images as the suspect seen with Medina on the night of his death.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jairo Medina was described by a former partner as ‘a carefree and very generous person’. Photograph: PA
Medina, from Chelsea, west London, was originally from Colombia and was a single gay man with a preference for young dark-skinned men, the court heard.
He was described by a former partner as “a carefree and very generous person” who would go to the Quebec gay bar in Marble Arch and would sometimes pay male prostitutes for sex, jurors heard.
The prosecution argued the motive for the killing was to steal, although it was suggested on behalf of the defendant that it may have resulted from an unrequited sexual advance.
Joseph agreed it was a “murder for gain” regardless of Medina’s reasons for going into the park and befriending his killer.
She said: “Having seen and heard Mr Khalaf and his description of how he lived, it is beyond credible belief that Mr Khalaf went with Mr Medina into the park thinking all Mr Medina wanted was to offer kindness and consolation to a young man.”
In victim impact statements read to court, Medina’s friends and family spoke of a kind and peaceful man. His brother German Cardona said Medina had been given an award in 2015 for his “service to care in London” and had devoted his life to support his family at home, including his 86-year-old father who died within months of the murder.
Mahmood Khan, a close friend, described the victim as “generous and loving” and said: “If Mr Medina was alive he would probably forgive the person who had committed this crime.”
Giovanni Raimondi, another friend, said: “Jairo may have seemed outwardly happy and content but he was effectively quite lonely and looking for companionship and someone to share his life with.
“He paid a high price that night in his pursuit for companionship with young men. He was known to all who knew him as kind and peace loving. He always believed in living peacefully and did not deserve to die in that way.”If you want a piece of Hara Arena history, now is your chance to get it.
Items from the now-closed Dayton Hara Arena & Exhibition Center will be auctioned off online starting on Thanksgiving Day. The public can view the sale items in Hara’s East Hall from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27.
The family-owned arena closed its doors forever in August, after a 60-year run of sports, concerts, entertainment and special shows in the Miami Valley. It hosted its last event on late August, taking with it a $36 million annual economic impact.
RELATED: Last event for Hara Arena later this month
Everything But the House, an online global marketplace for estate sales, will host an online auction showcasing the eclectic assortment of Hara items and memorabilia. All items starts at a $1 bid.
The auction will include a limited number of Hara Arena and Cincinnati’s Crosley Field seats, Hara signage, photos, posters, sports and event memorabilia, sports equipment, chandeliers, catering items, tables and chairs.
An estate sale for Ralph and Edna Wampler will also run during the same time on the website. The Wampler family maintained the business for all 60 years, but problems started when founder Harold Wampler died in 1996.
His unresolved estate — under which Hara is co-owned — launched a 20 year family and legal battle that drained Hara of the resources for much-needed renovations and reorganization, according to the press release.
RELATED: Residents react with sadness over Hara closing
The Wamplers, with the help of national venue management company, VenuWorks, worked relentlessly for years to change that to a public-private ownership structure to clear Hara’s debt, lighten its tax burden and place it on a more sustainable path, but were unsuccessful.
Now, it’s time to bid farewell to pieces left of Hara.
“We were overwhelmed by the number, and variety, of requests we received from people hoping to get a Hara keepsake,” said Karen Wampler, Hara marketing director. “We were approached by brides who wanted a chandelier from their reception hall, concert goers who wanted a picture or backstage pass from their favorite show, lifelong hockey fans who wanted a Hara seat or banner.”
Interested consumers can bid on sale items from Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 at the auction website.Columnist
We are running a terribly unwise experiment: What happens when you replace U.S. presidential leadership with the slapstick antics of a clown?
On Saturday, President Trump issued the following statement: "Why would Kim Jong Un insult me by calling me 'old,' when I would NEVER call him'short and fat?' Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend — and maybe someday that will happen!"
There is a natural tendency to become inured to Trump's gushing stream of nonsense. Resist the urge. Read that statement again. The president of the United States, in the midst of a trip to Asia, taunted the nuclear-armed dictator of North Korea in a manner most sixth-graders would consider juvenile.
There was a time when the world looked to the U.S. president to speak clearly in defense of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. I refer to the entirety of modern U.S. history before January, when Trump assumed the high office he now dishonors.
His Asia tour has been at times a disaster, at times a farce. What was the most shameful moment? Perhaps when he announced that he has a "great relationship" with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has encouraged police and vigilantes to fight the trade in illegal drugs by assassinating suspected traffickers without the bother of arrests or trials. At least 7,000 and perhaps as many as 13,000 people have been slain.
The White House claimed that human rights came up "briefly" in a private meeting between the two leaders, but Duterte said it didn't come up at all. In fact, during a gala dinner, the buffoonish Duterte serenaded Trump with a Philippine ballad that includes the lyric, "You are the love I've been waiting for."
The spectacle was simply appalling. One might argue, however, that Trump's kowtowing to Russian President Vladimir Putin was even worse.
The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that the Russian government directed a multipronged campaign to meddle in the 2016 election, with the aim of helping Trump win. Putin denies having committed this hostile act, and Trump, for some reason, takes the former KGB officer at his word.
"He said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, flying over Vietnam from Danang to Hanoi. "Every time he sees me, he says, 'I didn't do that.' And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it."
Putin's office claimed that Trump didn't raise the issue at all. It is astounding that we have to wonder whether the White House or the Kremlin is telling the truth.
Unbelievably, Trump described former U.S. officials who say Putin is lying — fired FBI director James B. Comey, former CIA director John Brennan and former director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. — as "political hacks." Trump later said grudgingly that he has confidence in U.S. intelligence agencies "as currently constituted" — now that they are led by Trump appointees.
Someday we will learn why Trump, usually so full of bluster, becomes as deferential as a puppy dog whenever he's around Putin. Maybe special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will provide the answer.
It is reasonable to assume that all the governments whose leaders Trump encountered during the trip have consulted psychologists for advice on how to push Trump's buttons. The host nations all came up with the same answer: pomp and circumstance.
"It was red carpet like nobody, I think, has probably ever seen," Trump said — ridiculously — of the overall welcome he received. And yes, there were red carpets everywhere. And glittering banquets. And opportunities to review the troops.
Chinese President Xi Jinping laid it on thickest, personally taking Trump and the first lady on a tour of the Forbidden City and hosting a state dinner — Trump called it "state-plus-plus" — in the cavernous Great Hall of the People. Xi clearly understands how much Trump loves flattery and ceremony, as opposed to substance.
Meanwhile, as Trump incomprehensibly pursues a policy of "America first" neo-isolationism — refusing even to adequately staff the U.S. diplomatic corps — China moves globally to fill the vacuum. Japan and South Korea wonder whether the U.S. nuclear umbrella still protects them. And the nations Trump abandoned when he nixed the Trans-Pacific Partnership have moved forward to form a trade pact of their own — without us.
This is what happens when a very big nation is led by a very small man.
Read more from Eugene Robinson's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.LONDON- Teenagers who become hooked on cannabis before they reach 18 may be causing lasting damage to their intelligence, memory and attention, according to the results of a large, long-term study published on Monday. Researchers from Britain and the United States found that persistent and dependent use of cannabis before the age of 18 may have a so-called neurotoxic effect, but heavy pot use after 18 appears to be less damaging to the brain. Terrie Moffitt, a psychology and neuroscience professor at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, said the scope and length of the study, which involved more than 1,000 people followed up over 40 years, gave its findings added weight. “It’s such a special study that I’m fairly confident cannabis is safe for over-18 brains, but risky for under-18 brains,” she said. Before the age of 18, the brain is still being organized and remodelled to become more efficient and may be more vulnerable to damage from drugs, she added.
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Moffitt worked with Madeleine Meier, a post-doctoral researcher at Duke University in the United States, to analyze data on 1,037 New Zealanders who took part in the study. About 96 per cent of the original participants stuck with the study from 1972 to today, she said. At age 38, all participants were given a battery of psychological tests to assess their memory, processing speed, reasoning and visual processing. Those who had used pot persistently as teens scored significantly worse in most of the tests. Friends and relatives regularly interviewed as part of the study were more likely to report that the heavy cannabis users had attention and memory problems such as losing focus and forgetting to do tasks.
The researchers also found that people who started using cannabis in adolescence and continued for years afterwards showed an average decline in Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test scores of 8 points between the age of 13 and 38. “Study subjects who didn’t take up pot until they were adults with fully-formed brains did not show similar mental declines,” Moffitt said. She said the decline in IQ could not be explained by alcohol or other drug use or by having less education, and Meier said the key variable was the age people began to use pot. Meier said the study’s message was clear: “Marijuana is not harmless, particularly for adolescents.”
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While 8 IQ points may not sound like a lot on a scale where 100 is the mean, Meier said an IQ drop from 100 to 92 would mean dropping from being in the 50th percentile to being in the 29th. Higher IQs also correlate with higher levels of education and income, better health and longer lives, she said. “Somebody who loses 8 IQ points as an adolescent may be disadvantaged... for years to come,” she added. Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatric research at King’s Institute of Psychiatry, who was not involved in this work, said the study was impressive and the findings should be taken “very seriously”. “It is of course part of folk-lore among young people that some heavy users of cannabis seem to gradually lose their abilities and end up achieving much less than one would have anticipated,” he said in a statement. “This study provides one explanation as to why this might be the case.” Previous research on cannabis use has also pointed to potential long-term psychiatric effects. A study published in March last year found that people who use it a lot in their youth dramatically increase their risk of psychotic symptoms, and that continued use of the drug can increase the risk of developing a psychotic disorder. Meier pointed out that it was not possible to say from this latest study what a safer age for persistent pot use might be, or what kind of dosage level causes damage. According to the 2011 United Nations Office for Drugs and CrimePollsters expect backlash against Tea Party movement following unwillingness to compromise on US debt ceiling talks
Tea Party leaders are claiming victory in the outcome of the debt ceiling talks despite indications that their tough tactics, which pushed the US to the point of a government shutdown, may have alienated many moderate voters. Key players in the Tea Party movement said that for the first time they had succeeded in putting spending cuts at the centre of Washington affairs.
"We defined the contours of the debate and made it impossible to raise the debt ceiling without achieving serious spending cuts," said Phil Kerpen, head of policy at the prominent Tea Party group, Americans for Prosperity.
Kerpen estimated that of the 66 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted against the final compromise, on the grounds that it does not cut public spending enough, about a half were Tea Party affiliated. The group included Michele Bachmann, a candidate to be the Republican presidential nominee.
One of the few points that both sides in the bitter talks can agree upon is that the Tea Party was seminal in shaping the terms of the debate.
Though the movement has been relatively quiet since its impressive showing in last year's midterm elections, the lull was deceptive – as the impact on such a crucial confrontation in Washington shows.
Newt Gingrich, who led the Republicans in their last major clash over spending in the 1990s, credited the Tea Party with having beaten Obama.
"A very leftwing president blinked, and that would not have happened without the Tea Party," he told Fox News. A similar recognition of Tea Party power was expressed from the left of the Democratic party, though in more impassioned language.
Vice president Joe Biden was forced into damage limitation mode after it was reported that at a private meeting he had convened with Democratic Congress members, Tea Party supporters were accused of "acting like terrorists".
Sal Russo, an influential strategist and founder of the Tea Party Express, said that even the terrorist jibe was a sign of success. "When people make outrageous comments like that you know they have lost the rational debate and you are winning."
The messy nature of the partisan fighting over raising the debt ceiling carries risks for the Tea Parties.
The more influence they wield on Capitol Hill, the more they will be held accountable for the impact of their actions.
That is already reflected in opinion polls. A survey by the Pew Research Center found that 37% of respondents had formed a less favourable opinion of the Tea Party affiliates in Congress as a result of the debt ceiling standoff – exactly the same indication of political damage as recorded for Barack Obama.
The only group that fared worse was the Republicans in Congress, who suffered a deteriorating reputation among 42% of the survey sample.
Pollster Scott Rasmussen, co-author of a book on the Tea Parties, Mad as Hell, said that he expected to see a backlash against the movement following all its recent activities.
"Among Democrats, many voters already have negative feelings and that may grow among moderate Republicans and unaffiliated voters."
But Rasmussen added that as an authentic grassroots movement, the advance of the Tea Parties would not be halted.
"The ideas that animated the Tea Parties will continue to grow regardless of what happens to their popularity."CLOSE NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has made contact with Earth after what appears to be a successful flyby of the dwarf planet. Images and data should come in during the coming days and weeks.
Alan Stern, principal investigator on NASA's New Horizons mission, and project team members speak at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory on July 14, 2015, in Laurel, Md. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images)
LAUREL, Md. — It took 13 nail-biting hours, but members of the New Horizons team could finally celebrate Tuesday night. Their mission to Pluto succeeded.
That morning, as the clock ticked toward zero, scientists and engineers were more subdued. They let out a few cheers but were surprisingly hesitant.
Sure, they were excited, but it wasn't the kind of raw emotion you would expect from people who had spent nearly 10 years waiting for that moment. The New Horizons group had to wait until about 9 p.m. ET Tuesday to confirm the mission was a success. Then the applause — and some tears — really broke out.
Launched in January 2006, the New Horizons spacecraft set out to take the world's closest and most-detailed image of Pluto. From Pluto being demoted from a full-fledged planet to a dwarf planet in August 2006 to various technological hiccups with the spacecraft throughout its journey, members of the New Horizons team had their fair share of challenges.
But Tuesday night, that was all behind them as they received the "call home" from the spacecraft and learned everything went as planned.
Around 7:50 a.m., the spacecraft performed just as it should have and from less than 8,000 miles away — taking the world's best photo of Pluto to date.
"It's a little bit surreal right now because we've been planning for it for so long," said Alice Bowman, New Horizons' mission operations manager. "It's hard to believe that we're actually on that timeline and we're seeing these milestones be passed."
Among those in attendance to celebrate the achievement at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory was the family of Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto in 1930. Tombaugh died in 1997, but his family has been involved in the mission since it started.
"The wait is like taking a photo and not getting the developed picture print back for 10 years," said Annette Tombaugh, Tombaugh's daughter.
Over the 10 years, a lot has changed for the Tombaugh family, too. Clyde Tombaugh's wife and his younger sister both died since the spacecraft launched. Clyde Tombaugh's legacy, though, lives on through the project.
"After my dad died, Alan (Stern, the principal investigator of New Horizons), thought it would be very appropriate if he could get this project accepted, which he finally did, to have a little piece of dad go along with it," said Alden Tombaugh, the son of Clyde Tombaugh. "So he asked our family if there were any ashes that we could donate to the mission, and there were a small portion that they put in this capsule on the spacecraft."
The New Horizons team will now move to study the data the spacecraft sends back, including what is expected to be the most-detailed photo of Pluto ever. That photo, along with other information the spacecraft sent back, is expected to be released at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. For now, though, the team is relishing the historic accomplishment.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., called the mission a great achievement for humanity and said he hopes it inspires the next generation of scientists.
"Not all photos are created equally," he told USA TODAY. "It's a very special photo of a place we all conjured up in our imagination, and this is a moment where we can actually see it close up and learn from what we see."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1MrNCPYMark Zuckerberg just laid out the steps Facebook is taking to make it harder for Russia, or anyone else who wants to meddle in future elections, from doing so.*
There’s a lot of stuff there, including a move to turn over ads that Russian sources bought during the last election cycle, and a promise to make sure it’s easier to find out who pays for political advertising, and what kind of ads they’re paying for throughout Facebook.
But in the speech Zuckerberg just delivered over his own Facebook page, he also explained why Facebook won’t ever be able to stamp out malicious or deceptive ads from Russians or anyone else. And, for that matter, why Facebook is always going to end up with stuff it finds distasteful or worse.
Live at HQ Live discussing Russian election interference and our next steps to protect the integrity of the democratic process. Dikirim oleh Mark Zuckerberg pada 21 September 2017
Here’s his full quote:
“I’m not going sit here and tell you that we’re going to catch all bad content in our system. We don’t check what people say before they say it, and frankly, I don’t think society should want us to. Freedom means you don’t have to ask for permission first, and by default, you can say what you want. And if you break our community standards, and you break the law, then you’re going to face consequences afterwards.”
Zuckerberg isn’t just spelling out a personal ethos (which I take at face value). He’s also spelling out Facebook’s business model and its legal underpinnings.
That is: Facebook only works as a giant, billion-person-plus business because it allows users and advertisers to upload whatever they want to its platform, without human intervention. And the fact that Facebook doesn’t vet people’s comments, ads or (almost) anything else before it goes up is also what gives it a great deal of legal protection, particularly in the U.S.: If there’s something unpleasant or illegal up on Facebook, it’s not because Facebook put it there — someone put it on Facebook.
This set-up isn’t unique to Facebook. All of the giant consumer platforms that have sprung out of Silicon Valley in the last decade or so work the same way: YouTube and Twitter don’t sign off on your comments or videos before you upload them, and Airbnb doesn’t vet you before you rent space in your house.
Up until now, that structure has created enormous value for both users and investors. And, per Zuckerberg’s comments, he doesn’t see the company making any profound changes in the underpinnings of its platform status.
Many people will be happy to hear him say that. But others will increasingly wonder if the platforms should be forced to take more responsibility for the stuff they distribute to billions of people, whether they like it or not.
* Remember when Mark Zuckerberg thought it was “crazy” to blame what happened on Facebook for last year’s election?
Read Zuckerberg’s full comments below:
I just went live a minute ago. Here’s what I said: Today is my first day back in the office after taking parental... Dikirim oleh Mark Zuckerberg pada 21 September 2017LONDON — Reynolds American, the tobacco giant, said on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell the rights to its Natural American Spirit brand of cigarettes outside the United States and its territories to Japan Tobacco Group for about $5 billion in cash.
Reynolds American, whose brands include Camel, Newport and Pall Mall, will retain the rights to the Natural American Spirit brand in the United States, but will sell the international rights and associated trademarks as part of the deal. The United States rights will be held by Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, a Reynolds American subsidiary.
The transaction came on the heels of Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., completing its $25 billion acquisition of its smaller tobacco rival Lorillard this year. The deal was agreed to last year, including selling some products to Imperial Tobacco Group of Britain to gain regulatory approval.
Susan M. Cameron, Reynolds American’s president and chief executive, said the sale would allow the company to focus on increasing the sales of its brands within the United States.Dick Advocaat: Has extended stay at the Stadium of Light
Dick Advocaat has performed a U-turn and signed a one-year contract as head coach at Sunderland.
The 67-year-old Dutchman left the Premier League club at the end of the season after stating he no longer wanted to continue his career in club management.
Many of the players expressed their regret at Advocaat’s departure after he helped to steer the team to top-flight safety with |
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Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell has died in Nashville at the age of 74. His wife, Jan, said through an intermediary that the legendary musician and songwriter had died Sunday in his sleep in Nashville.
Russell "had heart bypass surgery in July and was recovering from that," his record company tells NPR in confirming Russell's death. The musician had been hoping to resume touring in January.
A native of Oklahoma, Russell's talents — and his unique ability to span country and gospel, blues and rock — led him to collaborate with many of the finest musicians of the past 50 years, from Joe Cocker and B.B. King to Elton John and Willie Nelson.
Russell was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2011, and the range of people who recorded his music reflected the breadth of his ability.
His hit songs include "This Masquerade" — which was recorded by both George Benson and The Carpenters — and "Superstar," written with Bonnie Bramlett. Others included "Tight Rope," "Delta Lady" and "A Song For You" — which was recorded by both Andy Williams and Ray Charles.
Back in 2010, Russell embarked on a tour with Elton John, after the pair put out an album together titled The Union. They had first met in 1970, when Russell saw John play his first U.S. concerts. Forty years later, NPR recorded them playing together at The Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Elton John And Leon Russell Live from the Beacon Theatre 2:34:04
"He is my idol," John said of Russell at the time.
As NPR reported of that concert:
"The evening began with Russell performing six of his classics, beginning with his biggest hit, "Tight Rope." Then, about 26 minutes in, the duo ran through The Union, hitting a high note with the rowdy 'Hey Ahab.' John capped the evening with an hour of his signature hits, which begin around the 1 hour, 33 minute mark after a rousing ovation from the Beacon audience."
It was another live tour and album — Joe Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen — that Russell used as a breakthrough in his career. In addition to contributing the songs "Delta Lady" and "Superstar" to the album, Russell led the band on the road, wearing a tophat, long hair and a beard and showing a deep-rooted mastery of soulful music.
YouTube
Russell's career spanned from Frank Sinatra — who kept armed guards "at every door," he once told NPR — to Sonic Youth, who covered his song "Superstar."
Last year, the pianist and songwriter told PRI's Studio 360 that he thought he wouldn't have become the same person if he hadn't sustained an injury at birth, which left the right side of his body slightly paralyzed.
"It gave me a very strong sense of duality," Russell said. "It gave me an outlook into this plane that we live on and if I hadn't had that, I'd probably be selling cars in Paris, Texas."There’s been general agreement among fans who tested the Clvl 60 chars in the Blizzcon PvP demo that the Demon Hunter was the weakest class. (Just as most agree that the Witch Doctor was the strongest. Opinions differ on the Barb, Monk, and Wizard.) Both The Eliminator and Wolfpaq were down on the Demon Hunter during our during our podcast earlier this week, but why? What were players doing wrong with the DH in the Arena demo, or was the problem with the character build itself? (Which players could not adjust.)
This report should go some distance towards answering that question. It’s by The Eliminator, and he runs down all of the Demon Hunter’s skills and runes, talks about what they did right and wrong, and offers suggestions to improve the build for the future. (Most of which involve MOAR DMG PLZ!)
Here’s the introduction; click through for the full report, and his improved Demon Hunter PVP build.
The Demon Hunter
The class that most thought was the weakest was the Demon Hunter. Although she did the least amount of damage she was extremely good a escaping danger. I didn’t die a whole lot as the DH because I always tried to keep enough Discipline to Vault to safety, to use Smoke Screen, or even Evasive Fire to retreat out of combat. Using mobility was where the Demon Hunter shone. If you paid attention, you could almost always get out of trouble.
Where the DH was weak was her damage output. I think that was mainly because the build itself could have been better. Some classes could get anywhere from 4-6k damage with critical hits, while the Demon Hunter was lucky to get a 1k hit, and even that only worked when the target was already weakened by being hit by a Wizard’s Frost Nova.
Lets review the Demon Hunter skills and runestones used in the PvP demo.
Evasive Fire
Evasive Fire with Alabaster runestone: “ Tumble”
As the only Hatred Generator it was a skill I used a lot. This skill did about 200-400 on a normal hit and 500-750 for a crit (around 1k when someone was already debuffed by Frost Nova). The damage wasn’t terrible because there was no cooldown the hits were just about instant (unlike most projectile attacks of the other classes) You could pop off 7 hits with this skill in about 2 seconds, which works out to an average of around 1575 damage/sec.
I used this skill to frustrate Monks and Barbs, because every time they got into melee range, the backflip portion of the skill would kick in. One or two backflips was all I needed to get way from a Barb because both of his distance closer skills ( Ancient Spear and Leap Attack) had 10 second cooldowns. The Monk on the other hand was a test of how long they wanted to chase me until I had enough and used Smoke Screen to escape.
Evasive Fire is a descent skill, though the damage is a little on the weak side. If it did just a little more, it would be awesome. Would I wanted a different Hatred generator in the Demon Hunter’s build? Maybe Hungering Arrow would have been better, because it could have been fired from behind cover, and since the shots could have homed in on enemies, and hit more than one target each. Furthermore, it has a higher damage potential with proper runestones.
Caltrops
Caltrops with Indigo runestone: “ Hooked Spines”
I don’t know what it was with this skill but it just didn’t seem to slow targets down as much as it says it was. I guess it has to be the tiny 12 yard radius. The skill only slowed targets down for one to two strides. Comparing it to the effectiveness of the Witch Doctor’s Grasp of the Dead it was a joke. Although Grasp of the Dead’s debuff was a lot less, its radius of effect was twice as big and it did damage over time. This skill would have been more useful if it was runed with any other rune besides Golden. They need to either make the trap radius bigger or when an enemy crosses the trap gives them a debuff that stays for a few seconds.
Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire with Obsidian Runestone: “ Fire Support”
This was the only Hatred spender of the build, and although the skill looked cool it really lacked the punch it needed to be an effective skill. Hits with this skill averaged a measly 50-125 on normal hits and 100-200 crit. (Like I said earlier, they did a bit more if a target was debuffed by Frost Nova) Although the projectiles from this hit very rapidly, around 10 per second, perhaps a third of them were usually blocked or dodged. Considering that, only 7 hits per second for about 100 per hit = 700 damage a second, which was not sufficient.
The homing missiles that Fire Support gave you had very little added bonus. In fact the skill would have been much better off with the Alabaster or Indigo rune, for this build. The only time this skill came into its own was when you used Shadow Power with it. Would I have picked another skill instead, maybe but if I did most of the skills would have had to be changed as well. This skill needs more DPS.
Vault
Vault with Indigo runestone: “ Acrobatics”
This skill was great for getting way from danger. Two uses of this skill put you on the other side of the map. So long as you didn’t put yourself in a corner or run into one of the high walls, you were safe and free to try to find a health globe. When using this skill the Demon Hunter could cross over enemy traps and not be slowed at all. If a Barb tried to use his Ancient Spear to pull you in you could just Vault and it wouldn’t hit you. Vault could also be used to chase down enemies that were low on health, which I did do a few times. The skill was a little redundant with “Tumble” (Evasive Fire) but it still came in handy. If I was making this build I probably would have taken Vault and left out Evasive Fire.
Shadow Power
Shadow Power with Alabaster runestone: “ Blood Moon”
This skill increased the damage output, and was also the only source of healing for the Demon Hunter. Without this skill Rapid Fire would not have been worth using. The life regen from this skill was not as good as it could have been, had the Demon Hunter had bigger DPS skills.
I will say this, the skill looks fantastic and even though the damage addition was marginal, it just was a fun skill to have going. It came with psychological benefits as well, since other players would see the Demon Hunter’s appearance transform and run, expecting attacks as dangerous as those the Wizard dished out in Archon form. Sadly, that was not the case.
For this build “Blood Moon” was the only way to go. If you used this skill with Smoke Screen and shot up a few targets with Evasive Fire you could heal yourself and deal damage while completely invisible to the enemy.
Smoke Screen
Smoke Screen with Indigo Runestone “ Lingering Fog.” (Not 100% certain on this runestone.)
One of these best escape skills in PvP. Not only did this skill break the Demon Hunter out of any crowd control debuff, but you could attack for the duration of the skill while remaining invisible. The mistake most players made was when they used it with Rapid Fire, since the stream of glowing projectiles gave away their location. Better was to use Evasive Fire, since it did not show your location.
With no cooldown the Demon Hunter could use this skill repeatedly, to remain invisible for an extended period. This was the DH best skill of this build. If this build had Impale, Evasive Fire and this skill, the reactions to the class would have been much different.
Passive Skills
Demon Hunter passives
Unfortunately I don’t remember the Passives so I can’t talk about what impact they might have had on the build. That’s what I get for playing the class first and only one time.
In Conclusion
The Demon Hunter PvP build at Blizzcon was high on survivability and movement and low on damage. I have to question most of this build though. Why so many discipline skills? Why not have one less and have one more DPS skill? Even if the runes were changed the Demon Hunter would have had a better build. In the end the class just didn’t do what you would want in a PvP build… big damage, of course. I see potential in the class and that’s good. I can’t wait to get my hands on the class and make some bad ass assassin that shoots from the shadows and everyone wonders where death is coming from.
Here’s how the Demon Hunter was built in the demo, as best I can remember.
My PvP build would look like this. The Assassin.
Blizzcon 2011 PvP Arena: Hands-On Reports:
The Diablo Podcast #48: Forty minutes of Arena demo conversation with Wolfpaq and The Eliminator.
The Barbarian, by The Eliminator.
The Demon Hunter, by The Eliminator.
The Monk, by Adivirgi.
The Witch Doctor, by Adivirgi.
The Wizard, by The Eliminator.A Slice of Whole Grain Bread Raises Your Blood Sugar More Than a Snickers
Have you heard someone tell you that, “A slice of whole wheat bread raises your blood sugar more than a Snickers bar?” Or possibly one of the variants for whole grain bread? …or maybe you’ve heard “two slices of wheat bread”? I’ve been trying to dig up the research everyone keeps talking about, and the best that I could come up with is this article from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In it, the authors provide a table measuring the Glycemic Load and Glycemic Index for a variety of foods. The full details behind the table are in the article, but I’ve made a composite image from the pertinent sections of the table below. Have a look:
If we compare Glycemic Index for an American (sorry for the bias) Snickers bar at 68/97, we see that it has a higher GI than all varieties of Whole Wheat bread in the study, and is higher than both common varieties of Whole Grain bread found in America. So it would appear that the apocryphal reports are NOT correct, except in the case of 2 slices of bread.
The authors also indicate the Glycemic Load for all these foods, and by that measure, the Snickers bar clearly carries a higher load.
So what’s that mean? Well, Glycemic Index
“is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates in food on blood sugar levels. It estimates how much each gram of available carbohydrate (total carbohydrate minus fiber) in a food raises a person’s blood glucose level following consumption of the food, relative to consumption of glucose. […] Glycemic index is defined for each type of food, independent of the amount of food consumed.(source)”
Glycemic Load, on the other hand,
“is a number that estimates how much the food will raise a person’s blood glucose level after eating it. One unit of glycemic load approximates the effect of consuming one gram of glucose. [1] Glycemic load accounts for how much carbohydrate is in the food, and how much each gram of carbohydrate in the food raises blood glucose levels. Glycemic load is based on the glycemic index (GI). Glycemic load is defined as the grams of available carbohydrate in the food x the food’s GI / 100.” (source)
So it appears that while whole grain or whole wheat bread is not the health food it is marketed as, the oft reported comparison is not true, unless you compare to 2 slices of wheat or whole grain bread. If you want to compare gram for gram glycemic responses between Snickers and the breads, you’d look at Glycemic Load and see that the Snickers bar clearly has a higher value than the other two. The trouble is, both of these values (Glycemic Load and Glycemic Index are calculated…which is often a fancy way of “guessing by formula”). A more interesting (and perhaps more informative) value would be direct measure of blood glucose response to these foods, or even the respective Insulin Index values for each. Until that comes along, this is apparently the best we can do…
Lastly, it is worth noting that there are many breads that a single slice of which will raise your blood sugar more than a US Snickers bar (which has a GI of 68/97)…if the Glycemic Index can be believed. You can browse the table yourself to see. I’ve included some of the more interesting ones below.
Breads that have a higher Glycemic Index than a Snickers bar:
Bagel, white, frozen (Lender’s Bakery, Montreal, Canada)
Baguette, white, plain (France)
Kaiser rolls (Loblaw’s, Canada)
Melba toast, Old London (Best Foods Canada Inc, Etobicoke, Canada)
White flour (Canada)
White flour (USA)
White flour (Sunblest; Tip Top Bakeries, Australia)
White flour (Dempster’s Corporate Foods Ltd, Canada)
White flour (South Africa)
Wonder, enriched white bread
Stay Trim, whole-grain bread (Natural Ovens, USA)
Resources:
“International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2002” (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, August 2006 vol. 84 no. 2 354-360)Denis Johnson, Author Who Wrote Of The 'Painfully Beautiful,' Dies At 67
Enlarge this image toggle caption Cindy Johnson/ Courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux Cindy Johnson/ Courtesy of Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Updated at 3:12 p.m. ET
Denis Johnson, the author behind the seminal collection Jesus' Son, has died at the age of 67. A protean stylist who made a career of defying readers' expectations, he crafted fiction, poetry and reportage that was often as unsparing as it was unconventional.
Johnson's publisher, Farrar Straus and Giroux, initially announced that the National Book Award-winning novelist died Thursday, but it later amended the account to say his death came the day before. His literary agent, Nicole Aragi, confirmed that Johnson died Wednesday of liver cancer.
"Denis was one of the great writers of his generation," FSG's president and publisher, Jonathan Galassi, said in a statement Friday. "He wrote prose with the imaginative concentration and empathy of the poet he was."
"Brutally honest and painfully beautiful" — that's how novelist Nathan Englander described Johnson's work in 1992's Jesus' Son, a brief, unvarnished set of interwoven stories that focus on the desperate lives of drug addicts.
Book Reviews Johnson Covers Vietnam, CIA in 'Tree of Smoke' Johnson Covers Vietnam, CIA in 'Tree of Smoke' Listen
"He doesn't ever romanticize these dark settings while leaving his narrator open to the fact that, despite it all, we may live in a heartbreakingly romantic world," Englander wrote of Johnson in 2007, adding: "With dialogue that feels like you're getting it verbatim and stripped-down prose, he writes simple, honest stories that have the bigness of great work."
The same year that Englander praised him on NPR, Johnson went on to win the National Book Award for a significantly heftier work — at least in physical size. Tree of Smoke, a deep dive into covert operations during the Vietnam War, only added proof to the notion Johnson was "a fine stylist of the world of soulful disaster," reviewer Alan Cheuse said at the time.
And Johnson, whose novella Train Dreams was also a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer, proved to be prolific both on the page and off: The author of about 20 books, including several collections of poetry, he pursued journalistic stories in Somalia and Liberia, among other places around the world.
In Liberia's capital city in 1990, the dogs were doing well "because they feed on human corpses," he wrote in "The Civil War in Hell," a piece included in the nonfiction collection Seek. "The people are starving, but the dogs have put on weight."
From book to book, Johnson frequently slipped seamlessly into new voices.
"I get bored quickly and try another style, another genre, another form," he told the Los Angeles Times in 2014, around the time he released his 10th novel, Laughing Monsters. "To me the writing is all one thing, or maybe I should say it's all nothing. The truth is, I just write sentences."Originally published March 25, 2012 at 7:07 PM | Page modified March 26, 2012 at 10:25 AM
The Cougars will close their home season Monday in the opener of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational series against Pittsburgh, only the second Big East team to visit Pullman.
PULLMAN — The opportunity to continue their season was motivation enough for the Washington State Cougars to accept a bid to the College Basketball Invitational.
And after winning three games — the most recent one without leading scorer Brock Motum for much of the game — WSU is being rewarded for its resiliency.
That is, if you consider a best-of-three series against a Big East team a reward. But from a prestige standpoint, the Cougars (18-16) are proud to host Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. Monday in the opening game of the CBI's championship series.
Why shouldn't they be? After all, Pitt is about to become just the second current member of the Big East to play a game in Pullman, and the first since that conference was formed in 1979.
DePaul is the only current Big East team that has played a game here, losing 83-69 to WSU on Dec. 11, 1974.
"Pullman's not a fun place to play" for a visiting team, senior forward Abe Lodwick said. "It's not an easy place to get to, either, so I understand why a lot of programs don't come. It'll be fun having a team with a big name on their chest coming in. We definitely want to represent ourselves and our school as best we can against them."
"Playing Pitt here, it's a big-name school coming in and giving us some publicity over on the East Coast for recruits and stuff," said freshman guard DaVonte Lacy. "I think it's a real good opportunity for us and hopefully we take advantage of it."
The latter may be difficult without Motum, who leads the team in scoring at 18 points per game. Coach Ken Bone said the junior forward has a "very slim chance" to play after spraining his right ankle early in WSU's 72-55 semifinal win over Oregon State last week.
Motum, who hadn't practiced all week when he met with reporters Saturday, was still in a walking boot and on crutches. He said if he can't play Monday, the goal will be to get healthy in time for Game 2 on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
The Panthers (20-16) were ranked 10th in the AP's preseason poll, but they lost their first seven Big East games with starting point guard Tray Woodall sidelined by an abdominal injury.
Pittsburgh is led by guard Ashton Gibbs, who averages 15.5 points.Care for a quick hello to your Korean fans?
Bjergsen: Great to meet you. I had a great time playing Ranked there [laughs].
The crowd went wild over you.
Bjergsen: I was born in Europe, raised in Europe, and debuted in Europe as a professional player. I'm grateful to the fans here who are cheering me on.
Fans wanted to see you play against Faker, not with Faker, in Assassins Mode!
Bjergsen: It's always fun with Faker, whether against or with. We were also on the same team last year. Faker let me play Zed [laughs] and went Hourglass on Rengar.
How have you retained your status as the best NA midlaner for so long?
Bjergsen: I get this question a lot, but my answer stays similar. I always do my best and try not to fall into bad habits. If I make a mistake in a game, I make sure to watch the replay and learn from it. And I always am thinking about LoL no matter what. Even when I'm eating, I'm going over midlane matchups and how to teamfight with each champion.
Thoughts on the recent assassins rework?
Bjergsen: There's been a lot of changes, and I'm mostly positive about them. Zed, Fizz, and Talon feel a bit weak comparatively, while Katarina now has great potential, although she became more difficult to play. According to Reignover, some guy has been ripping apart games in Korea with Ghost-Flash Katarina. I also think Rengar and Kha'zix became strong jungle picks. As for balance, I trust Riot to solve it over time.
What is All-Stars to you?
Bjergsen: All-Stars is interesting. I wanted to say that it was enjoyable, but I've changed my mind. It's really great playing with the best players in the world in wacky fun event matches, but it's still not fun when you lose. So overall, it's interesting. But I do want to stress that I'm having a lot of fun here.One of the many physicists who came under official FBI scrutiny during the Cold War was Richard Feynman. Feynman’s work on the bomb at Los Alamos, combined with his fame, penchant for telling stories about safe-cracking, and occasional consideration for being on government committees led him to be investigated a few times, to see where is loyalties lay. In March 2012, the website MuckRock filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain and release Feynman’s full FBI file (minus deletions). It got a lot of Internet buzz when it first came out, but from the look of most of it, the articles about it didn’t read it very carefully — they just mined it for a few good quotes.
And good quotes it has. Like most FBI files for people who had security clearances at one point or another, it is mostly concerned with interviews with friends and colleagues about Feynman’s “character and loyalty.” Most of the file was filled out in 1958, when Feynman was apparently being considered for a position on Eisenhower’s President’s Science Advisory Committee (PSAC), a very high-level advisory board created in the wake of Sputnik. Most of the testimonies look like this:
“…a brilliant physicist… discreet, loyal American citizen of good character and associates and recommended him for a position of trust…” And so on.
And sometimes you can figure out the basics of what the blank spots say from the context. The first blank spot is someone who Feynman worked with during a summer of 1956 visit to Brookhaven National Laboratory, and we can deduce from the text that: 1. the person is a man, and 2. the person is not someone Feynman knew well before that period. We could if we were really tempted to, try to figure out (from archival files or databases), the names of several candidates based on these properties, and then see if they fit into the blank spot (since it is a fixed-width font). The second blank spot is the name of the interviewing FBI agent (SA = Special Agent). In this case, it is such a boring endorsement that it doesn’t seem worth the effort. (The b7C and b7D on the right are FOIA exemption references that indicate that the blanked out parts have been done so to protect the “privacy” and hide the name of the confidential informant.)
But there is a much more interesting letter in the file, and it is one that several blogs and news sites picked up on at the time. It is dated August 8, 1958, and is an epic 9-page attack on Feynman’s character, written directly to J. Edgar Hoover. It argues that “Feynman is a master of deception, and that his greatest talent lies in intrigue, not physics”:
I do not know—but I believe that Richard Feynman is either a Communist or very strongly pro-Communist—and as such as a very definite security risk. This man is, in my opinion, an extremely complex and dangerous person, a very dangerous person to have in a position of public trust… In matters of intrigue Richard Feynman is, I believe immensely clever—indeed a genius—and he is, I further believe, completely ruthless, unhampered by morals, ethics, or religion—and will stop at absolutely nothing to achieve his ends.
You can read the least-redacted version of the letter here. A lot of the sites which posted it did so in sort of a confused way — talking about how it reflected that the FBI was dubious about Feynman (the FBI do not issue opinions of this sort, and the letter is just part of his file), and wondering which of his colleagues would be mean enough to write such a thing.
I’ve read a lot of FBI files of physicists, and plenty of them are full of anonymous, smearing letters to Hoover. This one sticks out as unusual, though, both in its vehemence and its personal specificity. The author of the letter is not some anti-Communist nut who writes nasty letters as a hobby. It hits much closer to home than most smears.
So who smeared Feynman? What can we infer about the letter’s author, reading between the lines?
The author is someone who knew Feynman pretty well. This is a letter written by someone who has heard a lot of Richard Feynman stories — they are well-acquainted with his lock-picking Los Alamos stories, for example. (And this was several decades before those stories appeared in books.) They know that he’s very handy with mechanical devices, they know his friends, they claim to know how Feynman has talked about his political positions over the years and how he is registered to vote (Republican).
This is a letter written by someone who has heard a lot of Richard Feynman stories — they are well-acquainted with his lock-picking Los Alamos stories, for example. (And this was several decades before those stories appeared in books.) They know that he’s very handy with mechanical devices, they know his friends, they claim to know how Feynman has talked about his political positions over the years and how he is registered to vote (Republican). The author is religious and conservative. Among the author’s criticisms of Feynman is that he is irreligious and a fake Republican. The author repeatedly invokes Eisenhower’s name in awe and respect, and offers to swear either on a Bible or to the President himself. The author talks of Feynman’s “long hatred of Republicans,” but knows that Feynman registered as a Republican in 1956 — which the author believes to have been part of a long-game deception to infiltrate the government. The author could be faking it, of course, but it doesn’t read like that to me.
Among the author’s criticisms of Feynman is that he is irreligious and a fake Republican. The author repeatedly invokes Eisenhower’s name in awe and respect, and offers to swear either on a Bible or to the President himself. The author talks of Feynman’s “long hatred of Republicans,” but knows that Feynman registered as a Republican in 1956 — which the author believes to have been part of a long-game deception to infiltrate the government. The author could be faking it, of course, but it doesn’t read like that to me. The author knows a lot about his scientific contacts and knows he is considered brilliant by his peers, but is probably not a physicist. On page 6 of the letter, the author names lots of Feynman’s scientific associations and acknowledges that they would all give Feynman high marks. But the author also makes some rather elementary errors: some of the names are obviously misspelled — “Enerico Fermi” and “Claus Fuchs.” It is hard for me to believe that any of his Los Alamos peers would misspell those names in 1956, much less that of Fermi’s. Of course, we all make typos. But the tenor of the letter suggests someone who was pretty closely connected with Feynman’s scientific world, but was not a member of it.
On page 6 of the letter, the author names lots of Feynman’s scientific associations and acknowledges that they would all give Feynman high marks. But the author also makes some rather elementary errors: some of the names are obviously misspelled — “Enerico Fermi” and “Claus Fuchs.” It is hard for me to believe that any of his Los Alamos peers would misspell those names in 1956, much less that of Fermi’s. Of course, we all make typos. But the tenor of the letter suggests someone who was pretty closely connected with Feynman’s scientific world, but was not a member of it. The person is someone who the FBI had already identified as worth interviewing, prior to the letter. This is obvious from the first sentence (“On July 28, 1958, I was interviewed by a representative of the FBI…”) but was missed by a lot of the sites that wrote on the file. This tells us a few things. For one, it tells us that this person was already someone whose connection to Feynman was superficially obvious — again, not an anonymous ranter, but someone relatively close. For another, it lets us trace through the file and figure out where the interview happened. And indeed, we find that on 7/28/58, an FBI agent from the Butte office interviewed someone in Boise, Idaho, who talked about Feynman’s lock-picking stories, and had a rare negative conclusion about his suitability. Probably the same person.
This is obvious from the first sentence (“On July 28, 1958, I was interviewed by a representative of the FBI…”) but was missed by a lot of the sites that wrote on the file. This tells us a few things. For one, it tells us that this person was already someone whose connection to Feynman was superficially obvious — again, not an anonymous ranter, but someone relatively close. For another, it lets us trace through the file and figure out where the interview happened. And indeed, we find that on 7/28/58, an FBI agent from the Butte office interviewed someone in, who talked about Feynman’s lock-picking stories, and had a rare negative conclusion about his suitability. Probably the same person. The person who wrote the letter is a woman. Wait, what? Indeed! Despite a lot of redaction to keep the identity of the letter writer and interviewee a secret, there are a few tiny slips: a reference to “her” and “she” in a few of the FBI memos. This is the sort of subtle thing that must make file redactors kick themselves, because it’s the sort of little slip-up that gives away a lot of information.
So who smeared Feynman? I submit a theory: I suspect it was his second wife, Mary Louise Bell, to whom he was married from 1952 until 1956. That’s not a long marriage, but it’s plenty of time to hear someone’s stories ad nauseam, and plenty of time to learn to hate someone. From James Gleick’s Feynman biography, Genius:
His friends refused to understand why he finally chose to settle down with Mary Louise Bell of Neodesha, Kansas, who had met him in a Cornell cafeteria and pursued him—they said cattily—all the way to Pasadena and finally accepted his proposal by mail from Rio de Janeiro. … They married as soon as he returned from Brazil, in June 1952, and they honeymooned in Mexico and Guatemala, where they ran up and down Mayan pyramids. He made her laugh, but he also frightened her with what she decided was a violent temper. … She nagged him, they thought. She liked to tell people that he was not “evolved” to the point of appreciating music and that sometimes she thought she was married to an uneducated man with a Ph.D. … Politically she was an extreme conservative, unlike most of Feynman’s colleagues, and as the Oppenheimer security hearings began, she irritated Feynman by saying, “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.” He, too, voted Republican, at least for a while. Divorce was inevitable—Feynman realized early that they should not have children, he confided in his sister—but it was nearly four years before they finally separated.
Further evidence from the file: Feynman’s only connection to Boise, Idaho, is through Bell (they were married there in late June 1952). The final divorce settlement was rendered only in May 1958 — two months before the FBI interviewed the letter writer. It was an extremely ugly, long (2 years!) divorce hearing: it made the newspapers because of Bell’s allegations of “extreme cruelty” by Feynman, including the notion that he spent all of his waking hours either doing calculus and playing the bongos.
Of course, there’s always another possibility, such as the idea that it might not be Bell herself, but her mother, sister, close friend, etc. But there’s a level of personal animosity in the letter that is quite deep. There’s a sense that this letter writer is the only person in the entire FBI file who is fed up with Feynman’s self-serving stories and not engaged in any form of hero-worship just because he is a well-respected genius. It really does read like someone who just went through a very messy divorce with the guy.
As an aside, I talked about this with my own wife, and she noted how gendered a lot of the Feynman stuff is. His “smartest man in the room” stories are an awfully common male trope, and the emotional self-denial that comes through in his stories (e.g. about his first wife, Arline) reflects a guy who is trying very hard to put on a public face that is strongly within typical American masculinity. Many of the traits discussed in the smear letter are ones Feynman himself would own up to gladly, but were turned on their head — Feynman’s anti-secrecy exploits at Los Alamos are not seen as evidence of the inefficiency of secrecy, but as evidence of Feynman’s own juvenility. Somehow I don’t see Feynman’s male colleagues making that sort of twist. This isn’t to be essentialist, or to claim that men couldn’t smear — but the male smears usually had more emphasis on the Communism and less emphasis on his emotional stability.
Feynman never became a member of PSAC. Was it because of this letter, the one piece of strongly negative testimony in his file? We would need more records (and not the FBI’s) to know that: the FBI did not make recommendations as to whether someone should be hired, it simply produced a summary of the information it received (often with an emphasis on the derogatory information, though), and let the agency in question decide what it wanted to do about it. Feynman’s lack of PSAC participation may have had to do with other factors; it is not clear that he would have even wanted to be on the committee, given his avowed distaste for government work in the Cold War period. But it’s a strong letter, so it might have had an effect — it’s a letter from someone who knew Feynman, and his flaws, very well.
Notes
Tags: 1950s, FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, Los Alamos |
81: Senior military officer in charge of troop and supply mobilization in Virginia.
1781: Replaced by Marquis de Lafayette as commander in Virginia.
1781-83: Continues to serve as Washington's inspector general, and is active in improving discipline and streamlining administration in the Army.
Spring 1783: Assists in formulating plans for the post-war American military.
Washington rewarded von Steuben with a house at Valley Forge, which he shared with his aide-de-camps Capt. William North and Gen. Benjamin Walker. Walker lived with him through the remainder of his life, and von Steuben, who neither married nor denied any of the allegations of homosexuality, left his estate to North and Walker. There wasn't much else to claim, as the baron was in debt at the time of his death, according to both Kapp and Lockhart. His last will and testament has been described as a love letter to Walker and has been purported to describe their "extraordinarily intense emotional relationship," yet that line was not in the Kapp biography of 1859.
Both North and Walker are featured in the statue of von Steuben in Lafayette Park across from the White House.
John Adams' Son's 'Unsavory' Relationship with the Baron
Von Steuben and with whom he slept was long a matter of discussion -- from Prussia to France to the United States. Yet he never publicly denied it. The closest he came was to ask Washington to speak on behalf of his morals in a letter to Congress so he could get his pension. And why did he ask Washington?
Since his arrival in Philadelphia to assist the Revolution, von Steuben had financial issues caused by a Continental Congress that often didn't keep its funding promises, a challenge compounded by his own personality: Von Steuben at times could be cold and aloof, which was problematic when diplomacy was needed with an important member of Congress. He also had a tendency to live and spend extravagantly, especially on his uniforms, which were often emblazoned with epaulettes and medals of his own design.
Adding to that were the constant rumors about his sexuality, which by 1790, reached one of the revolution's first families, the Adamses of Massachusetts.
Charles, the son of John and Abigail Adams -- the second president and first lady of the new union -- was what today would be called the black sheep of the family. Early on, Abigail considered him "not at peace within himself." His biggest problem was alcoholism but, as revealed in letters among the various members of the family, the Adamses had other concerns.
As John Ferling wrote in the biography John Adams: A Life, "There are references to [Charles'] alleged proclivity for consorting with men whom his parents regarded as unsavory." One of these men was von Steuben, who, as Ferling writes, many at the time considered homosexual. Charles had become infatuated with and adored Von Steuben. It is clear from the family letters that the Adamses were concerned about a relationship between Charles and the baron. Von Steuben's sexuality was an open secret, one that he himself never challenged, other than to ask Washington to defend his moral character.
The Nation's First Underwear Party
The baron is a puzzle. At first, I really didn't like him: The man himself was pompous, cold and theatrical, and his uniforms and title were stage props for an officer who didn't even speak English when he got to Valley Forge. But I respected him for what he did to help Washington's rag-tag army to defeat the British, eventually leading to the creation of our country. His knowledge created the first sense of military discipline in the colonies. My appreciation for him came from his most recent biographer, Lockhart, whose book The Drillmaster of Valley Forge offers a complete look at von Steuben's work.
There is one story in the book that could be considered rather scandalous in today's terms: Von Steuben most likely threw the first underwear party in the United States military, at his house in Valley Forge.
As Lockhart writes, "The Baron hosted a party exclusively for their lower-ranking friends. He insisted, though, that 'none should be admitted that had on a whole pair of breeches,' making light of the shortages that affected the junior officers as they did the enlisted men."
Apart from this humorous anecdote, it's hard to question von Steuben's importance -- especially as Washington's last official act as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army was to write a letter to the baron.
George Washington Says Goodbye
Sent from Annapolis and dated Dec. 23, 1783, Washington wrote:
"My dear Baron: Altho' I have taken frequent opportunities, both in public and private, of acknowledging your great zeal, attention and abilities in performing the duties of your office; yet I wish to make use of this last moment of my public life, to signifie [sic] in the strongest terms my entire approbation of your conduct, and to express my sense of the obligations the public is under to you, for your faithful and meritorious services.
"I beg you will be convinced, my dear sir, that I should rejoice if it could ever be in my power to serve you more essentially than by expressions of regard and affection; but in the meantime, I am persuaded you will not be displeased with this farewell token of my sincere friendship and esteem for you.
"This is the last letter I shall ever write while I continue in the service of my country; the hour of my resignation is fixed at 12 this day, after which I shall become a private citizen on the banks of the Potomack, where I shall be glad to embrace you, and to testify the great esteem and consideration with which I am, etc." 1
The nation that von Steuben helped found has memorialized him with numerous statues, including those at Lafayette Square near the White House and at Valley Forge and Utica, N.Y. (where he is buried) and German Americans celebrate his birthday each year on Sept. 17, hosting parades in New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago.
It was von Steuben, a gay man, who played a giant role in not only the creation of our military, but the idea of military academies, a standing Army and even veterans organizations.
If George Washington was the father of the nation, then von Steuben, a gay man, was the father of the United States military.
1. From the original letter in the office of the Secretary of the United States Senate.LEGAL proceedings have begun against federal MP Craig Thomson alleging he used his union credit cards, or cash advances from the cards, to pay thousands of dollars to brothels and escort agencies.
Fair Work Australia has also alleged in its statement of claim, filed in the Federal Court yesterday, that Mr Thomson used funds, ultimately provided by members of the Health Services Union, to pay for personal travel expenses and unauthorised cash advances totalling $102,337.
The national industrial umpire is seeking to level penalties against the former Labor MP turned independent worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is also seeking repayment of funds to the HSU.
While the accusations are in a civil court and separate from ongoing police investigations, the federal opposition says the penalties sought could bankrupt Mr Thomson, rendering him ineligible to sit in the Parliament.Russia’s central bank recently warned about the growing financial risks to the Russian economy from Saudi Arabia encroaching upon its traditional export market for crude oil. Russia sends 70 percent of its oil to Europe, but Saudi Arabia has been making inroads in the European market amid the oil price downturn.
The result is a heavier discount for Russia’s crude oil, the so-called Urals blend. Bloomberg reported that the Urals typically lands in Rotterdam, a major European destination, at a discount to Brent of around $2 or less. But the discount has widened to $3.50 lately due to increased competition from Saudi Arabia. “Oil supplies to Europe from Saudi Arabia are probably adversely affecting Urals prices,” the Russian central bank warned in a recent report.
Russian officials have accused Saudi Arabia of “dumping” its oil in Europe, a move that Rosneft chief Igor Sechin said would “backfire.”
Russia’s economy has been battered by the collapse in crude prices, compounded by the screws of western sanctions. The Russian economy could shrink by 3.2 percent this year. Related: U.S. Oil Production Holding Its Own, Which Can Only Mean One Thing…
Oil exports account for around half of the revenue taken in by the Russian government. And for an economy so dependent on oil, it is no surprise that the plummeting crude oil price has led to a dramatic depreciation of the ruble, although over the past month the currency regained some lost ground. The weakening currency has pushed up inflation, which creates a conundrum for the Russian central bank.
To stop the ruble from plunging further and to keep inflation from spiraling ever upwards, the Russian central bank took aggressive action by hiking interest rates to as high as 17 percent at the beginning of 2015. However, that has negatively impacted the economy. As the ruble stabilized, the bank dialed the interest rate back to 11 percent, where it stands today.
In response to the tough financial circumstances that Russia has found itself in, it sees no choice but to squeeze as much oil out of its aging fields as it can. So far, it has succeeded to some extent. Russian oil production is expected to rise by a modest 70,000 barrels per day in 2015, averaging 10.75 million barrels per day (mb/d) over the course of this year. Output hit a post-Soviet record of 10.78 mb/d in October, according to OPEC’s latest monthly report. Related: Is The Oil Industry Really Subsidized?
However, the upside to Russia’s oil production is limited. The Russian government needs revenue, so is not keen to cut taxes. The government is mulling a delay in the planned cut in export taxes, which, according to OPEC, could result in oil companies paying an additional $2 to $3 billion more in taxes. That could modestly cut into overall Russian oil production, perhaps pushing output down by 0.1 to 0.2 mb/d. In any case, Russia probably can’t boost output any further. OPEC predicts Russia’s oil production will remain flat through next year. Related: Oil Tankers Are Filling Up As Global Storage Space Runs Low
Globally, the competition between oil exporters won’t ease in the near term. There are still too many barrels of crude floating around. OPEC predicts that non-OPEC supply will contract by just 0.13 mb/d in 2016, a rather trivial amount considering the extreme cut backs in investment and drilling activity.
Despite the fact that OPEC officials have consistently put on a brave face in public, insisting that markets will balance relatively quickly, OPEC’s numbers tell a different story. The cartel sees U.S. shale contracting by just 100,000 barrels per day in 2016 from 2015, a volume that is nearly offset by several new projects beginning operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Which brings us back to Europe. Saudi Arabia could be playing a longer game, intensifying its market share strategy by encroaching on Russia’s traditional market in Europe. An increase in Saudi oil flowing to Europe threatens to undermine Russia’s principle market. In its November report, OPEC reported that the Urals discount to Brent “almost tripled in October amid plentiful supplies, sagging refinery margins and wide availability of alternative grades from the Middle East.”
By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:NW MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) — On Interstate 95 in Miami, a motorcyclist lay dead on the pavement after state troopers say his bike was cut off by a driver who pulled through the flimsy plastic barricades and into the express lanes on the northbound side of the highway.
The motorcyclist was unable to avoid the much slower moving car, rear-ended it and was thrown onto the opposite southbound side of the expressway Wednesday afternoon.
The motorcyclist, Aledys Llorens, was 28 years old.
“He was a hard-working guy,” Llorens’ uncle, Ariel Sanchez said on Thursday.
Llorens was an employee at Port Everglades and a lifelong resident of Hialeah. He leaves behind a four-year-old daughter. The family blames his death largely on a lack of adequate barricades separating regular lanes from express toll lanes. Flimsy plastic polls are the only divider between traffic traveling at a high rate of speed in the toll lanes and motorists in the slower, non-toll lanes.
“He didn’t expect that and his reaction time was less than seconds, and he didn’t have time to do anything,” his uncle said.
Florida State Trooper Joe Sanchez called the plastic dividers and close proximity between the express lanes and regular lanes “the perfect ingredients for a disaster.”
“Anytime those vehicles cut into these express lanes, they’re violating somebody’s right of way and, in many cases, these accidents result in injuries, and at times, even fatalities,” Sanchez said.
State troopers say distracted or often impatient drivers routinely whip into the express lanes. Angela Birdman knows all about it.
“It’s really a mess,” Birdman told CBS4 News on Thursday.
Her son’s SUV was totaled a couple of weeks ago, after he was cut off by a driver who steered illegally into the express lane on I-95. Alec Birdman, 24, was saved thanks to deployed airbags. His late model Dodge was destroyed.
His mother is furious with the highway design.
“People go in and out of the express lanes willy-nilly, and it’s constantly causing accidents,” Angela said.
Why not a more substantial barrier, like concrete ones being built for express lanes on I-75 in Broward County?
A spokesman for the DOT says there’s not enough room on I-95 for concrete barriers and the plastic poles are regularly inspected and replaced when missing.
A CBS4 News crew, however, had no trouble finding lots of missing poles along stretches of Broward and Miami-Dade counties Thursday.
Birdman says if the barriers can’t be improved, there has to be another solution.
“We need to make it a serious penalty for people who cross these barricades and have accidents,” she said. “Make this a crime like drunk-driving.”
Whatever else the future might hold, the plan is to expand the express lane system — plastic divider poles and all — all the way from Miami to Delray Beach; a 50-mile stretch.
A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help with the burial.Last week, Rick Joyner revealed to his fellow conservative televangelist Jim Bakker that he is giving spiritual advice to Donald Trump.
Joyner, it seems, has been spending so much time with Trump that he has even adopted his rhetorical style, claiming that a lot of people are saying that President Obama is a secret Muslim and he is just asking whether Obama is using taqiyya to keep his true faith a secret.
After insisting that approximately 400 million Muslims are radicals bent on murdering Americans, Joyner said, “I know there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence and a lot of people believe he is a Muslim and using taqiyya.”
Regardless of whether Obama is secretly Muslim or has been deceived by dark spirits, he added, it is clear that the president’s work is “doing great damage to us, great damage to Christianity and great damage to our country.”JERSEY CITY -- A city man who shoplifted one pound of mozzarella cheese from a Union City supermarket spent more than 100 days behind bars for the offense because he allegedly pushed a store security guard while fleeing.
Thomas M. Campbell, 55, of Greenville Avenue, stole the cheese from Ram Supermarkets/Fine Fare on Nov. 8 and was taken into custody a couple of blocks away, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino said.
Campbell's bail was set at $75,000 cash or bond and he was remanded to the Hudson County jail in Kearny for the theft. Because he did not post bail, Campbell remained in jail for more than 100 days.
Campbell's public defender declined to comment.
A theft becomes a robbery when force or the threat of force is present. Robbery is a serious criminal offense with two degrees. Second degree robbery carries a possible sentence of five to 10 years in prison, while armed robbery is a first degree crime and carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years. In each case, 85 percent of the sentence must be served before becoming eligible for parole.
"Unfortunately, the statute designates that conduct is the same as the robbery situation we all fear of a man in a mask lying in wait for someone," said Daniel Welsh, who works as a defense attorney. "I think there should be some element in the statue to differentiate those types of scenarios from a typical robbery case."
In the end, the cheese bandit pleaded guilty on Feb. 19 to the disorderly persons offense of shoplifting before Hudson County Superior Court Judge John Young. The judge ordered him immediately released at the plea hearing.
When sentenced by Young on April 10, Campbell will face either probation or up to 180 days in jail.
The security guard was not harmed in the incident.Filipino actor and martial artist
Ernesto de la Cruz (September 7, 1957 – August 29, 1992), better known as Weng Weng, was a Filipino actor and martial artist. Only 83 cm (2 feet, 9 inches) tall, he is listed in the Guinness World Records as the shortest adult actor in a leading role. He played Secret Agent 00 in For Y’ur Height Only and The Impossible Kid, and also starred in the western D’Wild Wild Weng. Weng Weng was a co-star or made cameos in several films, however, many of them are considered lost.[1][2]
Early life [ edit ]
Weng Weng was born with a medical condition known as primordial dwarfism, which caused him to only grow to a height of 2 feet and 9 inches (0.83 meter) tall. According to his brother, when his mother gave birth to Weng-Weng, his size was “no bigger than a small coke bottle”, this forced Weng Weng’s parents to place him in the care of the hospital incubator for the first twelve months of his life. During this time, the doctors were advising the Mullucey couple that Weng Weng might not survive but miraculously he did, and being devoted Catholics, the couple showed their devotion to their faith by dressing and parading a young Weng Weng as Santo Niño each year for the annual Baclaran parade.
As a child, Weng Weng was described by his brother and some of his childhood peers as a mischievous but cheerful kid. He was also an avid martial arts enthusiast even when he was young. Weng Weng trained hard and diligently to become a skilled fighter.
Career [ edit ]
His former martial arts instructor introduced him to Liliw Productions’ Peter Caballes, an independent film producer. Caballes and his wife Cora Ridon Caballes shopped Weng Weng to other film producers and cinema outfits which landed him his early roles in movies, playing a little child, a small animal, or an alien from outer space.
Weng Weng's first movie part is believed to be that of the baby Moses in the 1972 Filipino biblical epic Go Tell It On The Mountain, which also starred future Philippine president Joseph Estrada as the adult Moses.[citation needed] Another of his early roles was in the 1973 sci-fi film called Moon Boy from Another Planet. He played a small alien who accidentally crashed here on Earth eventually befriending a poor Filipino boy. This low budget film was shown almost a decade ahead of another alien-meets-boy story film, the Hollywood blockbuster movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Manoy later unsuccessfully attempted to sue Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg, claiming he had stolen the idea for E.T. from him.[3]
After playing cameo roles in a string of low budget sci-fi and martial arts movies in the late 70’s, in 1980 Weng Weng, through the Caballes, was introduced to Dolphy. Dolphy, with his film outfit – RVQ Productions, produced the spy-spoof hit film The Quick Brown Fox starring Dolphy and introducing Weng Weng as his Kato-inspired sidekick. This was Weng Weng’s first big budget role and movie. The success of this movie resulted for RVQ to produce a sequel the following year entitled Da Best In Da West.[citation needed]
Inspired by the success of Weng Weng’s big-budget film debut, Peter and Cora Caballes produced For Y’ur Height Only in 1981 starring Weng-Weng in his first lead role. Directed by veteran Filipino stunt director Eddie Nicart, Weng Weng played a secret agent code-named Agent 00. For Y’ur Height Only was a blockbuster hit and became an overnight Philippine sensation.[citation needed]
The success of For Y’ur Height Only was followed by six more films top-billed by Weng Weng during the 80s. He was named an honorary Philippine Secret Agent and presented a custom-made.25 caliber pistol by then Vice Chief of Staff General Fidel V. Ramos. He was a familiar sight as a guest on popular TV shows, film festivals, and awards nights.[citation needed]
In the 1982 sequel The Impossible Kid, Weng Weng is now working for the Manila branch of Interpol. Weng Weng starred again in the 1982 western D'Wild Wild Weng, playing a character called "Mr. Weng". In the film, he and sidekick Gordon (Max ZUMA Laurel) are sent to the countryside to investigate the murder of Santa Monica’s mayor. D’Wild Wild Weng shares much of the cast from both For Y’ur Height Only, and The Impossible Kid.[citation needed]
In 1990 he was awarded a special citation for services to the Filipino film industry by then-first lady Imelda Marcos and joined her at the presentation in a special karaoke "duet" version of My Way.[citation needed] An unauthorized recording of their performance was later released on bootleg cassette and sold 200,000 copies.[4]
Weng Weng trained in many disciplines of martial arts including Jeet Kune Do under fellow Filipino Dan Inosanto and the hybrid martial style Ju Gran Chaud which he was taught by Ju Gran Chaud's founders Laurent Painchaud and Matthew "Granimal" Granahan who travelled through Southeast Asia and Compton preaching the discipline.[5]
Death [ edit ]
In 1992, Weng Weng, age 34, died in Pasay City, of heart attack, a common cause of death among those suffering from primordial dwarfism. The life expectancy for people with primordial dwarfism is 30, and those affected frequently develop vascular complications resulting in heart attacks.[6]
Legacy [ edit ]
Weng Weng is the subject of Australian cult video store owner-turned-guerrilla filmmaker Andrew Leavold's documentary, titled The Search for Weng Weng.[7] Leavold has ascertained that there are 11 confirmed Weng Weng films, with a further 2 awaiting verification. Three Dolphy films (Da Best In Da West, Stairiray, The Quick Brown Fox) are in the TV archives in Manila, but the Liliw Productions titles are still owned by producer Cora Caballes, and she claims they are on Betacam and stored somewhere in Manila.[8]
In 2008, the Brazilian comedy show Hermes & Renato made a parody dubbing of the Agent 00 film The Impossible Kid. The parody was called Um Capeta em forma de guri (A Devil in a boy body) and portrayed Weng Weng as a mischievous and wicked little boy.[citation needed]
In 2010 the Canadian comedy show This Movie Sucks! played The Impossible Kid and hinted at later playing more Weng Weng films. The topic of the episode was movies which interest was revived through various means, in reference to Weng's Internet "resurrection." That same year, a documentary film that dealt with the Filipino movie exploitation craze of the 1970s and 1980s, Machete Maidens Unleashed, paid a special homage to Weng Weng's movie career.[citation needed]Policy change, which follows Supreme Court ruling, puts gays on equal footing with heterosexuals.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with U.S. Embassy staff in London on Friday after announcing that same-sex spouses applying for visas would be vetted the same as heterosexual couples. (Photo11: Jason Reed. AP)
In a policy change prompted by a recent Supreme Court ruling, the United States will now give equal treatment to same-sex married couples applying for visas, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Friday.
The change affects applications by foreign nationals in a legal same-sex marriage with a U..S. citizen, as well as foreign gays and lesbians who are legally married.
Before the high court stuck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which limited legal marriage to heterosexuals, only opposite-sex couples had their visa applications considered together. All others were evaluated individually.
"Now, as long as a marriage has been performed in a jurisdiction that recognizes it, so that it is legal, then that marriage is valid under U.S. immigration laws, and every married couple will be treated exactly the same," Kerry said at the U.S. Embassy in London.
The new policy applies worldwide, regardless of whether same-sex marriage is legal in countries where embassies, consulates and visa-processing facilities are located.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ehsIReback to news News Attention! This news was published on the old version of the website. There may be some problems with news display in specific browser versions. Update 1.41 - Ground Forces OBT! Pilots and tankers! We are pleased to announce the release of the War Thunder Update 1.41 that makes Ground Forces available for everyone to play! In order to add tanks to your hangar just go to the “Army” tab in the “Research” menu and purchase them the same way as you would do with the aircraft. Major features of the 1.41 Update: Ground forces are now available for all players in open beta test (Ground Forces progress achieved by players in the CBT will be wiped);
New planes, which include the MiG-3 armed with cannons, the I-185 reference model, navy version of the B-25 - the PBJ-1 in two modifications and two new jet-powered Me-262 in the German tree, Griffon powered Spitfire fighters for Britain;
Cockpit for all versions of the Ki-45 heavy fighter;
Optimization of shadows and update of visual effects;
Updated ammunition and ballistics. Full Changelog here This is war!"And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer, let it be..."
Let it Be, one of the most renown rock album, was released May 8th 1970 shortly after one of the greatest English rock bands broke up, The Beatles. From their beginnings in Liverpool in 1960 to becoming the Fab Four, The Beatles grew to become one of the most cherished and popular bands in music history. When someone mentions The Beatles, songs like Let it Be, Hey Jude, or Yesterday play in people's minds. Whether one is a fan or not, one can attest that The Beatles have their own place in music history and have changed the way people perceive music.
The Beatles started off as a five man band with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, playing in clubs in Hamburg and Liverpool. Soon the band got reformulated with the addition of Ringo Starr replacing Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe leaving them, thus becoming the Fab Four.
Slowly but surely, The Beatles became an international hit and Beatlemania was running rampant. Their music started off in 1950s style rock and roll but as they progressed their style changed as well. They experimented with different cultures and incorporated various styles of music ranging from classical music to psychedelic rock.
Amid their success, The Beatles faced some controversies, such as John Lennon's statement that they were " more popular than Jesus" and drug references in their songs. Yet their successes in music outshine their mistakes. For instance, their album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, is ranked as number one out of the 500 Greatest Albums in Rolling Stone.
Although the band broke up, their music still continues to inspire their audiences. Even after the deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison, the spirit of The Beatles continues to live on from generation to generation.
"And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me. Shine until tomorrow, let it be..."At the beginning of the fall season, it looked as though there was a plethora of ‘Doctor Who’ references interspersed in television shows such as ‘Supernatural’ (they had a character named Amy Pond) and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (the ER was flooded with injured con goers hoping to get a miniature TARDIS signed by Russell T. Davies). But one reference that seemed to strike a chord in fellow Whovians was the one seen on NBC’s ‘Community’ when they showed a segment called ‘Inspector Spacetime.’
What turned out to be a 15 second parody became a trending Twitter topic and became the subject of fan fiction and video mash ups. If you recall, ‘Inspector Spacetime’ was a spoof of ‘Doctor Who’ described on ‘Community’ as “a British sci-fi series that’s been on since 1962” and involves a time travelling inspector who travels in a red box.
Travis Richey, who played the time travelling detective, was invited to Gallifrey One after the huge positive response from a Liar’s panel that was held at the Chicago TARDIS con last November. Tony Lee (writer of the ‘Doctor Who’ comics) had asked Richey to film a short message to the fans attending the panel as they discussed upon the ‘Inspector Spacetime’ show as though it was a real series with a history spanning 50 years. Because of the popularity of the panel, Richey was invited to hold a panel of his own at Gallifrey One about his “series.” There he discussed the show and even presented a slide presentation explaining the long line of actors who played the Inspector which included Christopher Lee in the 1960s, Stephen Fry in the 1980s, and Steve Carell in the 1990s TV movie.
After his panel, he was kind enough to speak with us about the popularity of the character and his work to bring the Inspector to a computer near you.
How did it feel seeing a character you played for only 15 seconds have such an impact over the web?
“It was funny because I was on the West Coast so I was seeing East Coast Twitter feeds start to have this wave of Inspector Spacetime mania sweep the country before it even aired where I was. And so, it was really great to see that. But even more than that, the instant reaction the fans that created, literally, an entire history of this fake show based on 15 seconds of work. It was so gratifying to see that the interest was actually out enough for people to sit down and write stuff. “
Fan fiction?
“People are writing old episodes of ‘Inspector Spacetime.’ Rewriting…I say rewriting because in the canon, they already exist so fans are creating those episodes from scratch.”
You mentioned a web series?
“We are going to launch (a web series). Because I haven’t been used on ‘Community’ again, I wrote a web series after my first episode on ‘Commnuity’ and offered it to them. It’s hard for that to be the way it works though because in Hollywood you have to go through agents and I’m still a small potato in Hollywood. But it’s obviously something that fans want and it deserves to exist. It’s a fun 6 episode web series that we’re just going to do it ourselves.”
Do you know when it may come out?
“We’re launching a Kickstarter campaign and we’ve got some great prizes lined up including an original poster by Jonny Eveson and things like signed stuff (to give out). The campaign’s gonna last through March and assuming it’s successful, we’ll go into production a couple weeks after that and put out the first episode probably in beginning of May.”
How exciting! Can you tell us about the first episode?
“We just did a reading of it here, and there will be a video of it on line. And also what I did was get illustrations from SharkeyeJones. He illustrated the entire first episode for me and so I will post that in a video format later in the week and add it to the Kickstarter campaign. So you’ll actually be able to watch kind of in animated form of the first episode and then the series itself features the return of the Inspector’s arch nemesis Boyish the Extraordinary and so fans are excited about that seeing the new incarnation of Boyish and what he looks like so it should be a lot of fun.”
Will any of the actors on ‘Community’ be making an appearance in the web series?
“We talked about that. We talked about asking them, although honestly, it’s awkward…just from a storytelling standpoint…because they don’t exist in the same universe, right? (In) ‘Community,’ they watch ‘Inspector Spacetime.’ What we thought is if we do it and it’s successful, maybe they could use the clips (from the web series) in the show.”
I understand this web series is a labor of love, so to speak?
“We’re not doing the web series to make any money. We’re not going to sell DVD’s. We are not going to make one dime out of the series. The reason we are doing it is simply because, and this is important….it deserves to exist. Fans want it and they’re not getting it now and so we’re gonna make it happen.”
As Richey mentioned, at the panel there was a reading of the first webisode and it involved the Inspector and his companion, Constable Reginald, visiting the planet Second New Old Earth 7 where they are confronted by the Blorgons. They manage to conquer the Blorgons using the Inspector’s Optic Pocketknife and run into a deserted warehouse where they become trapped. Sometime in the webisode, we’ll also get to see the latest incarnation of the Inspector’s arch-nemesis, Boyish the Extraordinaire!
If you’d like to help Richey out with getting ‘Inspector Spacetime’ made, then head over to their Kickstarter page where you can donate towards raising funds for this project. And if you’re not familiar with the “series,” here’s the segment from the show ‘Community’ that started it all!Shelley Dufresne, 32, and Rachel Respess, 24, both teach at Destrehan High School in St. Charles Parish. They are each charged with one count of carnal knowledge of a juvenile, according to the St. Charles Herald Guide.
WDSU quoted an unnamed source who implied that the victim was involved in a threesome with the teachers. That detail and others were confirmed by Kenner police in booking reports released Thursday.
According to WGNO:
Multiple sources say the student, then 16 and now 17, met the two teachers at the Kenner home where some of their sexual encounters were videotaped.
Investigators confirmed Wednesday that the encounter allegedly took place at Respess' apartment after a Destrehan football game Sept. 12, and that all three were together at the residence until early morning hours of the next day.
Dufresne, who has taught at the school for 10 years, was arrested Tuesday and released from St. Charles Parish jail on $200,000 bond later that night. According to WGNO, the mother of three is under house arrest, and is not allowed to leave her home except for continued intensive mental health treatment, doctors’ appointments, and church.
Respass, who is in her second year teaching at the school, turned herself in on Wednesday.
Police began their investigation last Friday after educators learned that a male student had been "bragging to other students that he was having a sexual relationship with teachers," according to a St. Charles Sheriff's Office report.
WDSU reports that the teachers were put on paid leave last Friday after the allegations came to light.
Parents aren't taking the allegations lightly.Wlliam Britt's landlord in Cudjoe Key had evicted him earlier this month because of a lack of sanitation and cleanliness. As the landlord helped Britt move out of the Cudjoe Key residence, he noticed some kiddie porn in one of the boxes, according to a news release from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.
The landlord then swiped some of the pics and a video to show authorities.
According to deputies, Britt had been working as a substitute teacher at Sugarloaf School and had worked at other schools in the lower Keys as well.
After leaving his Cudjoe Key place, Britt, reported retired from the military, had moved to the Sigsbee Naval Air station.
On November 8th, with the cooperation of the School District, Britt was reportedly interviewed for a job at Glynn Archer Elementary School, for which he had recently applied.
Following the interview, authorities did a traffic stop on the 55-year-old's van. Britt allegedly admitted to possessing kiddie porn when a detective confronted him about the evidence he had against him.
Two guns – a loaded handgun and a sawed off shotgun – were found in the van, along with a video depicting nude children, deputies said.
Britt then consented to a search of his RV at the Naval Air Station. He also handed over 123 printed images depicting clearly minor children engaging in sexual behavior. He also told the detective he had numerous computer hard drives and USB storage devices with more kiddie porn, according to the report.
During an interview, Britt allegedly told a detective he knows he is “sick” but he never touched any children. He also told the detective he works at schools “because he enjoys the company,” the release stated.
Britt was charged with 123 counts of possessing child pornography as wella s an outstanding warrant for possession of seven counts of possessing child pornography from the initial case earlier in the month.
More FloriDUHAvoiding the worst consequences of climate change—the raison d’être of modern environmentalism—requires a rapid worldwide reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. Achieving that reduction demands that we clean up the energy sector, the world’s largest single source of emissions. And cleaning up electricity means transitioning away from coal—which is particularly dirty and ubiquitous—toward less emissions-intensive sources like natural gas, wind, solar, hydro, and—perhaps—nuclear power.
It isn’t an easy transition to make. Coal has the luxury of being abundant, reliable, and if you don’t factor in health and climate-related costs (which you should), extremely cheap. Potential |
30 50 80 22 63 238 12.6 8 25 49.0 21:44 Savard 82 25 63 88 25 70 213 11.7 9 21 49.9 19:32 Toews 82 34 35 69 12 51 195 17.4 12 10 54.7 18:38 Kopitar 82 27 39 66 -17 32 234 11.5 7 16 49.5 20:27 Spezza 82 32 41 73 -14 79 246 13.0 13 18 53.3 19:41 Vermette 79* 16 25 41 -7 42 174 10.9 3 9 57.7 18:69
*62 games w/ OTT, 17 w/ CBJ
2009-2010
Player GP G A PTS +/- PIM SOG SPCT PPG PPA Faceoff% ATOI Datsyuk 80 27 43 70 17 18 203 13.3 9 16 55.1 20:21 Crosby 81 51 58 109 15 71 298 17.1 13 21 55.9 21:57 Backstrom 82 33 68 101 37 50 222 14.9 11 26 49.9 20:27 Thornton 79 20 69 89 17 54 141 14.2 4 25 53.9 19:51 H. Sedin 82 29 83 112 35 48 166 17.5 4 23 49.5 19:41 Weiss 80 28 32 60 -7 40 180 15.6 12 10 52.4 20:00 Lecavalier 82 24 46 70 -16 63 295 8.1 5 20 53.2 19:47 M. Richards 82 31 31 62 -2 79 237 13.1 13 18 50.7 20:25 Savard 41 10 23 33 2 14 90 11.1 6 11 48.8 18:35 Toews 76 25 43 68 22 47 202 12.4 9 13 57.3 20:00 Kopitar 82 34 47 81 6 16 259 13.1 14 24 49.7 21:47 Spezza 60 23 34 57 -1 20 165 13.9 11 13 50.5 19:04 Vermette 82 27 38 65 2 32 156 17.3 6 6 54.2 20:09
Looking at these, I think it's tempting to say that point production is what defines a first line center, but if that's the case, Vermette would already be in the conversation, as his point production, particularly since moving to Columbus, isn't that different from some of these examples. Admittedly, he isn't breaking the high end of the curve like a Crosby or a Backstrom, but his 65 points last season were still quite respectable compared to guys like Mike Richards, Toews, or even Datsyuk.
If we look at time on ice, again, Vermette's 20:09 is perfectly reasonable - most of the first liners seem to average between 19-21 minutes a night.
Shots on goal? Possibly - I don't think it's a coincidence that so many of these players record over 200 shots on goal a season. There are exceptions (Joe Thornton's shot totals are surprisingly low), but it would seem the first liner should be willing to shoot as often as pass. Interestingly, though, Vermette's actual scoring percentage last year (17.3) was one of the best of the group. Clearly he knows where to place his shots when he takes them. Hopefully the new coaching staff will recognize this and encourage Antoine to shoot more frequently.
Assists are another key stat that seems to define a first line player. In fact, nearly every person who gave me their opinion said that one of the major roles of a top line center is to set up the guys on his line. By that logic, he should always have more assists than goals. The numbers seem to agree with this - the only players to get close, or even pull even, were Sidney Crosby, Mike Richards, and Stephen Weiss. The others all had around half again more assists than goals. Vermette was close in this category - if he'd scored three or four more assists he'd have it sewn up.
Faceoffs were the final stat that virtually everyone agreed with. To borrow from the response I got from Cassie McClellan of Raw Charge:
If a center can't take faceoffs, but is still racking up the minutes and the points, that invalidates him as a true first line center for me. The whole point of being a center is taking faceoffs and setting up your wingers for shots, and if you can't at least do that, then you're not really playing the position as its intended.
Using that logic, though, there are a lot of players on this list who need to brush up on their skills. I was surprised that most hang around the 50% mark in the faceoff dot - and several were below that bar. Again, however, Vermette puts in a good showing. We knew when he was acquired he was a skilled faceoff man (in fact, he was 3rd overall in the league at faceoffs in 2008-2009), but I wouldn't have expected him to still outdraw players like Sedin and Thornton even in a "down" year.
There's one last area we haven't touched on in the initial discussion that needs to be brought up: The Power Play.
Here's where Vermette really seems to take a step back. While his 6 power play goals are fairly solid, he had the least PPA of the group, only accounting for 6 setups with the man advantage. Most of these first line talents tend to bring in at least 18. This is, admittedly, a stat that depends as much on his teammates as it does himself, but it's certainly an area where he could bear to step up.
On the other hand...
As we got into this discussion, noted stats addict Derek Zona from over at The Copper & Blue brought up a different argument: it's not about a "first line", or any line, but about the type of minutes a player sees. To that effect, he pointed me at this article about forwards who see the "Toughest" minutes - playing against the opponent's top lines and being able to outscore that competition.
If we use that logic, we still see a few repeats - Weiss, Datsuyk, Mike Richards, but we also see guys like Mikko Koivu, Eric Staal, RJ Umberger and Sammy Pahlsson. Interesting, but I have to admit I'm not totally sold on this being the real bellwether.
Derek clarified his position a bit by saying "Any center that is among the team lead in scoring while playing toughs is a "first-line center" for me, I guess. If you've got a center that can't play the toughs, you've got a second-minutes center. "
This, I think, I can agree with. So, where did Vermette come in for the Jackets? According to the NHL Advanced Statistics page over at Behind The Net for the 2009-2010 season? Pretty well. (Warning: You should probably go read this FAQ if you're not familiar with the stats pages over at BtN.)
That puts him at #9 on the team for over all quality of competition, and 5th among forwards. Considering that two of the other forwards ahead of him are his normal line mates of Rick Nash and Kristian Huselius, I'd say that he satisfies the competition portion. Vermette's 65 points were also second overall on the team for scoring, and his 27 goals were second on the team behind Rick Nash.
Looking at Qualcomp numbers for some of the other top line players we've mentioned, though, Vermette (and the Blue Jackets as a whole) do need to improve - while it would be difficult to expect the team to meet Mike Richard's.109 QualComp, Spezza, Lecavalier, Backstrom, Thornton, Crosby, and Weiss are all above a.060. (Though I was surprised to find that Datsyuk was only a.021, Kopitar a.016 and Henrik Sedin actually recorded a -.013!)
I think it's safe to say Vermette isn't terrible here, but he could be better - and so could the rest of the Blue Jackets. This is also a stat where, with the exception of Weiss, we're comparing players on playoff teams to a player on a lottery team. If the team's on-ice performance improves next season, it may be worth revisiting this stat to see how he compares against the group again.
So, what do we have?
Going through these stats, what I believe we've settled on in defining a first line center is that he is a player who is solid in the face off circle, will be a top point producer on his team, particularly with the man advantage, should be scoring more assists than goals, and should be on the ice playing effectively against his opponent's best players
Using that argument, I believe that Antoine Vermette is much closer to becoming a first line center than CBJ fans,and the hockey world in general, have given him credit for. While he does have areas that need some clear improvement, in most of the major categories he has already met or exceeded the criteria, and gives a good accounting of himself when compared to his peers.
We've said before that this is a big year for Vermette. Dark Blue Jacket has also produced a great piece on how Vermette has been leading the team in "Clutch" and "Pace setting" goals, and how he needs to step up his game. We draw some of the same conclusions, and we differ in a few others, but the underlying tone is that Vermette could become a player equal to the caliber of his superstar linemate and Captain with just a few (relatively) small improvements to his game.
I believe that if he can rise to this challenge, we'll stop asking when Columbus will get a "real" top line center, because he'll make it crystal clear to the entire NHL that they already have one.Last year, when Darius Cheung, co-founder of a property search portal, wanted to rent a house in Singapore, he met with many reluctant real estate agents. Many of them seemed interested at first, but would turn him down later. He found out why when one realtor gave him a rather shocking response: “Sorry your wife is Indian, (the) landlord won’t rent to you.”
Indians who have spent some time in the city-state know that they aren’t the first choice as tenants for many landlords, though Chinese people from the mainland have it even worse: they are said to be the least preferred by Singapore’s property owners.
That was evident from a quick search with the keywords “No Indians, no PRC (People’s Republic of China)” on two property websites. Gumtree.sg turned up 29 announcements with these words and PropertyGuru showed 63.
On the face of it, this would seem to be evidence of racial disharmony in a country where the government imposes a harsh penalty on instances of racial prejudice. But many see the discrimination in the rental market as an expression of the clash between the old and the new—the discomfort of the country’s long-time citizens with the influx of foreigners in the multi-ethnic, wealthy country.
Who are the Indians?
The prejudice against Indian tenants may spring from the stereotype that they are unsanitary.
“There is discrimination against all South Asians, even though the listings often specify ‘No Indians,’” said Cheung, whose search engine 99.co introduced a new filter in July—All Races Welcome—as part of its “Regardless of Race” campaign. This drive aims to encourage agents and landlords in Singapore to indicate that their rental listings are open to all, regardless of the “ethnicity, background, or nationality” of potential tenants.
In Singapore, “Indians” is a catch-all term for all those perceived to be of South-Asian descent. For instance, a BBC report in May 2014 described how an immigrant of Sri Lankan descent searching for a home was rejected outright by several landlords for being “Indian.”
The prejudice against Indian tenants may spring from the stereotype that they are unsanitary and leave rented properties in a poor state. For instance, in July, The Independent, an online news platform in Singapore, reported that a departing Indian family left behind a dirty home, besides defaulting on the rent and other bills.
“Stories like this circulate and create a certain impression about a community,” said Ravi Philomen, a Singaporean of Indian descent who is also a human rights activist and a member of the opposition Singapore People’s Party. “There are similar stories about the Chinese from the mainland. It is said that the Chinese fail to get along with neighbours in government housing” blocks that have common areas.
Even American and British citizens of South Asian and mainland Chinese descent are often rejected by Singapore’s landlords, the BBC reported.
“These are some of the experiences in a society where people of different nationalities, each with their own world views and cultural prejudices, live in close proximity,” said Philomen.
Old and new
Singapore has many second or third-generation citizens of South Asian origin who are often referred to as “locals.” Most of this old South Asian population are descendants of early immigrants who migrated generations ago, in the 1800s, from the Indian subcontinent, primarily from south Indian states (Tamil Nadu, in particular) and from what is now Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Since the mid-2000s, thanks to changes in immigration policies, Singapore’s foreign population has boomed. In the first decade of the 21st century, the country’s non-resident population accounted for 25.7% of the total, in contrast to 18.7% in the previous decade, according to a 2012 report by the Migration Policy Institute.
As per 2015 estimates, “Indians” comprise 9.1% of Singapore’s 3.9-million strong resident population.
The population of permanent residents grew at an average of 8.4% a year between 2005 and 2009. By contrast, the number of Singaporean citizens grew at a modest 0.9%.
Even though the annual growth of permanent residents fell to 1.5% in 2010, the government’s immigration policies have sparked concern from some locals who complain that the country’s infrastructure is inadequate for the growing population. Chinese and Indian nationals, being present in large numbers in Singapore, often evoke disquiet.
As per 2015 estimates, “Indians” comprise 9.1% of Singapore’s 3.9-million strong resident population, which includes both citizens and permanent residents. The total population, including non-residents, is 5.53 million.
Racial harmony, a government initiative
Some Singaporeans think that when those perceived as Indian and Chinese are rejected in the housing market, it tends to be an expression of the local population’s discomfort with foreigners’ lifestyles and habits.
“This [discrimination in Singapore’s housing market] is not a matter of racial prejudice,” Philomen said.
After Singapore’s independence in 1965, the government initiated proactive ethnic integration policies, such as a minority quota in government housing, to ensure the peaceful co-existence of different races.
For instance, July 21 is celebrated annually as Racial Harmony Day.
Philomen said the government’s racial integration policies largely succeeded in controlling sentiments of racial prejudice in Singaporean society.
In 2011, when a Chinese family, which had moved to Singapore recently, objected to the smell of curry emanating from the premises of their Indian neighbours, it resulted in an online furore. Many Singaporeans—the majority of whom are ethnically Chinese—rebuked the insensitivity of the Chinese family and hailed curry as an integral part of Singapore’s multi-racial culture. Netizens even created Facebook groups to celebrate cooking “a pot of curry”, according to AsiaOne, an online portal of Singapore Press Holdings.
However, even though the relationship between the country’s main racial groups—Chinese, Malays, and Indians—appears cordial on the surface, incidents of racial prejudice against minority groups are not completely unknown, as this report in the Straits Times notes.
In 2013, for instance, the accidental death of a South Asian labourer in Little India, who was run over by a bus, led to a riot in which property was damaged and more than 60 security officials and civilians were hurt. Though the riot was not race-related, racial slurs against foreign workers were hurled online in its aftermath.
The discrimination in the rental market comes with a caveat. Real estate agents say landlords’ reluctance in renting out to South Asians and other ethnic groups is less common in Singapore’s upscale properties. “This is a much smaller issue as you go towards luxury apartments of $10k rent per month and above,” said Cheung.
The over-supply of housing and the vacancies in the rental market are also expected to alleviate landlords’ racial prejudice. The search portal 99.co observes that 2016 has been a tough year for Singapore’s rental market, with vacancy rates hovering at around 8% and rental prices sliding.
“We have seen the number of ‘All races welcome’ listings rise from zero to over 2,500 [as of the end of July] since we launched the campaign,” Cheung said.
This post first appeared on Scroll.in. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.Sunday, February 12, 2017 3:02 pm unwatch 0 291k
GENEVA, Feb. 13, 2017 — In a statement that has gone viral on Twitter and Facebook, UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights NGO in Geneva, expressed disappointment that Sweden’s self-declared “first feminist government in the world” sacrificed its principles and betrayed the rights of Iranian women as Trade Minister Ann Linde and other female members walked before Iranian President Rouhani on Saturday wearing Hijabs, Chadors, and long coats, in deference to Iran’s oppressive and unjust modesty laws which make the Hijab compulsory — despite Stockholm’s promise to promote “a gender equality perspective” internationally, and to adopt a “feminist foreign policy” in which “equality between women and men is a fundamental aim.”
In doing so, Sweden’s female leaders ignored the recent appeal by Iranian women’s right activist Masih Alinejad who urged Europeans female politicians “to stand for their own dignity” and to refuse to kowtow to the compulsory Hijab while visiting Iran.
Alinrejad created a Facebook page for Iranian women to resist the law and show their hair as an act of resistance, which now numbers 1 million followers.
“European female politicians are hypocrites,” says Alinejad. “They stand with French Muslim women and condemn the burkini ban—because they think compulsion is bad—but when it happens to Iran, they just care about money.”
The scene in Tehran on Saturday was also a sharp contrast to Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin’s feminist stance against U.S. President Donald Trump, in a viral tweet and then in a Guardian op-ed last week, in which she wrote that “the world need strong leadership for women’s rights.”
There was another stark contrast: in the same week as the Swedes wore their Hijabs, Tehran hosted the world competition in women’s chess, and numerous female chess champions from around the world gave up their chance to win a world prize because they refused to submit to the required Hijab and Iran’s discrimination against women.
Trade Minister Linde, who signed multiple agreements with Iranian ministers while wearing a veil, “sees no conflict” between her government’s human rights policy and signing trade deals with an oppressive dictatorship that tortures prisoners, persecutes gays, and is a leading executioner of minors.
“If Sweden really cares about human rights, they should not be empowering a regime that brutalizes its own citizens while carrying out genocide in Syria; and if they care about women’s rights, then the female ministers never should have gone to misogynistic Iran in the first place,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer.
The government has now come under sharp criticism from centrist and left-wing Swedish lawmakers, who said the ministers should not have deferred to “gender apartheid.”
“They go to my country,” said Aliinejad recently in the European Parliament, “and they ignore millions of those women who send their photos to me and put themselves in danger to be heard. And [the European politicians] keep their smile, and wearing hijab, and saying this is a ‘cultural issue’—which is wrong.” This week 2 female chess champs gave up chance to win World Prize. #Iran host wanted to force them to wear #Hijabs—and they said No. #Heroes pic.twitter.com/ETQJEOlTZM — Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 15, 2017 Trade Minister Ann Linde, Who Oversees “Feminist Foreign Policy, Adds Black Cloak Trade minister Ann Linde, one of three Swedish ministers who oversees the country’s “feminist foreign policy,” decided voluntarily to go covered in a long black coat, akin to the Chador, in addition to covering her hair with the compulsory Hijab. She is seen below meeting President Rouhani, and then signing one of multiple agreements with representatives of the theocratic regime.
Just signed referral of Swedish #climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future. pic.twitter.com/OqOO2y8BU6 — Isabella Lövin (@IsabellaLovin) February 3, 2017
Writing in the Guardian, Deputy prime minister Lövin contrasted Swedish policy with that of President Donald Trump, saying that the world “needs strong leadership for women’s rights” and “Sweden will have an increasingly important role to play in this.” She added that “many countries could learn an important lesson from this.”
Her viral tweet above was meant to emphasize her government’s focus on women’s rights, as opposed to Trump.
Walk of shame: Women of Sweden's "first feminist government in the world" don hijab as they walk past Iran's Rouhani https://t.co/aeEFgibVhV pic.twitter.com/urHrtObkYv — Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 12, 2017WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer will give a boost to 2014 political candidates from seven U.S. states who work to combat climate change, countering political support from fossil fuel interests.
NextGen Climate, Steyer's political group, said Thursday it would back candidates in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania who face challenges from opponents who either doubt that humans cause climate change or receive donations from the fossil fuel industry.
NextGen said it would use climate change as a "wedge issue" to drum up voter turnout and to show that taking an anti-science position can hurt rather than help political candidates.
"The debate on climate change is settled," Steyer said. "It is here, it is human-caused, and it is already having a devastating impact on our communities, but we need to accelerate the level of political support to address this critical issue before it's too late."
Steyer said earlier this year that he planned to put $50 million of his own funds toward backing candidates in the November elections who support action on climate change. He said he also hoped to mobilize like-minded donors to match that amount.
A self-styled counterweight to libertarian megadonors Charles and David Koch, Steyer has quickly become a major force in U.S. politics.
His financial clout and focus on environmental issues have given Democratic candidates a reason to highlight their stance on climate protection rather than hide their views, as has happened in the past.
In Colorado, a state where energy and environment issues are front and center, NextGen said it would oppose Republican Senate candidate Cory Gardner, who has denied that human beings contribute to climate change and opposes Environmental Protection Agency rules to combat carbon pollution.
NextGen is supporting Democratic incumbent Senator Mark Udall even though he has not stated his position on the Keystone XL pipeline, a key concern for Steyer.
In the Florida governors' race, NextGen said it was going after Governor Rick Scott, who has publicly doubted humans' contribution to climate change despite his state's vulnerability to the rising sea levels it causes.
Steyer stepped down in 2012 as co-managing partner of Farallon Capital Management, the hedge fund he founded in 1986, to devote himself to full-time activism.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)OpinionAbortion
“The stronger must dominate the weaker…I do not see why man should not be as cruel as nature” – Adolf Hitler
February 16, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Liberal and left wing opponents of the Trump administration often accuse their opponents of being thinly-veiled or outright Nazis and fascists. These slanderous labels justify their use of civil disobedience, intimidation, and at times violence, to shut down the free speech rights of those they disagree with.
“Reproductive rights” and tax payer funding of abortion are sacred and foundational tenets of these same liberal-left groups that hate President Trump, and attack those who support him as modern-day fascists.
Yet the spirit and philosophy of “reproductive choice” has much more in common with Hitler and Nietzsche than the early pro life pioneers of feminism.
Pro-Choice Storm Troopers
Pro abortion apologists realize that they can no longer deny the humanity of the unborn child. Advances in ultrasound technology, fetal surgery, and a basic understanding of human biology have finally put to rest the “it’s just a blob of tissue” farce.
Radical feminists like Mary Elizabeth Williams lift the veil on the spirit and philosophy of the pro-choice movement in her article in Salon aptly entitled, So What if Abortion Ends Life:
Here’s the complicated reality in which we live: All life is not equal. That’s a difficult thing for liberals like me to talk about, lest we wind up looking like death-panel-loving, kill-your-grandma-and-your-precious-baby storm troopers. Yet a fetus can be a human life without having the same rights as the woman in whose body it resides. She’s the boss. Her life and what is right for her circumstances and her health should automatically trump the rights of the non-autonomous entity inside of her. Always.
Ms. Williams confesses that her perspective on human life may appear to conflict with her liberal identity and make her “look like a kill your precious baby storm trooper.”
She revealed more than she intended.
In the totalitarian philosophy of choice, the will of the mother trumps the rights of the unborn child - as Ms. Williams emphatically proclaims - always.
This radical elevation of the individual will, and the dominance of the strong over the weak, reveal that the philosophy of choice is closely aligned with the worldview and practices of Adolf Hitler, and the spiritual guru for Hitler and the Nazis, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche:
“This world is the will to power—and nothing besides! And you are also this will to power—and nothing besides!” -Friedrich Nietzsche
The Jew and Fetus as Parasite
In Nazi Germany, the Jew was seen as having a parasitical relationship to the German nation.
Hitler's ideology revolved around the metaphor of the German nation as an actual body or "living organism." The Jew was identified as…the cause of Germany's disease (a bacteria or virus); and as a "parasite on the body of the people." (Library of Social Science)
Nazi physician Fritz Klein justified his role in the “selective reduction” of the Jewish population in concentration camps:
“I am a doctor and I want to preserve life. And out of respect for human life, I would remove a gangrenous appendix from a diseased body. The Jew is the gangrenous appendix in the body of mankind.”
In a similar way, in the pro-choice perverted moral universe, once a mother decides that the non-autonomous entity residing within her body is no longer welcome, then this entity is now in a parasitical relationship with the mother’s body.
This non-autonomous entity must be ex-terminated.
Joyce Arthur of the Pro Choice Network:
“A fetus is not a separate individual - it lives inside a pregnant woman and depends on her for its growth. In fact, the biological definition of "parasite" fits the fetal mode of growth precisely…” - Joyce Arthur
“We know that it’s killing, but the state permits killing under certain circumstances.” – Dr. Neville Sender, abortionist
This is My Body
Fr Frank Pavone of Priests for Life shares how the entire “pro-choice” movement perverts the vocation of womanhood, motherhood and the foundations of Christianity:
“…on the night before He died Jesus said ‘This is My Body, which is given up for you.’ He was pointing to what would happen the next day, when He would give that same Body on the cross. He sacrifices Himself so that we may live... …abortion supporters say, ‘This is my body… I can do what I want, even to the point of killing the life within it. All is secondary to my dominion over my body."
Mary, the mother of Jesus, when learning of an unexpected pregnancy and her special vocation to be the mother of the Christ, responded to her heavenly messenger:
“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” - Mary of Nazareth
Mary and Elizabeth
Salon author Mary Elizabeth Williams is ironically named after both Mary the mother of Jesus, and her cousin Elizabeth.
Click "like" if you are PRO-LIFE!
Remember that upon visiting Elizabeth, her unborn child John responded in a surprising way to Mary’s arrival and greeting of her cousin.
John recognized the powerful and sacred presence of Mary and her unborn son, and leapt and danced in the womb of Elizabeth, like King David before the Ark of the Covenant.
Sadly, pro-choice philosophy seems to have perverted and corrupted the heart and mind of Ms. Williams and the sacred vocation of women and motherhood:
“Her life and what is right for her circumstances and her health should automatically trump the rights of the non-autonomous entity inside of her. Always.” – Mary Elizabeth Williams
Like the dark philosophies of Nietzsche and Nazism, the clever use of manipulative propaganda by the pro-abortion movement to obfuscate the truth, and justify the unjust and horrific violence unleashed against the innocent unborn, has led to an unprecedented destruction of human life.Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton holds up a newspaper as she speaks to small business owners, Tuesday, May 19, 2015, at the Bike Tech cycling shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
It almost didn't happen.
When Ed Henry of Fox News interrupted Hillary Clinton's scheduled sit-down with Iowans on Tuesday to ask if she'd field questions, Clinton's response was not reassuring.
It's been nearly a month since former secretary of state and 2016 White House contender Hillary Clinton answered a question from reporters. At a panel discussion in Cedar Falls, Iowa, she responded when a journalist asked if she'd take questions. (C-SPAN)
"I might," she said to chuckles. "I have to ponder it. I will put it on my list for due consideration."
After that consideration, she agreed.
The questions and their quick responses touched on a number of subjects that have been swirling around the candidate, including about the income she received from her speaking engagements and the on-going controversy over her private e-mail system while Secretary of State. Our Robert Costa breaks down the questions and response.
By our count, from our Clinton clock, it had been 40,150 minutes -- nearly a full month -- since Clinton last answered a question from WMUR-TV in New Hampshire. But today, the clock has been reset.
Last question answered: May 22, 2015, 1:46 p.m. Clinton discusses the Islamic State with the Post's Robert Costa.
Previous questions:
- 4,410 minutes prior in Iowa.
- 40,150 minutes prior in New Hampshire.May 14, 2013 at 10:06 am
Gale force winds and rain washed out the first of my three available syndicate fishing days this week and the second looked to be following suit, when sunshine broke through in time for lunch in the garden. Sitting back drinking tea, I was watching a column of flies dancing above the lawn and realized that they were hawthorn flies, a seasonal favourite on the syndicate river ten miles away. A check of the weather showed another storm front coming through in the next few hours. Time enough for a speedy visit.
Last week I netted a good fish from the upper reaches, but today my target was a mile or so downstream, where the river drops through an S bend, creating a deep pool that can hold some big trout which only seem to show during hawthorn and mayfly hatches. I parked up at the bridge and paused long enough to study the pools above and below for signs of rising fish. The water was a good colour and seemed perfect, but no trout were rising despite obvious fly life. Following the river down through the meadow, clumps of hawthorn flies were lifting out of the grass and being scattered by the gusting wind as I approached the top pool.
Giving the pool a wide berth to avoid spooking the residents, I waded up from the runoff, keeping below the skyline and began casting above the shallows with my trusty Gold Head Hares Ear nymph. The surface of the pool was alive with olives lifting off and struggling wind blown hawthorn flies, but no dimples of rising trout. This pool usually has a shoal of quality dace to pluck at your nymph as it drifts across the shallows, but today not a touch, so moved up to the middle of the run prospecting my nymph to the areas that held a couple of hard fighting sub pound wildies a few weeks ago. Again no signs of a take. I moved up and across to the inside of the bend, where the river deepens off, giving the chance to drift the outer radius of the pool.
The clouds were now gathering and the wind was swirling, one minute upstream, the next full in my face, making casting a lottery. I’d degreased another three feet of leader to allow the nymph to fish deeper and when it stopped, I instinctively struck. Bottom? No! The surface boiled with a brief flash of gold, as a very large trout woke up with avengence and made for the safety of a sunken log at the head of the pool, line streaming from my reel. I have lost big trout here before due to too much pressure and this one was on full thrust, but my 4lb point held and the run slowed to a head shaking tumble, before a change of direction saw the brown rushing downstream along the outside of the pool. If he made it over the tail and down the run it would have been long gone, but again a turn across the shallows and back to the pool, getting my first full view of a beautifully condition trout powering to safety. I hung on, giving and taking line for an unmeasured time, until eventually the spots on his flanks could be seen and I triumphantly slipped the net beneath my prize.
I waded back across to the grassy bank and removed the barbless nymph from the scissors of it’s jaws, took photos and measured the this overwintered, fulled tailed brown at 18.5 inches (47cm), before placing back in the net to be returned. I have been fortunate to land some good river trout this season, this being the best so far and I held him upstream until ready to swim off, a burst of power from that tail, taking him back to the pool, broaching once before disappearing. After such a battle, to continue fishing seemed wrong, so walked back, getting home in time for a needed cup of tea.Map locates departing and intended destination city of a missing military transport plane in Myanmar; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76 mm;
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A navy ship found bodies and aircraft parts in the seas off Myanmar while searching Thursday morning for a military transport plane carrying 120 people, a spokesman said.
The Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft disappeared Wednesday afternoon about a half-hour after leaving Myeik, also known as Mergui, for Yangon on a route that would have taken it over the Andaman Sea. It was raining, but not heavily, at the time.
Nine naval ships, five army aircraft and three helicopters were searching for the plane Thursday morning, a military spokesman said.
Gen. Myat Min Oo said the ship found two life jackets, three bodies and a tire that was part of an aircraft wheel. The bodies were of a man, a woman and a child. The wreckage was found in the sea west of the town of Laung Lone.
The plane carried 106 passengers — mostly families of military personnel — and 14 crew members. Fifteen of the passengers were children. It is not unusual for such flights to carry civilians to offset transportation costs for military families stationed in the somewhat remote south.
An announcement posted on the Facebook page of the commander of the military, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, said contact was lost when the plane was believed to be about 32 kilometers (20 miles) to the west of Dawei, formerly known as Tavoy.
The military said Myanmar received the Y-8 plane in March last year, and since then it had logged 809 flying hours.
The area is about 440 miles (700 kilometers) north of the last primary radar contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished on a flight from Malaysia to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. That plane is believed to have flown far off course and crashed into a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.Services at a Daytona Beach, Florida drive-in church are much like any you’d find at a Christian house of worship. But instead of congregants filling wooden pews inside a building, worshippers at the unorthodox church park their cars on |
can watch Orange is the New Black star Danielle Brooks make an impassioned pitch for Between the World and Me. Bebe Neuwirth, Larry Wilmore, William H. Macy, and Giancarlo Esposito also recorded video testimonials.
Book club members have until February 28 to cast their votes at NYC.gov. If you’re a non-New Yorker looking to join something similar, there are plenty of worldwide reading groups to choose from, including a feminist book club started by Emma Watson.
[h/t BuzzFeed]Akwugo Emejulu, Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, examines the operation of white supremacy before and after the EU referendum and argues that the visibility of racism following the Brexit vote must not obscure the conditions for its possibility. Her co-authored book, The Politics of Survival: Minority Women, Activism and Austerity in France and Britain is forthcoming with Policy Press.
Despite vociferous claims to the contrary, Brexit really is about race—but not in ways we might expect. In this seemingly ‘post-race’ era, Brexit shows us how whiteness, as a power relation, operates in ways to cast itself as both a ‘victim’ and an ‘innocent’ simultaneously.
Whiteness As Victimhood
An unstated campaign strategy of the Leave campaign was to re-imagine Britain and Britishness (but really Englishness) as white in order to make particular kinds of claims to victimhood which would highlight economic inequality without challenging neoliberalism. For instance, a key argument of the campaign was that the ‘working class’ (who were unquestionably assumed to be white) were suffering under the burden of mass immigration, which transformed the culture of their neighbourhoods and put undue strain on public services. Thus we see whiteness operating as victim—the white working class is being held hostage in their own country by migrants. Any critique of this victimhood further re-enforces a victim status through fulminations that the critic is ‘the real racist’.
This construction of whiteness as victimhood purposefully makes it difficult to understand how and why public services are in crisis. Rather than migration causing the crisis, the crisis is, in fact, the official policy of the current Conservative government: austerity measures have been the dominant policy response since the 2008 economic crisis. Austerity, however, has not been imposed on Britain by the European Union. Rather, the then Coalition government and the current Conservative government voluntarily adopted this policy of shrinking and privatising the state—with disastrous and uneven effects for particular social groups. In other words, those ‘shy’ 2015 Tory voters have much to answer for in terms of the destruction that austerity has wrought—but this complicity has been erased by the Brexit campaign. Instead, migrants have been weaponised to stoke fear and get out the vote for the leave campaign.
Although we appear to be in a ‘post-fact’ Britain, I feel compelled to remind readers that austerity measures are unequally distributed across the population. Certainly, the poorest local authorities, especially those in the north and east, are being hit hardest by these unprecedented cuts to public spending. However, looking more closely at the data shows us that women—and women of colour in particular—are disproportionately impacted. Because women of colour, on the whole, are more likely to be public sector employees but also living in the poorest households, cuts to vital services, such as libraries, public transport and afterschool care, translate into further immiseration as jobs are threatened and household incomes decline. Even though people of colour are more likely to be living in poverty and are being hit hardest by austerity measures, 75% of voters of colour opted to remain in the EU. What does a claim of white victimhood mean in this context?
Whiteness as victimhood is also deployed in a much more insidious fashion. Both before and after the Brexit vote, previously ‘invisible’ and privileged white EU migrants—excluding ‘white’ migrants from Eastern Europe who have been and continue to be subject to institutionalised xenophobia as their labour value is exploited—began to report feeling unwelcomed and unsafe. These reports have combined with social media accounts of increased racial harassment, leading to figures suggesting that such incidents have risen 57% since the referendum. The sincerity of these claims of feeling unsafe, nor the legitimacy of these reports of racist and xenophobic abuse, must not be doubted.But whiteness, even in discussions about racism and anti-racism, can intrude, appropriate and colonise these spaces in order to re-enforce an identity of victimhood, whilst at the same time seemingly de-prioritising the interests and experiences of people of colour.
I do not seek nor desire a victim identity. I do, however, want public acknowledgement, solidarity and collective action against Britain’s de facto policy of indefinite detention of migrants; of everyday and institutionalised Islamophobia and the state violence deployed against Sarah Reed, Sheku Bayoh and Jimmy Mubenga and other people of colour. What does it mean that those who now are expressing ‘concern’ about a surge in xenophobia have previously had little to say about everyday and institutionalised racism and violence that people of colour experience? And that people of colour were not taken at our word, as others have been, about what we experience? It seems some people are only concerned with racism and xenophobia when their own privileged migration status is challenged.
Whiteness As Innocence
The spate of racist and xenophobic attacks in the aftermath of Brexit also reveals another operation of whiteness—that of innocence. We can see this manifested in three inter-related ways. First, public ‘shock’ and outrage about increases in racial harassment seem to define racism as an aberration in Britain—that it only exists in relation to extraordinary events such as the Brexit vote (‘This is not who we are’). The framing of public outrage in this way seeks to treat whiteness as innocent. But the wealth of this country was built through colonial plunder, exploitation and enslavement. Our contemporary social relations are imbued with and reflect this history. To only understand racism as localised, reactionary inter-personal violence is to misunderstand what Britain (and indeed Europe) is and the power relations that maintain and legitimise racial hierarchy. But to acknowledge this history would mean coming to terms with the arbitrariness of race and the racial order, of which there seems to be little appetite.
Secondly, whiteness also seeks absolution of responsibility through performative outrage. Racial attacks that heretofore would have remained ‘invisible’, ignored or subject to question (‘Aren’t you just being over-sensitive?’) now gain legitimacy through the white gaze. Now that some have decided to ‘see’ racism, it can, in a very limited and non-threatening way, be named. Whiteness is thus recast as witness to racism, but without any imperative to dismantle white supremacy, the system of racial hierarchy remains firmly in place, with whiteness preserved, unchallenged and intact.
Finally, whiteness cloaks itself in innocence by arriving late to scene and adopting an identity of ‘ally’. I question those who now claim to stand shoulder to shoulder with me when they also maintain, without irony, that a focus on race and “identity politics” fractures the left at a time of crisis and undermines class politics. I question those who now only seem to care about racism and xenophobia when Brexit has used their bodies as borders. I question those who now believe racism is real because they have witnessed it with their own eyes. I also question those who seek to extract from me and other people of colour our emotional labour to absolve them of responsibility.
I am not looking for allies; I want collective action. We face an uncertain future.
Let us be honest about our past and our present if we truly seek to dismantle white supremacy.
Dr. Akwugo Emejulu is Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. Her co-authored book, The Politics of Survival: Minority Women, Activism and Austerity in France and Britain is forthcoming with Policy Press.The Raiders first big move of free agency came Tuesday when they agreed in principal to a deal with offensive lineman Kelechi Osemele.
As we wait for the team to announce the deal, Osemele took to Twitter to confirm his signing with the Raiders.
Perfect Fit — Kelechi Osemele (@KOsevendeuce) March 9, 2016
That skull emoji is rather commonly used on Twitter to represent the Raiders and Osemele does seem like a perfect fit for this team. He’s a bruiser at 6-foot-t, 330 pounds and his signing beefs up the offensive line and still creates flexibility. If the Raiders were to resign Donald Penn or end up with someone else to play left tackle, Osemele can easily slide into to one of the guard position. If not, he’s capable of filling that key left tackle spot.
The Raiders should announce these moves at some point, but for now it’s likely the focus is on Sean Smith and seeing if they can fortify that secondary.So, Z here, the founder and co-runner of this page. I don’t think many of you would have noticed, but I haven’t been doing any gifs myself for a while (since the 5th episode of the season, I believe). I’ve just found that the time making the gifs was too much of a waste of time considering how badly they’d turn out for me, and also that it was more work than fun watching the episodes every week.
I haven’t wanted to end my involvement here completely because, let’s face it, I still ♥ QI. So, I propose this idea I’ve had for a while now. I want to set up a room (probably a Tinychat room, since that’s what I’m familiar with) where we can chat, cam, and/or mic together and stream episodes of the show. It probably won’t be a non-stop streaming thing, and it probably won’t be quite scheduled either (although I’m thinking we might be able to set a time for to watch the newly released episodes either the night they’re uploaded, or the next night).
Just to get an idea of the number of people that want this to happen, you could like this post, reblog it, or what have you. If you have any suggestions or any comments to add, feel free to reply, or send a message.
Let’s make this happen, people!In a shocking but not entirely surprising move, given increasingly violent confrontations near the Oceti Sakowin Camp, The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued what amounts to an eviction notice to Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault. In an email dated November 25, District Commander John W. Henderson says that safety is a priority, among other concerns, and that the portion of the Corps-managed federal property north of the Cannonball River will be closed to all public use and access effective December 5, 2016. A "free-speech" zone will be allowed south of the river.
"This decision is necessary to protect the general public from the violent confrontations between protestors and law enforcement officials that have occurred in this area, and to prevent death, illness, or serious injury to inhabitants of encampments due to the harsh North Dakota winter conditions, Henderson wrote. "The necessary emergency, medical, and fire response services, law enforcement, or sustainable facilities to protect people from these conditions on this property cannot be provided."
In reply, Tribal Chairman Archambault again called on President Barack Obama and Federal officials to intercede and once and for all deny access and permitting under Lake Oahe.
"It is both unfortunate and disrespectful that this announcement comes the day after this country celebrates Thanksgiving--a historic exchange of goodwill between Native Americans and the first immigrants from Europe," Archambault said.
"Although the news is saddening, it is not at all surprising given the last 500 years of the mistreatment of our people. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands united with more than 300 tribal nations and the water protectors who are here peacefully protesting the Dakota access pipeline to bolster indigenous people's rights," he added.
"We continue to fight for these rights, which continue to be eroded. Although we have suffered much, we still have hope that the President will act on his commitment to close the chapter of broken promises to our people and especially our children."
In recent weeks, confrontations between water protectors and law enforcement officials from Morton County North Dakota have resulted in the deaths of two horses, eye injuries, pulmonary injuries from rubber bullets, hypothermia from water cannons used in frigid conditions and the near-loss of an arm.
National media has been mostly silent on these injuries until a New York woman, Sophia Wilansky, suffered a massive blast trauma injury to her arm last week. On Sunday November 20, 400 protesters and police had a violent confrontation on a bridge closed by authorities, effectively blocking access to the Dakota Access Pipeline construction project. Wilansky's injury is the most significant to date in the nearly six-month long standoff at Standing Rock, N.D.
Her father, Wayne Wilansky, told reporters gathered in Minneapolis that his daughter may need as many as 20 surgeries to possibly save her arm and hand. However the prognosis looks grim at this writing.
Standing Rock resident Vanessa Dundon suffered a severed retina after law enforcement shot her in the face with a tear gas canister, according to reports from Oceti Sakowin.
The fingers of blame are pointing in all directions. Protesters say police threw a concussion grenade that hit 21-year-old Wilansky and caused her injury. The Morton County Sheriff's Department says that they were not using that equipment the night of the incident. NPR has a good analysis here.
Confrontations increased after Energy Transfer Partners issued a statement on November 8, 2016 declaring that the Dakota Access Pipeline has not voluntarily agreed to halt construction of the pipeline in North Dakota. "Dakota Access has now completed construction of the pipeline on each side of Lake Oahe and is currently mobilizing horizontal drilling equipment to the drill box site in preparation for the tunneling under Lake Oahe." Dakota Access maintains it has all other regulatory approvals and land rights to complete the crossing of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe.
However the USACE has vigorously opposed this stance, and is battling the issue out in District Court in Washington, DC.
This audio recording is instructive and supports claims of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that they had not been consulted during the development of the pipeline project.
The announcement from the USACE comes several days before a group of Veterans planned to join the water protectors at Standing Rock.Friday Facts #204 - Another day, another optimisation
Posted by kovarex & Zulan on 2017-08-18, all posts
Hello, as the team is getting slowly bigger and we still don't have any dedicated project manager, we had to start looking for tools to help us manage the team. We are testing software that allows our team members to track time spent on individual tasks, so right now my timer on "Friday facts related work" is running. I hope it to give me better insight into what kind of tasks our time goes to, where are we losing most of it, or what were the people doing when I was not here. People tend to not like these kind of changes, but we just have to admit that we are not the 4 people punk development team working from our living room and we need to invest more time into working efficiently.
Prefetching (Technical) Zulan
Kovarex already presented a concise summary of the prefetching patch, here is some more background and dirty technical details.
I started to look into Factorio performance improvements a while back, more specifically UPS (updates per second) improvements for large bases. It is widely recognized that the UPS are mostly limited by memory performance (more). That is normal - even highly optimized scientific simulation codes are rarely limited by arithmetic instructions.
At first, I looked into ways to reduce the size of Entities. Common entity sizes like Inserter (536 bytes) or AssemblingMachine (648 bytes) seem surprisingly large at first. I tried some changes, e.g. moving less frequently accessed data out of the actual entity in a separate object in memory. These changes had significant impact to the code in many files, but just saving a few bytes didn't make a measurable impact to performance.
Back to a bit of theory - there are two different ways in which memory can become a bottleneck: bandwidth (the amount of data supplied over time, e.g. 50 GB/s) and latency (the time until a requested piece of data is available, e.g. 50 ns). Comparing the results for different RAM timing settings (CAS latency) shows, that latency has a significant impact. It is important to note, that Factorio is not a homogeneous workload - some parts are still limited by memory bandwidth, others by CPU.
Modern CPUs are extremely good at mitigating memory bottlenecks by using caches, speculative execution and prefetchers. However, all active entities are read at every tick of the game. In large factories, this is too much data for caches. Also a virtual function call - such as the update of an entity - cannot be executed speculatively. Prefetchers are a part of the CPU that predicts what memory is going to be accessed soon and transfers it even before it is explicitly loaded. But since the entity update loop iterates over a linked list - the address of the next entity is stored within the entity itself - it is difficult to predict (not impossible).
This is where software prefetching comes in - the programmer gives a hint to the CPU what memory is accessed soon. That is what we now do in Factorio: Before an entity is updated, the next entity is already requested so that it can be loaded in the background. The principle also applies to a few other loops over linked lists. The nice thing about this, is that it is an extremely simple and isolated change in the code. The downside is, that you are entering the realm of architecture-specific micro-optimization. If you aren't careful, it can even be bad for performance.
A good rule is to never guess about performance - always verify. So I did some tests with different maps and the results were promising. Entities are larger than a single cache line and the pointers point into the middle of the object due to multiple inheritance. Many experiments later, the optimal range showed to be -128 byte to +384 byte (8 cache lines). This coincides with the sizes of typical entities. The prefetching instruction has another parameter determining the cache level used - which again was determined experimentally.
To get a bit more diversity, the measurements for this chart were done on a different CPU (i7-6700K vs i7-4790K previously), and include some more maps. It showed that the new belt-heavy map got less speedup (+5%) from software prefetching than the others. As a remedy, this map gets a huge boost from the belt optimization before. Other saves got a nice 9-13% speedup. All measurements are averages update times over 3600 ticks, the boxplots show 20 repeated runs.
Overall software prefetching is a nice effective micro-optimization with very little code changes, but many measurements to find the right configuration and verify.
Crafting machine animation optimisation
The issue is, that crafting machines can have arbitrary count of secondary animations tied to it (rotating fan, liquid in the chemical plants etc.). As each of the animations can have different speed and frame count, we kept positions of all of these animations in dynamically allocated vector and just updated each of these independently whenever the crafting machine was producing. But now, we just have one number representing the overall offset of the animations. We move it depending on the speed of the crafting machine and all the animations calculate their cyclic position depending on the modulo of this value only when we need to actually draw the machine.
This means, that this complicated code:
void CraftingMachine::setupWorkingVisualisationFrames(double performance) { const CraftingMachinePrototype& prototype = *this->getPrototype(); this->frame.move(performance, prototype.animation.getAnimation(this->direction)); if (this->workingVisualisationFrames.empty()) { this->workingVisualisationFrames.resize(prototype.workingVisualisations.size()); for (size_t i = 0; i < this->workingVisualisationFrames.size(); ++i) this->workingVisualisationFrames[i].randomize(prototype.workingVisualisations[i].getAnimation(this->direction), this->getMap().getRandomGenerator()); } for (size_t i = 0; i < this->workingVisualisationFrames.size(); ++i) this->workingVisualisationFrames[i].move(prototype.workingVisualisations[i].getAnimation(this->direction)); }
Becomes this simple:
void CraftingMachine::setupWorkingVisualisationFrames(double performance) { this->frameReference += performance; this->showWorkingVisualisations = true; }
The memory size of crafting machine is decreased and the overall performance of game is improved by additional 2%.
Another day, another optimisation :)
HR Lab
The weekly dose of update high resolution graphics:
Related to HR entities, It turned out that our zooming system never showed an exact zoom of 2.0, which would be the 'pixel perfect' zoom level for the HR entities. By changing the zoom rate from 1.1, to the 7th root of 2 (1.104089...), the zoom now increments perfectly from 1.0 to 2.0 in 7 steps.
As always, let us know any thoughts or feedback over on our forum.Image caption Commuters faced long queues for buses when Tube services were hit on Monday morning
The fourth 24-hour strike over job cuts in London Underground ticket offices has ended, with unions warning their walkouts could escalate in 2011.
Industrial action lasting two or three days was possible in the new year, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) said.
But there would be no strikes over the Christmas period, they added.
All lines were disrupted during the latest strike, which ended at 1830 GMT.
Services were not expected to return to normal until Tuesday morning, however, because of the knock-on effects of the walkout.
About 50 Tube stations were closed on Monday evening and the following lines were still affected:
Bakerloo - suspended between Queens Park and Harrow and Wealdstone
- suspended between Queens Park and Harrow and Wealdstone Central - suspended between White City and Liverpool Street and between Hainault and Woodford via Chigwell
- suspended between White City and Liverpool Street and between Hainault and Woodford via Chigwell Circle - suspended
- suspended District - suspended between Earls Court and Kensington Olympia/Edgware Road, and between Turnham Green and Richmond
- suspended between Earls Court and Kensington Olympia/Edgware Road, and between Turnham Green and Richmond Hammersmith & City - suspended between Liverpool Street and Barking
Londoners simply won't let this futile action stop them getting around their city Mike Brown, London Underground Tube Strike interactive map Mind the Gap: Why the Tube talks failed
Jubilee - suspended between Wembley Park and Stanmore
- suspended between Wembley Park and Stanmore Metropolitan - a special service is in operation
- a special service is in operation Northern - a special service is in operation
- a special service is in operation Piccadilly - suspended between Arnos Grove and Acton Town, and Acton Town and Uxbridge
- suspended between Arnos Grove and Acton Town, and Acton Town and Uxbridge Victoria - a special service is in operation
- a special service is in operation Waterloo and City - a special service is in operation
The dispute centres on the future of 800 ticket office staff at Tube stations.
London Underground said their roles were no longer required as the widespread use of Oyster cards had reduced demand for paper tickets, but there would be no compulsory redundancies.
The RMT said removing the employees would jeopardise passengers' safety and increase the risk of muggings and other offences.
"We are moving towards an escalation of the action in the New Year," said Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT.
"I will not be recommending any action this side of 2 January, but come 2011 we will have to consider escalating strikes to more than one day."
He said the union's executive would consider its next move later this week.
But London Underground's managing director, Mike Brown, said that "after consulting with the union leaderships on this for more than six months, trying to establish what specific safety concerns they may have, we offered a further six weeks to discuss our plans".
"For them to reject this and threaten more strike action next year is staggering, and will be seen by Londoners for what it is - an attempt to hold our city to ransom," he said.
"It will not work - among union members support for this strike diminishes all the time, and Londoners simply won't let this futile action stop them getting around their city."I'm amazed by this cup! Firstly, the lid is plastic, which I was disappointed by at first, considering this is supposed to be a Zero Waste alternative, but after some use I am extremely impressed. The silicon ring on the lid that makes the suction is removable and allows for really thorough cleaning. The lid has an open mouth opening to drink from which means no hinges from flippy closures for sugar to dry up in, and no crevaces from sliding closures that are impossible to clean without soaking for 100 hrs in warm water. The open mouth lid is simple and cleans easily the first time, plus the opening is big enough to fit a good amount of liquid (I've put liquids from coffees and sodas to smoothies and milkshakes and they all fit through the opening with no problem!) Since it's so easy to clean I don't predict having any issues that would warrant discarding it after some use like with the other type of lids I mentioned above, plus if it ever breaks, it can be recycled so I got over that part (Type 5 plastic). One thing I found strange was how thick the border of the cup feels when you're sipping. It took a few days to adjust to that, but it wasn't really a problem after that. I ordered the 20 oz because even though I don't drink much coffee I'm huge on smoothies and milkshakes, so I wanted to have plenty of space. Despite having a large capacity it still fits perfectly in a cup holder in the car, and is not too tall (fits under my Keurig when the spill tray is removed). I love the stainless steel bottom, just for the style of it, but be careful when setting down on glass or easily scratched surfaces.
Now, about the heat and cold retention. THIS CUP IS AMAZING!!! As far as heat, my coffee lasts HOT for about 2 hrs and then stays warm for another 3 hrs or so, depending on how hot it was when I put it in. (And that is without "warming up the cup" by putting warm water in the cup before putting my coffee inside). Now the truly amazing part is the cold retention! I was so surprised the first time I realized how long this cup stays cold! I put ice and a juice in the cup for lunch at 3p (the cup started in hot car temperature before the ice and drink were poured in, and then was left at room temperature). The ice was still HARD at 7p. It had not even STARTED to melt!! I've tested it several times and always similar results, it lasts for HOURS! Now that time is cut significantly lower if left in a hot car or other extreme heat area, but I am amazed. I would recommend this cup to everyone!! Plus if you prefer using straws for thicker drinks, Klean Kanteen offers a straw lid that goes with this cup (I bought it but my husband claimed it for his cup, so I need a new one now!)
By far one of the best investments I have made in my ZW journey, I take this cup everywhere, and since the ice lasts all day, I fill it up before I leave the house and have ice cold water all day, even after several refills! (Unless I start munching on the ice, which is a completely different problem....)When Doom programmer John Carmack left the company he founded to go work on the Oculus Rift, the assumption was that Carmack had traded a stale job for an opportunity to pursue his hobby — virtual reality — instead. His former studio, id Software, suggested as much in a statement at the time he left, saying that Carmack had "become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id."
Apparently, that's not quite true. The real reason that Carmack left id, he tells USA Today, was because he couldn't work on virtual reality games while he remained at the studio. Originally, Carmack had championed virtual reality while still at id, going so far as to promise that Doom 4 would support the technology. However, it now sounds like id Software parent company Zenimax Media had other ideas, and wouldn't agree to devote the resources to make Doom and Wolfenstein: The New Order into virtual reality games.
"When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR... I decided to not renew my contract."
"[T]hey couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate," Carmack told the publication. "When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR while at id software, I decided to not renew my contract."
From a business perspective, it's not hard to see why Zenimax might have been unwilling to take the plunge. While winning accolades from many a technology journalist, the Oculus Rift is still an unproven, unreleased platform with a number of missing pieces. While virtual reality games are compelling, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is the first to admit that they really need to be built for virtual reality from the ground up.
Either way, Carmack is now working at Oculus, where he allegedly has a number of projects under his belt. The company has told us that he's heading up efforts to build an Android version of the software, and CEO Brendan Iribe has hinted that he may now be building games — or at least tech demos — for the Oculus Rift as well.For a little bit of backstory, Foehammer is a 3-piece sludgey, Stoner Doom metal band out of Virginia and this is the group's first true release after a 3 track demo in 2014. For the most part, this self-titled EP can be viewed as a new group trying to 'find' their sound and kind of feeling out a genre they may or may not be very familiar with, so let us dissect the doom. The bass, on it's own, isn't the strongest weapon the band has in their arsenal but it's strength is clear when the bass and guitar thread together into a dirty, sludgy tone that would make Wreck of the Hesperus proud. In the same frame of thought, the few times the guitar is left alone in the mix it sounds terrible, outside of the droney feedback sections usually laced at the beginning of each song. It would also probably be a good idea to make a decision on guitar solos, as the couple that appear on the record seem incredibly out of place. Either scrap the concept or go all in and make it work with your dirgy sound. The vocals also find themselves as a moot point as far as the overall sound goes, as I don't particularly consider them poor or impressive.
One of my main problems with the record is the 'jam band' feel to the music, as it is both not my cup of tea and forces the songs to be stretched far thinner than they should be. It's essentially sacrificing songwriting and replayability for track length, which is not something anyone should ever be doing, even in a genre known for extensively long songs. The drummer often times seems as though he's trying to do a little too much and not giving the ample breathing room that music of this particular style usually needs to thrive. He clearly showcases that he has the talent to drive the percussion of the band, but... just take it down a step, man. As far as individual tracks go, the closer ('Jotnar') easily comes off as the most interesting and probably some ideas to focus on moving forward. The back and forth between pounding, heavier sections to weird, ambient feedback chunks was where I found myself the most engaged and excited. Taking the product as a whole with a grain of salt, I would definitely pass this along to fans of Wreck of the Hesperus or Akem Manah. For a first swing at the plate for a band of this style, they definitely have a good sound and the tools in place to make a great collection of songs, they just need to work on fine-tuning their strengths and unstretching their product a bit. More personality, less plodding.
Click HERE to discuss this review on the doom-metal forum.The Mall of America in the US state of Minnesota has employed its first ever black Santa.
Larry Jefferson, a retired army veteran from Texas, will greet children this weekend at the shopping centre's Christmas experience.
Co-owner of the photo studio, Landon Luther, has told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he's been looking for a more diverse Santa that children of colour can relate to since last year.
"This is a long time coming," he said.
"We want Santa to be for everyone, period. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. He considers himself a Santa for all."
Landon Luther says he got Santa Sid, who's been having his photo taken with children for the last 20 years, to look for a black Santa.
He finally tracked one down in July at a Santa convention in Branson, Missouri, where hundreds of impersonators convened for a "Kringle family reunion".
Larry Jefferson is working at the Mall of America until Sunday, before he returns to his own seasonal circuit in Dallas, Texas.
He says children don't care what colour he is.
"What they see most of the time is this red suit and candy," he told the Star Tribune.
"[Santa represents] a good spirit. I'm just a messenger to bring hope, love and peace to girls and boys."
Larry says he started wearing a Santa outfit in 1999 and used to visit his nephews at their house because they were too sick to go to an official experience.
He grew a white beard after retiring from the US army last year and since then has graduated from Santa University in Denver, Colorado (he also has a degree in sociology).
He's booked up already all weekend and there's now a waiting list for appointments.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeatJeremy T. Kerr
Global warming is serving to “crush bumblebees in a kind of climate vice”, according to the leader of a team that has revealed a dramatic shrinkage in the range of these crucial pollinators.
As temperatures rise, the southern limits of many North American and European bumblebee species’ ranges are moving north — by as much as 300 kilometres in some cases, researchers report today (9 July) in Science1. But the northern edges of the bees’ ranges are staying in place, leading to an overall contraction of the insects’ habitat.
Jeremy Kerr, a biodiversity researcher at the University of Ottawa in Canada, and his colleagues collated more than 400,000 observations of bumblebee species collected in North America and Europe between 1975 and 2010. When the researchers charted the locations of these bee populations over time, they found that many of the 67 species analysed were retreating northward from their southern limits.
“For every species that is doing great, there is one or two species that is declining and others that are not moving at all,” says Kerr.
This shift has also been observed in other species, such as butterflies. But unlike butterflies, bumblebees have failed to extend the northern boundaries of their ranges, into territory that is now habitable for them due to climate change, the latest study finds.
“Bumblebee species across Europe and North America are declining at continental scales,” says Kerr. “Our data suggest that climate change plays a leading, or perhaps the leading, role in this trend.”
Bees have been under scrutiny in recent years, with populations of honeybees and bumblebees markedly declining in some parts of Europe. Suggested causes include habitat change due to agriculture, diseases, parasites and the use of insecticides, particularly neonicotinoids.
But the work by Kerr’s team found that neither total pesticide use nor neonicotinoid use seemed to be correlated with the observed shifts in the ranges of bumblebee species, and neither was a change in land use.
“Previously, attention on bee declines has focused on habitat loss, pesticide use and the spread of bee parasites,” says Dave Goulson, a bee researcher at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. “This study shows that a fourth factor — climate change — is also beginning to take its toll. It is likely that the combined stresses from all of these pressures will have devastating impacts on bumblebees in the not-too-distant future.”
Exactly what can be done to help bumblebees is not clear. Kerr’s team suggests that relocating colonies might be an answer, but Goulson says that because the animals are mobile they are capable of moving northwards if there is suitable habitat available.Tuesday, April 10, 2012 8:03 AM PT
Cattle Decapitation
Metal Blade Records
has teamed up with Metal Hammer Germany to debut another song from their forthcoming release, Monolith Of Inhumanity, which will be available on May 8th viaVocalist Travis Ryan comments: "We just returned from a great European tour where we played a ton of new songs which were received extremely well by everyone over there! So much so that we decided to premiere the second sample track of our new album Monolith of Inhumanity on a European website for all our fans and the new fans we just made during this last tour! We had a blast and we hope you all get a kick out of the new track 'Lifestalker.' This new album is light years ahead of the rest of our albums and we look forward to coming back to Europe to decapitate you all with it!"Stream the new song "Lifestalker" now:Digg
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Facebook LOS ANGELES (AP) Bill Maher can add "security guard" to his job description alongside comedian and political commentator. Maher helped security give the boot to a rowdy protester from the studio of his weekly HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night, and it was all captured on live television. Maher was talking science during one of his weekly panel discussions when a protester in his audience stood, held up a smuggled-in sign reading "9/11 is a cover up fraud" and shouted comments to the same effect. The host tried to shout down the audience member, who only became more agitated. "Do we have some (expletive) security in this |
, the Pentagon did support the sequel Independence Day: Resurgence, which almost everyone who saw it has already forgotten.
The Consequences of Civilianization
At its most fundamental, the Pentagon’s strategy of civilianization of movies is a means of removing subversive moments from the military realm, or of changing them so they aren’t subversive at all. The image of a US Army transport crashing in downtown Kabul and killing innocent people is an effective, provocative symbol representing the abject futility and stupidity of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Changing this to an NGO vehicle dilutes this subversive element to almost nothing, and it becomes more of a plot point than politically-charged symbolism.
Similarly, by removing the scene from Contact where the construction of the wormhole machine rises above the detritus of 20th century war-making, the Pentagon diluted the subversive philosophy of that film. While Contact remains an intelligent and in places profound movie its critical light was not allowed to shine on Pentagon – all so that they could use a couple of National Guard helicopters and jeeps and a handful of real life troops as extras.
This is perhaps the more obvious consequence of military involvement in Hollywood – that films are less radical and challenging than they would otherwise be. However, there is another, more significant and perhaps unintended consequence. In movies subject to this process the characteristics of recklessness, incompetence, deceit and so on are civilian traits, not military ones. The result of this is a semi-consistent worldview across a range of fantasy movies that says that the problems of the world are civilian problems, not resulting from the military’s behaviour.
In reality, as the biggest, richest, most violently powerful organisation in the world the Pentagon has greater means than anyone else to inflict the consequences of human vice on people around the world. While Hollywood is rarely known for being realistic, the ‘soft censorship’ of civilianization exacerbates this problem, with considerable political consequences. Hundreds of millions of cinema-goers are being repeatedly told that the reasons bad things happen are because of ordinary citizens, and not institutionalised military power on a massive scale. This makes it seems like in the real world wars are not the forces of murder and destruction they really are, but are rather the background noise to the evils of human nature. As a result, civilianization of movie scripts helps make wars more likely, more popular and therefore easier to maintain for long periods, and thus more prolonged and destructive. What likely began as a means of ensuring better PR for the military through Hollywood adds up a powerful political phenomenon.When you think of Sharp, what comes to mind? Maybe Blu-ray players or LCD TVs, or microwave ovens or any of an endless number of home electronics. But the company has long been a big player in the solar power, and it’s fighting hard to maintain its position, pumping $180 million into the manufacture of a newly designed solar cell.
Sharp said it will boost its production capacity by 200 megawatts making modules based on a single crystalline solar cell that departs from the norm by connecting the electrodes on the back side of the panel. “This new structure increases the light-receiving area on the front-side’s surface,” Sharp said. The company added that “new alignment technology” would trim the connection resistance between adjacent cells.
Reuters quotes the company saying the cells offer a 17 percent conversion rate, a hefty jump over the standard 14 percent. In September, Sharp announced its intention to extend its role in the photovoltaic market, acquiring the San Francisco-based solar developer Recurrent Energy to help it develop and market utility-scale power projects.
Looking for green gadget gift ideas for this holiday season? We have you covered with our annual Green Gadgets Holiday Gift Guide – check it out now!FILE PHOTO: A tattered flag bearing the Yahoo company logo flies above a building in New York, U.S., October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
(Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday it would buy back up to $3 billion shares through a tender offer to provide liquidity to stockholders looking to sell the stock ahead of the company’s pending deal with Verizon Communications Inc.
Shares in Yahoo, which has a 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, were up 2 percent at $50.81.
Yahoo said it would determine a single purchase price after the expiry of the Dutch auction tender offer on June 13 and that the price would not be less than $37 per share.
The company said its directors and executive officers will not tender any shares in the buyback.
Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo’s core internet properties last year for $4.83 billion in cash. It lowered the original offer by $350 million in February following two massive cyber attacks at the internet company.
After the Verizon deal, Yahoo will be renamed Altaba, a holding company whose primary assets will be its stake in Alibaba and a 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan.Type On Screen
10 Fonts for Code
Tuesday 30th September 2014
Our web design community loves to share tips and tricks, and often this means showing what’s happening under the hood. So this month, Jake Giltsoff has found 10 typefaces that will make your code snippets look great in everything from personal how-to blogs to tech pub tutorials.
These days, monospaced typefaces are synonymous with code, but it wasn’t always so. Western monospaced typefaces were initially designed to be used on typewriters where the technical limitations dictated that each character needed to be the same physical width to align correctly. Consequently, no additional work was required to space the letters, creating a writing environment that was simple and effective.
Early computers with limited graphics capabilities relied on monospaced type because it took much less power to render them on screen—making them the de facto choice when working with computer code. These limitations have long since passed, however monospaced typefaces have stuck around. This is due in large part to their legibility. They prevent distractions, speed up a developer’s work, and make it easier to spot mistakes. After all, key the wrong character and things break.
When displaying code snippets on your website, things are slightly different, as people won’t be looking at it for as long. On the flipside, we share code to educate and inform, and it’s detail-oriented information. So when choosing monospaced fonts, it’s still good to make sure they’re as clear as possible.
Punctuation such as commas, colons, semi-colons, and brackets need to be more prominent so they can’t be mistaken for one another. Other key characters to look out for are the capital ‘O’ and zero, which when designed to fit in at the same width would look nearly exactly the same. Most typefaces designed for coding typically either use a slashed or a dotted zero. And just like any good UI typeface, the ‘1’, capital ‘i’, lowercase “L’ and ‘|’ (known as the pipe mark or vertical bar) should be easily distinguishable.
Let’s dig into some options for best displaying code on a website and who knows, maybe you’ll want to update your code editor too!
Eco Coding Eco Coding font specimen
Play around with Eco Coding right now for free
Eco Coding is designed and optimized for coding environments. It has neutral letterforms and yet doesn’t lack personality. It’s hard to see anything that I’d change about this typeface. The characters have a nice width and strike a nice balance: condensed enough to see a good amount of characters per line and wide enough to be easily readable.
Fira Mono Fira Mono font specimen
Work with Fira Mono right now
I’ve been using Fira Mono since it was released and it has always felt just right to me. Friendly, yet assertive, it’s the monospace counterpart to Fira Sans, which was designed by Erik Spiekermann et al for the Firefox OS. It’s a very well balanced typeface for coding, and since the family was specifically designed to work well across devices with varying screen qualities, you can count on it to render well.
Anonymous Pro Anonymous Pro font specimen
Play around with Anonymous Pro right now for free
Anonymous Pro by Mark Simonson is designed especially for coding, and its slashed zero is one of the best you will find. I also like the squared dots he’s used in the semi-colon to clearly differentiate it from the comma. It’s based on an earlier typeface of his—Anonymous—and has four variants, a large character set, and like many monospaced fonts it is distributed under the Open Font License (the font equivalent of Open Source). Overall it has a nice amount of personality too, without being in any way distracting.
Source Code Pro Source Code Pro font specimen
Play around with Source Code Pro right now for free
Source Code Pro was designed by Paul D. Hunt as a part of the now ever-growing Source family. It’s become a favorite to many over the last couple of years. Adapted from Source Sans, its design retains the same vertical proportions but adds an ample width to increase the readability. It has an extensive number of weights, too, so you can choose exactly which suits you best.
Autocode Autocode font specimen
Play around with Autocode right now for free
Autocode is a really great choice for displaying code on a website, as it adds a bit more visual interest. Designer Nicholas Garner based it on his typeface Autobahn, and it manages to keep a good deal of Autobahn’s personality. This really come across in the lowercase ‘a’ and ‘g’. However, that same interest and personality that works so well in an editorial environment might become tiresome if used for an everyday coding typeface.
Sign in to Typecast to try M+ 1M, or start a free trial
M+ 1M is a monospaced typeface by Japanese designer Coji Morishita. The M+ stand for ‘above minimum’ and this typeface most definitely goes above and beyond with its large character set. It’s one of the most condensed monospaced typefaces I have come across, but it still remains legible. It is ideal if you want to pack as many characters in per line as possible, or even for displaying code on mobile devices with smaller viewports.
Droid Sans Mono Droid Sans Mono font specimen
Play around with Droid Sans Mono right now for free
Droid Sans Mono is the monospaced counterpart to the Droid Sans typeface that was designed for the Android operating system. The Droid family has since been replaced with Roboto on that OS, but Droid Sans Mono isn’t one we should forget about. Like Source Code Pro and Fira Mono, it has a neutral feel, but if you prefer a slashed zero, Droid Sans might just have an edge.
Pragmata Pro Pragmata Pro font specimen
Play around with Pragmata Pro right now for free
When looking for a condensed monospaced font for coding, consider Pragmata Pro. It has well-defined punctuation with oversized dots in the colons and full stop to ensure sure you’ll notice them. It also has a number of squared features and an interesting solution for the zero, which gives it an overall futuristic feel.
Inconsolata Inconsolata font specimen
Play around with Inconsolata right now for free
Inconsolata draws inspiration from the well-known monospaced typeface Consolas and also (interestingly) from Avenir and Franklin Gothic. Raph Levien was inspired to create a monospaced typeface that ‘didn’t suck’ and has definitely achieved it. There are a number of really nice letterforms, which proves that the limitation of a fixed width doesn’t have to be a bad thing. As you can see, it’s quite a bit smaller than some other monospaced typefaces, though, so you may need to set it a little larger.
CamingoCode CamingoCode font specimen
Play around with CamingoCode right now for free
CamingoCode is one of the only typefaces that I have come across that has been adapted from another monospaced typeface—CamingoMono—specifically for code. It shares similar proportions to Inconsolata, but has taller characters so it appears more compact. The extra height allows the letters to have more open counters, helping with its legibility.This is Luís Alberto Velásquez Molina and he knows something that the Colombian Police do not want you to find out.
Luís is from Medellin, a city famous for beautiful women, plastic surgery, and Pablo Escobar.
It’s also the heartland of Latin American Punk Rock.
Luis lives in the hills above Medellin in a comuna called Villatina.
Villatina is no stranger to police violence.
This man lives a few blocks away from Luis. He was 12 when his 17 year old brother was executed by police along with 7 other children in the Villatina Massacre.
The police accused of orchestrating the massacre were never sentenced.
The victims families are still seeking justice 21 years later.
Luis is a role model for the youth of Villatina. They remember seeing his band Sonido Libertario or Libertarian Sound play for them in the comuna.
Luis wants to teach the youth of Villatina that music, not crime and violence, is the best outlet for anger against an extremely unjust society.
Luis has lived with a terminal illness for 14 years and needs a strict diet and dialysis to stay alive. “When I drink too much water my legs swell up.”
14 years of dialysis at 3 times a week for 4 hours a session equals 8,736 hours of a metal tube pumping and filtering blood through his arm.
Luis waited 10 years to receive a kidney transplant in 2009 but his body rejected it a year later. He almost died.
That’s when 28 punk bands from Medellin organized a concert they called “Punk to help a Friend” and raised enough money to buy Luis a small home in Villatina. He made a slow and painful recovery.
Besides from suffering a terminal illness, “Luchito” or “our Little Fighter” as the Punkeros call him, was in a car accident that permanently damaged his right ankle making movement difficult.
But that doesn’t mean Luis can stop being a Camel, or Camellar as they say in Colombia, when you work without food or breaks to scrape enough spare change together to survive.
Luis created a D.I.Y. mobile shop out of a child’s pram with speakers to blast Punk Rock. After dialysis he wheels his shop carrying sweets and cigarettes to the same park he has worked 6 nights a week for the last 8 years.
At 42 years old Luis is nowhere near as strong as his youth. But that’s not gonna stop him screaming Punk whenever Sonido Libertario gets together.
He’s exhausted after the performance but its worth it. Punk fires him up to get out of bed every morning so his 10 year old son wont become an orphan.
On the 29th of December 2012, Police discovered a military grenade in a black sealed bag placed on top of the lollypops and bubblegum in Luis’ cart.
The night before last weeks court date Luis got home from work at Park Periodista at midnight, woke up at 3:30am, took 2 buses 1.5 hours to the hospital for his 5am-9am dialysis session, then another bus to court.
He was exhausted.
A witness sitting in Periodista Park with his grandson the night of the incident swore under oath he saw a third party place a black sealed bag on top of Luis’ cart moments before police arrived.
The prosecutor used the cocaine found inside the black sealed bag to paint Luis as a user of vicio or vice. The only chemicals Luis can consume without becoming extremely sick are an aggressive dose of medication.
Neither Luis nor his defense lawyer were permitted access to the evidence being used against him. The evidence had been destroyed on the pretext it was “too dangerous” and Luis was taken away in handcuffs.
Medellin’s Punk Rockers Are Pissed.
They believe the charges against Luís Velásquez were fabricated in a common practice called “False Positive” when police and military frame innocent civilians to earn commissions.
Victims of False Positives are primarily poor people because they cannot afford legal defense. They are easily forgotten.
Leaked reports show armed forces can earn up to $3,000,000 COP ($1,565 USD) commissions for weapons they discover when an arrest is made.
If the defense were permitted to examine the evidence against Luis before it was destroyed they may have been able to verify if the grenade was missing from a police warehouse.
Medellin’s Punkeros believe everyone, irrespective of where they come from or what level of society they belong, deserve fair trials.
They set up a petition on CHANGE.ORG and every signature sends an email to the judge they say condemned an innocent man to his death inside a Maximum Security Prison. 1,095 emails and counting…
The Punkeros of Medellin saved the life of Luís Alberto Velásquez before. This Sunday they’ll do it again as Medellin’s best punk bands and their fans get together to raise money and awareness for his cause.
They want to scream a message that False Positives and Police Impunity are not welcome in Periodista Park – home of the memorial statues of 8 children executed by police in the Villatina Massacre.
Johana Mazo Ramírez (8 years),
Johny Alexander Cardona Ramírez (17 years),
Ricardo Alexander Hernández (17 years),
Giovanny Alberto Vallejo Restrepo (15 years),
Oscar Andrés Ortiz Toro (17 years),
Ángel Alberto Barón Miranda (16 years),
Marlon Alberto Álvarez (17 years),
Nelson Duban Flórez Villa (17 years),
Mauricio Antonio Higuita Ramírez (22 years).
You can help Luís Alberto Velásquez Molina too by sharing this page and signing the petition on CHANGE.ORG
Also all money raised from purchases of the “Police Bastard” EP by UK punk band DOOM are being sent to Luis Alberto Velasquez so he can afford to buy healthy food inside the atrocious conditions of Medellin’s Bellavista Prison.
UPDATE
Luis Alberto Velasquez Molina was granted house arrest after seven months in Bellavista Prison. The following photo shows Luis in his house in Villatina, a few hours after being released from prison, writing on the bottom of my article on Colombia Reports the following thanks:
“I am Luis Alberto Velasquez Molina and I am innocent. Thank you to all the people around the world for helping me with your signatures and to DOOM, Jake, the Doctor Marialena, Doctor Muñoz and all the energy of punks of the world.”
[mc4wp_form]CLOSE A 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit the center of Italy in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Before and after photos reveal the devastation.
Residents stand among damaged buildings. (Photo11: Filippo Monteforte, AFP/Getty Images)
ROME — A powerful earthquake toppled homes, churches and shops in a wide swath of medieval towns in central Italy Wednesday, killing at least 247 people and injuring hundreds of others, according to Italy's civil protection agency.
Dozens more were missing or feared dead from the magnitude-6.2 earthquake and a series of aftershocks that jolted Umbria, Lazio and Le Marche, three regions 80 to 100 miles northeast of Rome.
Rescue teams using bulldozers, and aided by townspeople with their bare hands, were still poring through the piles of rock, metal and wood late Wednesday looking for possible survivors. Police near the town of Ascoli said they could hear cries for help from under the rubble but lacked the heavy equipment to move the rocks, according the RAI radio.
“We need chain saws, shears to cut iron bars, and jacks to remove beams: everything, we need everything,” civil protection worker Andrea Gentili told the Associated Press.
CLOSE After a 6.2-magnitude rocked central Italy, dozens of people are dead and others are trapped underneath the rubble of what used to be their homes.
Italian Premier Matteo Renzi spoke Wednesday evening in the provincial capital of Rieti after flying over the Le Marche region and visiting first responders and survivors the picturesque town of Amatrice, one of the hardest hit.
There was no immediate or exact breakdown of the death toll, but the Italian news agency ANSA earlier reported at least 35 dead in Amatrice, 11 in Accumoli, near Rieti, and 17 in the province of Ascoli Piceno, which includes Pescara del Tronto. Renzi reported 35 dead in Le Marche.
Fabrizio Curcio, director of Italy’s civil protection agency, activated national emergency procedures. He said the quake was on par with one in L'Aquilla in 2009 that left more than 300 people dead.
Much of city center of Amatrice was covered with mounds of debris as structures tumbled in the initial quake and later aftershocks. Resident of the popular tourist destination of around 3,000 people gathered in the piazzas, dazed by the quake and fearful of more temblors.
“The whole ceiling fell but did not hit me,” said resident Maria Gianni, according to the AP. “I just managed to put a pillow on my head and I wasn’t hit luckily, just slightly injured my leg.”
CLOSE Italy's civil protection agency says at least 37 people have died in the magnitude 6 quake that struck central Italy. Crews are looking through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors and victims. (Aug. 24) AP
The Vatican sent a six-man team from the Vatican City fire squad to Amatrice. A statement said the decision was taken as a “sign of the pope’s concrete proximity to the people affected by the quake."
Mayor Sergio Pirozzi of Amatrice told the AP that rescue teams were trying to reach all 69 hamlets around his town. “Half of the town doesn’t exist anymore,” he told RAI-TV. “People are stuck underneath the rubble. Houses are no longer there.”
Amatrice is perhaps best known as the home of spaghetti all’amatriciana, a hearty dish of pasta made with bacon-like bits of cured pork jowl, pecorino cheese and tomato.The town was set to host its 50th spaghetti festival Saturday.
The first quake struck around 3:30 a.m., collapsing walls and ceilings of homes and trapping people as they slept. It was followed by at least 11 temblors in what the seismological center described as a “high aftershock rate.”
Pirozzi said the quake also knocked out power to the community, hampering communications with emergency responders. The remote town was virtually cut off after a bridge connecting it to the rest of the region was damaged.
The local hospital was also badly hit, forcing the wounded and stretcher-bearers to gather in front of the building. Ambulances then transferred patients to other towns.
In Accumoli, Mayor Stefano Petrucci said at least 2,500 people were displaced, including 2,000 summer season tourists. "We will try to assist them all, but you'd better leave the country," he told them, according to ANSA.
In Pescara and Arquata del Tronto, two tent cities were being erected to accommodate the displaced, ANSA reported. Civil defense teams were rounding up camp stoves and generators. Other homeless families were being sheltered in gyms and other public buildings.
A geologist in Poland says that earthquake was caused by the slow but constant under-surface movement of the African Plate toward Europe. Jerzy Zaba of the Silesian University in Katowice, in southern Poland, said Wednesday that a wedge-shaped front of the African Plate is pressing into the Eurasian Plate in the Adriatic Sea region and pushes into the neighboring regions, like Italy’s Apennine Mountains.
The tension that accumulates leads to a sudden release in the form of under-surface rock movement that causes earth tremors.
Zaba told Polish PAP agency that the African Plate is moving northwards at the speed of up to 2 inches a year.
The most deadly Italian earthquake in the 20th century struck in 1908, when a quake followed by a tsunami killed about 80,000 people in Reggio Calabria and Sicily.
Stanglin reported from McLean, Va.; Contributing: Charles Ventura from Los Angeles, Steph Solis and Jessica Durando from McLean.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2blf07kReviewing Heathcote Statham’s book Form and Design in Music in 1893, George Bernard Shaw decried the “insufferable affectation” of music criticism. He quoted Statham’s analysis of a Mozart symphony:
The principal subject, hitherto only heard in the treble, is transferred to the bass (Ex. 28), the violins playing a new counterpoint to it instead of the original mere accompaniment figure of the first part. Then the parts are reversed, the violins taking the subject and the basses the counterpoint figure, and so on till we come to a close on the dominant of D minor, a nearly related key (commencement of Ex. 29) and then comes the passage by which we return to the first subject in its original form and key.
“How succulent this is,” Shaw wrote, “and how full of Mesopotamian words like ‘the dominant of D minor.’ I will now, ladies and gentlemen, give you my celebrated ‘analysis’ of Hamlet’s soliloquy on suicide, in the same scientific style”:
Shakespear, dispensing with the customary exordium, announces his subject at once in the infinitive, in which mood it is presently repeated after a short connecting passage in which, brief as it is, we recognize the alternative and negative forms on which so much of the significance of repetition depends. Here we reach a colon; and a pointed pository phrase, in which the accent falls decisively on the relative pronoun, brings us to the first full stop.
“I break off here, because, to confess the truth, my grammar is giving out,” he wrote. “But I want to know whether it is just that a literary critic should be forbidden to make his living in this way on pain of being interviewed by two doctors and a magistrate, and haled off to Bedlam forthwith; while the more a music critic does it, the deeper the veneration he inspires.”
(From The World, May 31, 1893.)A phonon laser device
Sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation (SASER) refers to a device that emits acoustic radiation.[1] It focuses sound waves in a way that they can serve as accurate and high-speed carriers of information in many kinds of applications—similar to uses of laser light.[citation needed]
Acoustic radiation (sound waves) can be emitted by using the process of sound amplification based on stimulated emission of phonons. Sound (or lattice vibration) can be described by a phonon just as light can be considered as photons, and therefore one can state that SASER is the acoustic analogue of the laser.[citation needed]
In a SASER device, a source (e.g., an electric field as a pump) produces sound waves (lattice vibrations, phonons) that travel through an active medium. In this active medium, a stimulated emission of phonons leads to amplification of the sound waves, resulting in a sound beam coming out of the device. The sound wave beams emitted from such devices are highly coherent.
The first successful SASERs were developed in 2009.[citation needed]
Terminology [ edit ]
Instead of a feedback-built wave of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., a laser beam), a SASER delivers a sound wave. SASER may also be referred to as phonon laser, acoustic laser or sound laser.[citation needed]
Uses and applications [ edit ]
SASERs could have wide applications. Apart from facilitating the investigation of terahertz-frequency ultrasound, the SASER is also likely to find uses in optoelectronics (electronic devices that detect and control light—as a method of transmitting a signal from an end to the other of, for instance, fiber optics), as a method of signal modulation and/or transmission.[2]
Such devices could be high precision measurement instruments and they could lead to high energy focused sound.
Using SASERs to manipulate electrons inside semiconductors could theoretically result in terahertz-frequency computer processors, much faster than the current chips.[3]
History [ edit ]
This concept can be more conceivable by imagining it in analogy to laser theory. Theodore Maiman operated the first functioning LASER on May 16, 1960 at Hughes Research Laboratories, Malibu, California,[4] A device that operates according to the central idea of the "sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation" theory is the thermoacoustic laser. This is a half-open pipe with a heat differential across a special porous material inserted in the pipe. Much like a light laser, a thermoacoustic SASER has a high-Q cavity and uses a gain medium to amplify coherent waves. For further explanation see thermoacoustic heat engine.
The possibility of phonon laser action had been proposed in a wide range of physical systems such as nanomechanics, semiconductors, nanomagnets and paramagnetic ions in a lattice.[5][6]
Finding materials that stimulate emission was needed for the development of the SASER. The generation of coherent phonons in a double-barrier semiconductor heterostructure was first proposed around 1990.[7] The transformation of the electric potential energy in a vibrational mode of the lattice is remarkably facilitated by the electronic confinement in a double-barrier structure. On this basis, physicists were searching for materials in which stimulated emission rather than spontaneous emission, is the dominant decay process. A device was first experimentally demonstrated in the Gigahertz range in 2009.[8]
Announced in 2010, two independent groups came up with two different devices that produce coherent phonons at any frequency in the range megahertz to terahertz. One group from the University of Nottingham consisted of A.J. Kent and his colleagues R.P. Beardsley, A.V. Akimov, W. Maryam and M. Henini. The other group from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) consisted of Ivan S. Grudinin, Hansuek Lee, O. Painter and Kerry J. Vahala from Caltech implemented a study on Phonon Laser Action in a tunable two-level system. The University of Nottingham device operates at about 440 GHz, while the Caltech device operates in the megahertz range. According to a member of the Nottingham group, the two approaches are complementary and it should be possible to use one device or the other to create coherent phonons at any frequency in the megahertz to terahertz range.[9] A significant result rises from the operating frequency of these devices. The differences between the two devices suggest that SASERs could be made to operate over a wide range of frequencies.
Work on the SASER continues at the University of Nottingham, the Lashkarev Institute of Semiconductor Physics at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Caltech.
Design [ edit ]
SASER's central idea is based on sound waves. The set-up needed for the implement of sound amplification by stimulated emission of radiation is similar to an oscillator. An oscillator can produce oscillations without any external feed-mechanism. An example is a common sound amplification system with a microphone, amplifier and speaker. When the microphone is in front of the speaker, we hear an annoying whistle. This whistle is generated without extra contribution from the sound source, and is self-reinforced and self-sufficient while the microphone is somewhere in front of the speaker. This phenomenon, known as the Larsen effect, is the result of a positive feedback.
Gain medium Laser pumping energy High reflector Output coupler Laser beam The analogy between a laser and a SASER device should be considered. Components of a typical laser:
In general, every oscillator consists of three main parts. These are the power source or pump, the amplifier and the positive feedback leading to the output. The corresponding parts in a SASER device are the excitation or pumping mechanism, the active (amplifying) medium, and the feedback leading to acoustic radiation. Pumping can be performed, for instance, with an alternating electric field or with some mechanical vibrations of resonators. The active medium should be a material in which sound amplification can be induced. An example of a feedback mechanism into the active medium is the existence of superlattice layers that reflect the phonons back and force them to bounce repeatedly to amplify sound.
Therefore, to proceed to an understanding of a SASER design we need to imagine it in analogy with a laser device. In a laser, the active medium is placed between two mirror surfaces (reflectors)of a Fabry–Pérot interferometer. A spontaneously emitted photon inside this interferometer can force excited atoms to decay a photon of same frequency, same momentum, same polarization and same phase. Because the momentum (as a vector) of the photon is nearly parallel to the axes of the mirrors, it is possible for photons to repeat multiple reflections and force more and more photons to follow them producing an avalanche effect. The number of photons of this coherent laser beam increases and competes the number of photons perished due to losses. The basic necessary condition for the generation of a laser radiation is the population inversion, which can be achieved either by exciting atoms and inducing percussion or by external radiation absorption. A SASER device mimics this procedure using a source-pump to induce a sound beam of phonons. This sound beam propagates not in an optical cavity, but in a different active medium. An example of an active medium is the superlattice. A superlattice can consist of multiple ultra-thin lattices of two different semiconductors. These two semiconductor materials have different band gaps, and form quantum wells—which are potential wells that confine particles to move in two dimensions instead of three, forcing them to occupy a planar region. In the superlattice, a new set of selection rules is composed that affects the flow-conditions of charges through the structure. When this set-up is excited by a source, the phonons start to multiply while they reflect on the lattice levels, until they escape from the lattice structure in a form of an ultrahigh frequency-phonon beam.
The structure of a superlattice of semiconductor layers (AlAs, GaAs). Acoustic waves undergo amplification
Namely, a concerted emission of phonons can lead to coherent sound and an example of concerted phonon emission is the emission coming from quantum wells. This stands in similar paths with the laser where a coherent light can build up by the concerted stimulated emission of light from a lot of atoms. A SASER device transforms the electric potential energy in a single vibrational mode of the lattice (phonon).[10]
The medium where the amplification takes place, consists of stacks of thin layers of semiconductors that together form quantum wells. In these wells, electrons can be excited by parcels of ultrasound of millielectronvolts of energy. This amount of energy is equivalent to a frequency of 0.1 to 1 THz.
Physics [ edit ]
Just as light is a wave motion that is considered as composed of particles called photons, we can think of the normal modes of vibration in a solid as being particle-like. The quantum of lattice vibration is called phonon. In lattice dynamics we want to find the normal modes of vibration of a crystal. In other words, we need to calculate the energies (or frequencies ) of the phonons as a function of their wave vector's k. The relationship between frequency ω and wave vector k is called phonon dispersion.
Light and sound are similar in various ways. They both can be thought of in terms of waves, and they both come in quantum mechanical units. In the case of light we have photons while in sound we have phonons. Both sound and light can be produced as random collections of quanta (e.g. light emitted by a light bulb) or orderly waves that travel in a coordinated form (e.g. laser light). This parallelism implies that lasers should be as feasible with sound as they are with light. In the 21st century, it is easy to produce low frequency sound in the range that humans can hear (~20 kHz), in either a random or orderly form. However, at the terahertz frequencies in the regime of phonon laser applications, more difficulties arise. The problem stems from the fact that sound travels much slower than light. This means that the wavelength of sound is much shorter than light at a given frequency. Instead of resulting in orderly, coherent phonon laser structures that can produce terahertz sound, tend to emit phonons randomly. Researchers have overcome the problem of terahertz frequencies by following various approaches. Scientists in Caltech have overcome this problem by assembling a pair of microscopic cavities that only permit specific frequencies of phonons to be emitted. This system can be also tuned to emit phonons of different frequencies by changing the relative separation of the microcavities. On the other hand, the group from the University of Nottingham took a different approach. They have built their device out of electrons moving through a series of structures known as quantum wells. Briefly, as an electron hops from one quantum well to another neighbouring well it produces a phonon.
External energy pumping (e.g. a light beam or voltage) can help to the excitation of an electron. Relaxation of an electron from one of the upper states may occur by emission of either a photon or a phonon. This is determined by the density of states of phonons and photons. Density of states is the number of states per volume unit in an interval of energy (E, E+dE) that are available to be occupied by electrons. Both phonons and photons are bosons and thus, they obey Bose–Einstein statistics. This means that, since bosons with the same energy can occupy the same place in space, phonons and photons are force carrier particles and they have integer spins. There are more allowed states available for occupancy in a phonon field than in a photon field. Therefore, since the density of terminal states in the phonon field exceeds that in a photon field (by up to ~105), phonon emission is by far the more likely event.[11][12] We could also imagine a concept where the excitation of an electron briefly leads to vibration of the lattice and thus to phonon generation. The vibration energy of the lattice can take discrete values for every excitation. Every one of this "excitation packages" is called phonon. An electron does not stay in an excited state for too long. It readily releases energy to return to its stable low energy state. The electrons release energy in any random direction and at any time (after their excitation). At some particular times, some electrons get excited while others lose energy in a way that the average energy of system is the lowest possible.
GaAs/Al |
would appeal to her constituents, that blocking reform would somehow earn respects and votes.
In reality, she lost the left, the right laughed at her, and independents became disgusted at her pointless grandstanding. She lost everyone, and is now a guaranteed loser, whether during the primary in May or in the general in November.
Contribute to Bill Halter
Bill Halter for Senate
VolunteerAs you and your family enjoy the holiday cards you’ve received this season – digital cards, handmade cards, and photos of relatives and friends – you may reflect upon how this festive tradition started. The origins of the popularity of these Christmas correspondence staples trace back to early in Queen Victoria’s reign and the first American Christmas card was printed in Albany, New York.
Queen Victoria wed German-born Prince Albert in 1840 – you can watch their romance from the beginning in the Masterpiece program Victoria, with the second season available to watch online and see the premiere of the third season on January 13 at 9pm. It was in 1848 that the Illustrated London News published a drawing of the royal family around a decorated tree, which was something Albert grew up with Germany. It was five years before the illustration that an artist was commissioned in England to design a card for Christmas.
Around this time across the pond in New York State, in December 1842, Albany merchant Richard H. Pease used a woodcut image of Santa Claus to advertise for his Great Variety Store. This was published in the Albany Evening Journal. It was sometime between 1847 and 1850 that Pease printed the first Christmas card in America. It was a lithograph showing a family surrounded by holiday gifts, food and drink with “To” and “From” at the bottom of the image, according to the Albany Institute of History and Art.
From drawings and lithographs to e-cards and colorful cards of puppies in Santa hats, the holiday card has evolved but the spirit of giving, friendship, and holiday cheer remain today.
You can binge watch the first two seasons anytime, anywhere online.
Image:
America’s First Christmas Card
Designed by Elisa Forbes
Printed and published by Richard H. Pease, Albany, New York
c. 1849–1850
Lithograph on paper
Courtesy of the Manchester Metropolitan University Special CollectionsFOXBORO -- Trey Flowers looked to the ceiling, laughed a sheepish laugh, and shook his head. He couldn't believe it.
It was bad enough for Flowers that the CBS broadcast team had announced to its national audience that Patriots players had nicknamed him "Technique." But somehow it had been revealed that teammates also occasionally refer to him as "the G.O.A.T.," as in the greatest of all time.
"Aw, man," Flowers said, embarrassed that label made its way back to a reporter. "I just let it roll off and keep working."
RELATED Flowers' ranked high on 2017 "20 Under 25" list
Flowers is a quiet 23-year-old from Huntsville, Alabama who likes to spend extra time in the trainers room, usually with his headphones on, keeping to himself. But what he's accomplished on the field in his second year as a pro has been so impressive that it has invited waves of compliments -- including over-the-top monikers -- from those who watch him on a daily basis.
"We're trying to just have fun with that guy," said corner Logan Ryan. "He's not going to say much about himself so we'll throw some wild nicknames on him and see if he comes out of his shell."
'HE'S THE ONLY ONE I'VE EVER MET LIKE THAT'
Patriots players like to tease Flowers because he's become something of a reluctant teacher's pet. Highlighted in meetings and practices, he's held up by coaches as the model for how certain plays should be carried out. The nicknames flow. He gets embarrassed. Everyone gets a laugh.
Jokes aside, the 6-foot-2, 265-pounder's unique skill set and unrelenting effort this season -- his first season as a regular contributor -- have left even veteran teammates in awe.
"He's able to stand-up double teams, split 'em, and still make plays," said 10-year veteran Alan Branch. "I honestly haven't seen too many players with the size he is who can defend the run and the pass on the inside like him. He's the only one I've ever met like that."
Flowers was drafted in the fourth round out of Arkansas in 2015 as an undersized but dogged defensive end. Now, after spending almost the entirety of his rookie season on injured reserve, he's made an eye-opening impact lined up at just about every position on the defensive line, particularly during the second half of the season.
He's set the edge as a defensive end. He's used his strength to hold up at the point of attack in goal-line packages. And his ability to pass-rush from the interior has blown his teammates away.
Using his quickness advantage over heavier-footed centers and guards, as well as 34.25-inch arms that help him create leverage, Flowers led the Patriots in sacks (7.0) and quarterback hits (9) this season. He was also third on the team in quarterback hurries (19), according to Pro Football Focus.
All of his sacks have come since Week 8, and after the Week 9 bye his playing time reflected his value to the Patriots defense. During the second half of the season, Flowers' workload of 40.6 snaps per game was more than that of Chris Long (36.0), Rob Ninkovich (34.1) and Jabaal Sheard (27.3).
"I think he has a really good combination of length and strength and quickness," Long said. "He's able to play like he's 300 pounds, but he's not 300 pounds. It gives him versatility, and he has a really good feel for where people are leaning.
"He's a really smart player. He's one of the smartest players on our defense and one of the best players, if not the best player, on our defense."
Despite his eye-opening numbers and his recent bump in playing time, Flowers did not have the overall snap count (578 total plays) to accumulate some of the statistics that would earn him a Pro Bowl nod or All-Pro consideration. But, on a per-snap basis, he has been remarkably efficient.
For example, he's averaging one quarterback pressure (a sack, hit or hurry) for every 16 snaps played, per PFF. Ndamukong Suh (one pressure every 17 snaps), Leonard Williams (16) and Calais Campbell (15) -- all of whom do the majority of their pass-rushing from the interior -- are in a similar range.
Flowers isn't the full-time force those players are, yet the point remains: When he's out there, he's a problem.
"I think sometimes it takes stats for people that are just kind of watching to wake up to somebody's abilities," Long said. "Now he's got the production to kind of validate what's easy for guys to see that work with him everyday, which is his really unique skill set, great work ethic and really good production.
"To be rushing from the inside like that and have those numbers, I mean, look around the league. That's tough to come by."
'I SAID: THIS GUY'S GOT SOME TOOLS'
Flowers played in just one regular-season game as a rookie before going on season-ending IR with a shoulder injury. Until this season, he was mostly known for being the guy who admitted he fell in love with football by watching Adam Sandler's character in the movie Waterboy.
But Flowers' talent was evident to some well before he had an opportunity to contribute in regular-season action. It didn't take much.
In the first quarter of his first preseason game as a pro, Flowers worked off the right edge, slapped down the hands of Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari -- who was recently named a Second-Team All-Pro -- and smothered Aaron Rodgers for a sack.
The play still sticks out to veteran defensive end Rob Ninkovich.
"I think that when you've been around football for many, many years you can just see things that certain guys are able to do," Ninkovich said. "And you can kind of quickly analyze, 'Oh this guy's got some skills that are really going to help him.'...
"The first few days I was around him, I said, 'This guy's got some tools. He's going to be a good player.' On top of that, his work ethic and the way he comes into work everyday, that helps guys that have some skill set to let that continue to grow and get better and better."
Flowers didn't see a great deal of time on the interior in college, but the Patriots saw him rush from the inside in a win over Louisiana State in 2014 when he picked up a sack while lined up over the right guard.
Intrigued, at Patriots rookie minicamp last year the coaching staff tried him on the inside and he embraced it. He stayed late at practice. He tried to carry out every instruction he received from defensive line coach Brendan Daly.
"They put me in positions," Flowers said, "where I could get experience with that. Get the feel of the game. Try to understand it and create an arsenal of moves."
After more than a year of sharpening his skills, Flowers has had the opportunity to put his full repertoire of inside moves on display.
Against the Broncos in Week 15, Flowers lined up as a nose tackle on center Matt Paradis. On the snap, Flowers got his hands into Paradis' chest and ripped Paradis forward.
"We call him 'Technique' for a reason," Branch said.
Like a bouncer grabbing the lapels of an unruly patron, Flowers controlled Paradis by the chest plate on his shoulder pads and got PFF's highest-graded center this season on the ground.
"Obviously I can't push everybody around just because of the size difference," Flowers explained, "so you have to use their momentum against them sometimes."
With some help from linebacker Kyle Van Noy, who crashed down to occupy the right guard, Flowers had a clear lane into quarterback Trevor Siemian for the sack.
"He's just really good at using his hands, using his arms, using his leverage. All those things work together," Ninkovich said. "If you're a defensive lineman, you gotta have a bunch of things and he's got them.
"He's got great leverage. He knows when to counter and use the opponent's weight to his advantage. He really has a great feel for it. I'm trying to learn from him."
The Patriots were able to run a similar play when they hosted the Ravens the week prior. This time it was Hightower who helped clear a lane for Flowers.
When Flowers got off of his initial block on the nose, he was able to change direction and gather himself quickly enough to swarm Joe Flacco before the ball came out.
"We’re able to do a lot of different things with him in there," said Hightower. "He’s kind of a smaller-build guy, but he plays a lot bigger than that. [You saw] that in the first three or four plays in the Miami game."
The Miami game. Flowers may have saved the best performance of his breakout season for last. He didn't record a sack in the regular-season finale, but he had two quarterback hits that led to incompletions, and he posted four stuffed-runs.
One of those stuffs came when he was aligned over left guard Laremy Tunsil, the 13th overall pick in last year's draft.
The Dolphins tried to run a stretch play to the offensive left side of the formation. As Flowers flowed with the line, he saw what was developing in front of him and hurried to put a stop to it.
With his left hand, he grabbed Tunsil's left shoulder pad and stuck his right cleat in the ground, preventing himself from being ejected from the play as it was designed. Knifing into the backfield, Flowers tackled running back Jay Ajayi for no gain.
Vision. Strength. Length. Balance. Technique. It was all there.
Practice-squad defensive tackle Darius Kilgo resides at a locker a few stalls down from Flowers in the Patriots locker room. As a member of the Broncos for parts of the last two years before he was claimed by the Patriots in November, Kilgo had the chance to study big-name interior defenders like Malik Jackson (now in Jacksonville) and Derek Wolfe up close.
Even with that background, what Flowers does on film stands out.
"For a guy his size to be able to go in there and do that," Kilgo said, "is unbelievable."
'HE DOESN'T STAY BLOCKED'
Flowers was one of the biggest reasons why the Patriots jumped from 28th in the league in sacks after eight weeks to 16th by season's end. He led the team as it racked up 21 sacks in the second half of the season under the guidance of Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.
Whatever pass-rush success the Patriots find in the postseason could hinge on the play of their second-year standout on the interior.
"He’s been very productive for us in there," Belichick said, "has caused a lot of pressures, and his penetration in the middle of the pocket a lot of times opens things up for one of the other defensive tackles or defensive ends that wrap around into the space that he has created with that penetration. So it’s not just the plays that he makes, but he creates some for his teammates, too."
Flowers has become a lose-lose proposition for opposing offenses, it seems: Either focus your attention on him and allow others to make plays, or divvy up your resources and watch him embarrass you one-on-one.
Would you rather be the Jets, who allowed a Chris Long strip sack late in the fourth quarter of a Week 12 loss while Flowers was doubled inside? Or would you rather be the Broncos, who allowed left guard Max Garcia and right tackle Donald Stephenson (below) to be abused by Flowers swim moves one-on-one?
Patriots offensive linemen know what it's like. They've been faced with the Flowers conundrum on a daily basis since training camp.
"When you bring him up, the first word that comes to mind is relentless," said rookie left guard Joe Thuney. "He's always trying to get off the block, always trying to get around you. You have to stay locked in and focused on working together for the whole play when you're blocking him. He represents a pretty unique challenge."
"Trey's one of those guys who just doesn't stay blocked," said right guard Shaq Mason, before happily steering a reporter to center David Andrews, who has the misfortune of being matched up with Flowers more often than anyone else during workouts on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.
"His movement skills are very good," Andrews explained. "He's got a lot of good pass-rush moves, and he does a good job of working. He doesn't stay blocked. That's the thing, he always works to stay uncovered."
The living embodiment of Bobby Boucher's approach with a technician's polish, national attention was coming one way or another for Flowers. It just so happens that his rise to prominence has come with nicknames that make him squirm. At the very least, he acknowledged, they may be a sign that he's doing the right things at this stage of his young career.
As if his numbers weren't enough.
"I'm intrinsically motivated anyway," he said. "But any time you can get guys to let you know you're doing good, I guess it's pretty cool."Trucks of a Culture is a photo story documenting the colourful, unique and indigenous art-style of decorating trucks in Pakistan.
Truckers in Pakistan are so passionate about customising their trucks that in many a case the decorations cost a lot more than the truck itself. I asked a few of those Gentlemen while documenting this story as to why they decorate their trucks and spend so much money doing so to which I got a unanimous reply, “There’s no point driving or even owning a truck if we are not going to decorate it to our liking”.
I was particularly impressed by these truckers driving the good old Bedford TJ – mostly the 1090 models – and doing everything they can to keep them on the road while paying an almost obsessive attention to their truck’s visual appeal. One of my motivations for this story was these old Bedford machines, still able to hold their own while rolling with new generation Japanese counterparts, which by the way are also equally tricked out. What is clear is a Pakistani trucker’s pride and joy must be crafted to his alterations of his heritage for it to be out on the open road.Ordinary cars from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s are becoming more rare with each season that passes. This run of the mill in its time AMC caught my eye for being the first one I recall seeing in over a decade. AMC sold a variety of mid sized cars in the 70s and 80s, the most famous perhaps being the AMC Eagle four wheel drive station wagon. Our subject car is nothing special, just a humble sedan. However it has an interesting story with connections to Porsche and the little known VAM Lerma.
It’s surprising to see cars like this still in service due to the complex, convoluted, and compromised contraptions manufacturers conceived in order to comply with emissions and economy regulations. When cars like these develop problems, troubleshooting the miles of vacuum hoses and multiple electromechanical control gizmos is so time consuming as to send many to the crusher rather than be repaired.
This car features the AMC Computerized Engine Control system! It’s not fuel injection. It’s a complex electromechanical control system to manipulate the carburetor into cleaner emissions. I’ve never worked on an AMC like this, but imagine there’s a nightmare of wiring and vacuum lines under the hood.
Since it has that cool “Digital” sticker, denoting the computer controlled engine management system, this car almost certainly has the 4.2 liter AMC straight six, which has a reputation for reliability up through its use in Jeep products ending in 1990 or so. This car could also be had with a carbureted version of the VW/Audi engine used in the Porsche 924! Automatic and manual transmissions were available as well. At points in this car’s run from 1978 to 1983, manual transmissions with 3, 4, and 5 gears were available.
The Concord was available as a sedan, station wagon, coupe, hatchback, and convertible. The car was also made in Mexico where it was sold not as an AMC (American Motors Corporation), but as VAM (Vehiculos Automotres Mexicanos) American. The VAM coupe was called the Lerma.
Another interesting Concord derivative was the AMX reintroduced in 1978, based on the Concord coupe. The AMX is a historic sporty AMC from the 60s with a significant racing and performance pedigree. The smog compliance choked Concord-based AMX presented a sporting package by offering the biggest AMC engines in the smallest Concord body. Eight cylinder engines of 5 liters and 6.6 liters were options and could be had with 4 speed transmissions. The Concord based AMXs aren’t held in the same regard as the AMXs of the 60s and early 70s.
For more Street Parked goodness, visit the Street Parked index pageTold on Friday morning that a £35million deal had finally been agreed, Fabregas was on his way to Heathrow with a view to catching a flight to Spain when he received a phone call from Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola asking him to turn around.
Guardiola remains delighted at Fabregas’s imminent signing but was unhappy that on the eve of the team’s first important match of the season - Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup first leg in Madrid - the midfielder’s movements were overshadowing preparations.
Fabgregas had said goodbye to Arsenal team-mates and texted friends and family in Barcelona. It was not long before Barca players Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol were tweeting welcome home messages and Catalan media were briefed by those close to the player that he would be in the city on Friday afternoon for a medical before a possible presentation on Saturday.
His inclusion in Sunday’s Super Cup first leg was also mooted but Guardiola, who has been silently simmering all summer as Barcelona’s exhausting pre-season tour has thrown up a series of unconvincing performances, while the club have failed to land his number one midfield target, had had enough.
The call was made to Fabregas suggesting he delay his arrival in Spain until Sunday. It is understood Arsenal were also unhappy at what they saw as Barcelona claiming the deal was done when some details were still to be agreed on.
He is now likely to be presented on Monday and be available for selection in what would be his home debut on Wednesday in the Super Cup second leg at the Camp Nou although his lack of match fitness would appear to make that unlikely.
His arrival will give his new team-mates a much-needed lift. They fell to several defeats in pre-season, losing to both Manchester United and Mexican side Chivas.
Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and new signing Alexis Sanchez were only able to start training with their team-mates on Monday after playing in the Copa America and captain Puyol is still some way short of full fitness.
“We used to have pre-season, now we go on tour,” said an exasperated Guardiola during the far from perfect summer in which on several occasions in United States he had to abandon training sessions because of intense heat and humidity.
Madrid went to Asia and the US but lost fewer key players to the Copa America and closed their transfer business early, signing Nuri Sahin from Borussia Dortmund and Fabio Coentrao from Benfica with limited fuss.
Jose Mourinho’s side are favourites for the first trophy of the season tomorrow. Barcelona’s pre-season wobbles may help Fabregas establish himself in the side. There is still some scepticism about exactly where he fits in but he clearly has the advantage of Guardiola being the person who demanded his signing.
Mascherano looks set to start the new season where he finished the last one - seen very much as a central defender who can also play in midfield. That would leave Fabregas as one of six midfielders contesting three starting berths.
Seydou Keita, Thiago Alcantara, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez will be his competitors but Guardiola often uses Busquets as a central defender, Iniesta as a forward and is also keen not to rush Thiago in his first season as a senior player.
The new signing will give Barcelona goals and final passes from an attacking midfield position but could also play the occasional game in the holding role, exactly where he played a decade ago in the club’s youth team alongside Pique and Messi.Among President Obama’s more outlandish comments at his Friday press conference was his utterance in response to a question as to whether, given his unilateral postponement of Obamacare’s employer mandate, other presidents could be allowed to pick and choose what parts of laws to enforce.
President Obama (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
He declared:
With respect to health care, I didn’t simply choose to delay this on my own. This was in consultation with businesses all across the country, many of whom are supportive of the Affordable Care Act, but — and many of whom, by the way, are already providing health insurance to their employees but were concerned about the operational details of changing their HR operations if they’ve got a lot of employees, which could be costly for them, and them suggesting that there may be easier ways to do this.
First off, this is duplicitous. The president may have consulted with others, but he unilaterally decided to change the law and threatened to veto any bill that would legally concretize his decision.
He compounds his misleading answer by adding: “We did have the executive authority to do so, and we did so. But this doesn’t go to the core of implementation.”
As for the “executive authority,” I’d be curious to know where it comes from. Certainly not the law itself. Does he believe the Constitution allows him to only enforce parts of laws he thinks will work? Recall that as a senator Obama bitterly denounced “signing statements,” which entailed a presidential declaration that certain parts of a law were unconstitutional and therefore would not be enforced. Imagine what he would have said had President George W. Bush decided to ignore parts of laws simply because they were bothersome.
Finally, his assertion that the employer mandate doesn’t go to the “core” of implementation is odd, to put it mildly. That delay will cost an estimated $12 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. It will unleash a torrent of fraud as recipients of the exchange subsidies are permitted to operate on the “honor system.”
But of course no president is empowered to ignore parts of laws, even ones he dubs to be outside the “core” of legislation. The president should have been challenged at the press conference. Congress should not allow its job of making and amending legislation to be usurped by the president, whose theory would allow a President Chris Christie or President Scott Walker to announce he was unilaterally halting the individual mandate or the medical device tax.
The president’s penchant for authoritarianism has not been limited to Obamacare. He has also altered immigration law and gone after the work requirement in welfare legislation. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) has put together a handy compendium of these power grabs. Couple those with his recess appointments and excessive use of executive privilege to deny Congress the ability to conduct oversight and you have a president attempting to exercise unprecedented powers.
The left is convulsed over the president’s enforcement of duly passed anti-terror legislation that is subject to both judicial and legislative oversight. Yet when it comes to their favorite domestic initiatives, they muster no concern about an out-of-control executive. They should keep this in mind when the next GOP president comes along.The Giant Cat Sofa is a concept designed for an art project for individual artists to express their own version of "living" using vacant apartment spaces in Manchester. The artists were the last inhabitants of the apartments before the entire distric was demolished. The giant sleeping cat sofa was inspired by the wallpaper used in the last occupants child's room. Although this is just a concept, if someone were to create a kickstarter campaign to make giant cat sofas, I can assure you it would exceed it's goal within hours. The giant cat sofa was made from felt and stuffing, and measures 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) in length, and visitors to the art exhibit were allowed to sit on it's lap so that the cat could get a taste of it's own medicine for once.Video games have expanded to include subjects like cancer and depression. Has the gaming industry grown a conscience?
To put it mildly, 2014 was a roller-coaster year for video games. Amid record sales, criticism of the industry seemed to reach a fever pitch, with much of it directed at gaming culture. A series of widely reported incidents last year put a spotlight on gaming’s problem with misogyny. In a controversy known as GamerGate, several female writers and game developers were sexually harassed and threatened with rape. Some received death threats for daring to criticize sexist depictions of women in games.
Gaming violence also came under renewed scrutiny. Grand Theft Auto 5, one of the year’s bestselling titles, allows players to kill prostitutes and torture characters, which sparked fierce debate on whether game makers have a moral responsibility to their audience.
The usual criticisms of gamers—too juvenile, too male, too misanthropic—don’t seem that far off the mark. And taking into account the familiar concerns about the negative effects of games on social behavior, it’s easy to dismiss them entirely.
But despite these very real problems, some hopeful signs may force you to rethink what you know about video games. According to a recent survey by the Entertainment Software Association, gamers now skew older than ever, with 71 percent older than 18. The group also found that twice as many adult females play games as do boys age 18 or younger. And according to Newzoo, while more women than men play games like Candy Crush and Just Dance, almost 30 percent of Call of Duty gamers are women.
Furthermore, plenty of data suggests games can actually be beneficial—for instance, their positive effects on problem-solving and dexterity. And against the stereotype of gamers as basement shut-ins, many gamers forge unquestionably powerful relationships in online gaming communities.
It may also surprise you to know that people of faith have been increasingly vocal about the redeeming value of gaming. The blossoming of a number of websites like GameChurch.com and ChristCenteredGamer.com points to a growing sentiment among Christians that it’s possible to be thoughtful about faith and enjoy games.
In his intriguing book Of Games and God (Brazos), Trinity Western University communication professor Kevin Schut examines the promises and pitfalls of gaming from a Christian perspective. He argues that not only are games capable of moral seriousness but the medium is ripe for important conversations about spiritual themes.
So while some games unquestionably depict acts of evil, are they celebrating it for its own sake, or are they illustrating a fallen world in which these things occur? The latter, he says, may actually have resonances with the biblical narrative of creation, the fall, and redemption.
Schut helpfully shows that instead of issuing blanket condemnations of games or uncritically accepting them, they should be engaged like other creative forms, including music and literature. Roger Ebert famously said that games aren’t art, and “that a game can aspire to artistic importance as a visual experience.” “But for most gamers,” he said, “video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized, and empathetic.” Such views might now be in the minority.
With the growing capacity of games to offer unmatched immersive experiences, and when the budgets for blockbuster games routinely surpass those of major films, it’s hard to be agnostic about whether games matter. They are simply too culturally significant to ignore.
As the industry comes of age, games are also growing a conscience. One of the more intriguing trends is a turn toward games that deal in empathy. One of the best last year was Gone Home, a first-person adventure game in which the player comes home to an empty house to piece together her family’s story. The game’s female lead, imaginative storytelling, and explorations of identity—without a hint of gratuitous violence or sex—add up to an unusual and absorbing game play experience.
Other game makers use video games to explore humanity. The result can be sobering, as with Depression Quest, an adventure game about struggling with depression. This growing category of narrative driven games allows you to imagine the world through the eyes of an HIV patient (I’m Positive), a victim of abuse (Curtain), or the parent of a dying child (That Dragon, Cancer).
Another such title is This War of Mine, a game in which, rather than playing as a soldier, the gamer plays a civilian caught in the crossfire of war. The game’s unflinching look at human suffering from the perspective of a refugee is an alternative to games accused of glamorizing violence while obscuring the real costs of war, such as the Call of Duty franchise.
As both games and those who play them keep branching out, the definition of gaming will continue to change. It’s true that gaming’s qualities have an underside. The same technology that creates experiences of empathy can also offer escape from reality in harmful ways.
But those dangers alone shouldn’t discourage people from giving games a chance any more than we should shun television because it traffics in adult themes—not when there’s so much to celebrate and still so much room for improvement.
And with the advent of more thoughtful conversations about what it is that we do when we play games, maybe the day isn’t far off when old stereotypes about gaming are eclipsed by a new reputation—that games are not only fun, but also humane.
This column appeared in the March 2015 issue of U.S. Catholic (Vol. 80, No. 3, pages 40-41).
Image: Flickr photo cc by Analea StylesAttention! This news was published on the old version of the website. There may be some problems with news display in specific browser versions.
Squadron 303: Sikorski's Tourists
This video is available with Polish, German, Czech, Russian and Greek subtitles.
Welcome to the Community Corner!
We here at War Thunder are proud and happy to have such an active and creative community to support and enjoy the game with us. With our Community Corner feature, we want to highlight some of the amazing masterpieces that the players of War Thunder are creating, uploading and sharing with fellow pilots and tankers every day.
For the next article in the Community Corner, we are very pleased to present to you the first episode in a series about the "303 Squadron", created by Ares28. With hundreds of hours of work put into it, more than fifty actors, amazing shots, breathtaking special effects and sound, this series indeed deserves a special mention from us. Great job! If you liked the video, don't forget to leave a thumbs up and to subscribe to his YouTube channel.
If you are interested to learn more about the Polish Air Force, get to know their pilots and staff, hear about their experiences, adventures and stories, you might want to follow this series. As it is only the first episode, the author will introduce further episodes every first Saturday of the month. For more info, check out the creator's Facebook group.
The War Thunder TeamAs a transplant (I know.. I know..), I try to keep busy during the holiday season without breaking the bank.
Check out some of my favorites for 2017 below. Most are free!
Shows from Thanksgiving Night till New Years Eve.
A Seattle institution since 1949, Candy Cane Lane (otherwise known as N.E. Park Rd., just off the main drag of Ravenna Blvd. at the cross street of 21st Ave. N.E. just north of University Village) is actually a curved row of 23 adorably decorated houses so sweet they look like you could have plucked them right off a gingerbread house display.
This favorite Seattle craft show is carefully curated and juried to ensure the best mix of crafts and arts, along with quality and originality. This bi-annual show features over 150 vendors excelling in the world of craft, art and design.
The Argosy Cruises Christmas Ship™ Festival is a ship-to-shore holiday celebration that has been a Northwest tradition since 1949. The Spirit of Seattle, the Official Christmas Ship™ is decorated with hundreds of shimmery white lights and sails to different Puget Sound waterfront communities – around 65 in all. Choirs on board the Christmas Ship™ perform to guests aboard as well as to our Follow Boats and to those communities gathered on shore. Select your preferred way to experience the Christmas Ship and prepare for the holiday event of the season!
For 25 years, Seattle has embraced the Sheraton Seattle’s Annual Gingerbread Village benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. As a tribute to the city, the theme for the Sheraton Seattle Hotel’s 25th Annual Gingerbread Village is 25 Years of Cheer: A Celebration of Seattle. The hotel invites visitors to stroll through Seattle’s cobblestone past and glimpse into its future, reflecting on what makes the city special.
More than 600,000 energy-efficient LED lights recreate wild animals and wild places in two and three dimensions along the zoo’s pathways and North Meadow.
Garden d’Lights features over half a million sparkling lights formed into the whimsical shapes of plants, flowers, birds, animals, and cascading waterfalls set amid the natural beauty of the Bellevue Botanical Garden. $5 per person; children 10 and under are free and do not need a ticket. Tickets can be used on any night EVENT FREE NIGHTS: Nov 27, 28, 29, 30, Dec 4, 5, 6, 7 Snowflake Lane, Bellevue
Over 200 LED-lit monkeys brighten Phinney and Greenwood each year from 59th to 87th, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Why monkeys? Because they’re fun and unique, and they complement WildLights at the Woodland Park Zoo, draw visitors to the neighborhood and, through their fostering fees, generate money the business group uses to sustain the troop and seed other community projects. Hawk House, Kirkland
Connect to a world of sparkling lights, child-sized amusements and spirited entertainment at Seattle Center Winterfest, Nov. 24 – Dec. 31, in Center venues and on the grounds. Five weeks of festive, fun-filled, free and affordable activities await those in search of uplifting seasonal spirit or delightful diversion from the hustle and bustle of the holiday routine. Featuring Winterfest Ice Rink and Saturday ice sculpting including a full day of ice carving mastery on Sunday, December 17th, Winter Train & Village returns, along with live weekend performances and inspiring student showcases. The festival opens with Holiday Harmony and rings in the New Year with spectacular fireworks, Fountain of Light dance party and live music by premier cover band, Sway.
One Off Events:
December 1st
December 2nd
December 9th
December 14th
December 15th
December 16th
December 17th
AdvertisementsNEW DELHI: Union minister General V K Singh ran into a fresh row on Tuesday as he was criticized by several political parties for describing the media as 'presstitutes'.While the Congress said his comments were "deplorable" and showed his "insensitivity", the Left said they reflected the minister's mindset.The remark, made in a tweet, followed a press briefing in Djibouti in which the former Army chief raised eyebrows for saying that visiting the Pakistani high commission was more exciting than conducting rescue operations in Yemen.Singh is camping in Djibouti to oversee evacuation of Indians from Yemen. Apparently, he was taking a dig at a section of the media which had criticized him for attending Pakistan Day celebrations As social media began commenting about the remark, Singh tweeted, " Friends what do you expect from presstitutes."Last month, Singh had raked up a controversy by tweeting with the hashtag 'DISGUST' after attending the Pakistan Day celebrations in New Delhi.Shortly after representing the government at the national day reception at Pakistan High Commission, Singh had issued a series of intriguing tweets defining "disgust" and "duty".Check the Upcoming Elections section for important deadlines.
To register to vote:
Visit the Online Voter Registration Portal (OVR).
You will need a RI Driver's License or RI State ID to register to vote online or update your existing record.
If you do not have a RI Driver's License of RI State ID, the OVR will generate a form for you to print and mail to your local Board of Canvassers.
Please read and follow the instructions on the Online Voter Registration portal. If you have any questions refer to Frequently Asked Questions.
Si tienes algunas preguntas, por favor revisas la se |
. The Tasmanian high plateau peat bogs burned for the first time in perhaps a thousand years. The vast Himalayan glaciers that supply water to the world’s two population giants, India and China, are melting far quicker than expected. The North Pole hit temperatures more than 27 degrees Celsius above normal. This month, authorities admitted the jump had taken them by surprise. “We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we’ve seen,” David Carlson, director of the World Meteorological Organisation recently told Reuters.
2016 is the year climate change got real. And after decades of foot-dragging and fossil-fuel seeded denial and delay tactics, it’s also the year the world decided to act. In April, 195 countries agreed to keep global warming below two degrees by signing the Paris Accord. (The aspirational target of 1.5 degrees is almost impossible.) And with renewables now cheaper than new fossil fuel power and wind/solar growing at double the rate of fossil fuels, it seemed change was at last upon us. Pioneering governments in Germany and California have proven grids can handle renewables on a large scale. China is about to ban most new coal stations. For the first time, it seemed possible to thank fossil fuels for their service in liberating us from the bounds of muscle power alone and move to renewables, where fuel is free. At long last, action seemed likely on the most pressing issue of our time. We might — might — have a chance of stemming the worst of climate change.
But there’s a new problem.
Action on global warming has been a job for global elites — and these are precisely the people now coming under (warranted) pressure by the losers of globalisation. Across the world, popular anger has given massive boosts to populist candidates pushing back against globalisation, the EU, trade pacts, immigrants and refugees. While left-wing populists like Bernie Sanders have made some impact, right wing populists have been far more effective. As Nate Cohn observes “the populist right is excelling in the old bastions of the left” across the postindustrial world. A new political divide is sweeping across country after country: internationalist cosmopolitans versus protectionist anti-immigrant nationalists. The power of elite media gatekeepers, too, is dwindling, and with it the ability to counter populism with fact. Social media bubbles may well be populism’s great enabler.
The UK wants out of the EU. Donald Trump wants to can free trade pacts, build a wall to stop Mexican immigrants. His ‘forgotten people’ — the former manufacturing class — lap it up. Austria’s far-right Norbert Hofer almost took the presidency on the strength of anti-immigrant feeling. Across much of Europe, the far right is mobilising behind populist candidates capitalising on resentment of migrants. And the once left-leaning working class areas of Britain voted overwhelmingly to leave the EU. Australia, too, is busy electing populists to the senate as a rebuke to the two major parties.
When Trump isn’t heaping hate on outgroups, he can actually make sense. “The wave of globalisation has wiped out our middle class,” he said in July. And he’s right. The winners in globalisation are the ultrarich 1% — and the hundreds of millions of people, from China to India to Kenya, who now have steady jobs. But the losers are the West’s middle and working classes, who have seen their incomes stagnate and then plummet and their job security vanish. Both Trump and Sanders appeal to those who have lost from globalisation — former manufacturing workers for Trump, debt-laden millennials for Sanders.
And the result? Nationalism is resurgent, in a challenge to the interconnectedness of our economies, and, more precisely, against the flows of people. Elites everywhere are losing favour. A great deal of that is their fault, of course, as income inequality widens and the rich and influential insulate themselves from the seething precariat.
The timing couldn’t be worse. At a time when only governments working in tandem have a chance of keeping the earth cool enough for human civilisation to survive, their failure to tackle inequality, job losses in former manufacturing hubs, and backlashes against immigration has led to a rising tide of populists promising glib answers to hard questions. Stop trade, stop migration — stop globalisation.
But for us to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change within 35 years — say parts of Middle East becoming uninhabitable or massive spikes in food prices as farmers find it harder to grow crops or farm cattle or a catastrophic refugee surge of up to 15 million Bangladeshis — we’ll need to coordinate action globally.
No nation wants to act first — because there are early economic costs with a payoff well beyond the average electoral cycle, before renewables drastically bring down the cost of power. The sunk costs of fossil fuels — powerplants, refineries, coal mines, cars, inflexible grids — are in the trillions of dollars. To quit the habit without massive disruption will require carbon taxes and trading schemes — coordinated and recorded internationally.
But international action is under threat from the rise of the populist nationalists. Trump believes climate change is a Chinese plot and proposes protectionism; his unruly party denies climate change is real and borrows their energy policies from coal industry talking points.
Brexit was, in part, a reaction against perceived overregulation — and climate change responses cannot be left to the market. Britain has traditionally been a climate leader within the EU. But Brexit voters were much more likely to be climate deniers and so too Brexit leaders. After the vote to leave, the signs aren’t encouraging. New UK leader Teresa May axed the climate change department in one of her first moves, and while she’s not a denier, the process of extricating Britain from the EU will certainly slow action. At a stroke, Britain has gone from a world leader to a laggard, and its departure from the EU will leave remaining renewable powerhouses such as Germany vulnerable to push-back from heavy coal users like Poland.
Which way forward, then?
The signs are not good. Elites like Hilary Clinton who speak in dry, fact-laden speeches are vulnerable to speak-from-the-gut populists like Trump. And right-wing populists are more electorally popular than their left wing equivalents — and far more likely to be climate sceptics.
To tackle climate change then, we need to address inequality and its dark twin, resentment of immigrants. Whether through stimulus, make-work, or a New New Deal, the system needs fixing by elites — before we, the people, do away with them and make do with charismatic populists and scapegoats.
As Martin Wolf notes in the Financial Times, populist aspirants offer “clear, simple and wrong solutions — notably, nationalism, nativism and protectionism … the remedies they offer are bogus. But the illnesses are real. If governing elites continue to fail to offer convincing cures, they may soon be swept away and, with them, the effort to marry democratic self-government with an open and co-operative world order.”
It’s happened before, of course — globalisation, backlash, populism. The first true wave of globalisation in the late 19th and early 20th century was made possible by steamships, railroads, colonialism, cheap resources and the telegraph (known as the Victorian internet). The world’s major economies became closely entwined through trade, and protectionism gave way to globalisation. Then, as now, lightly regulated global markets gained strength at the expense of the states that spawned them.
When the Great War came, and after it the Great Depression, globalisation collapsed. In its place came populism and nationalism, ushering in fascism. As historian Henry James noted in his 2001 book The End of Globalisation, the collapse of globalisation occurred remarkably swiftly in the 1930s precisely because it built on long grievances about immigration and trade.
The tragedy for us is that at the time we most need global elites and global agreements to preserve a liveable climate, globalisation’s losers are no longer buying what they are selling.Leaf & Brush
KC Water, on behalf of the City of Kansas City, Missouri, conducts scheduled curbside leaf and brush collections each spring and fall.
For Spring 2019:
Residents who live in SOUTH Kansas City (from 63rd Street, south to the city limit, as well as all residents who live east of Blue Ridge Cutoff) will receive curbside leaf and brush collection from April 8th – April 12th. Curbside collection will take place on your regularly-scheduled trash day.
Residents who live in CENTRAL Kansas City (from the Missouri River, south to 63rd Street, but not including residents who live east of Blue Ridge Cutoff) will receive curbside leaf and brush collection from April 15th – April 19th. Curbside collection will take place on your regularly-scheduled trash day.
Residents who live in NORTH Kansas City (from the Missouri River, north to the city limit) will receive curbside leaf and brush collection from April 22nd – April 26th. Curbside collection will take place on your regularly-scheduled trash day.
Curbside Leaf and Brush Collection Rules:
Sacks and bundles should be placed at the curb by 7:00 a.m. on the regularly-scheduled trash day.
No more than 20 sacks and bundles per household.
Sacks and bundles must not weigh more than 40 pounds each.
Use only paper lawn debris sacks. No plastic bags.
If you seal the sacks, use masking tape only; do not use plastic or duct tape.
No grass clippings. No trash.
All branches must be bundled. Branches must not be more than 3 inches in diameter.
Bundles of branches must not be more than 2 feet in diameter and not more than 4 feet long.
Use twine or jute rope to tie bundles; do not use wire or plastic tape.
If wet weather is forecast, cover sacks and bundles with clear plastic.
If sacks and bundles are not collected on the scheduled trash day, residents must call the 311 Call Center within 24 hours. For questions or to report service-related issues, please call 311 or 816-513-1313.
Helpful Links:
To find your trash day, please click here.
For information about Kansas City’s leaf and brush drop-off sites, please click here.
For information about Kansas City’s waste management and recycling services, please click here.“I think if I would have won, maybe it wouldn’t have made a change to everyone in the country, maybe just in Colorado,” he said. “Now that it’s at the Supreme Court, I think it’s got a chance to make a difference for other people.”
In earlier cases, the United States Supreme Court has said that even egregious misconduct in the jury room cannot be used to challenge a conviction if it would require jurors to testify about what was said there. But the court has never squarely confronted whether racial or ethnic prejudice requires an exception to the general rule.
In 1987, in Tanner v. United States, the Supreme Court let stand convictions in a mail fraud case in Florida even though the jury had treated the trial as “one big party” fueled by “rampant drug and alcohol abuse,” as one juror described it. During recesses, jurors drank pitchers of beer and liters of wine, and they used marijuana and cocaine.
Afterward, in the courtroom, some jurors slept. One was “in a sort of giggly mood.”
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for the majority, said there were good reasons to ignore “irresponsible or improper juror behavior” if it was based on jurors’ accounts of what had gone on in the jury room.
After-the-fact challenges based on jurors’ testimony, she wrote, would make it less likely that jurors would speak candidly during deliberations. Allowing such challenges would encourage lawyers to harass former jurors, she said, and undermine the finality of verdicts.
In 2014, in Warger v. Shauers, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that jurors may not testify about what went on during deliberations, even to expose dishonesty during jury selection.
The issue did not seem to strike the justices as particularly difficult.
“What’s involved here is a juror reporting what she heard during the deliberations,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said when the case was argued. “And it seems to me that’s exactly the kind of thing that is not permitted.”As a freshman at Dutchtown High in Geismar, La., Eric Reid knew he wanted to be a running back.
Then he met Eddie Lacy.
And he soon became a safety.
“I go to high school and the first time I met Eddie was in the weight room,” Reid said. “He just walked in and there was 315 pounds on the bench … He just walks in and just starts reppin’. I’m like ‘That’s got to be our starting linebacker right?’ They told me he played running back and I was like ‘I don’t think this running back thing is going to work out.’”
Seven years later, things have worked out just fine for both Reid and Lacy, high-school teammates, SEC rivals and combatants Sunday when they make their NFL debuts at Candlestick Park. In April, Reid, a first-round pick of the 49ers, and Lacy, a second-round pick of the Packers, became the first high-school teammates to attend the same draft.
And, less than five months later, their Week 1 meeting is fitting: These friends have made a habit of hooking up with each other.
With Reid at LSU and Lacy at Alabama, they squared off three times in the past two years in some of college football’s biggest games over that span. In 2011, they met in the regular season (No. 1 LSU 9, No. 2 Alabama 6) and in the national championship game (Alabama 21, LSU 0). Last year, Alabama won 21-17, but Reid’s familiarity with Lacy’s running style allowed him to get the upper hand on at least one play.
“If you know Eddie, he spins,” Reid said, smiling. “That’s his move, that spin move. So he came through the hole and I just waited.”
On Sunday, Reid will start at safety, assuming the spot of departed All-Pro Dashon Goldson. Meanwhile, Lacy, 5-11 and 230 pounds, will likely be the featured back for a team that drafted him with the No. 61 pick after ranking 20th in the NFL in rushing in 2012.
Where will this game rank in their head-to-head history?
“This is at the top,” Reid said. “The next game is always the most important and this is the highest level of football there is. I think the game between us will be like it’s always been. We respect each other, of course, because we’re friends. At the same time … I’ve got to tackle him. And he has to try to get around me.”
As a freshman at Dutchtown, Reid planned to spend his prep career avoiding tackles. He grew up playing soccer, but was drawn to football after USC running back Reggie Bush’s electric style captured his imagination.
His plan was quickly foiled, however, when a new guy came to town. Lacy’s family relocated moved from Gretna in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Soon, Reid saw the hulking sophomore in the weight room. And his career path was altered. Seven years later, he has no complaints.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” Reid said. “I watched Reggie Bush for two or three years and I really thought that’s what I wanted to be was a running back. But the Lord works in mysterious way and I’ve been blessed.”Image caption The shooting happened on the northern outskirts of Mexico City
Officials in Mexico say a senior army general who had just retired from office has been killed near Mexico City.
Until his retirement earlier this month, Gen Jorge Juarez Loera was the number three in the Mexican army and a key figure in Mexico's war on drugs.
Officials said the general was shot dead when he got out of his car after a traffic accident in Tlalnepantla.
It is not clear if he was deliberately targeted.
Gen Juarez Loera, 65, was travelling in a private car north of the capital Mexico City and wearing civilian clothes.
Officials say he was shot moments after he got out of his car to investigate an accident.
Until 2008, Gen Juarez Loera headed the Joint Operation Chihuahua which targeted drug trafficking in the northern states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango.
The northern states have been hardest hit by the drug-related violence in which more than 35,000 people have been killed nationwide since President Felipe Calderon came to power in December 2006.Many of the exercise bikes you’ll find in the gym will have small screens for watching content while you workout, and you can now replicate that at home with an Arduino and Netflix.
This project by electronic engineering student Ronan Byrne uses an Arduino Nano connected to a standard exercise bike which, after a bit of hacking, can read the speed of a rider.
This setup is connected to a laptop over USB which then runs a custom programme made in Python. Starting the programme opens up Netflix where you can then log in and set up your workout details such as ride time and the minimum speed you need to stay over to keep the stream up.
Once you get peddling the stream will stay active as long as you’re going fast enough. You can see it in action below being used during Ant-Man.
There were some problems along the way to getting this to work. Byrne originally wanted to use a Raspberry Pi instead of an Arduino, but he found problems getting it to work with a browser which would accept his code.
As it stands now the project uses Firefox instead of an intended Chromium variant.
There’s a few additions proposed for the code, including saving workout details, sound effects for rounds and, maybe most importantly, preventing the user from manually unpausing Netflix.
If you want more details on how this build came together, and how you can replicate it, make sure you check out Byrne’s personal blog as well as the Instructables page.Vinyl sales are apparently on the up, but is the bubble in danger of bursting? Thomas Cox warns that dance music’s obsession with vinyl release gimmicks is a short-sighted approach.
Vinyl is back. At least, so we’re led to believe every time SoundScan or the BPI send out a press release. (The New York Times most recently reported on vinyl’s ‘small renaissance’ in April, having previously covered similar stories a couple of times a year since 2008.) Whether it’s a short-term bubble or a lasting trend, as a long-time vinyl buyer I find many of the current sales strategies worrying. The truth is that the methods which stores and record labels are using to promote vinyl as a medium are short-sighted. At best these methods are unsustainable, but at worst they’re potentially damaging to the long-term health of the format itself.
When I began DJing back in the dark ages of 1997, there really was no option other than vinyl. It would be years before the most basic CDJs were frequently seen at underground clubs and raves, and the idea of DJing with a computer probably would have made most people laugh out loud. In fact, I entered into DJing so easily at least partially because I was already buying most of the underground music I loved on vinyl for a few years by that time. It was nothing new to go to shops that had stacks of new releases delivered multiple times per week, nor was it odd for me to go to the plentiful used shops to find older music I loved.
So, having continued to buy music in much the same way for more than half my life, surely I should be pleased to see articles which detail how vinyl sales are steadily rising? It should make me happy to see so many new vinyl labels popping up, flying in the face of all the supposedly irreversible ‘progress’ made by digital music sales? The reality isn’t quite that simple. Even putting aside the fact that a large proportion of vinyl sales come from things like audiophile reissues of classic albums, Record Store Day novelties and collectors’ editions, dance music has its own issues to deal with.
The biggest of all is the limited edition craze. Obviously, unlike digital downloads, all vinyl pressings are limited. Duh. But it seems like many artists and labels exist almost exclusively based around the idea of exclusivity, to the point where they’re clearly not pressing as many units as they could, just to keep up the ‘limited’ hype. Combined with the fact that a great many people are now buying records online instead of in local shops, this leads to a rush of people buying supposedly ‘rare’ records from the jump-off, regardless of whether that record is even any good. It’s hard not to be taken in by the ‘limited edition, one per customer’ hype – this might be your only chance of owning it, since it probably won’t be sitting on the shelves to check out later.
unlike digital downloads, all vinyl pressings are limited. Duh.
The reseller issue relates directly to that limited edition trend. For any hyped release, a number of people will buy up as many copies as they can to flip on Discogs at an exorbitant price. It’s really not hard to do when the total number of copies of a record is 500 or even 300, as so many are these days – even with one-per-customer rules, it’s not hard for one reseller to buy up 10% of all copies of a release.
I’m not against the idea of a few special limited records, but there’s so much hype for damn near any limited edition release that it’s clear more and more labels are starting to rely on the strategy to drive sales.
On another note, never in my memory have re-presses, reissues and bootlegs been such a huge and divisive issue, and never have they made up such a large percentage of records available from distributors. I understand it’s especially frustrating to long-time vinyl heads who’ve done the work searching out these records only to see them made more widely available for a reasonable price. But as I’m a firm believer in music being made available, that isn’t even what really gets to me about this. The most annoying part is that it’s quite often being done for records that were readily available on the second-hand market. It’s a pretty ridiculous situation when people will buy old records at new prices in large amounts, but need to have new music be ‘limited’ in order to make a purchase. We’re inundated with old music being re-released to make money, while new music is sold to as few people as possible to make the hype machine spin.
It's not about the exclusive rush to get the rarest record. It’s about having the best music in the best-sounding format.
Deluxe box sets and hand-stamped white labels are two sides of the same coin. Some of these box sets are insanely expensive, including everything from an air freshener to a t-shirt to a poster to a book and more. This smacks of gimmickry, using something outside of the music to sell what is essentially product with a higher profit margin. I have no problem with merchandise, but if I want that stuff I’ll purchase it separately.
Hand-stamped white labels have basically the same aim, but go the opposite route to achieve it. Instead of the gimmick being all the added-on crap that doesn’t matter, their gimmick is that of it being “just about the music”. Most times this is tied in directly to the artificially limited pressings discussed earlier, with some of the most notable labels over the past few years having been almost completely ignored until taking this route. Artwork and any other information is really sacrificed here, yet the prices on these records don’t seem to be any less than records with regular sleeves and artwork. This alone should set off alarm bells in the minds of record buyers. With box sets you’re often forced to spend more than you want for way too much. With hand-stamped, plain-sleeved releases you’re usually paying regular prices for way too little.
In the end, as a long-time record buyer who hopes to continue doing so, these strategies all seem very short-sighted. We need more artists who love vinyl but also want to make their music available and sell it based on the merit of the music embedded in the grooves. Basic Channel are a great example. Despite their records being constantly in press for 20 years and just about every DJ hammering them in clubs, they’re still considered ‘cool’ and new record buyers can easily order the vinyl and enjoy it the way it was always meant to be.
Unfortunately there are way too few labels interested in taking this kind of long-term approach to selling their music. There are are a handful of notable exceptions. Theo Parrish will repress regularly, though not keeping his whole catalogue available. (This still doesn’t stop the resale mongers from trying to jack up the prices on his records – which have already been priced higher than normal with the idea of discouraging just that practice.) Omar-S also keeps his releases in print – and, even more distinctively, for sale at less than standard shop prices if you buy directly from him.
However, it seems most labels are caught chasing the short money to the detriment of the perceived timeless quality of the music being released. With records not being available, how many potential buyers are losing out on being able to have some of the best music, or are forced to prop up used record resellers at inflated prices if they choose to own the releases in their intended format?
it seems most labels are caught chasing the short money to the detriment of the perceived timeless quality of the music
That’s the essence of record collecting for me. It’s not about the exclusive rush to get the rarest record, nor all the other marketing that gets piled on top. It’s about having the best music in the best-sounding format. (“Best-sounding” may even be up for debate, but it likely doesn’t involve coloured vinyl or picture discs, both of which degrade quicker than regular black vinyl, or 180 gram pressings which really add only to the cost and to the weight of your record bag and not the sound quality.) Hopefully as the newer record buyers become more savvy, they’ll see past the gimmicks and we’ll have a vinyl culture that continues to grow and be meaningful. If the gimmicks win out, I guess there are always digital downloads.
Thomas Cox has been causing trouble on teh interwebs since 1996 and representing Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania since birth. You can argue with him on Twitter.
RelatedMoving through the city during a “loss of civility” (government-speak for breakdown) can be extremely dangerous, even life-threatening. Sadly, there will be many predators who wait for just such occasions to prey upon those whom they perceive as weak. We call them “opportunivores.” Opportunivores only obey laws because they fear punishment. When law enforcement is removed from the equation, opportunivores become a law unto themselves.
Avoiding these predators may require different strategies. One is to move in a large enough force, and to be threatening enough, that the predators move on to easier targets. Another is to move when the predators are not vigilant. A third and more flexible method, is to learn to blend into a crowd and not do anything to draw attention to oneself.
Blending into a crowd is called becoming a gray man.
There are people moving around us every day whose physical presence is so non-stimulating that we ignore them. They are for all intents and purposes, invisible to us. The gray man is the one we want to emulate in a disaster. The problem is, people have never seen a true gray man, unless you’ve been taught to see them. Because if you casually noticed him, his gray man-ness is in dispute.
So who is the gray man and how do we find and emulate him? It will require some time observing crowds of people. The process is based on an understanding of how your mind remembers what it sees.
RAS (Reticular Activating System)
The principle is simple. The mind remembers whatever significantly stimulates it. If there is no stimulus, there is no noticing. Breaking this idea down further, the brain contains a filter for all sensory input called the Reticular Activating System. It’s a part of the brain that filters sensory data. For example, your eyes send a complete stream of data down the optic nerve. The RAS scans that feed and determines what parts of the process to filter and what parts to pay attention to. This allows the brain to conserve energy by not having to process all the visual data.
What does the RAS filter and what does it send through?
The brain is looking for first, threats. The RAS will send data related to fast movement, threatening movement, movement on vectors that will intercept your own. It also looks for bright colors, human shapes, reflections, bright light, implied movement and other similar things that STIMULATE the brain. The RAS ignores areas of continuous color, shadow, dull, natural colors, slow movement and off vector movement.
The RAS is a very effective movement for sound input as well. It filters sounds that are unnecessary for us to notice, such as the sound of the refrigerator running, but alerts us to sounds that may represent a threat, such as the sound of someone trying to jimmy a window at night.
I have a friend that lives in New York city. I was on the phone with him one day and just outside, an ambulance went by on his end. The sound of the siren via the phone, was incredibly loud in my ears. I interrupted him and told him to wait till the ambulance went by. He said,”What ambulance?” The sound of the ambulance was so common that he filtered it out completely.
So what does the RAS have to do with being the gray man? Simply this. To make yourself invisible to predators, don’t trip their triggers. If you do not create a stimulus that the predator keys in on, you are invisible to him. Just like my friend who could not hear the ambulance, a gray man moves around our awareness without triggering any alarms.
The Art of Blending
How is this accomplished? It seems simple enough. Just blend in. But there is actually quite an art form to this.
Size
Height is an element of being a gray man that we have little control over. The best gray man is ordinary in every respect. He’s of average height and weight. He has no obvious physical features that draw attention, ie, big nose, bald head, facial hair, etc. For example, I have a very hard time being a gray man because I am a big man. I am 6’2” and “husky,” as they say. People remember me as “that big dude.”
Dress
Dress is an element within our control. For the most part, natural and neutral colors work best; Browns and grays. Nothing to create a memory like a T-shirt with a saying or photos. Style of clothing tends to be very conservative. Nothing showing skin, nothing too fashionable, nothing to out of fashion. Ordinary is the key word here.
The standard “uniform” for military’s civilian wear consist of 5.11 Tactical pants, (referred to by some of my friends as “shoot me first pants),” a khaki cotton button-down shirt with epaulettes, Oakley shades, desert combat boots, and a shaved head. Add to that a nice MOLLE backpack, and you have target written all over you. No one doubts that you have some very cool gear in that pack and they will want it. But as cool as that looks, it will draw the attention of both LE and predators.
Mannerisms
Since the gray man attracts no attention, his mannerisms must be small and discreet. No sweeping gestures. Energetically, the gray man is withdrawn. He does not project confidence. He does not look around much, he avoids eye contact.
I stood with a friend on the top level of the Galleria mall observing a class exercise involving foot surveillance. He nudged me and pointed to a guy on the escalator, “Fed!” I asked how he knew the guy was a federal agent. He told me to watch where he looked, what he looked at. Very discreetly, the man in question turned his body to the left and did an almost imperceptible head sweep that allowed him to see behind him. Then he did an adjustment that allowed him to sweep the area on his right. Without having it pointed out to me, I probably would not have noticed. However, the man displayed a now obvious level of awareness. This is one of the reasons I do not do gray well. I am always too curious. When I walk into a room, my head is on a swivel. It is a hard habit for me to break. Consequently, I have a hard time doing gray.
Movement
One of the key elements of camouflage is learning to match your movement to the baseline. If you spend any time in a city, you will notice that every neighborhood has a unique flavor. We call that the baseline. It refers to the sound, motion, activity level of the neighborhood in a normal situation. The speed at which people move, the way they gesture, the volume and speed with which they speak. All these elements and many more make up the baseline. You can learn the baseline for a given neighborhood by sitting somewhere and watching.
The element of matching the baseline is probably the single most important element of personal camouflage. Learning to walk like the natives walk will hide you better than just about anything else.
Route
A key element in avoiding trouble is not to go where trouble tends to be. This means you must know the terrain like a native. You must know what neighborhoods are safe (relatively) and which ones to avoid. You must know roads and routes, locations of police stations, gas stations, convenience stores and emergency clinics. You should know what areas have street lights at night and which are dark. Know where the choke points are and where LE is likely to set up blockades. Being a gray man means avoiding trouble by not going where trouble is, unless necessary.
Learning to See the Gray Man
The following exercise was one I developed for the Urban Escape & Evasion class I teach. To learn to see the previously invisible gray man, go to a public area with lots of foot traffic. Sit back and watch the crowd. As a person walks by, notice the stimulus that drew your eye. In your mind (not out loud), create an insult about that person’s stimulus. The more outlandish the better. Before you all get offended here, the purpose is to pound into your consciousness the stimulus – what you notice about each person. “That guy has a huge nose.” “That guy has completely bizarre taste in shoes” “Do they sell men’s clothes where he bought those pants?” “Wow. That almost looks like he got dressed in the dark.” Remember your purpose is to identify the stimulus.
Then after a few minutes, someone will walk by and you will not find anything. Nothing to make fun of, nothing to ridicule. Pay attention to that person. Observe them carefully. See how they move, what kind of energy they project. See how they interact with others, what they pay attention to (or not). If possible follow them for a bit. Observe them move. I am sure from having done this myself and observing as classes do this, that the key to becoming a gray man lies in your ability to observe and mimic.
Summary
The gray man is the person who moves around the periphery of our awareness without creating any stimulus. This makes that person invisible for all practical purposes. Being invisible will greatly reduce the risk of falling prey to the two legged predators who will make life so “interesting” when this thin veneer of society peels away and reveals the pure ugly evil that lies underneath.
Editor-in-Chief’s Note: Kevin Reeve is the founder of onPoint Tactical, training professionals and select civilians in urban escape & evasion, urban survival, wilderness survival, tracking and scout skills. I’ve personally taken onPoint Tactical’s Urban Escape & Evasion class and highly recommend it as a resource!AKIRA In VR: Virtual Reality Manga Archive
Akira is an epic, cult-classic Japanese comic series from the 80’s. The popular comic series was made into an anime film in 1988. Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira is a story about a teenage biker named Tetsuo Shima who lives in neo-Tokyo in the year of 2019.
The film has since then achieved and maintained a cult status and a worldwide following. Akira is also considered by many to be a milestone in Japanese animation history. It is reflected by many critics to be one of the most popular and greatest animated and science fiction film of all time.
Robert McGregor is a virtual reality and coding developer based in Ottawa, Canada. Robert has an interest to work with large bodies of materials and bring those materials into a virtual world. Robert has created “Akira In VR” where you can flip and go through an archive of Akira manga in virtual reality 3D environment. We love it, take a look!
Content Source: Robert McGregor Official WebsiteKobe Bryant has been one of the most scrutinized players in the history of professional sports. Some of this is deserved, some isn’t. However, there’s no question that his place as one of the most polarizing stars in the athletic realm is concrete. He’s managed to have answers to almost everything thrown at him by his critics, and he simply shrugs off and accepts the things he hasn’t been able to put to rest on the court. It doesn’t get to him.
This season the statistic we’re seeing most frequently is a bit of an oxymoron. Whenever Kobe plays well and scores over 30 points, the team struggles. In fact, struggles might be too kind of a word. When Kobe scores 30 or more points in a game the Lakers are downright dreadful. Following Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a game in which Bryant poured in a season high 42 points, the Lakers are 1-10 in games when Kobe surpasses the 30-point plateau. A simple look at their overall record (9-13) and some basic arithmetic will tell you that the team is 8-3 when Bryant keeps his point total at 29 or less. It’s notable to point out that when the team lost to the Utah Jazz on Nov. 7 he dropped 29, meaning he was a missed free throw away from a 1-11 record when scoring 30. But we won’t split too many hairs.
As is the case with many numbers and statistics, I think that this one is very misleading. But not necessarily in the way that some people do. I’ve seen arguments from numerous people that Bryant’s scoring output has no effect on the team, and that he’s forced into scoring obscene amounts of points because the rest of the team is incapable of helping him out.
To me, this is only partially true.
Bryant feels the need to take over games when his teammates are struggling, which results in |
. It has exactly the same semantics, as close as possible.
Rather than pooling the streams themselves, the underlying buffers are pooled. This allows you to use the simple Dispose pattern to release the buffers back to the pool, as well as detect invalid usage patterns (such as reusing a stream after it’s been disposed).
Completely thread-safe. That is, the MemoryManager is thread safe. Streams themselves are inherently NOT thread safe.
Each stream can be tagged with an identifying string that is used in logging. This can help you find bugs and memory leaks in your code relating to incorrect pool use.
Debug features like recording the call stack of the stream allocation to track down pool leaks
Maximum free pool size to handle spikes in usage without using too much memory.
Flexible and adjustable limits to the pooling algorithm.
Metrics tracking and events so that you can see the impact on the system.
Multiple internal pools: a default “small” buffer (default of 128 KB) and additional, “large” pools (default: in 1 MB chunks). The pools look kind of like this:
In normal operation, only the small pool is used. The stream abstracts away the use of multiple buffers for you. This makes the memory use extremely efficient (much better than MemoryStream’s default doubling of capacity).
The large pool is only used when you need a contiguous byte[] buffer, via a call to GetBuffer or (let’s hope not) ToArray. When this happens, the buffers belonging to the small pool are released and replaced with a single buffer at least as large as what was requested. The size of the objects in the large pool are completely configurable, but if a buffer greater than the maximum size is requested then one will be created (it just won’t be pooled upon Dispose).
Examples
You can jump right in with no fuss by just doing a simple replacement of MemoryStream with something like this:
var sourceBuffer = new byte[]{0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7}; var manager = new RecyclableMemoryStreamManager(); using (var stream = manager.GetStream()) { stream.Write(sourceBuffer, 0, sourceBuffer.Length); }
Note that RecyclableMemoryStreamManager should be declared once and it will live for the entire process–this is the pool. It is perfectly fine to use multiple pools if you desire.
To facilitate easier debugging, you can optionally provide a string tag, which serves as a human-readable identifier for the stream. In practice, I’ve usually used something like “ClassName.MethodName” for this, but it can be whatever you want. Each stream also has a GUID to provide absolute identity if needed, but the tag is usually sufficient.
using (var stream = manager.GetStream("Program.Main")) { stream.Write(sourceBuffer, 0, sourceBuffer.Length); }
You can also provide an existing buffer. It’s important to note that this buffer will be copied into the pooled buffer:
var stream = manager.GetStream("Program.Main", sourceBuffer, 0, sourceBuffer.Length);
You can also change the parameters of the pool itself:
int blockSize = 1024; int largeBufferMultiple = 1024 * 1024; int maxBufferSize = 16 * largeBufferMultiple; var manager = new RecyclableMemoryStreamManager(blockSize, largeBufferMultiple, maxBufferSize); manager.GenerateCallStacks = true; manager.AggressiveBufferReturn = true; manager.MaximumFreeLargePoolBytes = maxBufferSize * 4; manager.MaximumFreeSmallPoolBytes = 100 * blockSize;
Is this library for everybody? No, definitely not. This library was designed with some specific performance characteristics in mind. Most applications probably don’t need those. However, if they do, then this library can absolutely help reduce the impact of GC on your software.
Let us know what you think! If you find bugs or want to improve it in some way, then dive right into the code on GitHub.
Links
Microsoft.IO.RecyclableMemoryStream on GitHub
NuGet package
Writing High-Performance.NET Code [Book that will explain the situations in which you may need something like this in a high amount of detail]
Check out my latest book, the essential, in-depth guide to performance for all.NET developers:
Writing High-Performance.NET Code, 2nd Edition by Ben Watson. Available for pre-order:Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks (1752-1837): Her Life and Her World
by Patricia L. Zontine, April 2009
Lucy’s Family:
Lucy Thornton Meriwether was born into Albemarle County gentry on February 4, 1752. She was the daughter of Col. Thomas and Elizabeth Thornton Meriwether. Her father’s ancestors had emigrated from England, probably Kent County, in the mid-17th century and settled in the counties of Tidewater, Virginia. “Meriwethers brought a large amount of wealth to the colonies, rich in lands, in plate and slaves.” (Anderson, pp. 141-2) The family, as most of the other “gentry” families that migrated, was given high offices and large land grants that allowed them to become part of the “ruling oligarchy that ran the colony for many generations.” (Fischer, p. 212) They served as burgesses, magistrates and clerks of court in their respective counties, and commanders of militia units. Lucy’s father, Thomas, was prominent in local politics and was a member of the vestry for St. Anne’s parish in 1742.Vestry men had civil powers as well as religious duties. (Meriwether, p. 72)
Lucy’s great-grandfather, Nicholas Meriwether II, together with his son-in-law Robert Lewis, pushed north from Tidewater into Virginia’s Piedmont and, being “good judges of fertile, well-watered land,” obtained land grants of over 19,000 acres in the Southwest Mountains area of Albemarle County. (Anderson, p. 62) As was the custom among Tidewater families, “they first dispatched slaves and overseers to clear and cultivate new quarters for some years before moving themselves and their families to the Piedmont.” (Moore, p. 19)
Thomas Meriwether (b. 1714 – 1756) was considered a man of great wealth, due almost entirely to the bequest of his grandfather, Nicholas Meriwether, II. His home was at “Clover Fields” and it is probable that Lucy was born there. Thomas continued to purchase land to add to the land gifted to him by his grandfather until his total land holdings were 9,000 acres spread over several estates. At the time of his death, his holdings dwindled to only 3,000 acres, due to the gifts of land he gave to his children. (Saindon, p. 73) He married Elizabeth Thornton in 1735 and that same year, “he had eleven slaves, two horses, a plow and farm implements, eighteen head of cattle and over a hundred hogs, sows and pigs on his Totier Creek property.” (Moore, p. 29) His wife, Elizabeth Thornton (1717 – 1794) was descended from the Taliaferros, also an early settler family in the Colony. Together, they had eleven children. Following her husband’s death, Elizabeth married Robert Lewis of “Belvoir” who later became Lucy’s father-in-law as well as her step-father.
For information on Lucy’s siblings, click on their names on the Genealogical Chart on this website.
Lucy’s Personal Characteristics
The only existing portrait of Lucy shows her as an old woman but those that knew her remembered that “her person was perfect” and even in old age, she retained “fine features, a fragile figure and a masterful eye.” An admirer also said that “her activity (went) beyond her sex.” (Bakeless, pp. 16-17)
While researching his book Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery, biographer John Bakeless spent a lot of time visiting Albemarle County interviewing descendents of the Lewis and Meriwether families who had heard stories from those who knew Lucy. He describes Lucy as “a Virginia lady of the patrician breed, a benevolent family autocrat, with a character so sharp and definite that her twentieth-century descendents still refer to her as Grandma Marks.” A neighbor from her Georgia years described her as “sincere, truthful, industrious and kind without limit.” (Bakeless pp.15-16)
From the letters written by her son, Meriwether, with their teasting tone, it is safe to assume that Lucy also had a playful side and a healthy sense of humor.
She was also known for her intellectual interests. Lucy owned a small personal library that was valued at $30 by her estate appraisers in 1837; a modern equivalent would be several hundred dollars. She left directions in her will for the distribution of her books. Given that she was locally famous as a “yarb” or herb doctor, presumably her books included herbals and medical handbooks. Unfortunately, it appears that all of Lucy’s books and personal papers were lost in the “Locust Hill” fire of 1837.
Lucy’s type of doctoring was called “Empiric” and based on practical experience. She was folk practitioner – a job often filled by women. (Breeden, p. 26) She traveled throughout Albemarle County by horseback caring for the sick well into her early eighties. Perhaps she learned medicine from her father, also known as a healer, and her brother Francis, who was a “Regular” or formally-trained doctor. No doubt Lucy grew medicinal plants in her garden at “Locust Hill” and collected them in the wild as well. Her famous son, Meriwether Lewis, relied on the skills he had learned from his mother when he treated himself and others on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Her son John attended medical school. Some accounts also refer to her son Reuben as a doctor, though it is likely that he was “yarb” doctor like Lucy rather than a “regular” doctor like his brother John. An 1842 merchant’s account statement listed items that he could have used in treating ailments; e.g., sassafras, turpentine, and packages of commercial pills. (Special Collections, UVA Library: See in the “Documents” section of this web site)
For more information on Lucy’s healing herbs see this site’s Gallery pages. For more on how Lucy practiced domestic medicine, see Eileen Malone-Brown’s essay, “Healthcare During Lucy's Lifetime.”
Lucy was also known for her culinary skills: Thomas Jefferson preferred her hams to those on his own plantation; his overseer recorded that every year he would get a few for Mr. Jefferson’s special use. (Anderson, p. 16)
There are many stories handed down through the family about Lucy’s bravery and “can do” spirit. Handy with a gun, she drove off a party of drunken British officers being held at The Barracks, a nearby prisoner-of-war camp, from her home during the Revolutionary War. Another favorite family story was of Lucy and “the deer.” It seems a large deer hunting party had gone out from “Locust Hill” and returned tired, hungry and empty-handed to find that Lucy had bagged a large buck in her front yard, had it dressed and cooked awaiting their return. (Anderson, p. 17)
Peter M. McGhee, Esq., wrote an article on Meriwether Lewis* (Special Collections, UVA Library: see “Document” section of this web site) in which he not only wrote about Meriwether but added interesting information and personal memories of others in the family. Writing about Lucy, her children and the loss of their father, he states: “[the children] continued some years under the fostering care of a tender mother but a good disciplinarian. When her two sons Meriwether and Reuben were quite small boys, she made them each a suit of new clothes, put them on Sunday morning, told them, ‘Now you get these clothes dirty and muddy today, I will surely whip you.’ They came in at night with their clothes all dirty and muddy. She carried them in [to] the closet next morning to carry out her threat when Meriwether said to her, ‘Now Mammy you find a switch and I will fend back,’ but she laid [sic] on the switch so heavily that she never had to find [a] switch again.” (p.3)
* This essay by Mr. McGhee seems to be the source for many of the incidents about Lucy and Meriwether Lewis that were used in both the Anderson and Bakeless books.
Lucy’s World: 1752 – 1768/69
No details are known of the early life of Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks. As one of eleven children, no doubt the Meriwether home “Clover Fields” was a lively and busy one. Her father, Col. Thomas Meriwether, was a prominent citizen of Albemarle County known as “a man of wealth.” He died when Lucy was four years old. Five years later, when Lucy was nine, her mother remarried a prominent neighbor and family connection, Col. Robert Lewis of “Belvoir”. Presumably Lucy and her younger siblings moved from “Clover Fields” to their step-father’s house somewhat grander house “Belvoir.” One of Lucy’s older step-brothers was William Lewis who later became her first husband.
The family was surrounded by relatives and doubtlessly there was a lot of visiting back and forth - visits sometimes lasting for several days. Because of the family’s wealth, slaves would have worked in the house as well as field. But even in the wealthiest families, the lady of the house and her daughters would weave, sew and repair items. Mistresses of plantations had to supply slaves with blankets and clothing and during the Revolutionary War when cloth could no longer be imported from England; women were forced to manufacture their own cloth. (Clinton, p.26) We know that Lucy sewed clothing for her own children.
Daughters of Virginia gentry born in the 18th Century were trained to be “decorations for society…to acquire habits that were natural, easy & graceful, to be attentive to their dress and to be educated in musical instruments, voice and dancing.” (Lewis, pp. 149-50) Although this model was more attainable for young ladies living on Tidewater plantations than on the frontier of Virginia’s Piedmont, in 1769, Dr. Walker, Lucy’s uncle by marriage, paid for dancing lessons for Mildred Meriwether, Lucy’s sister, so perhaps Lucy also had dancing lessons. (Moore, p. 82) After the Revolutionary War, a “decorative” education became superfluous, even for the daughters of Virginia gentry. One father’s recommendation to his son was not to marry “one of you(r) high dames of quality.” Instead his son should select a woman “who will not think it degrading to attend attentively to domestic affairs and be content with such living as you can conveniently afford.” (Lewis) Since Lucy spent her early years on the frontier of the Piedmont, her family might very well have raised their daughters in a practical fashion well before practicality became a virtue in Tidewater. Her sister’s husband described the Meriwether family as “plain people in manners and dress.” (Gilmer, p. 19)
In general, education of the young was defined as learning the “3 R’s” and this was considered the responsibility of the family. Thus Lucy was “home schooled.” More affluent families often used tutors and local Episcopalian and Presbyterian ministers began opening schools in their homes where they offered a “classical” education along with room and board for £20 a year. This advanced education was reserved for the boys in the family, not the girls. The most famous of these schools was the one run by Rev. James Maury. (Moore, pp. 81-83) The Lewis’ and Marks’ sons were taught in the same type schools; Meriwether by Dr. Everitt, Rev. James Waddell and Rev. Matthew Maury; and Reuben, by Rev. John Robertson.
According to the social precepts of the time, a life of “gentility” excluded commerce; sons of upper class families were raised to be farmers, lawyers or doctors. These occupations offered modest monetary rewards, but more importantly, they allowed independence which was prized most highly by Virginians. In the decades following the Revolutionary War, the lives of the planters became increasingly difficult: years of planting tobacco had depleted the soil and “the tobacco boom was a distant memory.” Many planters switched to grain production but this was not as profitable as tobacco had been in earlier years when fortunes were made. It also required a diligence and steadfastness that young men of the gentry were not used to applying. During the hard times, many families moved west or south, sold some of their slaves, or curtailed their expensive life style.” (Lewis, pp. 115, 125-135)
Lucy’s First Marriage (1768/69 – 1779)
In 1768 or 1769, when Lucy was either sixteen or seventeen, she married her step-brother and first cousin-once-removed William Lewis. He was 35, sixteen or seventeen years older. Lt. William Lewis (1735 - 1779) had grown up in great prosperity as his father owned 21,600 acres in the Albemarle County area as well as an interest in 100,000 acres in Greenbrier County (now West Virginia), (Anderson, p. 26) Upon his father’s death in 1765, William Lewis inherited “Locust Hill” and 1,896 acres on Ivy Creek (600 of which he later sold) and the slaves to work it. He probably built the house during the three years between his inheritance and his marriage. He was considered a reasonably prosperous planter. No doubt tobacco was his main crop as that was the prime crop through the 17th and early 18th century in Albemarle. (Moore, p. 31) As the soil became depleted of its nutrients, grains began to be grown in the early 1800’s, but they could not produce the fortunes that tobacco had.
William Lewis was a lieutenant in the Virginia militia and served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.* Thus, like many of the men in Lucy’s family, he was away from home for long periods, leaving Lucy to manage his plantation of over 1,600 acres. Her responsibilities would have included supervising slaves, planting and harvesting crops, and getting those crops to market. Receipts for goods purchased indicate that she had an overseer to see to the daily operations, but the overseer was directed by someone, and that someone was Lucy Meriwether Lewis.
* It may be that Lewis served with the Virginia Militia throughout the war and was not with the Continental Army.
William and Lucy Lewis had four children: Jane Meriwether, born 1770; Lucinda, born 1772 but died as an infant; Meriwether, born 1774; and Reuben, born 1777. Jane married Edmund Anderson, (1763-1810) her first cousin in 1785. She was fifteen at the time. They had nine children, one of whom, Meriwether Lewis Anderson grew up to become a “regular” doctor like Lucy’s brother Francis.
According to DAR research, William Lewis died in the autumn of 1779.* On his way home from army duty, he crossed the Rivanna River when it was in flood and his horse was swept away and drowned. He swam ashore and managed to get to “Clover Fields”, the Meriwether family home, but as a result of the ordeal, he came down with a bad chill and died of pneumonia. He was buried at “Clover Fields.” His estate included his plantation, £520 in cash and various chattels, most of which under Virginia law of primogeniture went to his eldest son, Meriwether. However, Lucy as his widow retained dower rights. (Bakeless, p. 13) The estate inventory included 24 slaves and 147 gallons of whisky. According to Isaac Weld, a traveler from Dublin, who wrote of his perceptions of life in Albemarle County, “almost all families have stills” and the drink of choice was peach brandy, many started their morning with a glassful. (Weld, pp. 85-86)
Later in life, Lucy and her children attempted to collect widow’s pay for William Lewis’ army service, but their claims were rejected. They were granted bounty lands for his service, but these lands were lost through the hands of a dishonest agent, who sold them on behalf of the family, and then absconded with the monies.
* DAR records give 1779 as the date for Lt. Lewis’ death although the Anderson book lists it as 1781. If he did die in 1779, he could not have taken part in the siege of Yorktown (family tradition) as that took place in the summer of 1781 and Cornwallis surrendered in October, 1781.The earlier date of 1779 also changes the year in which John Marks would have married Lucy from 1782 to 1780.
Lucy’s Second Marriage (1780 – 1791)
“Lt. Lewis advised his wife on his death bed that if John Marks courted her to marry him. He did court her and they were married.” (McGhee, p. 4)
Within six months after her husband’s death, Lucy Meriwether Lewis married Capt. John Marks (1740 – 1791) on May 13, 1780. In addition to the advice Lucy received from her dying husband (stated above), it was not uncommon for widows to marry shortly after the death of their husbands. Capt. Marks had risen to the rank of captain in the Continental Line during the American Revolutionary War, but resigned his commission in 1781 due to ill health. He was a magistrate of Albemarle County and was appointed sheriff in 1785. (Woods, p. 263) On the Personal Property Tax List of Albemarle County of 1782, Marks is listed as having 25 slaves, 56 cattle and four horses. (Cappon, pp. 47-73) Marks also had “a fine Broad River farm in Georgia.” (McGhee, p.4) He and Lucy left “Locust Hill” in the care of an overseer and went to live there.
Lucy’s oldest daughter Jane remained in Virginia. In 1785 at age 15, she married Edmund Anderson and lived with him in Hanover County. Meriwether aged 10, and Reuben, aged 7, accompanied Lucy and John Marks to Georgia.* Their journey from Albemarle into southwest Virginia and across North Carolina to Georgia is another example of Lucy’s spunk and her ability to take charge of a situation: “When she (Lucy) and her second husband, Capt. Marks, were moving to Georgia he bade her and the wagons to start on, saying he would follow in a few hours, but meeting some friends he was detained and did not follow for some days. Meanwhile, Mrs. Marks finding the overseer drunk and incapable of conducting the procession of vehicles and Negroes took charge herself – riding the saddle horse of one of the wagons and driving till they reached their destined stop where Captain Marks found them later.” (Anderson, p.181)
* There is a question of whether Meriwether did move to Georgia with his parents.
Capt. Marks had learned of the Georgia prospects from Col. George Mathews, who had served in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War, noticed the productive land in nearby Georgia and had taken an option on a large area. Back in Virginia, he induced many planters to return with him to George and begin the cultivation of tobacco in fertile ground. A number of planters from Albemarle County, including John Marks, Francis Meriwether, Benjamin Taliaferro and Thomas Gilmer immigrated to land along the Broad River in Wilkes County, Georgia in 1784. “They lived on widely separated plantations but formed an intimate society based on personal cooperation.” (Writers from the WPA, p.27-28) It is probable that part of the lure of the move was the opportunity to return to the planting of tobacco which was more likely to lead to wealth as compared to the cultivation of grains that had taken hold in Albemarle County. In 1786, a tobacco warehouse was built in the nearby town of Petersburg. The Marks family’s land was originally 293 acres at the confluence of Millstone Creed and Broad River. (Hendrix, p. 27) Captain Marks acquired additional land later.
It is likely that Lucy became a Methodist during her time living in Georgia. In 1785, the Methodist Church began sending missionaries into Wilkes County to organize the Methodists who lived there but also to convert others to their faith. “They were so successful that by 1788, Wilkes County contained more than two-thirds of the 1,600 Methodists in the state. Consequently, the first annual convention of the Methodist Church held in Georgia met at Gen. David Meriwether’s home on the Broad River.” Shortly thereafter, the Georgia Methodist Conference agreed to open the state’s first denominational school in Wilkes County. They built the school, Succoth Academy, on land donated by Lucy’s brother, Gen. David Meriwether. (Writers of the WPA, pp. 30-32)
Lucy and John Marks had two children born in Georgia: John Hastings Marks (1785/86 –1822) and Mary Garland Marks (1788 – 1864). In 1787, her son Meriwether Lewis, now thirteen, returned to Virginia to continue his education. Four years later, in 1791, John Marks died of causes unknown and Lucy became a widow for the second time. She was thirty-nine years old.
In his will, John Marks’ left his lands in Georgia and Kentucky to his children, John Hastings and Mary Garland Marks and presumably to his wife Lucy. (Hendrix, p. 28)
Although Lucy’s brother Francis and other relatives had settled in Georgia with her, after her husband’s death she decided to return to “Locust Hill” with her children Reuben, John and Mary. She wrote to her son Meriwether in Virginia, asking for his help in accompanying the family back to Virginia and Meriwether responded in a letter dated 1791. He wrote that he learned of the death of his “father” (John Marks) from a cousin and chided his mother saying that he was “surprised at not getting letters from her.” He added that he may not be able to come to Georgia until the following spring due to his studies, “I’ve been with Mr. James Waddell for eighteen months…” (Special Collections, UVA Library) But according to Anderson, “The death of Capt. Marks in Georgia brought out a protective aspect [in Meriwether] towards his mother whose mainstay he at once became. Helping in the settlement of his step-father’s estate in Georgia, going to Kentucky to establish the interests of his half-brother and sister in land claims due their father, finally going in his carriage (which carriage is said to have been built at Monticello by Mr. Jefferson’s mechanics and afterwards to have been General Clark’s coach at St. Louis) to bring his mother back to Locust Hill…” (Anderson, pp 501-502)
Once Lucy was back in Virginia, her daughter Jane and her husband Edmund Anderson, along with their growing family, moved in with her at “Locust Hill. Edmund appears to be a person who had many entrepreneurial ideas but no success in business ventures. According to a letter written from “Clover Fields’ in 1791 by Meriwether Lewis to his mother (living in Georgia): “Mr. Anderson’s scheems [sic] are as transient as they are sudden. His whole system of afares [sic] appear to be altered monthly. He has discontinued the business at William Anderson & Co. on the account of some unhappy family differences which are two [sic] tedious to be innumerated [sic]. He has declared himself a candidate for the next Hanover election and it is generally thought that he will be chosen.” Edmund Anderson may not have been the best provider for Jane and their nine children as the family continued to live with Lucy at “Locust Hill” until Edmund’s death in 1810. Jane lived with her mother until Lucy’s death in 1837.
Lucy’s most famous child, of course, was Meriwether Lewis (1774 – 1809), her first son. As early as age eight, he hunted alone at night in the mountains and dark woods of Albemarle County, already showing the characteristics of courage and resourcefulness that stood him in good stead when he later commanded the great expedition to explore the Missouri and Columbian Rivers from 1804 to 1806.
After service with the Virginia Militia during the “Whiskey Rebellion” and the regular army, President Jefferson asked him to be his private secretary. At the age of 30, he was appointed by Jefferson to command the Lewis and Clark expedition. Following his return from the west, he visited President Jefferson at the White House where he became ill (probably late 1807). The nature of his illness is unknown, but “he withdrew from public circles for several months, staying with his mother in Albemarle County, where he was probably treated by her and his physician [sic] brother Reuben.” (Dary, p. 8o)
In March, 1808, he assumed his duties as governor of the Louisiana Territory, stationed in St. Louis. As governor, Meriwether was traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with officials when he died on October 11, 1809. Controversy surrounded the circumstances of his sudden death along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee and the controversy continues today. Was it a suicide or was it murder? There is the fact that he became sick with an undisclosed illness in late 1807; was it an incurable physical disease or a fatal bout of depression?
“Governor Lewis had from early life been subject to hypochondriac affections. It was a constitutional disposition in all the nearer branches of the family of his name and was more immediately inherited by him from his father. They had not, however, been so strong as to give uneasiness to his family. While he lived with me in Washington I observed at times sensible depressions of mind, but knowing their constitutional source, I estimated their course but what I had seen in the family. During his western expedition the constant exertion which that required of all the faculties of body and mind suspended these distressing affections, but after his establishment at St. Louis in sedendary [sic] occupation they returned upon him with double vigour [sic] and began to alarm his friends. He was in a paroxysm of one of these when his affairs rendered it necessary for him to go to Washington.” (McGhee, pp. 14-15)
Lucy had already lost two husbands and a baby daughter, and the death of her oldest son Meriwether must have been a terrible blow. His life had gone from the pinnacle of success of the Voyage of Discovery to a murky tragedy on the Tennessee frontier. One can only imagine her heartbreak when, upon the return of the trunk with which he was traveling, she opened it and found his belongings. An inventory at University of Virginia Library listed the trunk’s contents. Included were:
1 tomahawk, 1 ½ pt. silver tumbler, 1 pr. Red slippers, 1 black broadcloth coat, 2 striped summer coats, 5 vests, 2 pr. nankeen pantaloons, 1 pr. black silk britches, 2 pr. cotton stockings, 3 pr. silk stockings, along with handkerchiefs, drawers, and many books, papers and maps related to the Louisiana Territory.
Lucy refused to believe that Meriwether had committed suicide. Suicide was considered a sin of despair and bore the stigma of moral weakness – an impossible end for the hero of the Great Voyage of Discovery. Lucy insisted that Meriwether had been murdered and she suspected that his French carriage driver had been involved. Sometime after Meriwether’s death, the Frenchman passed through her neighborhood and stopped at a house near Locust Hill. Lucy was informed of his presence but she would not see him or permit him to come to her house. (McGhee, p. 17)
At the time of Meriwether’s death, Reuben Lewis was out West involved in the fur trade. The following year, he became an agent to the Mandan, Osage and Cherokee Indians on the Arkansas River. In 1820, he returned to Virginia and helped his mother manage family business transactions and legal affairs. From letters, it appears that he and his half-brother, John Hastings Marks, helped to settle Meriwether Lewis’ estate. In 1822 at age 45, Reuben married his first cousin, Mildred Dabney (daughter of Lucy Meriwether Lewis Marks’ youngest sister, Jane). Lucy deeded Reuben acreage from the original Locust Hill tract to create his farm, “Valley Point”.
The year 1822 marked not only Reuben’s marriage. It marked the death of yet another of Lucy’s children, John Hastings Marks. He was thirty-seven years old, unmarried, and a doctor who had received at least some medical education in Philadelphia (Special Collections UVA Library) and probably also at the College of William and Mary. In a lengthy letter to his mother from Fort Mandan on March 31, 1805, Meriwether Lewis wrote, “I must request of you…to send John Marks to the college at Williamsburg as soon (writer’s emphasis) as it shall be thought that his education has been sufficiently advanced to fit him for that seminary, for you may rest assured that as you regard his future prosperity you had better make a sacrifice of his property (referring to property inherited from his father, John Marks) than suffer his education to be neglected or remain incomplete.” (Anderson, p. 500) It is not known if John Hastings ever practiced medicine as he not listed as a practicing physician in Charlottesville (Rawlings & Hemphill, Eds.)
One author wrote that John Hastings “went deranged, died in a lunatic asylum.” (Gilmore, p. 84) John Hastings did die while in the City Hospital of Baltimore, Maryland, a hospital that evolved from an early “retreat” established for the care of the mentally ill in 1797. In 1808, a pair of local physicians, Drs. Colin Mackenzie and James Smythe, persuaded the Baltimore City Council to lease the hospital to them for a period of fifteen years. (www.springgrove.com/history) A letter from Colin Mackenzie to Reuben Lewis reported the death of his half-brother, and gave him details of John’s last two weeks of life:
Letter dated “Baltimore 22nd Jan’y 1823” (Special Collections, UVA Library, 1823)
“...I regret to inform you that your Brother Dr. John H. Marks died on the 17th of December (unknown) after an illness of 5 weeks. He had been (torn section) to his attack, complaining of an indigestion and loss of appetite to remove which I repeatedly advised him to take some tonick [sic] medicine but in vain. He was continually under an apprehension that poison was mixed with this medicine and refused, in consequence, to take it. He was at length attacked with an (unknown) which harassed him for two weeks and for which he refused every medicine although a number of my medical friends who were called in consultation with me on his case assured him that nothing poisonous was contained in any food or medicine that was prescribed for him. The intermittent (unknown) left him but his limbs and face began to swell, accompanied by a dyspenea or difficulty of breathing, the consequences, we were all convinced of an effusion of water in the chest and which terminated his life. He took exercise daily while he was able, but the disease (torn section) continued unabated. I had him decently interred in the burying ground attached to Christ Church. I was extremely anxious to have written to you during his illness, but I had entirely forgotten your address; nay, I had forgotten the county, in which you resided altho’[sic] I had taken it down on paper, but which, I had mislaid. I take the liberty to enclose a statement of his acct. I am very respectfully your obe [sic] servant, Colin Mackenzie
Here again, the death carried a stigma: mental illness was considered a moral failing. Lucy was close to her 71st birthday when the letter arrived telling of John Hastings’ death. She was a strong and resilient woman but her grief at the death of yet another son must have been conflicted as well as compounded by previous losses. Still she did not buckle. She continued her healing practice and continued to run her farm. Perhaps she found consolation in her religious faith which offered the hope of reunion with loved ones in the next life. Perhaps her family, her remaining children, her many grandchildren, and the kinfolk that surrounded her, were also a comfort.
Lucy’s Plantation “Locust Hill” (1792 – 1837)
Upon Lucy and the children’s return from Georgia to “Locust Hill” in 1792, many things had begun to change in Albemarle County. The town of Milton, situated on the Rivanna River, was thriving because of the recent dredging of the river. Now navigable to the James River and beyond to Richmond, it served as a tobacco inspection station, commercial center and port for the region. It was nearly half the size of Charlottesville. Shadwell, across the Rivanna River from Milton, benefited from the mill Thomas Jefferson had built there. This complex came to include a carding factory (which employed up to 100 people at one point), merchant mill, stores and a saw mill. (Piedmont Environmental Council, p. 16) While grains had begun to be grown in the county during the Revolutionary War, tobacco remained a popular crop. Tobacco did not lead to the wealth that it brought to the Tidewater area mainly because upland tobacco was too coarse. Citizens who produced large quantities of tobacco and Indian corn were called “planters”; those specializing in small grains, “farmers,” although even small farmers grew some tobacco. Small grains were listed as corn, wheat, barley, rye and hemp. Wheat was the dominant crop by 1800 – Meriwether Lewis in a 1791 letter to his mother |
uity to a minimum, but men are expected not to listen to women or care much what women think about these issues. Thus, women start putting demands on each other, because we can’t appeal to men. Which is why you see a culture where the “other woman” is blamed more than the cheating man for infidelity. Or you see women like Susan Walsh arguing that other women have a responsibility not to have sex when we want with who we want, because that means that fewer men will have to pony up wedding rings in order to get laid.
Of course, if women don’t have to rely on men for social status and economic survival, then the power balance shifts, and women can start making demands directly of men. It’s a lot easier, for instance, to demand monogamy directly from your husband if you can leave him without being destitute. Creating a world where women have equality and men have to share responsibilities for sex and family life is the goal of feminism, and more sexual liberation is the result. Indeed, I would say that the reason that only half of women polled take should an old-fashioned view on abortion (which is a symbolic stand-in for female immodesty) shows how far we’ve come already.
The numbers of women who feel that their only form of control over their lives is to exert control over other women is declining. Now that we have ways of attaining economic independence and social status that don’t involve getting and staying married, we have less of a need to create a protectionist racket over female sexuality where women who break the rules are treated like scabs breaking a strike. Now that we have powers outside of the power to say no to sex and to force other women to say no to sex, there’s simply less need to deprive ourselves or judge others. And the less that men have complete dominance over our lives, the less reason we have to try like mad to control the one thing we’ve been given to control, which is female sexuality.Michael Matthew Bloomer, October 16, 2013.
(If you’d like to jump right to the “movie poster, click here!)
The 1990 movie, I Love You To Death, featured a philandering cad of a man (Kevin Kline) whose devoted spouse of many years (Tracey Ullman) accidentally discovers his years of completely indecent womanizing. Then an actual newspaper, The Washington Post reported (there are no spoilers in the excerpts):
Joey Boca, plumber, landlord and owner of Joey’s Pizzeria, he’s a smooth-operating Lothario cruising on olive-oiled wheels. With women, Joey has the knack; he’s an artist, and, by the scores, they tumble for his velvety pickup lines. In fact, he cheats on his wife, Rosalie, so much that he can’t keep track of the numbers. And how much is a lot? You know the figures for the national debt?
As for Rosalie, she refuses to consider divorce; she’s a devout Catholic. Murder seems a better choice. The Post continued:
... After Rosalie begins plotting her husband’s demise, “I Love You to Death” — written by John Kostmayer from a real-life story — becomes a comedy of murderous ineptitude. As killers, Rosalie and her confederates are far from accomplished... But Joey, as it turns out, is a hard man to kill.
Sound at all familiar? “A comedy of murderous ineptitude..?”
Replace the term “comedy” with “drama”;
switch out Joey for Tea Partiers like Ted Cruz, Michelle Bachmann, and around 20% of American voters;
replace Rosalie with America’s credit rating; and
oust the hapless (potential) murderers with Democrats, the Obama administration, 70% of the American public, nearly all Wall Street government bond traders, and most disgruntled Republicans and you might come up with this:
(Click poster for larger image)
It’s similar to Senator Cruz’s first movie, opening this holiday season, and promoted here on October 2, 2013, Opening Christmas Day 2013, A Club for Growth Production : ‘Mr. Cruz Goes To Washington,’ Poster Unveiled.
Please leave a comment and become a potent force for change or for stasis!
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Michael Matthew Bloomer spent the 24 years between Reagan and Bush II on Capitol Hill as a legislative research and policy wanker at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an agency in the belly of Congress’s across-the-street library, the aptly named Library of Congress. Now retired, I’m freed from nonpartisanship and have “come out” as an aggressive progressive at my site, They Will Say ANYTHING! Here you can delight in skewering GOP Congressloons, Senadorks, and others of that herd. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, nice graphics, and always aggressively progressive. You can subscribe by entering your email addy in the box at the upper right of this page. I’ll use your email only for new posts and a very occasional newsletter. Thanks for stopping by!
Please follow and like us:Hulton / Getty
A new book reveals that Adolf Hitler ordered the manufacture of Aryan blow up dolls to discourage his troops from sleeping with disease-ridden prostitutes.
The so-called “Borghild Project” reportedly kicked off in 1940 when SS chief Heinrich Himmler wrote to Hitler alerting him of the health risks posed to his men by liaisons with French women. “The greatest danger in Paris is the widespread and uncontrolled presence of whores, picking up clients in bars, dance halls, and other places,” he wrote. “It is our duty to prevent soldiers from risking their health just for the sake of a quick adventure.”
(PHOTOS: Rare Pictures Inside Hitler’s Bunker)
Hitler gave Himmler’s plan the all-clear, and designers set to work creating a smaller-than-life doll dubbed a “gynoid.” Designers approached Hungarian actress Kathe von Nagy and asked if they could model the silicone doll on her. She refused. That inspired them to leave the doll’s face blank: they reasoned that soldiers were more likely to use the “comforters” if they could impart their own fantasies on them. Just in case the men needed a bit of inspiration, the Nazis gave their creation blue eyes and blond hair.
After extensive testing Himmler ordered 50 dolls for his own troops. But by 1942 the party leadership had pulled the cord on the project. Embarrassed soldiers refused to carry the “comforters,” and officers worried that their men would be mocked if captured by the enemy. American and British forces likely destroyed the gynoid factories during their bomb raids of Dresden. (PHOTOS: Hitler exhibition opens in Germany)Workers at the Regency Ceramics factory in India raided the home of their boss, and beat him senseless with lead pipes after a wage dispute turned ugly.
The workers were enraged enough to kill Regency's president K. C. Chandrashekhar after their union leader, M. Murali Mohan, was killed by baton-wielding riot police on Thursday. The labor violence occurred in Yanam, a small city in Andra Pradesh state on India's east coast. Police were called to the factory by management to quell a labor dispute. The workers had been calling for higher pay and reinstatement of previously laid off workers since October. Murali was fired a few hours after the police left the factory.
The next morning, at 06:00 on Friday, Murali went to the factory along with some workers and tried to obstruct the morning shift, local media reported. Long batons, known as lathis in India, were used by police who charged the workers, injuring at least 20 of them, including Murali. He died on the way to hospital, according to The Times of India. Hundreds of workers gathered outside the police station and demanded that officers be charged with homicide.
Curfew and other civil orders were imposed in Yanam because of the uprising that ultimately lead to the murder of the Regency president a few hours after being attacked with led pipes. Police reported that rioters also torched several vehicles outside the police station. Eight Regency Ceramics workers were injured in police firing that followed; the condition of two of them is critical. More than 100 protesters have been arrested.
India's factory workers are the lowest paid within the big four emerging markets. Per capita income in India is under $4,000 a year, making it the poorest country in the BRICs despite its relatively booming economy.
At Regency Ceramics, workers went on strike Jan. 1 over the wage dispute. The management had reportedly decided to slap a restraining order on five workers and managed to obtain an order from a high court saying that the striking workers should not come within 220 yards, more than the size of two football fields, from the factory.
Once news of Murali's death spread, the factory workers allegedly destroyed 50 company cars, buses and trucks and lit them on fire. They ransacked the factory. Residents joined hands with around 600 workers, while others were enroute to Chandrashekhar's house.In a classic episode of this video series, I did the calculations for how fast the Earth is spinning.
We know the Earth is rotating, but why? Why is it spinning?
Why is everything in the Solar System spinning? And why is it mostly all spinning in the same direction?
It can’t be a coincidence. Look down on the Earth from above, and you’d see that it’s turning in a counter-clockwise direction. Same with the Sun, Mars and most of the planets.
4.54 billion years ago, our Solar System formed within a cloud of hydrogen not unlike the Orion Nebula, or the Eagle Nebula, with its awesome pillars of creation.
Then, it took some kick, like from the shockwave from a nearby supernova, and this set a region of the cold gas falling inward through its mutual gravity. As it collapsed, the cloud began to spin.
But why?
It’s the conservation of angular momentum.
Think about the individual atoms in the cloud of hydrogen. Each particle has its own momentum as it drifts through the void. As these atoms glom onto one another with gravity, they need to average out their momentum. It might be possible to average out perfectly to zero, but it’s really really unlikely.
Which means, there will be some left over. Like a figure skater pulling in her arms to spin more rapidly, the collapsing proto-Solar System with its averaged out particle momentum began to spin faster and faster.
This is the conservation of angular momentum at work.
As the Solar System spun more rapidly, it flattened out into a disk with a bulge in the middle. We see this same structure throughout the Universe: the shape of galaxies, around rapidly spinning black holes, and we even see it in pizza restaurants.
The Sun formed from the bulge at the center of this disk, and the planets formed further out. They inherited their rotation from the overall movement of the Solar System itself.
Over the course of a few hundred million years, all of the material in the Solar System gathered together into planets, asteroids, moons and comets. Then the powerful radiation and solar winds from the young Sun cleared out everything that was left over.
Without any unbalanced forces acting on them, the inertia of the Sun and the planets have kept them spinning for billions of years.
And they’ll continue to do so until they collide with some object, billions or even trillions of years in the future.
So are you still wondering, why does the Earth spin?
The Earth spins because it formed in the accretion disk of a cloud of hydrogen that collapsed down from mutual gravity and needed to conserve its angular momentum. It continues to spin because of inertia.
The reason it’s all the same direction is because they all formed together in the same Solar Nebula, billions of years ago.ASHBURN, Va. -- The play cost the Washington Redskins seven points and a lot of momentum. It cost a lot more for receiver Santana Moss.
Santana Moss was fined $22,050 for arguing a controversial call at the end of the first half during Sunday's loss to the Giants. AP Photo/Bill Kostroun
The NFL fined Moss $22,050 for his tirade at halftime of the Redskins' 24-13 loss to the New York Giants. Moss was upset, as were teammates and coaches, after officials overturned an apparent touchdown at the halftime gun by quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Griffin had dived for a touchdown, but after watching it on replay, officials ruled that he had lost the ball before crossing the goal line. Therefore, he had to regain possession through the play. But when he fumbled as he hit the ground in the end zone, they ruled it a touchback for New York. Moss shouted at officials as they left the field amid a cluster of Redskins and was ejected.
"I regret it but I don't take nothing back," Moss said about the tirade after the game.
In other fines:
• Cleveland Browns outside linebacker Barkevious Mingo was fined $16,537 for his hit to the head and neck area on Bengals QB Andy Dalton in the first quarter of Cincinnati's 30-0 win last Sunday.
The Browns had the Bengals stopped on third-and-6, but Mingo's roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Bengals another first down and continued a 14-play, 81-yard touchdown drive to open the game.
Based on Mingo's $495,000 base salary (not including bonuses), the fine covers more than half his weekly pay.
Fellow outside linebacker Paul Kruger feels for Mingo, saying it's "becoming very difficult" to stay within the rules on quarterback hits that promote player safety.
"You have to adapt to those types of rules for good reason," Kruger said. "But especially with the fines being the way they are, it's becoming extremely difficult, if not impossible to have a clean game the way you're being asked to play."
• Packers LB Sam Barrington was fined $16,537 for a horsecollar tackle on Bills RB Andre Dixon.
ESPN Browns reporter Jeremy Fowler and ESPN Packers reporter Rob Demovsky contributed to this report.Sometimes the fairy tales are true...
Fairies... The Fae... The stuff of bedtime stories and nursery rhymes. But sometimes the fairy tales are true. Sometimes they hold a warning...
For a hundred generations the Fae have been locked away from the world, in the cold, the Outside. They have faded out of sight and mind into myth and folklore, but now the barriers are weakening and they push against the tattered remnants of the wyrde as they seek a way to return.
As a new religion spreads across the world, sweeping the old ways and beliefs away before it, a warlike people look across the frozen ocean towards the shores of Anlan, hungry for new lands. War is coming, even as the wyrde of the Droos is fading. Only by realising the truth lost in a child's tale will the world hope to withstand the wild hunt.Moral failure: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey says she believes that Roy Moore is a child molester, but will vote for him anyway.
Speaking at a Thanksgiving turkey pardon event, Gov. Ivey placed party over morality, saying she would support Moore despite the fact that the man is an unrepentant child molester. Ivey said:
I believe in the Republican Party, what we stand for, and most important, we need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on things like the Supreme Court justices, other appointments the Senate has to confirm and make major decisions. So that’s what I plan to do, vote for Republican nominee Roy Moore.
Gov. Ivey acknowledged that Moore is an unrepentant child molester. When asked, the governor said she believed the multiple victims who report Moorer sexually abused and harassed them as teenagers. Asked if she believed Moore’s accusers, Ivey said:
I certainly have no reason to disbelieve any of them. The timing is a little curious. But at the same time, I have no reason to disbelieve them.
Ivey said the fact Moore is a child molester “bothers” her, but will not prevent her from voting for Moore in the senate election next month. Alabama Governor Ivey said:
There’s never an excuse for or rationale for sexual misconduct or sexual abuse. It bothers me.
However, despite Moore’s heinous past, Ivey will support the candidate because he is a Republican. Ivey said:
Consider all the information that you have. Certainly, it has an impact. But at the same time, the United States Senate needs to have in my opinion, a majority of Republican votes to carry the day and when they have to consider other major decisions. So that’s a factor, as well.
Bottom line: It bothers Alabama Governor Kay Ivey that Roy Moore is a child molester, but she will place party over morality, and vote for the Republican. Her moral failure is astonishing. Weep for Alabama. Weep for America.The Europeans should prepare themselves to get stoned. Not stoned on marijuana, but literally stoned by Sharia loving refugees militant invaders.
Yes, there are cases of “honor killings”, but recently stoning has become a blast from the past:
“The alleged murderer of a 23-year-old Tunisian woman, whose stoned body was discovered on October 20, has been placed in police custody. The suspect, 18, arrested Sunday at his home, is an old acquaintance of the victim. He will be presented before the examining magistrate today.”
But don’t you worry about getting left out of the all the multi-cultural diversity, o tolerant Europeans! Now you can be stoned in your own land the land you have conceded to your invaders.
But hey, at least they share your love of “football” o European diversity lovers… and by “loving football” I mean beating the s**t out of a four year old boy:
“The young boy, who has not bee identified, suffered ‘massive bruising’ after he inadvertently interrupted a football game taking place at the state of Thuringa migrant centre in Suhl, Germany. The child entered a gymnasium looking for his brothers when he kicked a football, enraging another migrant. “The child was then beaten around the head ‘several times’ with the ball until a supervisor stepped in to end the violence. “Unluckily for the small boy, his assailant then caught up with him again after the game, and threw a rock at his head. Admitted to hospital for serious injuries, police said the boy had ‘massive bruising’.”
A little mood music:
TweetHello Dungeoneers!
GenCon 2016 has come and gone - with all the frantic action and excitement around it! We were able to bring a very limited quantity of early production copies of the core box to the show and we're now working hard to produce all of the Exclusive content that you will get along with the mass production of the core box and expansions.
Speaking of the game's production, Masmorra is on track to have production wrapped in October, with the estimate of arriving at our shipping hubs in November. We can't wait for you all to receive the game and all its extra content and have tons of fun!
We also gathered Jared Miller, our Marketing Manager and Guilherme Goulart, one of the producers and developers of Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia to make a little unboxing video of one of the early production copies. In it you will be able to see all components in their final format, along with the awesome tray we managed to create for this game:
Lastly, we'd also like to share with you the Rulebook for Masmorra: Dungeons of Arcadia. Click here to download the latest version of the book!
Let's keep delving deeper!This week, SI.com is previewing all 30 MLB teams for the 2016 season, counting down to the No. 1 team in the league. At No. 15: the New York Yankees.
2015 Record and Finish:
87–75 (.537), second place in American League East (ninth overall), first place in AL wild card (lost wild-card game to Astros)
2016 Projected Record and Finish:
83–79 (.512), fourth place in AL East
The Case For
Do what you want to the Yankees: Lock them in a safe and toss it into the ocean, tie them to railroad tracks... it simply doesn’t matter. New York will stagger its way toward contention every season anyway. The Yankees proved that once more last year, when an aging roster full of question marks nonetheless found its way to 87 wins and a wild-card spot—and that was only after a red-hot Blue Jays team knocked New York out of first place in the AL East late in the year.
Little has changed from 2015. The veteran core that drove that team remains in place, led by the seemingly ageless Alex Rodriguez, who shocked the league by hitting a team-high 33 home runs at age 40. At 35, Mark Teixeira pulled out of his late-career nosedive to bash 31 homers and lead the team in OPS+ (147) and Wins Above Replacement (3.8). Carlos Beltran, 38, suffered through an abysmal April (.162/.216/.265), then posted an.862 OPS from May 1 onward. Brian McCann, in his age-31 season, saw a modest uptick from his uninspiring debut year in pinstripes, hitting 26 homers and improving his on-base percentage by nearly 40 points. Everyone is a year older, but all remain dangerous and capable hitters in a lineup with no easy outs.
It’s not just the old guard that kept the Yankees chugging forward. For the first time in what felt like ages, New York got an injection of youth in its lineup and rotation, particularly with Didi Gregorius at shortstop and with Luis Severino in the starting rotation. The 25-year-old Gregorius struggled mightily in his first six weeks as Derek Jeter’s replacement, but he rebounded to finish third on the team in WAR with 3.3. The 22-year-old Severino, meanwhile, made his major league debut in August and provided a huge boost to a thin rotation, with a 137 ERA+ and 8.1 strikeouts per nine in his 62 1/3 innings down the stretch. Both will be counted on heavily this season.
To that young group, the Yankees add Starlin Castro, just 26 years old and now manning second base instead of shortstop. A three-time All-Star for the Cubs, Castro was a revelation for Chicago in the second half after moving to the keystone, hitting.353 from Aug. 11 onward. He wasn’t a fit in the Cubs’ crowded infield, but in New York, he could be the solution at a position that has been in flux since Robinson Cano left for Seattle after the 2013 season.
The youth parade doesn’t stop there. The Yankees’ farm system bore fruit last year, as Severino, outfielders Mason Williams and Slade Heathcott, infielder Rob Refsnyder and first baseman Greg Bird—the latter two of whom started the team’s wild-card game loss to the Astros—all made their big-league debuts. There’s more talent headed to the Bronx in the coming seasons. Outfielder Aaron Judge, 23, is a 6’7” monster boasting the kind of raw power that makes scouts drool; shortstop Jorge Mateo, 20, is a lightning-fast runner with an aggressive bat. Together with 2015 first-rounder James Kaprielian, a righthanded pitcher out of UCLA, and catching prospect Gary Sanchez, they provide minor league depth should New York’s veteran horses stumble this summer.
But the Yankees’ greatest strength lies in the three men who will make opposing lineups come to dread the late innings: Aroldis Chapman, Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances. Together, those three—each among the best strikeout artists in baseball—should dramatically shorten games, and if New York once again defies age to make the playoffs, that trio could have a Royals-like impact for manager Joe Girardi in October.
The Case Against
Despite reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2012, the Yankees’ age did seem to catch up with them, even before they were easily dispatched from the postseason by Houston. Rodriguez, after a blistering start, wheezed his way to a.216/.344/.448 line in the second half as the grind of his first season of more than 150 games since 2008 seemed to wear him down. Teixiera once again was unable to avoid injury, suffering a season-ending broken leg in late August. Injuries also spoiled Jacoby Ellsbury’s season, as the centerfielder posted a career-worst.663 OPS and just 1.9 WAR in the third year of what’s looking like a colossally bad eight-year, $153 million contract for the 32-year-old outfielder with a history of injury problems.
It’s hard not to be concerned about the durability and productivity of a lineup in which Castro and Gregorius are the only hitters under 30 and that features such injury-prone players as Teixeira, Ellsbury and Brett Gardner (who has been dealing with a persistent wrist ailment this spring). Depth will be crucially important to this year’s Yankees, and while the likes of Judge and Sanchez could help, they’re still unproven. Worse, the one young hitter who did get an extended taste of the majors last season—Bird—will miss the season after injuring his shoulder, robbing New York of a competent fill-in at first base or designated hitter if either Teixiera or Rodriguez go down.
Durability and depth are the key concerns in the rotation as well, where Girardi will have to cobble together 1,000 innings out of the quintet of Severino, Masahiro Tanaka, Michael Pineda, Nathan Eovaldi and CC Sabathia. Whether anyone in that group will even break the 175-inning mark is up in the air. Tanaka and Pineda have been stellar when healthy, but their careers to date have been been as notable for MRIs as ERAs. Both Sabathia’s physical condition and velocity are in steep decline, and it will be something of a minor miracle if he can make it through the season in one piece. That puts a heavy load on the young arms of Eovaldi, 26, and Severino, and while the latter has fantastic stuff, his peripherals (a 4.37 FIP and 1.3 home runs per nine last year) are a scary sight.
• MORE MLB: AL breakout candidates | AL busts | AL rookies to watch
Chris O'Meara/AP
X-Factor: Starlin Castro, 2B
New York’s biggest (and only) off-season addition to the starting lineup, Castro wore out his welcome in Chicago’s North Side after six frustrating seasons. There’s no denying his talent, but there’s also no denying these uninspiring factors: a career 97 OPS+; a.321 on-base percentage and 4.9% walk rate; an alarming propensity for bad base running decisions; lackluster defense; and an at-times poor attitude. While the cost for acquiring Castro wasn’t high, the Yankees did have to surrender a useful arm in righthander Adam Warren, who gave New York valuable innings out of the bullpen and in the rotation last year.
The move off shortstop last August seemingly reinvigorated Castro, but he’s still a largely unproven second baseman with a history of mental lapses and a less-than-sterling clubhouse reputation who was one of the NL’s least productive hitters over the last three years (his 89 OPS+ in that span ranks 17th-lowest in the Senior Circuit among hitters with at least 1,000 plate appearances). Castro represents a major project for the Yankees, albeit one who offers immense upside. It’s hard to tell if his resurgence was the result of a real change at the plate or simply a small-sample-size success story. But if Girardi and his coaches can get Castro properly motivated and back on track, he can be a difference maker.
Number To Know: 0
For the first time in the four decades of free agency, the Yankees went an entire off-season without signing a single player on the open market to a major league contract. Instead, all of New York’s winter shopping came via trades or minor league deals, with Castro, Chapman and reserve outfielder Aaron Hicks (acquired from the Twins for backup catcher John Ryan Murphy) as general manager Brian Cashman’s lone additions to the big-league roster. The reasons for Cashman’s apparent disinterest in the free-agent market make sense (the money could be better spent on 2018’s potential winter bonanza, and ownership has made no secret of its desire to get the team’s perennially bloated payroll under the luxury tax limits). But regardless of why the Yankees weren’t as active on the hot stove as they have been since the dawn of time, the results are the same: New York enters the season with much the same roster as it had last year.
It’s hard to argue against the idea that signing over-30 free agents to nine-figure deals for multiple years is a fool’s gambit, especially for a team that’s been burned by that approach countless times. For proof, look at the money still being handed out to Sabathia ($25 million guaranteed this year and, if he reaches his vesting option, next), Rodriguez ($20 million each of the next two years), Teixeira ($22.5 million this season) or Ellsbury ($105 million through 2020). With the contracts for the first three of those players set to expire no later than the end of 2017, Cashman and his team are well set up for future free-agent runs at young superstars like Bryce Harper and Jose Fernandez. But the top players on this past winter’s market, like starting pitcher David Price and outfielder Jason Heyward, could have helped the Yankees right now, turning what looks like an also-ran into a true World Series contender.
Time will tell if Cashman’s strategy will pay off, but it’s odd to see a winter go by without the Yankees spending millions like Montgomery Brewster. And if the team falls short once again this season and the championship window for New York’s veterans shrinks by one more year, that spending clampdown could feel like an instance of being penny wise but pound foolish.
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Scout’s Takes
Most Overrated: Michael Pineda, SP
“I don’t think he’s overrated, but he’s underachieved—his inability to go out and give them what they thought they were going to get on a regular basis.”
Most Underrated: Dellin Betances, RP
“What he’s done has been amazing. Two years ago at this time, he was out of options and throwing just okay, and now he’s an All-Star who averages 15 strikeouts per nine innings.”An off-duty Memphis police officer was suspended with pay this week after reportedly stealing a Make-A-Wish Foundation gift from a terminally ill three-year-old.
According to reports, the officer, 34-year-old Ronald Harris, followed a Make-A-Wish Foundation volunteer to the Memphis International Airport where a meeting with the recipient family was to be held.
As the volunteer sat with the family, who was about to receive a bag containing t-shirts and a $1,500 gift card, Harris quietly approached and seized the items. Being noticed by the volunteer, Harris reportedly attempted to play the theft off as a mistake.
Several minutes later, Harris returned and snatched the bag a second time before running out of the terminal. A family member of the sick toddler was head-butted by Harris as he attempted to retrieve the bag, an injury that later required several stitches.
Statements from the incident’s police report indicate that Harris then fought several officers, even escaping from a police car at one point.
The Memphis Police Department later announced that Harris would be suspended with pay until an internal investigation could be conducted. Currently in custody on $25,000 bail, Harris now faces several charges including escape from felony incarceration, aggravated assault and robbery.
“It is certainly disheartening and I am deeply saddened that an organization as wonderful as Make-A-Wish was victimized by someone sworn to protect, especially a member of the Memphis Police Department,” Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong told reporters. “Thankfully, no one sustained serious injuries. This officer is now facing serious charges for his criminal behavior. The Airport Police is to be commended for their quick response and professionalism.”
Liz Nelson, President and CEO of Make-A-Wish, released a similar statement condemning the officer’s actions.
“People make poor choices, and we don’t know the decisions that lead this person to do what they did” Nelson said. “We are just fortunate that we have the Memphis Police Department and the airport.”
According to WMC Action News 5, Harris’ 12-year tenure with the department has been plagued with countless violations.
“Harris’ personnel file contained several violations including damage to a squad car, radio violations, sick leave policy abuse, sleeping on the job, failure to get approval for additional employment, and failure to appear in court,” the investigation states. “Most resulted in a written reprimand or a short suspension.”
Harris’ alleged actions represent the rife corruption issues facing countless police departments across the country, where officers engaged in blatant criminal activity continue to be rewarded with special protection from the laws they purport to uphold.Jon Hamm at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History last month, where he and “Mad Men” creators donated 50 artifacts from the hit show to the “American Enterprise” exhibition which opens this summer. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
You might not have noticed, but we have been lacking something in the debate that’s raged this past year over the ominous aspects of fraternity culture: a qualified celebrity spokesman. Now, finally, we might have one — if Jon Hamm is willing to take up the cause.
I can understand if Hamm wants to put his fraternity days behind him. The news that broke this week about the popular “Mad Men” star’s involvement in a brutal college hazing incident is pretty shameful.
[Report: Jon Hamm, star of ‘Mad Men,’ was arrested in college for brutally hazing another student]
It’s definitely a blow to Hamm’s image. Considering he was launched to fame playing a cold and emotionally-stunted womanizer, Hamm has done a good job of convincing the world that he is not Don Draper. He’s down-to-earth and funny in interviews. In his big-screen efforts, he takes on self-deprecating comedic roles (the handsome-oaf hookup in “Bridesmaids”) and self-effacing ensemble gigs (“The Town,” “Friends with Kids”) — no tacky attempts at action-hero check-cashing. He responsibly checked into rehab this year in no-drama fashion, before fans ever had a clue about a drinking problem. He’s been with the same woman for 18 years.
He’s a well-behaved star — a true grown-up, it seems. Who, we’ve just learned, may have been the worst kind of toxic campus bully back in the day.
Texas court documents exhumed in the Star tabloid and confirmed by the Associated Press show that Hamm was charged with hazing and assault for a violent initiation that sent four of his University of Texas Sigma Nu brothers to jail and resulted in their chapter house being shuttered. According to records, Hamm, then 20, was involved with beating a pledge brother, lighting his pants on fire, forcing him to do strenuous exercise, and leading him around the room by the claw of a hammer hooked under his genitals. The pledge ended up in the hospital. He later filed a suit, specifically accusing Hamm of punching him in the face and abdomen after he failed to answer trivia questions about the brothers.
Don’t be sad that your idol has fallen, all you “Mad Men” fanatics. This is good information to have — especially if Hamm realizes that he can now do good with it.
It’s very easy, when confronted with stories about college hazing, ritualized binge drinking and rape, to think of fraternity members as bad, bad, bad guys. Some of them obviously are. Yet others, even those involved in reprehensible behavior, go on to become productive, responsible and mature adults. As Hamm seems to have done.
[Can a fraternity guy fight the college rape crisis?]
Look, let’s not pretend that we know him: He’s an actor; what we’ve seen of his off-screen character is what he’s decided to show us. But I’d wager that he did not spend his childhood physically assaulting his so-called friends — stuff like that looks bad on the college application, you know — nor continue the habit into adulthood. I’d wager that the same may be true of some of his Sigma Nu brothers, even those who did jail time. (Hamm, who later transferred to the University of Missouri, did not do time. Records show that his assault charge was dropped; he completed probation under a deferred adjudication of the hazing charge.)
So what happened to these guys when they joined a fraternity? How did they get to a collective mindset where beating the heck out of one of their own members seemed like jolly hijinks or a time-honored bonding ritual or however they managed to rationalize their cruel and criminal behavior?
This kind of first-hand insight is what we’ve been lacking in the discussion of how to fix Greek systems. And this is where Jon Hamm could help.
It’s easy to scoff at the Hollywood stars who attach themselves to a cause-of-the-week. But many have been huge assets, using their charisma and connections to raise funds or attention for worthy causes. And when a naturally likeable star has a compelling personal narrative, it can change a conversation overnight — think of Angelina Jolie, and how many women investigated their own family cancer histories after her prophylactic surgeries for breast and ovarian cancer.
[What Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy means to breast cancer advocates]
I’ll go further: Hamm could be the advocate we need on the larger topic of bullying. Lately, it’s become common for celebrities to divulge in interviews that they were bullied during middle school or high school. I don’t mean to dismiss their experience: Kids can be monstrous to one another. Yet the sheer number of grownups casting themselves on the victim side of their adolescent battlegrounds leaves you wondering: Where are the former bullies, and why aren’t we hearing from them? The answer, of course, is that few people think of themselves of having been bullies. Clearly, there’s some kind of nutty adolescent self-justification involved with that kind of cruelty. Which is why a “hey kids, don’t bully” message may fall short: No one thinks they’re that guy.
[College sexual assault prevention has unlikely model: U.S. service academies]
But now we know that Jon Hamm was that guy (or, ahem, was charged and did probation under deferred |
Pistons in the conference finals, vanquishing older foes the Lakers in a giddy, wide-open, title-clinching Game 6. So things didn’t really get interesting, in both the positive and negative connotations of the word, until 2009.
That year, minutes, it seemed, before tipping off against the Bulls in their Round 1 series, the Celts were still promising that Garnett would return from his right-knee sprain. Instead, he spent seven games at the lip of the bench in a black suit nearly busting a neck vein. Still, Boston and Chicago played the best playoff series I’ve ever seen. As overtimes and buzzer-beaters rained from the sky, it was Ray Allen playing like a fiery hero whose coming was foretold in the washed-away annals of some forgotten civilization.
In 2010, they went seven with the Lakers. In 2012, seven with the Heat. Losing both felt sickeningly identical. I walked away from the TV and have avoided all highlights to this day. But I’d never say I didn’t get my money’s worth. So it wasn’t the title-stringing insta-dynasty we hoped for. It was something woolier.
By the time Kendrick Perkins got traded at the 2011 deadline, the word “ubuntu” already had a way of getting stuck in your throat. Then that steady fount of debilitating Rajon Rondo rumors — Rondo cracked a TV screen with a bottle! Rondo’s only friend is Keyon Dooling! — began. So when it crested with Jesus crumbling hearts and departing for Miami, in large part because he couldn’t stand Rondo, it wasn’t like we still thought everything was all chummy and ubuntu-y. It just kind of smarted to see it all laid out like that. I guess it’s only right that Doc’s exit comes with another ugly Rondo rumor: that things in the locker room at one point got so bad that Rivers and Rajon might have actually, um, thrown hands.
During the 2013 preseason, I profiled Jason Terry and heard all about how this team, minus malcontent Ray Allen, was jelling beautifully. Rondo was happier. The dudes were all broing out. They even went abroad again, playing preseason games in Turkey and Italy. In Europe, Terry recalled, the team would come together “every night. And every night it was everybody — no man left behind.” After dinner, they’d hang out, talking in the lobby for hours and hours … Terry says KG had the best tales, “from battles against old veterans like Charles Oakley to gang shootouts when he was younger.” So — ubuntu lives! Cue just about every Jason Terry possession of the 2013 season, and me cringing through it. The thing is, I’m sure they really did have a great time taking in the sight of Istanbul’s famed Blue Mosque. But when you start losing because you’re old and hurt and your free-agent signees underperform, that’s not worth much.
Doc’s exit is now softening us up for the other, more dire inevitabilities. If the league hadn’t stepped in, KG might have been out the door with him; meanwhile, Paul Pierce can still be bought out, for a sensible $5 million, by June 30. Word is Danny Ainge is trying to get a first-round draft pick for him, which gives fodder to anyone who wants to argue that last postseason was the time to clean house and rack up serious value. But I’ll remind you about it was the young guy who got hurt this year, and that things might have yet been different if he hadn’t.
As for the inventor of Ubuntu (no, not Archbishop Desmond Tutu): no hard feelings. Let’s remember he didn’t just prance in for the title and the good years. This is the guy who paid dues, treading water in the dark days before KG and Ray; this is the guy who had to try to coach Ricky Davis. Rationally, Celts fans know clearing Doc’s salary, and actually getting a draft pick out of it, is the sensible move here. In the wake of Ray’s title-saving Game 6 3-pointer, it’s hard to stomach this all falling apart. But the Big Three era was, for the most part, rocky sailing. Since 2009, it was destined to fracture, not segue peacefully. Ubuntu never really fit all that well here.
But either way, let’s give it a proper farewell: Ubuntu passed away this weekend, at the age of 6, of obsolescence. It was found resting peacefully at its last known address, the back of the extra storage closet at the Celts’ practice facility. It is survived by Doc Rivers, the 2008 NBA title, that time Paul Pierce pretended to be a Roman gladiator, the Casual Male XL in Natick where Brian Scalabrine used to buy his suits, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.White House pledges veto of GOP farm bill
President Obama (Photo11: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)
House Republicans are scheduled to vote on their own farm bill Thursday, but the White House has already threatened a veto.
The Democrat-run Senate is also unlikely to pass the House Republican farm bill that would expand a crop insurance program, but does not include food stamps for the poor.
The bill "fails to reauthorize nutrition programs, which benefit millions of Americans -- in rural, suburban and urban areas alike," said a veto message from President Obama's budget office. "The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a cornerstone of our nation's food assistance safety net, and should not be left behind as the rest of the Farm Bill advances."
The Obama administration statement also said the Republican bill "does not contain sufficient commodity and crop insurance reforms and does not invest in renewable energy, an important source of jobs and economic growth in rural communities across the country."
From Reuters:
"The farm subsidy bill was unveiled late Wednesday by House Republican leaders, who were embarrassed by the defeat last month of a $500 billion, five-year farm bill that included the largest cuts in food stamps in a generation.
"Fiscally conservative Republicans wanted more cuts in farm program and food stamp spending. Leaders said no amendments would be allowed to the new bill, which they hoped to pass before adjourning for the week on Thursday.
"Traditionally, farm bills are enacted by a partnership of rural lawmakers interested in agricultural programs and urban supporters of food stamps and other public nutrition programs."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/16ugEIiCredit: chrisjts on Flickr, under Creative Commons (CC BY-ND 2.0).
(WOMENSENEWS)–The gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old in Steubenville, Ohio, by football players who called themselves the “rape crew” made big news recently after an Internet-based activist organization known as Anonymous used social media to call attention to it.
Anonymous leaked a shocking videotape showing young men joking about how the victim was used as a virtual penis pin cushion. One found it hilarious that the victim was so unconscious she was “deader than Trayvon Martin.” Another laughed about how she was “so raped her pussy is about as dry as the sun right now.”
Given that athletes commit a disproportionate number of sexual offenses, while also disproportionately avoiding punishment, incontestable videotapes like this help the public accept that seemingly nice young men are capable of very bad things.
The Steubenville story itself is horribly familiar. Multiple-offender rapes of unconscious teens are reported with a fair amount of frequency at the high school and college levels, and those in charge often let perpetrators off the hook because it’s not easy to prove the charges when the victim has no memory of what happened.
That may all start to change, however, as more and more young people carry phones that can also shoot videotapes and rape drugs leave longer-lasting footprints. While these drugs dissipate quickly in the blood, a growing number of labs can test for drugs in a victim’s hair even several months after the crime to determine not only what type of drug was used, but also when it was ingested.
Because victims can gather their own evidence and groups like Anonymous can facilitate protests and generate news, the public has unprecedented opportunities to hold government officials accountable when they decline, unjustly, to file charges.
1970s ‘Band-Aids’
Rape-law reform efforts of the 1970s saw women marching to their state legislatures demanding statutory changes such as “rape-shield” laws to prevent a victim’s past sex life from being used against her at trial, and ending the exemption for marital rape. As scholars such as Stephen Schulhofer have noted, these statutory “band-aids” did little to produce more just results in court or deter sexual violence in society.
That’s because they did nothing to change law enforcement systems that retained unchecked discretion to file charges only in certain types of cases involving certain types of victims. Such unbridled discretion continues to perpetuate dangerous ideas about what “real rape” is, leading to unfair acquittals by jurors raised to believe that no matter what the law says, “real rape” is defined by the cases deemed worthy of prosecution.
Protesters in the Steubenville case took a far more effective approach to reform by avoiding the legislature altogether and taking to the Internet to mobilize people and demand justice. Through the liberated medium of cyberspace, millions were able to watch the shocking video of men laughing on videotape about the gang rape of an unconscious female teen. Among those who were reportedly involved–but face no charges–are the son of a prosecutor and a star football player who has since moved on to more athletic stardom at Ohio State University
Only two men from the “rape crew” have been charged and they face only misdemeanor offenses in juvenile court. No one has yet been charged with rape.
Outraged advocates not only found support on the Internet, they also spawned mainstream news coverage that ramped up the pressure on government officials.
In turn, more activism followed, as when the group Ultraviolet learned of the story and rented a mobile billboard to tour around Steubenville with an enormous sign demanding that Ohio’s Attorney General Mike Dewine take legal action against all the men involved. The billboard carried nearly 70,000 names of people who signed a petition demanding prosecution of the perpetrators.
Significant Moment
The powerful public response to Steubenville marks an important moment in anti-rape activism and stands in stark contrast to the silence of established groups such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and various anti-rape groups such as RAINN and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. None of these well-known women’s rights and anti-rape groups have said or done anything to protest the Steubenville case.
Online groups such as Anonymous will continue to gain traction on injustice in rape cases because they open up the issue to a wider audience that lacks significant status with mainstream news. By providing a place for people to come together across political and ideological lines, Anonymous can build constituencies and voting blocs to either support or criticize public officials based on their records and discretionary decision-making on issues and cases involving violence against women.
No surprise that some see this burgeoning power as a threat. One audacious columnist recently questioned whether public oversight in rape cases is good for democracy.
Writing for the Boston Globe, Cathy Young described the success of Anonymous in the Steubenville matter as a dangerous kind of vigilantism and warned the public to be more skeptical of rape allegations because she knows of a few instances where people made false reports.
Mind you, Young said nothing about being skeptical of all businessmen because of Bernie Madoff or being skeptical of all athletes because of Lance Armstrong and Manti T’eo.
Nor did she suggest being suspicious of newspaper columnists despite several scandals involving plagiarism and outright false storytelling in prestigious publications including the Washington Post and The New York Times.
‘Tired Tune’
Young’s near obsession with the myth of the lying rape victim is a tired tune. Our legal system has a profoundly more serious problem with police and prosecutors not dealing responsibly with rape, which is why studies from 1993 through 2011 consistently find that only 2 percent of rapists spend even one day behind bars. These data, alone, justify exactly the kind of cyber-democracy Anonymous seeks to promote.
The public and groups such as Anonymous have a right and a duty to hold the government accountable for injustice, especially when the mainstream media stays silent. With hope, protesters will continue to mount pressure on officials in the Steubenville case and if justice is still not served, the victim should consider filing a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education against the Steubenville School Department for failing to take action against the students involved, as well as a complaint against the police and prosecutors with the Department of Justice for failing to file appropriate criminal charges. Both federal agencies exist to protect against gender discrimination by government officials, an important example of which is the unjust failure to provide legal redress to victims of sexual assault.
Whether we call it vigilantism or democracy in action, activism in support of openness and accountability in police and prosecutorial decision-making is just what we need right now to get out of a do-nothing legal rut that gives perpetrators a pass while victims are retraumatized by a seemingly indifferent society.
The timing of the release of the blockbuster film “Les Miserables” is fitting: “Can you hear the people ping-pinging the songs of angry men (and women)... “
Wendy Murphy is an adjunct law professor at New England Law/Boston where she has taught a seminar on sexual violence for more than a decade. A lawyer and impact litigator whose work led to the issuance of new Title IX guidance, Murphy is a former prosecutor who specializes in criminal justice policy, constitutional rights and the representation of victimized women and children. Her first hardcover book, “And Justice For Some,” came out in paperback last year.
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Would you like to Send Along a Link of This Story? http://womensenews.org/story/commentary/130123/steubenville-style-tech-puts-rapists-gotchaStory highlights Jacob Soboroff: The U.S. ranks near the bottom of all nations in voter participation
Soboroff: Tuesday was set in 1845, to help voters traveling by horse and buggy
Nations with highest voter turnout hold elections on weekends or holidays, he writes
He says weekend elections would help those in school or working to vote more easily
Today, Iowans will kick off the Republican nominating process for president of the United States with the first-in-the-nation caucuses. But why a Tuesday?
The short answer: We vote on Tuesday for absolutely no good reason. This is true especially when you consider the United States, arguably the world's most famous democracy, has ranked near the bottom of all nations in voter participation for more than half a century. And that's not because, as Mitt Romney suggested to me last month, we need great candidates to increase voter turnout. Heard of JFK? Reagan?
The little-bit-longer answer: We vote on Tuesday because of a law passed in 1845 meant to make voting convenient for Americans traveling by horse and buggy. Seriously. When Congress set out to pick a day for Americans to vote, ultimately settling on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, voting could take two days: a day to get to the county seat to vote and a day to get back for market day on Wednesday. They couldn't travel on the Christian sabbath, so by process of elimination, Tuesday, the first convenient day of the week, was chosen. It was as simple as that.
In 2012, it's as dumb as that. Just a few weeks ago I sat in Tom Thumb diner in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and as I looked out the window in one of the most fertile farming states in our country, I didn't notice a single Iowan hitting the highway in a horse-drawn carriage. So why are we still voting on a day set for a time when slavery was legal, only white males voted, less than half of our 50 states had been established and "automobile" was a made-up word?
Since World War II, American voter turnout has averaged under 50% in federal elections. In 2008, with unprecedented excitement about the presidential campaign and record money spent by the candidates, voter turnout was about 64%, not a record, and a third of all eligible voters didn't make it to the polls. To understand the benefits to democracy of weekend voting, all you need to do is look at the nations with the highest voter turnout and realize they vote on weekends or national holidays.
Jacob Soboroff
In an America where 45 million 18- to 29-year-olds, the largest potential voting bloc in the country, are in school or at work all day, where single parents have to take care of their kids, and many of us, as much as we want to, are prevented by other obligations from making it to the polls in the middle of the week, it's clear it's time to move Election Day to the weekend.
Critics and contrarians say that in an age of early and absentee voting, moving Election Day to the weekend isn't necessary. Indeed, that's exactly what Newt Gingrich said when I met him after my recent meal in Fort Dodge. But as I politely reminded him, absentee and early voting is not allowed in the Iowa caucuses. In about 14 other states, regular voting is still only Tuesday -- and in person, if you don't have an approved excuse.
You don't have to remind me that moving Election Day isn't a pocketbook or kitchen table issue. I'm well aware election reform couldn't be less sexy or more wonky. Just last week I was asked by Simon Conway, the Iowa radio host, if the push to move Election Day was a "serious campaign." I paraphrased what Thomas Paine once said: Voting is the right upon which all other rights are protected
That's exactly why Ambassador Andrew Young, congressional scholar Norman J. Ornstein and Drum Major Institute Chairman Bill Wachtel founded WhyTuesday.org, why U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, D-New York, and Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, have introduced the Weekend Voting Act into Congress to move Election Day to Saturday and Sunday, and why I went to Iowa in December to ask our presidential candidates what they'd do to protect our right to vote.
Although he didn't know why we vote when we do, 2012 candidate Rick Santorum said it best : "I don't think there's anything magical about Tuesdays."
Any teenager will tell you that when your computer starts running slow, you don't sit around and hope that it fixes itself. You upgrade your operating system. The operating system of our nation, our democracy, is broken. There's certainly no silver bullet that will increase American voter participation. But we've voted on the same day for 166 years. Our voter turnout is terrible. It's time the United States upgrades to a voting system 2.0, and we should start with weekend voting.When Proposition 8 was fought at the ballot box in California to deny the newly-minted right to marry for gay and lesbian couples, those leading the charge were mainly religious. The Mormon Church gave more than $180,000 in efforts to repeal the new marriage law. That was peanuts though compared to the nearly $730,000 in cash and services provided by Colorado-based Focus on the Family and the $1.275 million given by the Catholic Church group the Knights of Columbus.
The religious argument against marriage equality for gays and lesbians may have won the round at the ballot box, but in the San Francisco courtroom where the legal battle to overturn Prop. 8 wraps up its first week, religion has been largely absent. Religious arguments don’t hold a lot of legal water, so anti-marriage equality proponents are forced to use their secular arguments, and reading reports from the courtroom (since the U.S. Supreme Court nixed video coverage of the trial), they’re leaking fairly badly as well.
Without being able to argue that God ordained one man and one woman for life (never mind all that Old Testament polygamy) and so we cannot deviate from that pattern, those opposed to same-gender marriage are instead focusing on issues like parenting, economic impact, discrimination, and child rearing.
In their opening arguments, defense attorneys laid out their case:
Charles Cooper, the lead attorney for the Proposition 8 defense (…) is hitting the main points in the defense: that the voters have spoken on the issue, and gay couples in California enjoy strong legal protections under domestic partnership laws. (…) Cooper finished his opening statement, defending the need for society to preserve the traditional definition of marriage and limit it to heterosexual couples for its procreative purposes. He told the judge that marriage must be “pro-child,” and that would be at risk if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. Cooper insisted that the courts should stay out of the issue and allow the voters to decide whether they want to allow same-sex marriage, but the judge questioned that thesis. “There are certainly lots of issues taken out of the body politic. Why isn’t this one of them?” the judge asked at one point.
Throughout the week, the plaintiff’s lawyers have taken a whack at each of those issues, and more. Harvard University historian Nancy Cott was the first to dismiss the idea that marriage should be reserved for procreation.
Her task to start the second day of trial is to knock down one of the central arguments of gay marriage foes: that the state has a compelling interest in restricting marriage to heterosexual couples because of the procreative purpose of marriage. Asked by plaintiff’s attorney Theodore Boutrous whether procreation is a central purpose of marriage, Cott scoffed, nothing that President George Washington, “the father of our country,” was sterile by the time of a later marriage. “Procreative ability has never been a qualification for marriage,” she testified.
It was on her cross examination by Prop. 8 attorney David Thompson that Jesus made an appearance:
Thompson is challenging one of Cott’s ideas that modern marriage laws are shaped now by civil law and social developments; the defense attorney is pushing hard on the anti-gay marriage thesis that heterosexual marriage is tied to history and religion restricting unions to men and women. He repeatedly suggested in his questions that marriage laws are tied to Christianity. At one point, asking Cott about monogamy being the result of the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, the professor got a little impatient. “I know very little about Jesus Christ and his apostles,” Cott shot back at Thompson.
Certainly, Cott should not need to know about Jesus and his apostles to make the case that marriage should be open to same-gender couples. While marriage between a man and woman has been tradition, so has the idea that women are the property of men. Much of the “tradition” of marriage has changed over the course of history. Opening up marriage to same-gender couples certainly won’t destroy marriage, and according to UCLA professor Letitia Peplau, it won’t affect heterosexual marriages:
Peplau… noted that even if gay marriage is allowed, only about 2 percent of all marriages in the nation would be same-sex. “I think it would have no impact on the stability of heterosexual couples,” Peplau testified.
The defense was really grasping for religious straws, however, during cross examination of George Chauncey, a Yale University expert on the history of discrimination against gays and lesbians. Chauncey laid out “how gays and lesbians have been discriminated against and demonized through much of the first half of the 20th century.”
(They were) the target of criminal enforcement by local police whenever they gathered. “They had to hide the fact they were gay,” he testified, describing sweeps of bars where gays and lesbians were found. Chauncey then moved forward in history, through banning gays from the military at the outset of World War II and up through employment discrimination in more modern times. (…) (He testified) about the public campaigns “demonizing” gays and lesbians for decades, from newspaper accounts in the 1930s to Anita Bryant’s famous campaign against homosexuality during the 1970s.
Prop. 8 attorney Thompson tried to show that gays and lesbians don’t have it as bad as they say they do, pointing to a growing tolerance of homosexuality in society. Laughably, his examples were the popularity of the TV show Will & Grace and the movies Brokeback Mountain and Philadelphia. It got even more absurd when Thompson tried to argue that religious groups were even becoming more accepting and tolerant:
Chauncey has pointed out that the religious groups he (Thompson) cited—MCC, Unitarians, etc.—are not the majority of Christian groups. Chauncey: “There’s a growing debate [in religions], but most religious groups are not with us.” Thompson: “Most evangelicals oppose same-sex marriage, but isn’t it true that demonization of homosexuals has become less accepted?” Now, they’re showing some video footage of Pastor Rick Warren—who said that everyone should be accepted and show “common grace to each other” but we shouldn’t be “redefining marriage.”
As the week wrapped up, the discussion turned back to children as the plaintiffs sought to show that gays and lesbians, while not “pro-creative” themselves, do often have children through previous marriages, adoption, or artificial insemination procedures, and they make for good parents.
It is pretty clear why the plaintiffs have Cambridge professor Michael Lamb on the stand as an expert. He quickly got to the opinions he’ll outline on gay parenting, saying there is “substantial evidence” that children raised by same-sex couples “are just as likely to be as well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents.” The testimony is designed to undercut one of the fundamental arguments against same-sex marriage: that it undermines traditional heterosexual marriage and its role in child-rearing. Indeed, there already has been ample evidence in the trial that the Prop. 8 campaign warned voters that gay marriage was an outright threat to children generally.
The only thing Prop. 8 attorneys had to try to discredit Lamb was to reveal his membership in the ACLU, NOW, the NAACP, and his tendency to contribute money to PBS.
For all the religious wrangling before last November’s vote on Prop. 8, the religious examples put forth in the courtroom so far have fallen flat—touting the unmarried Jesus as a model for monogamy and the toleration of gays and lesbians by liberal churches. Instead, the trial so far has shown that far from causing the downfall of civilization and further secularization of our nation, allowing marriage equality for gays and lesbians will help our society economically and socially, result in less discrimination, and perhaps bring more well-adjusted children into the world. Why, in God’s name, would anyone oppose that?An investigation by the Detroit Action News reports that one year after ten-year old, disabled, Johny Andron (weighing 120 lbs) was removed from his mother–who sought help–was placed in a Michigan state foster care facility, he died of starvation, weighing 48 lbs.
State and federal policies are designed to enrich the foster care system while undermining the welfare of children and families: state policies encourage the removal of children from loving parents who need support to care for children with special needs. Instead of support, such children are being dumped into state foster care where, more often than not, they are neglected, abused, routinely prescribed brain damaging drugs, and even starved to death.
"According to the state’s own figures, the federal government gave Michigan about $110 million last year for foster care. That’s compared to the $26 million in programs that help parents keep their kids. Foster facilities also have an incentive to keep kids away from their parents. In Andron’s case, the foster home got about $12,000 a month from the state for Johnny."
Attorney Arnold Reed, who represents Andron in a lawsuit against the foster care facility and several other state-contracted groups, says the foster facility profited big time off of Johnny:
“You’re getting paid, you’re getting a lot of money. There is no shortage of money, plus you’re getting a stipend, you’re getting a clothes stipend and you’re getting a stipend for food.” But not enough of that food made it to Johnny.
Vera Hassner Sharav
Investigators: Starved to Death in State Care
XYZ-ABC Action News
Ann Mullen, April 30, 2010
Email: amullen@wxyz.com
Slide show
Johnny’s mother tried to get help for her disabled child. Instead, a Michigan agency took him away, collected thousands of dollars to feed him each month… And then he starved to death.
(WXYZ) – For several months, the Action News Investigators dug deep into Michigan’s tragically-flawed foster care system. During our investigation, we uncovered the heartbreaking story of a 10-year-old boy who starved to death while a facility banked cash to care for him.
We began telling Johnny’s story over the last two days here on WXYZ.com. In that time, the response has been overwhelming and your comments confirm that Michigan’s children need a better foster care system.
Johnny’s mother, Elena Andron, dedicated her life to caring for her wheelchair-bound son. All she wanted was a little help. The state’s answer was to put him in a foster care facility. One year later, Johnny starved to death. “He was a big part of my life. He was my life,” Andron told Action News Investigator Heather Catallo.
The state is quick to take kids from parents and put them in foster care, especially poor parents. The state makes it very hard to get them back. Experts say the state has a financial incentive to keep kids away from their families.
Johnny, who was nine at the time, could not walk, talk or feed himself. He had cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
“He was a lot of work, like any single mother, it was kind of hard,” says Andron.
Things got even tougher when she lost her factory job.
She turned to the Michigan Department of Human Services, a decision she will regret for the rest of her life.
The foster care facility where the state sent Johnny failed to feed him enough food. Andron says she watched her son waste away as she begged for help. “I just wanted to carry him out of there, just pick him up and take him, and just take him home,” she says.
If only it was that simple.
Bill Mitchell knows how difficult it can be to get your kids out the state’s hands. He had to fight all the way to the Michigan State Supreme Court to get his three boys back. “They’re my kids. I’m not going to give up on my kids,” says Mitchell.
Why did Mitchell and Andron have to fight so hard to try to get their children back? Some say it’s because the state gets a lot of cash for foster kids.
“Termination of parent rights is very high in Michigan,” says Warner. “But it’s also very high nationwide and it happened because of some laws that were passed by the federal government and encouraged states to terminate parental rights more often than they used to and promise to send them money if they would terminate rights and have the children adopted.”
According to the state’s own figures, the federal government gave Michigan about $110 million last year for foster care. That’s compared to the $26 million in programs that help parents keep their kids. Foster facilities also have an incentive to keep kids away from their parents. In Andron’s case, the foster home got about $12,000 a month from the state for Johnny.
“You’re getting paid, you’re getting a lot of money,” says attorney Arnold Reed, who represents Andron in a lawsuit against the foster care facility and several other state-contracted groups.
Reed says the foster facility profited big time off of Johnny.
“There is no shortage of money, plus you’re getting a stipend, you’re getting a clothes stipend and you’re getting a stipend for food,” says Reed.
But not enough of that food made it to Johnny.
“He started deteriorating so quick I could not believe my eyes,” says Andron. “He had gotten so weak to where he was just shaking constantly.”
She agreed to make her son a temporary ward of the state. She was supposed to bring him home after a year – once she got back on track financially. But she says the state didn’t tell her that she would be put on a central registry for parents who abuse and neglect their kids. To get Johnny back she would have to fight to get off of the registry by attending parenting classes and meeting other requirements—something that Andron says was nearly impossible to do with a new job.
“They wanted me to go through some evaluations, which I did,” says Andron.
When she complained about Johnny losing weight, she says the state turned on her.
“They didn’t care. None of my complaints mattered,” says Andron.
The Department of Human Services did not like Andron’s complaints or her efforts to get her son back. They took her to court and asked that she not be allowed to see Johnny. Andron says the first time she met her court-appointed lawyer was that day in court. She says the lawyer didn’t put up much of a fight. The judge sided with the state. The next time Andron heard about Johnny he was dead.
“I entrusted people with my son and I thought they were good people. They were licensed,” says Andron.
Johnny weighed 120 pounds when he went into foster care, she says. An autopsy report shows he was only 48 pounds when he died of malnutrition.
“I just cannot believe that someone can have that kind of a heart, to starve a child like that,” says Andron.
Bill Mitchell also fought the state. His boys were living with their mom when his children were taken. Mitchell tried to get the boys, but the state asked the court to terminate his parental rights too, primarily because of his finances.
“I have the right to choose where I want to work,” says Mitchell, who is an engineer and works at Walmart. The state held this against him. DHS also didn’t like that he couldn’t keep up the mortgage on the family home after the boys’ mom walked out.
“She was responsible for $300 of the thing and it was too much for me to maintain, you know, all by myself,” Mitchell says.
The state also said Mitchell didn’t try hard enough to get his kids back. But he says he changed his shift to work nights to make state scheduled visits with his sons and parenting classes. “It wouldn’t have mattered what I said or what I did, they had already determined their course and now we were just going through the motions,” says Mitchell, who didn’t even get a court appointed lawyer until nine months and three hearings into the case.
The lower court sided with the state and terminated bill’s rights but he appealed and three long years later the Michigan Supreme Court sided with him. You shouldn’t have to go to this point,” says Mitchell.
The ruling says Mitchell’s finances should never have been held against him. Mitchell is set to get his kids back. But he says it’s all taken a toll.
“Birthdays, first time they discover something, first time they make a new friend, things that will never be returned to me,” he says. He’s one of the most outstanding parents ever to have been run through a termination preceding, and if it can happen to him, it can happen to anybody,” says attorney Elizabeth Warner.
“We’re spending a ton of money for putting these kids in foster care,” says Vivek Sankaran, an assistant professor at the Child Advocacy Law Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School. “But for these children we are irreparably scaring them by damaging the bonds that they form with their families.”
Sankaran says only about nine percent of the 16,000 kids in foster care were sexually or physically abused. The majority were taken from their parents because of poverty-related neglect. “Removal is too often thought of as the first option for protecting children and child welfare rather than working with families, engaging with them, providing them services in the home,” says Sankaran.
His organization, the Detroit Center for Family Advocacy, helps parents on the front end—getting them the services they need so their kids are not taken. He says so far they have had 100 percent success. “We need to create a culture where parents are willing to say, ‘I need help, help me, I need to become a better parent, here is what I need,’” says Sankaran.
That is exactly what Andron tried to do, but with heartbreaking results.
“I gave them my healthy child and to get him back in a casket. I feel like he’d still be a live today if he was home with me,” says Andron.
State officials would not speak on camera. But they told Action News that their top priority is to return kids to their birth parents. The state also says the number of kids in foster care is down by about 3,000 and fewer parents had their rights terminated last year.
As for the foster home that housed Johnny, the state shut it down.
We are working on an additional story for Friday night, on Action News at 11 p.m., about what some people go through as they try to adopt relatives who are in the Michigan foster care system.Thousands of disability pensioners would be examined by independent doctors to see whether they are still entitled to their pensions, under dramatic changes being considered by Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews. Mr Andrews, who is overhauling the $15 billion-a-year disability support pension – which he considers the most troublesome welfare entitlement – also said changes to the pension could begin as soon as the May budget.
"Potentially we could say, right, back to a certain point we'll just reassess people," Mr Andrews said. "The question then is how far back would you go in doing some reassessments of them?
Kevin Andrews: Keen to steer people away from welfare dependence. Credit:Andrew Meares
"You could probably go back a couple of years," he said, "[but] if someone's been on the DSP for five or six years, the chances of them being assessed again as being capable of working is fairly remote."
Under Mr Andrews' mooted change, disability pensioners who were assessed by their family doctors – before Labor tightened the system in 2011 – would be re-examined by medical experts at the Department of Human Services.Aleix Vidal could soon leave Barcelona. The player is not in Luis Enrique's plans, as can be seen by the fact he's not been in the squad for six consecutive matches, and everything suggests he will abandon the club in the winter transfer market.
The most recent move which could accelerate his exit took place in Andorra on Monday. According to the programme 'Tot Costa', on Catalunya Radio, Robert Fernandez met with the player's representative to look for a solution.
The Barcelona right-back has been left upset since the Leganes match, when Luis Enrique shuffled his system around in order to give Sergi Roberto a rest, rather than play Vidal. Since then it has been clear that Asturian is not impressed.
Vidal could get one final chance against Deportivo La Coruna this weekend given Sergi Roberto will be missing with an |
it was downright silly.
But you won't be surprised to hear we had a meaty debate which strayed a long way from the typical subjects covered in this blog.
A big topic, perhaps. But we don't sweat the small stuff on Stephanomics - except, perhaps, the small fact that today's programme was the last of the current series. Boo hoo.White House Chief of Staff John Kelly personally told former "Apprentice" star Omarosa Manigault Newman that her White House employment had been terminated, despite her insistence to the contrary.
Fox News has learned that Kelly gave Omarosa -- as she is commonly known -- the news in the White House Situation Room, a subterranean space under the West Wing where electronic and recording devices must be surrendered at the door.
The details of Omarosa's dismissal emerged Thursday, hours after the reality star denied she was fired in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America." She also denied reports that she she made a scene while being escorted from the White House grounds and tried to enter the executive residence to see President Donald Trump.
"Where are the pictures or videos?" Omarosa said at the time. "If I had confronted John Kelly, who is a very formidable person, it would garner someone to take a photo or a video."
However, the nature of the Situation Room's restrictions mean that neither Omarosa nor anyone else would have been able to record her conversation with Kelly even if they had wished to.
The Secret Service issued a statement Wednesday saying it was not involved in Omarosa's "termination process" beyond deactivating the pass giving her access to the White House complex.
The Associated Press, citing two White House officials, reported that Omarosa was escorted from the White House complex Tuesday night but was allowed to offer her resignation.
Omarosa was an assistant to the president and director of communications for the White House Office of Public Liaison, working on outreach to various constituency groups. She enjoyed a close relationship with the president, holding her April wedding at Trump's hotel blocks from the White House.
Last month, Politico reported that Omarosa had brought members of her 39-person bridal party to the White House for a photo shoot, reportedly drawing the ire of Kelly and other senior staffers.
Kelly took away Omarosa's ability to come and go from the Oval Office as she pleased. She had also drawn Kelly's ire by occasionally going around him to slip news articles to the president.
On "Good Morning America," Omarosa commended Kelly for bringing "much needed order" to the West Wing, but said her access to Trump, with whom she had a close professional relationship for more than a decade, was not limited or restricted.
"The president reads a lot of news, watches a lot of news, and if he had a question, he would call and ask me," she said. "Certainly I had more access than most, and people had problems with that. People have problems with my 14 year relationship with him."
Fox News' John Roberts and Brooke Singman contributed to this report, along with The Associated Press.Please refresh this page in your browser to reload this live event video
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A TV puppet is causing a lot of heat in the tv kitchen after using a condom to make the Scottish delicacy Haggis.
Parents in Sweden were outraged after they turned on their televisions to see channel SVT taking culinary creation to a whole new level.
The French chef puppet, by the name of Bon, could be seen making the dish by stuffing it in a condom.
Haggis is usually made by stuffing the ingredients - sheep intestines, onion, oatmeal and spices - inside the animal's stomach, although artificial skin is now normally used.
SVT
In the video Bon can be heard saying that while he doesn't have an animal skin to cook the Haggis in, but that 'balloons' found in Grandma's handbag can work just as well.
But it's clear to all viewers, children and adults alike, that what he attaches to the haggis-making machine is clearly not a balloon.
Fed-up boss shames condom thief with cheeky shop window poster: 'You've been caught'
Furious parents took to SVT's Facebook account to share their disgust.
One wrote: "I'm watching Bon who is today making haggis and is using a CONDOM as a balloon because there wasn't a sheep's stomach. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?? Disgusting, unethical and highly inappropriate."Tired of boring language learning textbooks? FluentU brings languages to life with real-world interactive videos!
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BLACK PORN STARS HAVE BEEN GETTING THE SHAFT FOR DECADES, OPERATING IN THE SHADOWS OF THE MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY AND PUTTING IN LONG WORK FOR SHORT PAY. VIBE TALKS TO AFRICANAMERICAN PORN ACTORS WHO ARE TIRED OF BEING JERKED AROUND, UNLESS, OF COURSE, THERE’S A RESPECTABLE CHECK INVOLVED
Writer: KEITH MURPHY | Illustrator: D. ALEXANDER
DIANA DEVOE WAS WELL aware of the consequences.
You have to be when you aspire to break into the porn business. There’s the specter of AIDS. Family rejection. An unavoidable scarlet letter that is forever branded onto those individuals who are brazen— or disturbed, or adventurous—enough to be paid to perform sexual acts on camera.
DeVoe, a college-educated native of Hawaii, had always had a fascination with the adult film industry going back to her days when she briefly operated a swinger’s club in the late ’90s in her home state. But as she sat in a cluttered Los Angeles office in the winter of 1999, there was no turning back. “I didn’t have any moral issues with porn because I was already shooting people doing it,” the 36-yearold explains from her L.A. home. However, as an African-American, what DeVoe wasn’t fully prepared for was what she calls unapologetic racism. “The guy at my first meeting told me, ‘We can’t sell Black women… You’re not desirable to our audience.
But if you’d like to give me a blow job behind the desk really quick, that would be cool.’” She laughs at the absurdity. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m so offended you asked me that,’ because I wasn’t doing it. It was the mixed message of, ‘You are completely unattractive as a Black woman, but come here and get on your knees.’” She has since left behind her days as an adult performer to become a successful porn director, and her story represents just one of several divergent African-American experiences within the polarizing porn profession.
The sometimes-dark world of X-rated erotica is not immune to the stinging reality of discrimination. Meanwhile, practitioners of professional pornography face the same overarching issues concerning their livelihood. The multibillion-dollar industry is battling through a decline in revenues, studios have reported a 30 percent drop off as far back as 2009 (blame pirated online content and the ability for virtually anyone to shoot an adult fi lm on the cheap). None of these issues have been enough to bridge the gap. Interracial porn may be one of the industry’s most popular genres.
Yet, past and present white female porn stars such as retired legend Jenna Jameson and current blue queen Alexis Texas have refused to perform with Black men. It’s not just an issue of segregation. African-American porn actors
are often paid less than their white counterparts (a Black female headliner may get $500 to $700 a scene, white females by contrast can routinely bank more than $1,000). Based on the testimonies of De-Voe and the trailblazing actors who spoke to VIBE on record for this story, Black porn operators are still largely regarded as the “other.” Here, they undress the industry with a type of oral history that gives insight into life as a Black porn star.
MAMA, I WANT TO BE A (PORN) STAR
JEAN VAL JEAN, 70 (male): Transitioned from porn acting to directing in the ‘90s
(Active Years: 1981–1998)
As a swinger, I used to go to New York’s Plato’s Retreat sex club in the late ’70s. And one of the guys that used to give parties got into porn. So one day, he calls me and says, “You should try it out.” There were not a lot of Black people doing porn back then, except for people like Johnny Keyes and Desiree West. I started with the advent of video, and I was working with a lot of the ’70s stars. Video was a lot faster, cheaper and easier to work with than
8mm film. I didn’t have a problem with getting it up in front of a whole bunch of people [laughs].
LEXINGTON STEELE, 42: Veteran porn performer and director and owner of the mainstream adult fi lm company Mercenary Pictures
(Active Years: 1996–Current)
I was a Wall Street stockbroker. Around ’94, the broker that I had trained under invited me to a swinger’s party. My turn came around, and I had some fun with it. I met a photographer named Nevin Washington at another swinger’s party, and I started doing some adult modeling in magazines. My role model was Sean Michaels. Once I knew I could make a living as an adult performer I said, “Well, let me chase the fantasy while I can.”
PINKY, 30: In-demand adult fi lm star in straight and lesbian genres
(Active Years: 2006–Current)
I had been a dancer and an escort before I was doing porn. But it really started when me and my boyfriend at the time started making home movies. We decided to start our own [adult film] company and do something big. You have to know that when you go into porn that your family will find out. And they will most likely not like it. Someone is going to hate on you and leave your DVD on your doorstep or in your mailbox.
MISTY STONE, 26: The most prominent African- American female adult film performer in mainstream porn
(Active Years: 2006–Current)
I was molested by my father, who is now deceased. That experience definitely messed up my mind. From that I went into the falling path of being a porn star. You start with being with a pimp to being a stripper. And after the dancing I went into the porn business. At first it was only for money, but now I feel like this is where I belong, because I am controlling my own destiny. I love being on camera… I’m a total attention whore. It’s a screwed-up situation how I got here, but I’m now very happy where I am.
SKIN DIAMOND, 25: A rising alternative star in the Adult film and bondage and submission world
(Active Years: 2009–Current)
Although I’m a mix of Ethiopian, Danish, Yugoslavian, Czech and German, I knew I was Black. I got a lot of racial bullying. I had a pretty strict upbringing growing up in Scotland. My dad was a missionary. But I was always intrigued with sex and women because I had seen a few clips of porn when I was younger. I got into the porn business by accident. My parents found out within a month. My dad was afraid that I was going to start prostituting myself behind the scenes and getting into drugs and basically being what everyone stereotypes a porn star as being.
NEXT: SHOOTING IN BLACK AND WHITE
JANET JACME, 45: AVN Hall of Famer, who has starred in 150 films
(Active Years: 1993–2001)
I only did movies with Black men my first year because that’s what I was used to [laughs]. I really didn’t see the white side of porn for a while. And then they started calling me. There was one white boy who rocked my world, so that’s when I figured, “This is not bad.” But the white girls wanted to get more money for having sex with a Black dude than they would get for a normal scene. That was pretty much the first thing that made me go, “Wow, that’s pretty damn racist.” Of course I saw the unequal pay between whites and Blacks. I realized I couldn’t get a contract with certain companies because I was Black. I didn’t have that certain exotic look that they wanted.
MR. MARCUS, 41: Star, producer, director and founder of Daddy Inc., a made-to-order clothing line
(Active Years: 1994–Current)
The funny thing is you meet a girl and she won’t shoot with you because you’re Black. But when the money dries up, then they start to consider, Well, I haven’t done interracial yet. It’s just out of pure ignorance. There was one girl that would do this thing on the Internet and it became pretty big. She was doing the whole Webcam thing when it was first starting. The way they wanted it done is the girl would call the Black guy she was having sex with “nigger.” And I was like, “Nah… she ain’t gonna call me that.”
HEATHER HUNTER: When I started in the business, I was being billed as being Black and Italian. I had to hurry up and nip that in the bud and let people know I was proud to be African-American. And then there were the titles of the movies. My manager and I didn’t really want to do any stereotypical titles like Chocolate Swirl. The porn companies did not give contracts to Black girls back then. And I just felt, “Well, why can’t the African-Americans do that?” And when I got signed to Vivid in 1990, I became the first Black female to be under contract.
MISTY STONE: The bottom is getting $300 a scene. Whereas now I’m getting $1,300 a scene. It took a while for me to get that. And there are African-American girls now who will never reach that goal. They will always get $600 or $700. That’s just the way it is. I think my publicist, James Bartholet, had a lot to do with [getting me better pay]. Having someone who can market you is a big deal.
BELLA MORETTI: Film star on the rise
(Active Years: ‘09–Current)
The sad thing that I hear a lot from white guys is, “Man, I don’t usually like Black girls...” My first interracial scene on camera, I was so embarrassed because the movie was called Black Chicks on Cracker Dicks. I had to shoot a scene where I had to blow eight white guys, and the director wanted them to wear Confederate flags. And I thought, Aw, no! I made them take it off.
PINKY: Honestly, I had a very good experience coming into the business. Racism never really came across. It was more Black-on-Black hate. They want to point the finger at white people. There are a lot of Black-owned companies that never offered me a distribution deal. So I ended up going with Black Market, which is not owned by a Black person. And a lot of people were salty that I did a deal with them. But those Black companies weren’t trying to give me opportunities.
ROXY REYNOLDS, 28: Actress, producer, and owner of porn company Hard Body Entertainment
(Active Years: ‘06–Current)
I did a tour with Jenna Haze, Alexis Texas and Alektra Blue. I was the only Black female on the tour. I don’t think we ever got discriminated against like that. If you don’t do certain things like anal you don’t get as much as the [white] girls that do. But the Black girls get paid more than the white girls when we perform in the clubs. The white girls are knocking out two or three scenes a day versus Black girls who will knock out maybe one scene a week. So they are supposed to get more.
NEXT: SEX, AIDS, AND THE GAY-STRAIGHT DIVIDE
JEANNIE PEPPER, 53: Female superstar of the ‘80s, 1997 inductee into the AVN Hall of Fame
(Active Years: 1984–2007)
It was scary in the ’80s. There was a lot of risks when it came to AIDS. My mom and my family were concerned, and I don’t blame them. You were taking a risk every time you walked on the set. And AIDS was still new to us. People needed to take their own tests. There wasn’t any mandatory AIDS and STD testing like they have now.
PINKY: I caught diseases in my first run during my first trip to L.A. I’m really open and honest about that, even though people like to make fun of me. Luckily it wasn’t nothing that I couldn’t get rid of. So I decided to only shoot my own stuff. I started making sure I did condom shoots. That’s my personal preference, because I started to feel like it wasn’t worth risking my life.
DIANA DEVOE: There have been guys that have successfully crossed over from gay to straight [porn]. But there is a division. The gay porn industry uses condoms, but they have people who are HIV positive actively working. [The AIDS Healthcare Foundation] has no problem with that. But they were so successful in fighting [the straight porn industry] that they destroyed the central place where we got tested. Now what’s important about having a central place to get tested is that you don’t have tests coming from different places. When something happens it’s easier to trace back because everyone got tested in one facility. So in the pursuit of trying to make us safer, they made us less safe.
MR. MARCUS: I would get asked if I did gay movies. And I think that’s something that is in people’s minds when it comes to guys in the industry. But it’s not something that you have to do. There are bisexual men out there… And there are gay men out there. I don’t cross that line because I’m not interested in that type of sexuality. But if that’s your thing, that’s cool.
LEXINGTON STEELE: I’ve been tested every single month since December of 1994. Knock on wood, it always comes back negative. I don’t know how they are going to enforce the new condom law. If Mercenary is shooting in L.A. or France or Miami, you can’t tell where I’m shooting at. The reasoning behind the law is understandable, but the implementation will be very difficult. Are you going to spend money on the condom police?
POST INTERRACIAL
LEXINGTON STEELE: The way you achieve mainstream status is when your name is considered more recognized as a household name. That’s when you show up in a mainstream television show or movie, whether it’s being cast in Crank 2 with Jason Statham or Showtime’s Weeds. There are people who have misgivings about the adult industry. How can you be a spiritual person and still be in the business is a very strong, valid argument against what I do. But as the head of Mercenary Pictures, there are two things that are very important to me: that my product is not accessible to people under the age of 18, and that I never misrepresent myself as a Black man.
HEATHER HUNTER: When you come from the adult film business people feel like that’s all you. But I made it happen. I got into music and signed a deal with Island Records, and then I signed to Tommy Boy Records after that. I’ve worked with Scott Storch, DJ Premier, Wyclef Jean and all my friends that were supporting what I was doing and helping me change my life. I wrote a novel and I opened an art gallery in Brooklyn. I had a show on Playboy TV with Sir Mix-A-Lot. And I ended up getting my own show on BET called The Peep Show. I have two online magazines. You have a lot of adult stars that can’t get into magazines like Smooth and Maxim. I’m creating [publications] to showcase them in a very classy way.
PINKY: Every time I’ve had a distribution deal, and I own my product. I get 70 percent of the profits. When girls ask me about getting into the business, the first thing I ask them is, “How old are you?” Usually they are teenagers, so I tell them they have their own lives ahead of them. This is something that once you do you can’t take back. Everybody can’t be a star. Porn is not what it’s cracked up to be. The game is getting slim. Illegal downloading is hurting the porn business. Bottom line: If you don’t own anything and if you are just the talent, it’s going to end bad for you.PAS-controlled Kelantan began its long-promised tabling of a set of legal amendments in order to establish what have been termed Islamic hudud law today, and reactions to the move on Malaysian social media have been divided – as one would no doubt expect.
The state government’s hope of changing an existing state enactment passed in 1993 to include the criminalisation of anal sex (technically, sodomy) between consenting married couples, imposing the death penalty for apostates who leave the Muslim faith, and (curiously enough, since they’re not Islamic at all) decriminalising bestiality, necrophilia, and lesbian sex, has been met with equal parts derision, outrage, and fervent religious celebration from Malaysian netizens.
PAS’s partners in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition (DAP is vehemently against the move, threatening to leave PR altogether, while PKR is for the moment keeping largely mum on the issue) to Barisan Nasional rivals (UMNO is pretty much on board, while everyone else in the ruling coalition: not so much) to ordinary Malaysians of every stripe, creed, and faith have weighed in on the issue today, and we’ve got some of the highlights right here.
DAP’s Tony Pua had some choice words on PAS’s insistence that tabling the hudud amendments were an exercise in democracy:
Sisters in Islam’s Suri Kempe put up a rebuttal of the proposed hudud enactments’ ostensibly “Islamic” nature:
The Malay Mail columnist Erna Mahyuni was just upset and disappointed, it seems:
So delusional some people. As though hudud has the power to purify souls. You do not create goodness with fear and pain. — Erna Mahyuni (@ernamh) March 18, 2015
And many others called out PAS’s sincerity, impartiality, and popular mandate to follow through on hudud law:
Nauseating level of hypocrisy-just becoz u claim its Hudud-doesnt make it one! Just like whn ISIS says its Islamic State-doesnt mean its one — Latheefa Koya (@LatheefaKoya) March 18, 2015
The Hudud law that YOU drafted and YOU amended is NOT God’s law. If that makes me an immoral liar, then so be it. You don’t speak for Him. — Shafiqah Othman (@sfqomhz) March 18, 2015
You cant use the argument that people want hudud when polls show that people actually want you to prioritise other things, PAS. — Syah (@syahredzan) March 18, 2015
Is imposing Hudud democratic? — P. Ramasamy (@ramasamy_png) March 18, 2015
Still, not everyone was against the proposed state laws, with many netizens applauding PAS’s chutzpah (is it ironic to describe what they’re doing with a Yiddish word?) and the party’s reaching a consensus with its archenemy UMNO on the issue:
Alhamdulillah. PAS dan UMNO Kelantan setuju hudud. Apabila umat islam bersepakat, Allah akan hantar pertolongan. Tahniah! — Tarbiah Sentap (@tarbiahsentap) March 18, 2015
Hudud untuk orang Islam…menghukum dan mendidik penjenayah..di Kelantan saja..DAP yg jadi bengong…kenapa? http://t.co/wdGDXJO6Yv — cucu tok legeh (@cucutoklegeh) March 18, 2015
Back off PKR, beri laluan PAS Kelantan bentangkan hudud, jangan pertikai. — Awang Dondang (@safuanmatyatya) March 18, 2015
Alhamdulillah. Hudud bakal terlakasana di negeri ambo — AB.HALIM (@halimrazab) March 18, 2015
hudud is above politics! hudud ni hukum Allah! – Alwi — Abae Muslim (@muslimofficial) March 18, 2015
Still others pointed out that the entire hudud debate might be distracting Malaysians from more pressing matters:
Malaysia nak laksanakan undang-undang hudud, tapi hak orang asli ditolak di UN. bukan ke islam juga pentingkan membela orang tertindas? lol — the Mata Sepet (@terrynuriman) March 18, 2015
By the power of distraction, Wave the hudud flag, And all the GST 1MDB and other embarrassing stuff will be forgotten! — soefira•FakeMeninist (@soefira) March 18, 2015
Hudud ni sebenarnya takyah dilaksanakan pun takpe kalau kita rajin sembahyang. malas sembahyang tu yang asyik buat dosa. — Gary Steven Nazri (@Nazrisuhaimi_42) March 18, 2015
Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang chided the DAP for not being able to stop the Kelantan PAS government from going ahead with its hudud debate, conveniently glossing over the fact that his BN partners in UMNO Kelantan are also throwing their full support behind the religious law:
I guess DAP ppl are now burrowing their head deep in the ground after their leaders’ failure to stop Kelantan Pakatan govt table Hudud laws — Tan Keng Liang (@tankengliang) March 18, 2015
(You might want to check if there’s any head-burrowing space left for you, sir.)
How will this all pan out? No one knows.But we searched far and wide for the most apt summation of today’s storm of arguments, counter-arguments, and furious RTing, and we have to say, this one came out ahead:
Tadi aku tanya kawan aku pasal hudud, dia jawab macam ni je: “Kawe tok kisoh pom hudud ni, kawe ore baik. Lagipun kawe duk di Melako.” — Baharom (@BaharomBahari) March 18, 2015
Yeah, pretty much.
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It’s in the River Market in Kansas City. It’s really neat.
And the fact that I just used the word “neat” means that I probably shouldn’t go there anymore.
It’s a cool place. Way too cool. Like, it should be wearing rad shades and a cool jean jacket with patches of bands you’ve never heard of. Or maybe quoting some obscure passage from Voltaire that is actually relevant to the one-sided conversation you’re having about social constructs and the destiny of the commonwealth.
I shouldn’t be here.
I shouldn’t even be talking about it.
I’m not cool. I own several wands that I purchased from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I have serious opinions on why concerts are literally the worst. I can tell you what an omega level mutant is.
They made a terrible mistake letting me in here.
But I brought my wife with me. Katie’s cooler than I am. Maybe if I try to hide behind her or something. Dammit. I forgot she’s “knee-high to a grasshopper” short.
KATIE:
Watch it, fool.
Ok. Be cool man. Stop thinking about Street Sharks. Order a coffee. I know you want Chai, but don’t be a bitch. Show them you’re rad. Order black coffee. Sweet. Awesome.
$3.50?
What the fuck.
Ok. Let it go. It’s cool. There’s probably a good reason a black coffee costs half a chipotle burrito. Chill out man.
Just enjoy the space. It’s so awesome. Why can’t my house look like this? Oh yeah. You spend all your money on your Corgi and bug out bags. That’s why.
Man, this coffee is taking a while. Why is that?
Oh. It’s because this fine fellow wearing a wood working apron? The one that’s attending its creation?
He’s a fucking alchemist.
Look at all that fancy shit he’s using. If it wasn’t for the lack of a transmutation circle I’d swear he was trying to make a god damn philosopher’s stone.
Ok. Even so. It’s been like 10 minutes. I ordered black coffee. How many steps could there be?
Should I say something? Did they decide not to make my coffee because they can sense that I’m not cool enough to be here? Is it because I don’t have tastefully minimalistic tattoos? Is it because I read fantasy and science fiction books? Is it because I read The Catcher in the Rye and thought it was shit?
Oh, they just called my name. Let’s see what a $4, 15 minute coffee tastes like.
WHAT THE FUCK.
HOW IS THIS SO GOOD?!?
ALCHEMY.
I FUCKING KNEW IT.
Verdict?
You’re not cool enough for this place, but you should still go. It’s really good. It looks really awesome. You’ll enjoy yourself.
Taste: 10/10
Value: 7/10
Decor: 10/10
Bathrooms: Too preoccupied trying to be cool. Didn’t go.
Quay Coffee.
412 Delaware St, Kansas City, MO 64105A reproduction of the Temple of Baal is coming to New York's Times Square next month as a tribute to the 2,000-year-old original structure that was destroyed by ISIS last year in Palmyra, Syria.
The reproductions will be made using a 3-D printer, producing a life-size model of the temple's entrance. Officials say those models will be installed in both New York City and London's Trafalgar Square this Spring.
What actually happened historically at the Temple of Baal? Dr. Corne Bekker, with Regent University, explains.
Promoting a False God?
Many are speaking out against putting up a monument in honor of a temple that promoted worship of a false god.
In an article for World Net Daily, Matt Barber explains some of the elements of Baal worship.
"Ritualistic Baal worship, in sum, looked a little like this: Adults would gather around the altar of Baal. Infants would then be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity. Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, congregants – men and women alike – would engage in bisexual orgies," Barber wrote.
"The ritual of convenience was intended to produce economic prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of'mother earth,'" he explained.
A Mirror of Modern Society
He goes on to point out how some of those elements are being mirrored in society today.
"Modern liberalism deviates little from its ancient predecessor. While its macabre rituals have been sanitized with flowery and euphemistic terms of art, its core tenets and practices remain eerily similar," he said.
"Bar the worship of "fertility" has been replaced with worship of'reproductive freedom' or 'choice.' Child sacrifice via burnt offering has been updated, ever so slightly, to become child sacrifice by way of abortion," he concluded.
But supporters of the reproductions to go up in New York and London say it is an attempt to "preserve history."
"We hope it is viewed as a constructive response to what has happened there," said Roger Michel, executive director for the Institute for Digital Archaeology.
The original temple attracted 150,000 tourists a year until 2011 when the Syrian civil war began.
The Institute for Digital Archaeology hopes to construct approximately 1,000 versions of the arch to be placed in cities around the world.
Christian sites are also among the many antiquities destroyed by the Islamic State.In a November 3 article, the Wall Street Journal reports that corporate cash holdings have reached extraordinary levels:
Stung by the financial crisis, companies are holding more cash—and a greater percentage of assets in cash—than at any time in the past 40 years. In the second quarter, the 500 largest nonfinancial U.S. firms, by total assets, held about $994 billion in cash and short-term investments, or 9.8% of their assets, according a Wall Street Journal analysis of corporate filings. That is up from $846 billion, or 7.9% of assets, a year earlier. The trend appears to have continued in the third quarter, despite an improving economy. Of those 500 companies, 248 have reported third-quarter results. Their cash increased to 11.1% of assets, from 10.1% in the second quarter. Companies as diverse as Alcoa Inc., Google Inc., PepsiCo Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. all reported big third-quarter increases in cash holdings. “Everyone is hoarding cash,” says Carsten Stendevad, head of Citigroup Inc.’s financial-strategy group.
The article attributes the extraordinary cash holdings to long-term trends and to apprehension left over from last year’s so-called credit crunch.
The large cash holdings may also reflect presently prevailing regime uncertainty—the inability to confidently forecast how the government will treat private property rights in the future. When such uncertainty attained great heights during the years from 1935 to 1940, entrepreneurs reacted by declining to make many long-term investments, putting what investments funds they did commit overwhelmingly into short-term and intermediate-term projects, such as purchases of tools and equipment and additions to inventory. The shortest-term investment of all, of course, is to hold cash.
At present, interest rates are so low that a firm sacrifices little by holding cash, rather than, say, securities or other assets promising payoffs within the next few years. The longer term remains clouded by uncertainties associated with the government’s pending initiatives in energy, environmental policy, health care, financial regulation, taxation, warfare, monetary policy, and other key areas. The possibility exists that policies will be adopted that spell ruin for thousands of firms, especially those that hold illiquid, long-term assets whose values will be adversely affected by the new policies.
It comes as no surprise, then, that firms are clinging to huge hoards of cash. True, it’s only fiat money, and the Fed may destroy a great chunk of its value before long, but with cash |
his medicine like a man, and hadn’t made too bad of showing — all things considered.
Paul Waggener, who you know as Grimnir, gave him a quick hug and a pat on the back.
There’s this video making the rounds designed to convince people that the worst thing you can tell a young male to do is “man up.”
It’s far worse to let a young men luxuriate in his own tears and fears and fantasize that he’s something special for doing nothing special. That’s a degradation of his spirit and a waste of a perfectly good Y chromosome.
A fat lip is just a fat lip.
Grimnir grabbed a wifebeater, cleaned the mud off his face and called out for a prospect to bring him a beer. He looked on as the fights continued. A few more serious matches, and a lot of light sparring. Another bloodied smile, a mild concussion and some vomiting. All in good fun.
Grimnir told me that the fighting was just a warmup for the main event at dusk. His brother, Jarn-nefr, who runs the Wyoming chapter, added later that the greatest achievement of the Wolves has been their ritual practice.
The Wolves of Vinland officially identify themselves as “a tribe of folkish heathens.”
About seven years ago, Grimnir and Jarn-nefr were running a black metal venue in the Lynchburg, Virginia area, and they decided to start a regular Viking theme night. They drank beer, played Icelandic folk music, and started reading the Eddas. As more of their friends became interested, they decided to move things outside. The Wolves started holding regular sumbels in a National Park.
The sumbel is a common practice in Germanic paganism, derived from ancient texts like Beowulf, Lokasenna and Heimskringla. Sumbel loosely means “feast” or “gathering” and often involves “boasting” or “toasting” with drinking horns filled with mead.
As the Wolves entered their second year, the guys started wrestling at sumbel, and some of the members started wearing motorcycle gang style “battle jackets.” From the initial “come one, come all” approach, a natural hierarchy and sense of collective identity emerged. The men felt the need to determine who was “in” and who was “out.” Oaths of loyalty were taken, and new members were filtered through a prospecting system. As Grimnir said to me, “why hang out with just anyone?”
By the end of the third year, the current system was more or less in place, and all new members had to be voted in unanimously at the Lynchburg group at Ulfhiem. The Wolves have members in eleven states and a handful of international prospects. They’ve been denounced as “luckless bastards” by some more “settled” heathen organizations, so they decided to make a joke of it. Several of the Wolves wear “luckless bastard” patches on their battle jackets.
Ulfhiem is a 12-acre property owned by the Wolves. There’s a small cabin, a tool shed, and a structure for smaller fires where music is played. In 2013, the group crowd-funded the construction of a massive longhall, which is almost finished. The majority of the group’s activities, however, are funded by dues.
The afternoon of fighting was part of the Wolves’ monthly “moot” — a word with deep Indo-European roots that means “meeting” or “gathering.” It’s where “moot point” comes from. Originally, “moot point” meant an issue that needed to be resolved by an assembly of a people, but has come to indicate an issue already resolved and therefore irrelevant. Part of the moot’s purpose is for patched members of the Wolves to discuss official business. At some point during the afternoon, Grimnir called them over and they disappeared to vote on patching in a new member — and other subjects unknown to outsiders.
As Sköll chased the sun across the sky, I joined some of the prospects at the top of a hill. They were cutting themselves and using their own blood to draw runes and sigls on a large piece of white fabric. It was the sail for a fifteen or twenty foot long mock wooden ship they’d built earlier. I helped them fill the hull with branches for the night’s ritual — a yearly celebration of Baldr’s funeral.
The women of the tribe prepared food and we ate as home-brewed mead and beer were passed around. Grimnir joined a few of the other musicians and played country music. A couple of kids had their own wrestling matches. Everyone was restlessly waiting for dusk. As golden hour approached, a tall guy with several runic brands on his lanky frame came over to talk to me about the ritual. His name was Finnulfr, and he’d given a workshop on sigils earlier in the afternoon. He invited me to come down and “get crazy” with the guys in their ritual pre-funk.
Grimnir handed me the end of a bottle of home-brewed mead and told me to kill it. It was deliciously dry compared to the sugary meads I’d tasted in the past. I followed him and a few others into the woods and down a hill to a place called the Ve. There was already a small fire going, and Finnulfr and the others were busy preparing for the ritual. It was almost dark, and the failing light beyond the crackling fire of the Ve seemed cold and blue. Three black, rune-painted drums were beaten in a steady, ominous rhythm. The men took off their cuts and shirts and passed around a bowl full of black ash, blood and mead. Each Wolf smeared it on his face, chest and arms. One of them asked me to draw algiz ᛉ on his forehead. I wasn’t sure how much I should participate as an outsider, but I was glad when he smeared the black goop across my face in some unknowable configuration.
After they’d all anointed themselves, they gathered around one of the drums and started a group death drone that sounded a bit like low Mongolian throat singing. Different men picked up different registers, adding growls and howls to an otherworldly mix of primal sounds.
This is the point where you decide whether you want to remain a smug “objective” outsider, or allow yourself to be moved by the experience and become part of it. You decide whether the movie is good enough to lose yourself in it.
I wanted this experience. I traveled across the country for it. I closed my eyes for a while and let go.
Somewhere between the drums and the hums and wild throat singing, out here in the darkness, we folded into the headspace of our barbarian fathers. Men, magic and nature were all the same thing, and the world was alive again.
After a few more minutes, the drumming reached a climax and stopped. The men got up and there were embraces and pats on the back and shoulder and the hand-to-forearm handshake the Wolves favor. There was some joking and quiet laughter, but the Wolves reminded each other to keep the mood.
I was seated beside an eight foot wooden stretcher covered in black cloth that symbolized Baldr’s corpse. Grimnir came over and handed me a plastic milk jug full of wormwood-infused homebrew.
“This should get you in the mood.”
I took a few pulls, but Grimnir and Lyðulfr insisted that I keep chugging it until I’d swallowed what I’d guess was at least a full pint. I drank until they were satisfied and joked about being an old man, but the truth was that I wanted to make sure I’d be able to remember the night.
It was whispered that we had about twenty minutes before the actual faining would begin. Finnulfr explained later that it was called a faining instead of a blot because no sacrificial blood would be spilled during this particular ritual. Some of the guys relaxed, and some of them focused on final preparations. Grimnir, Jarn-nefr, Finnulfr and Lyðulfr had each prepared readings for Baldr’s funeral and they quietly coordinated them.
The story of Baldr’s death, harrowing and rebirth comes from the Völuspá in the Poetic Edda, was developed in the Gylfaginning in Sturluson’s Prose Edda, and was retold by poet Matthew Arnold in 1855.
Baldr was the son of Odin and brother of Thor. As the god of light and purity, he was known as the most beautiful of all the gods. He and his mother, Frigg, dreamed of his death, so Frigg asked all of the plants and animals and stones to swear they’d never hurt him. She overlooked the mistletoe, because it seemed harmless and too young to swear. Because nothing could hurt him, he became invincible, and the gods made a game of hurling things at Baldr — knowing he’d be unharmed. Loki, ever mischievous, made an arrow (or a spear) of the mistletoe, and gave it to the blind god Höðr to shoot at Baldr. When he shot the arrow, Baldr fell dead.
The gods wept and placed his funeral pyre on a ship to burn at sea, “for that is what the dead desire.” In death he went to the underworld, with Hel, and although his mother tried to broker his release, he was forced to remain there until Ragnarök, the end of the world. After the other gods die and the giant Surtr sets fire to the world with his flaming sword, Baldr will be released from the underworld and begin a new age with the survivors of the cataclysm.
The story of Baldr is a story of hope and the rebirth of beauty and purity following an age of darkness and despair.
We saw lights following the path down the hill. The drums started up again and everyone took their places. The women and other members of the tribe gathered above the Ve.
When everyone was settled, Finnulfr called out the directions with a spear — invoking the land spirits, gods and ancestors. Grimnir, Jarn-nefr and Lyðulfr gave fiery, nearly Nietzschean speeches about self-overcoming through discipline and will, and increasing the honor of the group by becoming a higher version of oneself. Grimnir reminded the assembled heathens that they were in a place “out of time,” consciously revolting against the modern world and becoming a different kind of man. He spoke about the evils of the encroaching world and concluded that it was a good time to be a wolf, because the future belongs to wolves. Lyðulfr spoke about the rebirth of Baldr and knowing that light will come from darkness. He ended his grim, pagan sermon by shouting “LONG LIVE DEATH!”
After all of the men had spoken, Jarn-nefr introduced a prospect who had travelled from Wyoming to moot. He was a tall, solid guy with white-blond hair. I’d watched him win a boxing match earlier that day. Jarn-nefr wrapped a wolf skin around his shoulders and directed him to a stone podium to read out his oath to all and become a full member of the Wolves of Vinland. His name was “Ref the Fox.”
At that point Finnulfr and the others “loaded” some mead with galdr, meaning that they sung sacred songs over it. The women of the tribe took the sacred mead around the group and filled each horn with enough for one toast to the gods. After drinking, we each spit in a bowl that was passed around, and the contents of the bowl was poured out onto the ground.
Jarn-nefr initiated the procession back up the hill, and told everyone to prepare their thoughts for sumbel and take a moment to be sure their words would be “worthy of the gods.”
The Wolves carried Baldr’s body carefully and somberly up the switchbacks, and laid him on his pyre.
We gathered in a circle around the ship, and sumbel was held, with toasts made by all to gods, heroes and ancestors followed by a round of more personal boasts and oaths. Some toasts were serious, some were grand, some were sad, and some were funny.
When we’d gone around the circle three times, someone placed a rune-painted plaque in front of Baldr’s corpse. Some words were spoken in his honor, and Jarn-nefr set the ship on fire. We watched the conflagration grow from a light crackling of hay bales and branches to a blazing bonfire with flames jumping fifteen or twenty feet in air.
The tribe dispersed, with folks going back to the smaller fire to check on children or to grab musical instruments or more booze. Several songs were sung in unison, including the Wolves’ own battle hymn, “I’m A Good Old Rebel” and some old seafaring tunes. I pulled out a pack of cigars, offered one to Grimnir and a couple of the other guys. We smoked them by the calmed fire, which still glowed in the outline of a ship. Grimnir put the moves on an unattached female and disappeared into the woods. Some of the Wolves retired to tents, some to cars and some just passed out in the dirt next to the glowing coals.
The Wolves wouldn’t want me to trivialize my experience by comparing it to something as bougie as a television show, but I have to admit that my time at Ulfheim felt like a cross between Sons of Anarchy and the Vikings.
The exception is that, unlike those shows, Ulfheim is not just a set up for another go-girl narrative or another hair-pulling drama between women. What happens at Ulfheim is designed to create authentic brotherhood between men. It’s about escaping to another world, not just for an hour or even a day, but for good. The Wolves of Vinland are becoming barbarians. They’re leaving behind attachments to the state, to enforced egalitarianism, to desperate commercialism, to this grotesque modern world of synthetic beauty and dead gods. They’re building an autonomous zone, a community defined by face-to-face and fist-to-face connections where manliness and honor matter again.
If they can do it, what’s stopping you?
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Jack Donovan is the author of The Way of Men. His latest book is a collection of essays, titled A Sky Without Eagles. To read more of his work on masculinity and tribalism, visit www.jack-donovan.com/Former Prime Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Parvez Ashraf proudly took credit of persecuting a minority Muslim group while speaking at a political rally on Saturday April 29th. Ashraf served as the 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 2012 to 2013 and is a senior figure of the Pakistan People’s party.
The rally which which was held in Kotli, Azad Kashmir was also attended by the PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and another former Prime Minister from the PPP Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani. While addressing the attendees Ashraf boasted that his political party, the Pakistan People’s party ‘shut up the Ahmadis’ and ‘broke their neck’, He said:
“No one has been able to compete with Pakistan People’s Party, If someone has served Islam! Only the Government of Martyr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did it. 90 Year Old Problem, the Problem of Qadianis [Ahmadis] who challenged the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, (The PPP) shut them up, broke their neck and buried the [Ahmadi] Problem”
The former PM’s statement comes at at time when the attacks against Ahmadis are on the rise not just in Pakistan but also in countries like the UK. 40-year-old Ahmadi Asad Shah was stabbed to death by another British Muslim in Scotland last month. In the past Pakistan has been accused of exporting extremism.
Reacting to Ashraf’s statement prominent Ahmadi rights activist Kashif Chaudhry urged PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto to condemn former PM’s statement.
Dear @BBhuttoZardari, will you condemn this anti-Ahmadi hate speech by senior PPP leader & former PM of Pakistan? https://t.co/AN8HNuF1g7 — Kashif N Chaudhry (@KashifMD) April 30, 2016
In 1974, PPP founder and then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto pushed a law which declared the minority Ahmadiyya Islamic sect to be non-Muslim. The law made the Ahmadis the most persecuted community of Pakistan. In 1988, daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and then Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, refused to meet Pakistan’s only Nobel winning scientist Dr Abdus Salam because he belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam.A quick update on the proposed redevelopment of the Playdium site in Albany, which has been a prominent of example of two recent trends in the city: 1) the construction of new, large residential projects and 2) pushback from neighborhoods about the taller, denser development...
The Albany Board of Zoning Appeals granted an area variance for the height of the project at its meeting the evening before Thanksgiving.
That variance will allow the 109-unit apartment project to be four stories tall if it ultimately gets approval from the city planning board and moves forward.
Background
We've written about this project before -- both the details and some of the skepticism -- so we won't rehash everything. But here are the basics of the proposal:
+ Demolishing the Playdium bowling alley building at 363 Ontario St.
+ Building three new residential buildings with a total of 109 apartments.
+ The Ontario St-facing building would also include a cafe/shop on the first floor with a laundromat.
+ Roughly 150 parking spaces. The three buildings would include parking underneath, and the site would also have some outdoor parking.
+ Rents ranging from $1,250 for a 1BR apartment up to $1,600 for a 2BR.
+ Estimated project cost: $19 million
So what was important about this decision?
In the big makeover of the city's zoning code that took effect this past summer, The Playdium site is zoned "Mixed-Use, Neighborhood Center" -- a designation that allows buildings to be 3.5 stories tall.
The Jankow Companies -- the developer for the project -- originally proposed that three new apartment buildings on the site be 3.5 stories, with the top half story incorporated into a mansard-style roof. The look of that version didn't seem to go over well. The roof design was criticized for not really fitting the neighborhood. (It also just kind of looked odd at that size.). So the development team reworked the design with a flat roof -- and four stories. And that required the variance.
That four-story design actually ends up being about five feet shorter than the original 3.5-story design because of the shape of the roof(s).* But the height has still been a point of contention because neighborhood residents already concerned about the impacts of adding 109 units on the site also pointed out that a four-story building would stand out from the mostly 1- and 2- and 2.5-story homes nearby.
At Wednesday's meeting, two neighborhood residents again voiced their concerns during the public comment period. Common Council member Judy Doesschate -- who has been a consistent skeptic at earlier meetings -- was not there, but she filed an 8-page document with the BZA detailing her doubts about the project and its qualifications for the variance, citing concerns about the project being too large, too dense, and out of character with the neighborhood.
The development team argued throughout the process that the project would not create significant traffic, that the design would include aspects to minimize storm water runoff -- and it said the inclusion of 109 units was necessary to make the investment numbers work. (The team filed pro formas outlining the numbers with the BZA -- they're in the project's file on the city's website.)
"This building will be an asset to the neighborhood," said real estate agent David Phaff, who's been one of the project's representatives, to the board Wednesday citing new lighting, new sidewalks, and the planned cafe. And of the skepticism to the project: "Anything different in the neighborhood will be considered intrusive."
How the decision was made
The BZA voted 5-0 to approve to the variance, which is technically what's known as area variance.
Afterward board chair Richard Berkley explained the bar for granting an area variance -- which is essentially a request to bend a rule for zoning of an area -- is relatively low. That contrasts to a use variance, which asks for a completely different use from the one specified in the zoning. Berkley said a use variance is almost never granted.
"But with area variances, a lot them get granted because there is an explicit balance between the benefit to the proponent of the project and the burden and benefit to the community," he said.
Specifically, here are the considerations straight from the city code (pdf p. 261):
In making its determination regarding a request for an Area Variance, the BZA shall take into consideration the benefit to the applicant if the variance is granted, as weighed against the detriment to the health, safety and welfare of the neighborhood or community. In making such determination, the BZA shall also consider:
1. Whether an undesirable change will be produced in the character of the neighborhood or a detriment to nearby properties will be created by the granting of the area variance
2. Whether the benefit sought by the applicant can be achieved by some method feasible for the applicant to pursue, other than an area variance.
3. Whether the requested area variance is substantial.
4. Whether the proposed variance will have an adverse effect or impact on the physical or environmental conditions in the neighborhood or district.
5. Whether the alleged difficulty was self-created, which consideration shall be relevant to the decision of the BZA but shall not necessarily preclude the granting of the area variance.
Berkley gave some examples of some the specifics the board considered for the project.
"We asked for the traffic safety office to put something in the record for us because we had some concerns based on what we heard, that perhaps there would be a lot of traffic," he said. "And everybody knows the Playdium hasn't been very active and so we thought it was important to hear about the ability of the infrastructure to handle it. You know the sewer of the water and all that and they've met all those concerns over time."
The BZA decision isn't the last hurdle for the Playdium redevelopment project. The planning board has yet to give the OK. Its next meeting is December 21 -- and though the agenda isn't out for it yet, it's a good bet this project will be on it.
A taller, denser Albany
The proposed New Scotland Village project across from St. Peter's, with a new retail strip (top) and apartment building.
As mentioned up top, the Playdium redevelopment has been interesting to follow because it's part of a trend
in which new residential projects -- both planned and completed -- hold the promise of making the city's built landscape taller and denser. There's also been significant pushback from neighborhood residents to many of these projects.
The Playdium project, the proposed New Scotland Village project across St. Peter's Hospital, and the proposed private dorm on Western Ave are just the latest examples.
As the chair of the Board of Zoning Appeals, Richard Berkley is often thinking about the issues connected to these sorts of projects. So we asked him Wednesday night what he thought about everything that's going on right now. A clip from his answer:
People get concerned when they see change around them and a vote to have [Rezone Albany] go forward was a vote for positive change in the city. And what we've been seeing since the zoning code was passed is a lot of positive change.
Now as someone who you know lived half my life in New York City or other large cities. The issue is not density but it's good density versus bad density. So we have a lot of dense buildings for example some of the Ploof properties where you had a building that was built for six floor-through flats and had 26 -- I don't want to call them studios -- but had 26 things in there. And that's bad density.
But when you build a new building, you know, with [networking cable] in the walls and with all the modern fire suppression and underground garage and commercial on the bottom and it's a little more dense than what you have around you, which are essentially single family houses that have over time turned into threes or fours -- that's a good density.
Because there are certain types of neighborhood amenities and city amenities as a whole that you can't support unless you have sufficient density. Remember that we're almost 30,000 people below the size of what Albany was only a short time ago. And that extra 30,000 people, or even more if we go to some more good density, will bring in more of the walkability and more of the amenities that we all say that we want -- unless we see it happening in our neighborhood.
And the conversation continues.
____
* About stories and building height
The new zoning code specifies story limits for buildings, not physical heights. So buildings with fewer stories could end up being taller than buildings with more stories depending on floor height. The thinking behind this way of writing the rules was to try to keep developers from squishing (technical term) a bunch of floors into a building to meet height limits. But it also potentially opens the way for buildings to end up being taller than maybe intended. So look for this topic to maybe come up, and be adjusted, when the city reviews Rezone Albany next month.A jury of peers saw Brock Turner the rapist who sexually assaulted an incapacitated woman by a dumpster. A Santa Clara County judge, evidently, saw Brock Turner the Stanford University swimmer, a promising young athlete inveigled by scandal.
In the end, the 20-year-old was convicted as a predator but sentenced as a swimmer. Probation recommended a year in prison. State guidelines called for at least two—14 at most. Judge Aaron Persky gave him six months in jail, with a shot at getting out in three.
“A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,” Persky reasoned in court earlier this month. “I think he will not be a danger to others.”
The leniency of the punishment—rare in an age of mass incarceration—and that it favored an athlete already privileged by affluence and whiteness sparked public protest. The victim’s searing courtroom account of the January 2015 assault fanned the flame into moral outrage.
“You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me,” she began her 7,138-word statement, “and that’s why we’re here today.”
Those thousands of words, which pulled millions of people into her pain with their vivid detail, went insanely viral. Those words flipped the narrative. In the court of public opinion, if not in Judge Persky’s chambers, justice was not served.
As if to complete Turner’s rebranding from champion swimmer to rapist, police released two mugshots after his June 3 sentencing, one taken the morning of his initial arrest and the other during his recent booking. Newspapers and TV stations swapped school photos of a clean-scrubbed and smiling all-American athlete with the watery-eyed deer-in-the-headlights mug shots of a perpetrator caught in the act.
The Stanford case has become emblematic of what feminists call rape culture, a culture that blames victims and normalizes male sexual violence. It’s a culture that judges women by their past and men by their future.
During the trial, Emily Doe defended her reputation while Turner talked up his potential, his Olympic aspirations, and blamed what his dad glibly called “20 minutes of action” on drinking and promiscuity.
The public directed their anger not only toward Turner but Judge Persky, a former prosecutor appointed to the bench in 2003 by Gov. Gray Davis.
On Monday, a juror in the case told the Palo Alto Weekly the outcome “makes a mockery of the whole trial” and that the judge should be ashamed for going easy on Turner. That same day, the District Attorney’s Office successfully filed a motion to remove Persky from an upcoming trial for a male nurse accused of sexually violating an unconscious patient.
Meanwhile, as the judge coasts to perfunctory re-election this November for lack of a challenger, he faces a petition for his recall that’s racked up more than a million signatures. Several state legislators have joined the cry to oust him over “prejudicial misconduct.”
“Judicial rulings like Judge Persky’s … discourage the reporting of these devastating crimes by reinforcing the fear that justice will not be served,” reads a letter to the California Commission on Judicial Performance signed by 13 state Assembly members. “[T]hey demonstrate that there are two systems of justice: one for people of privilege such as elite athletes, and one for everyone else.”
Salient points. But the growing demand to right this wrong raises important questions that have been reverberating throughout the legal community and at Stanford, where the conversation about campus sexual assault has reached a fevered pitch.
Does justice equal more punishment? Should a judge lose his or her job over an unpopular ruling? What effect would that have on other jurists, many of whom face the political pressures that come with elected office? Would a recall undermine the constitutional provision for judicial independence? How can victims and their advocates channel the intense interest in the Stanford case to teach people about sexual consent? What about cases in which the victim is something other than a cisgender woman? What about cases with several more shades of gray?
At Turner’s alma mater, where the U.S. Department of Education tallied 26 reported rapes in 2014, a group of victims launched an online petition for the school to publish the names of students found guilty of sexual assault. The campaign has drawn backlash, however, including from other victims. Erika Lynn Kreeger, a 23-year-old rape survivor and trans student at Stanford, has been trying to foster a more nuanced dialogue about sexual crime, punishment and consent among peers.
“I’m very deeply horrified by what Brock Turner did,” the earth science major tells San Jose Inside. “But I’ve been very disturbed by how people are talking about this in ways that absolve everyone else from blame. We’re further entrenching this idea that some of us are incapable of harm and others are scum of the earth who do these horrible things and need to be locked up. In reality, the vast majority of us live somewhere in between. There’s this idea that someone’s a rapist because they rape instead of seeing them as a product of this culture of non-consent that implicates all of us.”
The reality of sexual assault, of course, is vastly more complicated than the dichotomy of ruthless predator and defenseless victim. Rather than focusing on a limiting term such as “rape culture,” Kreeger wants to explore the broader idea of non-consent and how it teaches people that their identity privileges them to other people’s bodies.
“[W]e are taught that … white people can touch black and brown women’s hair without permission,” Kreeger and fellow Stanford scholar Lily Zheng wrote in an op-ed for The Stanford Political Journal. “[T]hat cisgender people can bluntly ask transgender, gender-variant and intersex people about their genitalia; that men are always entitled to women’s/femme’s/non-binary folx’s [sic] energy, emotional labor and bodies.”
In the absence of education about consent and communicative sex, they argue, latent entitlement can morph into unwanted advances or assault. Accounts that have surfaced after Turner’s sentencing shed light on his upbringing in an affluent Ohio suburb, where families expect academic and athletic excellence but hesitate to tell their children “no.”
At Stanford, there’s a century-old tradition called “Full Moon on the Quad” in which hundreds of freshmen engage in a liquored-up free-for-all make-out session. Last year, Turner’s swim team tied new guys up with rope and wouldn’t release them until they swapped spit with a stranger. It’s a small thing and doesn’t absolve Turner of guilt, Kreeger says, but it illustrates the type of cultures that shaped him, the context that may have emboldened his sense of entitlement to his victim’s body.
Systemic neglect of sexual assault victims has turned the Stanford rape case into a flashpoint that may portend a shift in public attitudes. The 23-year-old victim—known anonymously as Emily Doe—told a probation officer that she didn’t want her attacker to “rot away in prison,” but she hoped for more than a “soft timeout” in a local jail.
Though District Attorney Jeff Rosen decried the light sentence, saying the punishment did not fit the crime, he said it should not cost Judge Persky his job. The Santa Clara County Bar Association echoed that sentiment. “Judges have a duty to apply the law to the facts and evidence before them, regardless of public opinion or political pressure,” the association of lawyers declared last week. “In that role, judges provide an important check against other political forces.”
Public Defender Molly O’Neal—reportedly a vocal feminist with a college-aged daughter—joined them in Persky’s defense. The verdict that confirmed Turner’s guilt and rendered him a cautionary figure, she says, has already vindicated Emily Doe.
Not many would agree. Restorative justice, at least to Kreeger, should err in favor of the ones wronged. For now it seems that more vindication in this case came outside the courtroom, in Emily Doe’s eloquent words that voiced the plight of other victims.
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Jennifer Wadsworth is the news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Newspaper. Email tips to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.Wayne Rooney has ruled out an appeal against the red card which will leave him suspended from Manchester United action until November after admitting that he had only himself to blame for the sixth sending off of his career.
Rooney, the United captain, will miss the Premier League matches with Everton, West Bromwich Albion and Chelsea after the referee Lee Mason dismissed him for a crude challenge on Stewart Downing during the tense victory against West Ham United at Old Trafford on Saturday.
With Louis van Gaal’s team out of the Capital One Cup and not involved in European competition this season, the reduction in United’s first-team fixtures ensures that Rooney will not be eligible for selection until the derby clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Nov 2.
Despite Rooney’s sending off, which forced United to play with ten men for almost half an hour, the home side were ultimately able to hold onto the 2-1 half-time lead secured by strikes from Rooney and Robin van Persie.
But following the challenge on Downing – which was described as “crazy and irresponsible” by Sam Allardyce, the West Ham manager – Rooney conceded that it would be futile to contest Mason’s decision to issue a red card.
“It was probably the right decision,” Rooney said. “I saw the West Ham player making a counter-attack and I tried to break-up the play, but I just misjudged it.
“It was a dangerous situation in that they were trying to break on us and I have misjudged it, simple as that, but I have no complaints.
“I haven’t absolutely volleyed the lad. I have tried to trip him up and, to be fair to him, he got further away from me and that is why my leg is straighter than it should have been. But it is a red card and I don’t think it will benefit anyone to appeal against the decision.”
Rooney, who apologised to his team-mates following the dismissal, admitted that he was now prepared for the debate which will now follow over his suitability for the captaincy role for club and country. “I expect people to say that, but at the end of the day, I was just trying to break up the play. As a result, I am now going to miss three games and that’s the most disappointing thing.
“Obviously we got away with it by getting the win, but I am really gutted I am going to be missing the next three games. It is hard to take. Of course I did [apologise to his team-mates]. I think everyone knew [I was in the wrong], so I am just grateful the lads were able to hold on.”
As a player who is widely accepted to lose sharpness when not playing competitive football, Rooney admits he must now take advantage of England’s forthcoming fixtures against San Marino and Estonia before focusing on a prolonged diet of training ground preparation. “It helps that the England games are coming up, but the training here is really good,” Rooney said. “It is tough and it is getting my fitness up there, so I just have to make sure I train well and be ready for when I come back.”
Prior to his dismissal, Rooney had produced arguably his most impressive performance of the season for United, scoring a fifth minute opener with a crisp half-volley from Rafael da Silva’s cross.
Operating at the tip of Van Gaal’s diamond formation, behind Van Persie and Radamel Falcao, Rooney linked play and displayed the vision which suggests the number ten role is the one which he will claim for the remainder of his career. But after Van Persie had doubled United’s lead, with a right-foot strike from Falcao’s pass, Rooney’s combustible demons began to resurface once Diafra Sakho had halved West Ham’s deficit with a thirty-eighth minute header.
As captain, Rooney appears to take every setback or contentious decision against his team personally and the foul on Downing was the culmination of those frustrations.
Van Gaal, nonetheless, backed his captain, insisting he merely paid the price for committing a professional foul – no more and no less. The Dutchman had a point, with United captains of old, such as Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic, earning enough red cards while wearing the armband to put Rooney in the shade.
However, the dismissal placed his team under the cosh and they almost capitulated, with teenage debutant Paddy McNair forced to produce one crucial headed clearance before Kevin Nolan saw an 89th minute equaliser ruled out – correctly – for offside. United survived, displaying the good fortune under Van Gaal that was non-existent under David Moyes, but it was no thanks to their tempestuous captain.By Nam Sang-so
No doubt that the subject of problematic relationship between woman and man has been one of the most important issues since the ancient time. A flood of adultery news, rapes, and homosexuality and so on in recent years proves that the human's sexuality remains basically the same. They fall in love and after a courtship man and woman eventually tie the knot so they can raise a family together, happily at first. And then, momentarily men, women too, often get weary of the partner and start look around.
Mysteriously, humans keep their reproductive activity private, while animals |
coop, we had a wood floor. We also had to embed chicken wire into the ground, so that if an animal tried to dig in, it would dig into the chicken wire and would stop digging.
Now, we have an actual floor in our coop so we no longer have to worry about that. These are all decisions you’ll have to make when deciding to build your coop. Just make sure that you leave no room for predators.
Read this article to learn more about different chicken predators and how you can protect your chickens.
What Do Chickens Eat?
Chickens are not finicky animals. They will eat just about anything. In my experience, it is best to hang a feeder in the coop. Fill the feeder full and fill it up as needed from that point on. That way you aren’t worrying yourself about if your chickens are eating too much or too little.
But the risk you take by not leaving food free flowing in the coop is that if a chicken thinks there is a food shortage, they will stop laying.
However, if they feel like there is plenty of food, they will be happy and lay continually.
But what you choose to fill that feeder with is totally up to you. You can use store bought scratch grains, cracked corn, layer feed, or you can go a more organic route.
For instance, you can raise your own fodder, feed chickens table scraps, mealworms, or these other inexpensive chicken feeds. You may also want to try these alternatives to layer feed as well.
In short, chickens will eat pretty much anything you throw their way. Just be sure that you feed them plenty of protein because they need that in order to lay properly.
Also, include some calcium in their diet as well. They need this for strong eggshells. If they don’t have enough calcium in their diet they will start breaking their own eggs to get the calcium out of it.
Finally, chickens also require grit. This is basically rocks that go down into their gizzard which will help them grind their food and make it easier to digest.
To Free Range or Not…That is the Question
Choosing whether or not to free-range your flock is a personal decision. There are pros, cons, and alternatives to each method.
Pros to free-ranging your flock:
They require less food.
When chickens free range they are able to search for their own food. They naturally peck and scratch which helps them locate bugs to eat.
In turn, this means that they eat less of your store bought or homegrown food because they are able to forage for their own.
They don’t need as much coop space.
When you allow your birds to free range, they spend most of their time out and about foraging for food. Nothing makes a chicken happier than foraging.
So they don’t need as much coop space because they will only hang out in it when the weather is bad or when they are sleeping.
Their coop requires less maintenance.
Obviously, if your birds only go to the coop to sleep, they don’t make as much mess as they would if they were in the coop full-time.
So it means that you shouldn’t have to clean it as often. This is good news for the busy farmer because the less frequently you have to do chores, the easier it makes it on you.
Cons to free-ranging your flock:
They are at a higher risk for predators.
As mentioned before, chickens are highly preyed upon. When they are out of the safety of their own coop, it is game on for predators.
So be advised that you might lose chickens to predators if you allow them to free range. It is just part of the risk you take when you let them live beyond the chicken wire.
They get into things.
Chickens are usually pretty good about knowing their boundaries, but if your garden or flower bed is within their boundary, it is fair game.
So just know that they will scratch in your garden hunting for bugs. It is what chickens do after all.
They lay everywhere.
Finally, this is the reason why I struggle the most with allowing my chickens to free range. They lay their eggs everywhere.
So it makes it difficult to find their eggs because they could be on the ground or in a bush. Every day is an egg hunt.
The alternatives to free-ranging your flock:
Building a chicken run.
If you want to give your chickens room to roam outside but also keep them safe, an alternative could be a run. This is just a strip of fencing that may have a top over it or it may not.
But this allows them to get out of the coop, scratch around, and also get sunlight while still hanging out in a protected area.
Building a chicken yard.
You could also build a chicken yard. This is a fenced in yard (that is usually larger than a run) that gives the chickens room to get outside, scratch, peck, dust, and do anything else outdoors they wish while still being contained in a larger fenced area.
So as you can tell, free ranging is a decision that will vary between chicken owners. You just have to do what is best for you and your specific situation.
Best of the Bird Breeds
Different chickens serve different purposes, but you’ll want the best breed for the purpose you are raising them. Here are the best breeds:
Egg Layers:
1. White Leghorn
White Leghorns are great layers. They usually produce around 280 eggs per year.
However, be advised that these birds can be a little energetic. If you are looking for a more docile breed, then this may not be the best fit as they scare easily and can be a little flighty when surprised.
2. Rhode Island Red
Rhode Island Reds are great layers too. They lay around 260 eggs per year.
However, these birds have a rather sassy temper, especially the roosters. So be advised that they can be a little more difficult to handle if you are new to raising chickens.
3. Golden Comet
This is a very friendly bird that can lay anywhere from 250 eggs to 300 per year. That is a lot of eggs.
Also, because of its gentle temperament, this might be a good breed to start with if you are a beginner at raising chickens.
Meat Breeds:
1. Cornish Cross
The Cornish Cross is a fast growing bird. The females average around 8 pounds per bird and the males average around 12 pounds per bird.
Plus, they are ready to be harvested at around 4-6 weeks so they don’t require a ton of investment in food or time.
2. Jersey Giant
Jersey Giants are great birds to raise. I actually raise these myself. The females average around 10 pounds per bird while the males average around 13 pound per bird.
However, these birds do require a little extra time since they can’t be harvested until around 20 weeks. But they grow to be quite large so the time may be worth your investment.
3. Bresse
This is a more expensive meat breed, but once you have your breeding pair you are set. They cost so much because they are known for being extremely tender.
So you can be ready to harvest around 7 pounds of meat per bird in an average of 16-20 weeks. Once you taste them, you may decide that it’s definitely worth the investment.
Dual Purpose Breeds:
1. The Black Australorp
This is a large bird that is known for laying around an egg per day. It is said to have a friendly temperament about it while also be very aware of what is going on around the flock.
But if you’d like to eat the bird after its laying years, depending upon the sex of the bird, it should produce a 5 to 8 pound bird.
2. The Speckled Sussex
This is another chicken breed that is known for laying regularly. It also is known for having roosters that are very protective of the flock.
But once these birds are done laying, you should be able to have a 7-9 pound bird for dinner depending upon the sex.
3. Rhode Island Red
The Rhode Island Red makes our list again. These birds are great layers as we’ve already discussed.
But I can’t stress enough to watch their temperament. Once you decide it is time to eat this bird though, you should end up with 6-8 pounds depending upon the sex.
Here's more list of the best egg breeds:
How to Keep Them Healthy
Diseases and pests are a big challenge for chicken owners.
But pests like mites are just part of raising chickens. They are little bugs that climb on your chickens and cause them a lot of discomforts. It can actually lead to death if they are attacked by too many at once, as they wear down their immune system due to stress.
So how do you beat them? You purchase an inexpensive, natural treatment that will also help you to worm your chickens too: Diatomaceous Earth. Check out other uses for it here too.
All you’ll need to do is sprinkle DE on your chickens about once a month or so. You could even include it in an area where they like to dust bath. This will kill any mites on them.
But when you begin to notice that your chicken’s eggs have a lot of poop on them, you’ll know it is time to deworm them. You do this by sprinkling DE on their food. They ingest it, it makes them poop, and the worms are gone. You’ll do this on an as needed basis.
If by chance you begin noticing that your chickens’ legs are scaly, this is a different type of mite known as leg mites. You’ll want to rub Vaseline on your bird’s legs for about 1-2 weeks to smother the mites. When you see their legs have returned to normal, rub the Vaseline on their legs for a couple more days just to be sure that all of the mites are gone.
You now know how to help your birds beat the most common pests that will try to share their coop.
Read this article if you want to learn more about the most common chicken diseases and how to treat them.
How to Keep a Clean Coop
Helping your girls to have a clean area to live is probably one of the best things you can do for them. It helps to keep them healthy.
So I usually clean my chicken coop out about once a week or so. I refresh nesting box material as needed, though.
However, once a week I go in and complete these steps:
1. Clean the floor
I always begin by cleaning out all of the material from the floor. If you have a dirt floor in your coop, then you might want to try the deep litter method.
But if you have an actual floor in your coop, you’ll want to come through with a pitchfork and toss all of the material into a wheel barrel.
Then you can use it in your compost pile.
2. Refresh nesting material
Your girls will not want to lay in a dirty nesting box. That is why I change mine almost daily.
However, be sure that this is an item included on your weekly cleaning trip to ensure that your girls have a happy laying space.
3. Clean the feeder and waterer
Next, you’ll want to empty the feeder and waterer. Wash them out with a water hose and allow them to dry.
But be careful using any kind of cleaner in your coop as it can upset your chicken’s sensitive respiratory system. If you feel like you need to scrub the waterers or feeders, use vinegar. It is natural and wont’ harm them.
4. Clean the roosts
Then you’ll need to go along the roosts with a garden hoe to knock off any poop. If you feel they need a solid scrubbing, then just use vinegar and water.
However, be sure to wear gloves if you are handling chicken poop. You don’t want to get sick while trying to keep them healthy.
5. Empty the run
Finally, if you have a run area, be sure to open the door to it and empty it as well. Then you’ll need to add fresh material to the run to ensure that your chickens aren’t constantly walking on poop.
If you follow these few steps on a regular basis, then you’ll be well on your way to having healthy and happy chickens. Which hopefully equates to lots of eggs for you.
What Your Hens Need to Produce Eggs
The final step to raising your chickens is to make sure you give your birds what they need in order to lay eggs. They need the following items:
1. Clean space
We just discussed how to give your chickens a clean laying space. If your birds aren’t laying, be sure to check their housing situation. It may be dirty or overcrowded.
So try to avoid this issue if at all possible.
2. Food and Water
I mentioned this earlier too, but be sure that your birds know that they have plenty of food and water available.
If they feel they do not, they can potentially quit laying.
3. Sunlight
Finally, your chickens need sunlight. During the winter you will notice that most chickens lay fewer eggs. This is because of shorter days and less sunlight.
However, you can stick a regular lamp in their coop and put it on a timer so your chickens think the days are longer. This means they’ll wake up earlier and stay up later so they have enough time to lay for you.
Well, those are the basics to raising happy and healthy chickens. I wish you lots of luck on your backyard chicken adventure.Revelation supports theory that the murders were part of an organised killing, probably by more than one person
The four people shot dead at an Alpine beauty spot were each killed with two bullets to the head, French investigators said. The revelation supports the theory that they were victims of an organised killing, probably by more than one person.
Iraqi-born aeronautics engineer Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Iqbal, 47, their two daughters and a 77-year-old woman thought to be Iqbal's mother, were holidaying in the Alps near Lake Annecy in the Haute Savoie when they were attacked. The adults' bodies were found inside a British-registered maroon BMW at the end of a narrow track near the village of Chevaline.
The couple's elder daughter, Zainab, aged seven, who had been shot in the shoulder and suffered serious injuries after being bludgeoned over the head, was found nearby.
A second daughter, Zeena, aged four, was found cowering terrified in the footwell in the rear of the car under the skirt of her dead mother, where she had remained undetected for eight hours after French gendarmes sealed off the scene.
A passing French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, 45, was also gunned down.
On Saturday, as British and French detectives entered the family's home in Surrey, the French prosecutor leading the investigation said he had 40 officers working on the case. "The autopsies on the four people found dead found there were several bullets, but each one had received two bullets in the head," Eric Maillaud said.
"I cannot say if the killer or killers were professional; all I can say is there was an absolute determination to kill. To put two bullets in the head of each person shows that whoever was responsible for the terrible drama was determined to kill."
He added: "We don't know what the elder girl was hit with and we cannot say in what order the victims were shot. It seems the scene happened very rapidly." He added the postmortem and ballistic reports had pushed the idea of the victims being targeted by a lone gunman "further down the list of hypotheses".
Maillaud said that Zeena would soon be reunited with members of her family who had travelled to France to take her home. He said Zainab, whom he described as a "key witness", was still in hospital in an induced coma, to aid her recovery, but added that her life was no longer in danger.
Surrey's Assistant Chief Constable, Rob Price, said: "This is a French-led investigation. Surrey police will do all we can in the support of the effective investigation on behalf of our French colleagues."Man-made air pollution kills millions of people every year, but a new study suggests that poor air quality in India and China could be contributing to extreme weather patterns in the U.S. and Canada.
The study by researchers at Texas A&M, the first of its kind to focus on smog in Asia, found that air pollution originating in the region almost certainly affects global weather patterns.
How much of an effect, researchers say, remains to be seen. However, it is likely exacerbating problems already caused by climate change: increasing the intensity and frequency of storms, ice cap melting, sea level rise, and drought.
Scientists have already determined that carbon emissions, or greenhouse gases, contribute to climate change. But the smog in Asia is caused by more than just the burning of fossil fuels — it's comprised of nitrogen oxides, methane and other volatile organic compounds that combine to produce ozone.
Scientists used satellite imagery and computer models to show that man-made air pollution created in Asia is adversely affecting the Pacific Ocean storm track, which transports weather westward from Asia to the west coasts of Canada and the U.S.
The pollution is causing an increase in the formation of deep convective clouds, from 20 to 50 percent. The result is more extreme storms, according to the study funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.
“This pollution directly affects our weather,” Renyi Zhang, professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M and lead author of the study, said in a statement.
“During the past few decades, there has been a dramatic increase in atmospheric aerosols — mostly sulfate and soot from coal burning — especially in China and India,” he said.
Both China and India have experienced widespread economic growth in recent years. Large, dirty factories and power plants, combined with the effects of wood and coal burning stoves among large populations have meant that the countries are now among the world's largest contributors of man-made air pollution.
Those toxins ride the Pacific storm track to the west coasts of Canada and the U.S., across North America, and eventually over most of the world, impacting clouds in their wake, the study found. That could lead to increased frequency and intensity of storms or even severe droughts.
What’s more, soot particles in the form of black carbon can collect on ice packs in the poles — which attract more heat from the sun and accelerates ice-cap melting.
Melting ice caps results in the release of methane, which exacerbates global warming, and also contributes to accelerated sea level rise.
Sea level rise already poses an existential threat to residents of low-lying areas around the world.
“The Pacific storm track plays a crucial role in our weather, and there is no doubt at all that human activity is changing the world’s weather,” Zhang said.In the latest issue of Famitsu, Game Freak said that the company wants to make 2016 “into a great year of celebrations” for Pokemon. Junichi Masuda offered up a little something more in this month’s Nintendo Dream.
Here’s our translation of what was said:
“Happy New Year! On February 27, 2016, Pokemon will celebrate its 20th anniversary. On this day, Virtual Console versions of Pokemon Red, Green, Blue & Yellow will be released, so if we can hype it up with everyone while feeling nostalgic with the past, I’ll be glad! And this year I think we’ll give a feel of the future with Pokemon Go! We’re challenging [ourselves] so that the 20th anniversary will be fun for everyone in the world, so please keep up your continuing support. The ring of Pokemon is still getting bigger! I look forward to working with you all this year!
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It was like you’d Googled “How to TP a House”.STEP ONE: PICK A HOUSE WHICH:- is on the corner so lots of people driving by see your work – CHECK!- has lots of hedges and HIGH trees to hang TP on – CHECK!- has no fence to trap you in case you’re caught – CHECK!- has no motion-sensitive lights to warn the owners – CHECK!- has no dog – DOH!Yes, we have a dog – and you should have known that because he barks at you when you walk by. Our barking dog woke me up. And finally, pick a house which:- doesn’t have an owner crazy enough to take down all your handiwork in the middle of the night before anyone gets to witness your genius – DOH!I was almost SORRY to be dismantling your masterpiece before morning light. If it helps, I actually stood back and took it all in before I started pulling down streams of white. But, this being Seattle, I was afraid it would rain and wet TP is REALLY hard to remove from trees. I speak from experience here.STEP TWO: TP TECHNIQUE -- AND BEYONDFirst, your TP technique was superb. I believe I got the benefit of your collective experience here? This couldn’t have been your first job.- the sheer volume of TP was impressive. I counted no fewer than six rolls- the TP was indeed in the HIGHEST branches of my trees – great arm! I had to climb the trees and use a rake to remove the final flapping vestiges.- the TP was high quality, important because the cheap stuff doesn’t cling rightBut it was all the EXTRAS which put this TP job in the “excellent” category:- At least a grocery bag of ripped-into-small-pieces colored construction paper scattered across our lawn. Even in the streetlight it was pretty.- Silly string! Come on – who doesn’t appreciate silly string? Especially on hedges. That stuff is stubborn. There’s still some out there.- And the coup-de-grace – the Vaseline on the door handle. Brilliant! As I chased you off in my bare feet (more on this below) I noted my flash light covered in sticky stuff. Took me a while to figure out what had happened.Now, on your escape – you did break one cardinal rule of the TP trade. If discovered do NOT run in the direction of your house. It could be argued you should lose a point for this gaff, but I suppose it can be forgiven given the lay of the land and the fact that you were likely freaked out when I burst out of my front door with flash light hand.Would you believe I actually ENVIED you as you ran off? I truly did. Because I knew your hearts were hammering at your ribs and you were experiencing that delicious fear that comes from being discovered in the middle of perpetrating a first-class prank. “Holy crap, dude! He almost CAUGHT US!” The thought made me laugh out loud several times as I went about putting my front yard right again.STEP THREE - DO NO HARMFinally, what you DIDN’T DO is also important: you didn’t trample our newly planted plants or break any tree branches. You didn’t egg the house – that can destroy paint jobs. You didn’t do anything to cause any real damage to our home or property.So – in closing – don’t be too disappointed I removed all the materials you carefully collected and brought to our house before anyone else got to see it displayed in all its glory. I am memorializing your effort here on Craigslist for all to read.After an hour of work, as I stood back and looked at my boring de-TP’d yard, I brought to mind how much more colorful it had been just 60 mintues before. With your work in mind, I held up an imaginary score card Olympics style…10.0! Had there been crowds, they would have gone wild.With respect,Home Owner, Issaquah WAP.S. btw, once is funny. Twice...not so much. ;)Sloth bear (Melursus ursinus); Credit: Shutterstock
Somewhere in the forests of India, a mother sloth bear has just given birth to two cuddly cubs. As months go by, the two leave the safety of their den and follow their mom around as she looks for nibbles. Sometimes tired of walking the cubs hop on to mom's back for a joy ride across the forest - they are still young and need her constantly for food and safety. But watching this merry jungle family is another animal who may have left the life of the forest-dweller but retains some of the barbaric ways. He sits prowling and one day kills the mother bear, abducts the young cubs and sells them to those who would bind the carefree pair and turn them into street entertainers for life.
This is the sad tale of some of India's sloth bears or black bears that are captured from the forests by poachers and later sold to a community called Kalandars, who elk their living dancing bears.
About Sloth Bears
The Indian Sloth Bear (Melursus ursinus) are visibly different from the American Brown Bears and the Black Bears. These bears are also the only species of bear adapted specifically for myrmecophagy (ant and termite-eating). Unlike brown and black bears, sloth bears have lankier builds, long shaggy coats that form a mane around the face, long sickle shaped claws, and a specially adapted lower lip and palate used for sucking insects.
Sloth bears occupy a wide range of habitats on the Indian mainland including wet or dry tropical forests, savannas, scrublands, and grasslands but they are primarily a lowland species. It is this reliance on lowland areas that makes them particularly vulnerable to loss of habitat as the areas tend to be the places most readily used by people. It is also here that poachers can easily keep track of bear activities and nab the young ones.
Bound from Birth
The transformation of a free-willed sloth bear to a bound and tame street performer is a story of torture, coercion and extreme cruelty. Poachers keep a lookout for young 4-6 month old bear cubs and when they find one, they kill the mother and stuff the cub in gunny bags. The cubs are then transported to far off villages in the interiors of northern India, where a community's livelihood depends on these bears.
Even as some little ones perish, those who survive the gruesome ordeal face a bleak future. Their trainers knock their teeth with hammers and chop off their claws. A red-hot iron rod is then inserted without anesthesia into their sensitive snouts, through which a rope is passed. The wound is kept raw deliberately and it often bleeds due to infection.
Like the bear cubs, the children of Kalandar community too begin their training early on. They never attend schools and are never made to learn any other trade. What they learn from childhood is bear handling and bullying the animal to perform on the streets.
Can't Bear Dancing
But despite the training, the bears can never be actually tamed. The rope that is tied to a circular iron rod passing through the bear's nuzzles, is pulled by the madari-the entertainer. The bear is then forced to stand on its hind paws unlike its natural habit of walking on all fours. So what you believe to be dancing is merely a reflex action, similar to the pull you feel when someone pulls one of your ears! Because the adult bears cannot be taught new tricks again and again, their owners live a nomadic life - Moving from village to village and street to street to make the bear repeat the same moves for a different audience.
Ironically, despite all the effort taken to bound and train the bear, the money earned from the business can barely feed the Kalandar's family or his bear.
Dancing sloth bear: this bear is suffering as he is forced to perform in India; Credit: © International Animal Rescue
Protection efforts
In October, 1998 an amendment in the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960) was made that declared bear dancing as illegal in India. But many organisations realised that the root problem to this issue was not the bear hunting, but the inability of the community of bear dancers to learn and adopt any other trade.
Thus, with support from the government and other conservation organisations, some NGOs like Wildlife SOS set to educate the Kalandar community and teach them other means of livelihood.
In the past decade these efforts have paid off well as presently there are hundreds of the community who have left bear dancing, and are also enrolling their kids to school. They are now earning more through occupations like farming rather than forcing an animal to perform on the streets. There are also many bears that were once street performers but now have been rescued and enjoy their twilight years in specially formed bear rescue and care centres all over the country.
New Threats
Despite the revamped laws and attempts to change the lifestyle of the street performers, few men still prefer the known trade of dancing bears to learning a new trade. They now remain hidden and roam in little known villages where it is not easy to catch them.
Poachers also kill adult bears for local use like male reproductive organs used as aphrodisiac; bones, teeth and claws used to ward off evil spirits. Bear fat is also used for native medicine and hair regeneration. They can fetch high prices by selling the bear parts to be used as Chinese medicine.
Presently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has labeled the black bears as a vulnerable species but the threats are constantly increasing. These bears are not only being robbed of their natural habitat, but also live a life exposed to the predator called man willing to separate mothers from their young one in the name of entertainment. If communities don't learn, it might well be a dark black future for the Indian Black Bears.
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More Conservation News / Back to the Homepage
Topics: BearsHey Everybody,
Alpha 39 is now out (see previous update) -- unfortunately I broke a few things this time around (including the Linux version), but I think there's enough new stuff to make up for it.
Changes from version 0.38...
[ ] Broke Zombi and Tree and Water
[-] Got debris working in inventory (partially complete)
[*] Got inhand weapons working again
[*] Show object stack counts
[*] Helper function to add to inventory
[*] Rotate objects as they're moved in inventory
[*] Click and drag objects in player inventory
[*] Draw objects in player inventory
[*] Spawn each templated object into player's inventory on start
[*] Made torches and spikes throwable
[*] Added lord dorf object
[*] Added sword object
[*] Added spear object
[*] Added knife object
[*] Added club object
[*] Added anvil object
[*] Added heavy axe object
[*] Added heavy pick object
[*] Added player object
[*] Added automatic object loading (all in directory)
[*] Added TEMPLATE.TXT file to every object
[*] Improved object collisions and stacking
[*] Rewrote object system
[*] Fixed problem with player-object collisions
[*] Changed exit to shift-escape
Anyway, hope you like it! Please let me know if there are any problems downloading or running it!
-Aaron"Field rush" redirects here. For the plant, see Juncus tenuis
A police officer tackles a lone field invader at a 2011 Baltimore Orioles game.
A pitch invasion (known in North America as field invasion, field intrusion, rushing the field or storming the field) occurs when an individual or a crowd of people watching a sporting event run onto the playing area to celebrate or protest an incident. Pitch invasions may involve individual people or capacity crowds. Charges can be laid, resulting in fines or jail time.
This is especially common in college and high school football when a team pulls off a major upset, defeats a major rival, ends a long losing streak or notches a history-making win. Many schools employ riot police to physically prevent fans from rushing the field, a controversy in and of itself. However, with the widespread advent of artificial turf, some schools are becoming more lax about students invading the pitch. In the last few years, goal posts are also taken down within moments of the end of the game as a cautionary measure to prevent fans from climbing atop them to cause damage to the standard holding them up, damage to television camera equipment on the posts, and spectator injury. In the National Football League, storming the field usually results in lifetime revocation of season tickets from the holder of them, even if given or sold to another person.
Southeastern Conference penalties [ edit ]
Section 10.5 of the Southeastern Conference By-Laws has a progressive fine policy adopted in 2004 for major sports: $5,000 for the first offence, $25,000 for the second offence, and $50,000 for third and subsequent offences within a three-year period of the last pitch invasion. In May 2015, the fines increased to $50,000, $100,000, and $250,000 for the first, second, and third plus subsequent offences, respectively. The period for past violations was also increased from three years to five.
The Kentucky Wildcats have been hit with "the triple" for three football pitch invasions within eleven months:
On 4 November 2006, the team was fined $5,000 for a pitch invasion after a football win against Georgia.
On 15 September 2007, the team was fined $25,000 for a pitch invasion after a football non-conference win against archrival Louisville.
On 13 October 2007, the team was fined $50,000 for a pitch invasion after a triple overtime football win against top-ranked LSU.[6]
Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Missouri have been fined $25,000 for second offence violations, but most SEC schools have been fined $5,000. Missouri's fine is notable in that their second violation occurred after only three years as a member of the SEC: both came when supporters flooded Faurot Field after the team clinched a trip to the SEC Championship Game, in 2013 and 2014. Note that in association football, Kentucky and South Carolina have the rule in effect for women's games, but because the men's game is held under the auspices of Conference USA, there is no pitch invasion fine in that sport.[citation needed]
Auburn became the first SEC institution to be fined the maximum of $250,000 following its football victory over Alabama on 25 November 2017. This came on top of violations following Auburn victories over Alabama in football in 2013 and Kentucky in men's basketball in 2016.[7]
Other conference penalties [ edit ]
Other conferences have similar by-laws; in some conferences, the pitch invasion rule is reset to zero after five years without a pitch invasion, and the fine is doubled in the event that a player or official is injured as a result of the pitch invasion.
However, more recently, some conferences have begun cracking down on pitch invasions in all sports.
Tearing down the goal posts [ edit ]
There has long been a tradition in American football — primarily in college football — under which fans celebrating a major victory will tear down the goal posts on the field after the game.[8] No one knows for certain when or how the tradition started.[9] The Boston Public Library has in its collection a photograph of fans tearing down a goal post in 1940.[10]
Tearing down the goal posts can be dangerous, however, as people can be injured or killed by a falling goal post. Persons who sit or hang on the goal posts while they are being pulled down can be injured if they fall off or if they land hard on the ground when the goal posts collapse. Camera equipment from a game broadcaster attached to the goalposts results in another injury possibility. These dangers can create legal implications for the schools, the localities, and the venues where the games occur.[11]
In Massachusetts, there is a state statute that specifically prohibits the unauthorized tearing down of goal posts on a football field. Chapter 266, Section 104A of the Massachusetts General Laws provides: "Whoever willfully and without right destroys, injures or removes a goal post on a football field shall be punished by a fine of not less than fifty nor more than two hundred dollars."[12] The Massachusetts state legislature enacted the statute in 1960 in response to a tragedy that occurred the previous year.[13] On 26 November 1959 (Thanksgiving Day that year), a 14-year-old girl in Foxborough, Jane Puffer, was hit on the head by a falling goal post. She had been part of a crowd that was on the field after the conclusion of a high school football game while a group of fans was tearing down a goal post. The steel goal post suddenly toppled to the ground, and Puffer was hit as she was apparently trying to push another girl out of its way. She died of her injuries the next day.[14][15][16] The state legislature enacted the statute the following year, and the law has remained unchanged ever since.[17]
In spite of the law, on 22 December 1985, fans of the New England Patriots tore down a goal post in Sullivan Stadium (also in Foxborough) to celebrate the team's victory there in the regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, which clinched a playoff berth for the Patriots. Some fans carried the goal post outside of the stadium, where they caused it to come into contact with an overhead high-voltage power line. A man nearby, Jon Pallazola, was seriously injured. There was evidence that he was injured when he tried to protect himself from being hit by the falling goal post immediately after it became electrified. Pallazola subsequently sued a private security company that had been under contract to provide security at the stadium. He received a large jury verdict against the company, and then settled his claim against the company for $4.5 million. He also sued the Town of Foxborough but, in 1994, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that his claim against the town was barred by a state statute that gave municipalities immunity from claims that they failed to provide police protection or prevent crimes.[18]
On 19 November 1983, an 18-year-old Harvard University student was critically injured when she was hit on the back of her head by a goal post that Harvard fans tore down to celebrate their team's victory over archrival Yale University at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut.[19][20] The student, Margaret Cimino, subsequently filed a lawsuit in federal court against Yale, the City of New Haven, the City of West Haven, and a security company. She settled her claims against the City of West Haven and the security company. In 1986, a federal judge ruled that Cimino had sufficient evidence to take her claims against Yale and the City of New Haven to trial.[21] The parties then reached a settlement before the trial occurred.[22]
On 21 November 1998, a first-year student at Oregon State University was seriously injured when she was hit on the head by a falling goal post that fans tore down after the football team's 44-41 double overtime victory over the University of Oregon.[23] She suffered a fractured skull and bleeding in her brain |
his aircraft. That is almost 10 percent of the $33.4 million the campaign spent through February.
For comparison, Hillary Clinton, who has traveled much more extensively on the campaign trail, has spent about $2.5 million chartering jets. That is less than 2 percent of the $129 million her campaign has reported spending.
Donations have covered about 29 percent of Trump’s roughly $12,500 per day in aircraft costs. The rest is in the form of loans Trump made to the campaign, which may eventually be paid off with future donations.
Federal law says candidates who own their own aircraft must charge their campaign “the fair market value of the normal and usual charter fare or rental charge for a comparable plane of comparable size.”
Data from Boeing, analyzed by flight companies, suggests operating costs in the range of $8,000 to $9,000 per flight-hour when jet fuel prices were double current levels.
Charles Williams, editor of a British website which analyzes airline industry costs, and several charter operators put the hourly operating costs of a 757-200 in that range with charter flights starting at about $14,000 an hour. The chief sales agent for one charter firm told me that charges for blinged-out 757 like Trump’s could be as much as $30,000 per flight-hour.
Williams said the charter fees Trump charges the campaign, after a back of the envelope analysis using the limited data available from the campaign, seem reasonable.
So each hour Trump flies his jet to and from campaign events he both relieves himself of part of the burden of the plane’s fixed costs and turns a profit of several thousand dollars.
The law’s reference to “a comparable plane of comparable size” also suggests that Trump can charge a much higher than typical price for a Boeing 757 because he asserts it is the most fancily decked out private aircraft of its kind.
That’s right: He’s found the alchemist’s recipe for turning glitz into cash.
The campaign has also rented space in Trump Tower and rooms from Trump-branded hotels—both of which can legally charge rates that include a normal profit.
America would benefit from politicians as public servants and not from a campaign of presidency for profit.Python - Network Programming
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Python provides two levels of access to network services. At a low level, you can access the basic socket support in the underlying operating system, which allows you to implement clients and servers for both connection-oriented and connectionless protocols.
Python also has libraries that provide higher-level access to specific application-level network protocols, such as FTP, HTTP, and so on.
This chapter gives you understanding on most famous concept in Networking - Socket Programming.
What is Sockets?
Sockets are the endpoints of a bidirectional communications channel. Sockets may communicate within a process, between processes on the same machine, or between processes on different continents.
Sockets may be implemented over a number of different channel types: Unix domain sockets, TCP, UDP, and so on. The socket library provides specific classes for handling the common transports as well as a generic interface for handling the rest.
Sockets have their own vocabulary −
Sr.No. Term & Description 1 Domain The family of protocols that is used as the transport mechanism. These values are constants such as AF_INET, PF_INET, PF_UNIX, PF_X25, and so on. 2 type The type of communications between the two endpoints, typically SOCK_STREAM for connection-oriented protocols and SOCK_DGRAM for connectionless protocols. 3 protocol Typically zero, this may be used to identify a variant of a protocol within a domain and type. 4 hostname The identifier of a network interface − A string, which can be a host name, a dotted-quad address, or an IPV6 address in colon (and possibly dot) notation
A string "<broadcast>", which specifies an INADDR_BROADCAST address.
A zero-length string, which specifies INADDR_ANY, or
An Integer, interpreted as a binary address in host byte order. 5 port Each server listens for clients calling on one or more ports. A port may be a Fixnum port number, a string containing a port number, or the name of a service.
The socket Module
To create a socket, you must use the socket.socket() function available in socket module, which has the general syntax −
s = socket.socket (socket_family, socket_type, protocol=0)
Here is the description of the parameters −
socket_family − This is either AF_UNIX or AF_INET, as explained earlier.
socket_type − This is either SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_DGRAM.
protocol − This is usually left out, defaulting to 0.
Once you have socket object, then you can use required functions to create your client or server program. Following is the list of functions required −
Server Socket Methods
Sr.No. Method & Description 1 s.bind() This method binds address (hostname, port number pair) to socket. 2 s.listen() This method sets up and start TCP listener. 3 s.accept() This passively accept TCP client connection, waiting until connection arrives (blocking).
Client Socket Methods
Sr.No. Method & Description 1 s.connect() This method actively initiates TCP server connection.
General Socket Methods
Sr.No. Method & Description 1 s.recv() This method receives TCP message 2 s.send() This method transmits TCP message 3 s.recvfrom() This method receives UDP message 4 s.sendto() This method transmits UDP message 5 s.close() This method closes socket 6 socket.gethostname() Returns the hostname.
A Simple Server
To write Internet servers, we use the socket function available in socket module to create a socket object. A socket object is then used to call other functions to setup a socket server.
Now call bind(hostname, port) function to specify a port for your service on the given host.
Next, call the accept method of the returned object. This method waits until a client connects to the port you specified, and then returns a connection object that represents the connection to that client.
#!/usr/bin/python # This is server.py file import socket # Import socket module s = socket.socket() # Create a socket object host = socket.gethostname() # Get local machine name port = 12345 # Reserve a port for your service. s.bind((host, port)) # Bind to the port s.listen(5) # Now wait for client connection. while True: c, addr = s.accept() # Establish connection with client. print 'Got connection from', addr c.send('Thank you for connecting') c.close() # Close the connection
A Simple Client
Let us write a very simple client program which opens a connection to a given port 12345 and given host. This is very simple to create a socket client using Python's socket module function.
The socket.connect(hosname, port ) opens a TCP connection to hostname on the port. Once you have a socket open, you can read from it like any IO object. When done, remember to close it, as you would close a file.
The following code is a very simple client that connects to a given host and port, reads any available data from the socket, and then exits −
#!/usr/bin/python # This is client.py file import socket # Import socket module s = socket.socket() # Create a socket object host = socket.gethostname() # Get local machine name port = 12345 # Reserve a port for your service. s.connect((host, port)) print s.recv(1024) s.close() # Close the socket when done
Now run this server.py in background and then run above client.py to see the result.
# Following would start a server in background. $ python server.py & # Once server is started run client as follows: $ python client.py
This would produce following result −
Got connection from ('127.0.0.1', 48437) Thank you for connecting
Python Internet modules
A list of some important modules in Python Network/Internet programming.
Protocol Common function Port No Python module HTTP Web pages 80 httplib, urllib, xmlrpclib NNTP Usenet news 119 nntplib FTP File transfers 20 ftplib, urllib SMTP Sending email 25 smtplib POP3 Fetching email 110 poplib IMAP4 Fetching email 143 imaplib Telnet Command lines 23 telnetlib Gopher Document transfers 70 gopherlib, urllib
Please check all the libraries mentioned above to work with FTP, SMTP, POP, and IMAP protocols.
Further Readings
This was a quick start with Socket Programming. It is a vast subject. It is recommended to go through the following link to find more detail −Sorry for keeping you waiting so long
**AFTERBIRTH + HYPE.**The Binding of MARIO Afterbirth 1.0 by: [ ArMM1998 ] & [ tipo19 ] (Wolter)*Special thanks to [Nintendofan37](http://www.reddit.com/user/NintendoFan37)*Twitter acc: [@BindingofMario](https://twitter.com/BindingOfMario). We'll post updates of what we're up to.***Using this mod does not disable achievements***~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Feature List:**- Mario, Luigi, Peach (+Toadsworth), Bowser Jr., Toad, E.Gadd, Cosmic Mario and Rosalina as playable characters- Mario's Music in-game!- Mario based Floors!- Some monsters changed- 10 Mario Bosses- Main menu- Some items changed- Hidden stuff lol (Even in this post)- ETC.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Screenshots**[First album](http://imgur.com/a/Zly11)[Second album](http://imgur.com/a/DEzdo)[Third album](http://imgur.com/a/SgDMG)[Fourth album](http://imgur.com/a/Aiyvt)[Fifth album (Newer)](http://imgur.com/a/urLDy)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Download**[Download 0.1](http://www.mediafire.com/download/3fdhpvhx9jtj257/resources.rar)[Download 0.2](http://www.mediafire.com/download/1d9wbk3hxfc7e15/resources_0.2.rar)[Download 0.3](http://www.mediafire.com/download/2u100vv5f2n4xnh/resources_v3.rar)[Download 0.4](http://www.mediafire.com/download/gjpym94hhc4bhj5/The+Binding+of+Mario+Mod+V4.rar)[Download 0.51](https://www.mediafire.com/?ifxdax1nee71it5)[Download 0.6](http://www.mediafire.com/download/49y8dmoc2e4umym/The_Binding_of_Mario_V6.rar)[Download 0.7 (New!)](http://moddingofisaac.com/mod/235/thebindingofmario)[Mediafire mirror](http://www.mediafire.com/download/9gb8h7q34l7yb44/Mario.zip)You can see the evolution of the mod <3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Changelog-Boo mario-Bowser's castle-New arcade room-New Enemies-5 new bosses-UI update*psst* mega dry bowser~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Coming soon:**- More bosses and enemies!- Last touches to the Music!- More Mario based Floors- Sfx Changes- Bugfix?- ETC!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Notes from the creators:**This mod was made by two people, and we are planning to add LOTS of new stuff. If you wish to send ideas, etc, or spritework, send us private messages ;)Remember, this is work in progress, so if there are any bugs report them in the comments.If you have any suggestions dont be shy to post them in the comments n.n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**Install instructions:***PC*Extract the rar in the game's resources folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Binding of Isaac Rebirth\resources)*Mac*Unpack the file on the download page. Go to steam, right click Isaac Rebirth, go to configurations or options then go to local files, and the first option. You'll see an Isaac icon. Right click, show package ( or something like that) and you'll be inside isaac. Then you just have to find the resources folder and put all the stuff there.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Featured Vids:[Canker 17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv-RrVTGd30)[BungieMuffin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORwGTPD8EQ)[Adrian Simple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Iijl8ZoMCo)[Cornel | Let's Play](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRaXIpGS35E&feature=autoshare) (German)[iVertox](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfRNSXx5Ujo) (Spanish)Twitter Acc: [@BindingofMario](https://twitter.com/BindingOfMario)EMBED >More News Videos A 7-year-old boy in Orange County combined his entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the environment to start his own recycling business, saving a whopping $10,000 for college.
Ryan Hickman, 7, poses for a photo next to sea lions.
Ryan Hickman, 7, poses for a photo next to a garbage truck.
A 7-year-old boy in Orange County combined his entrepreneurial spirit and passion for the environment to start his own recycling business, saving a whopping $10,000 for college.Ryan Hickman began recycling when he was just 3 1/2 years old."We had gone to the center with a couple of bags, and he really loved the actual act of putting all the cans and bottles into the machine and getting the money for it, and that kind of got him hooked," described Damion Hickman, Ryan's father.The then-toddler enlisted the help of friends and family and has since started his own business, Ryan's Recycling "I've recycled 200,000 cans and bottles," Ryan said.Every week, he and his family sort through bags of recyclables."If it's me, my dad and my mom and my grandma doing it at the same time, one bag will be gone like in, let's say, two minutes," Ryan said.Ryan saved more than $10,000 for college. He also sells T-shirts on his website and donates the proceeds to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach."For the sea lions to get food and medicine," he said.Ryan's parents hope he continues saving for college, but they say he's primarily concerned with protecting the environment."That's a big deal to Ryan, that it doesn't, the cans and bottles don't end up in the ocean," his father said.Ryan would also like to invest his savings in a business purchase."The recycling money I'm saving for a garbage truck," Ryan said.The San Juan Capistrano resident receives encouraging messages from people around the world and wants to keep inspiring others."If you already recycle, just keep on recycling. If you don't recycle, start recycling," Ryan said.Always the businessman, Ryan added, "If you want to buy one of these T-shirts, it's $13 on ryansrecycling.com."The United Nations Security Council reportedly voted unanimously on Monday to increase sanctions against North Korea after the threatening state launched its latest nuclear weapons test earlier this month.
The sanctions resolution, which was drafted by the U.S., signals that the Security Council is stepping up its efforts to pressure Pyongyang to back off its weapons programs, stacking up additional sanctions after also voting unanimously last month to impose severe financial penalties.
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The resolution takes aim at imports, Bloomberg reported, cutting off refined petroleum products to 2 million barrels a year while also banning textile exports.
The resolution also reportedly gives countries the right to freeze assets of cargo ships if their operators refuse to submit to inspections on the high seas.
The newly added penalties come just one week after North Korea carried out its sixth and largest confirmed nuclear test.
President Trump, who has grown vocally frustrated with China's failure or refusal to rein in Pyongyang, has repeatedly stated that "all options" are on the table when it comes to dealing with leader Kim Jong Un.
"This regime has signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations and for minimum standards of acceptable international behavior," Trump said in late August after a missile launched over Japan ignited further fear that the country aims to spark a conflict.
Secretary of Defense James Mattis James Norman MattisOvernight Defense: Trump to hold one-on-one with Kim | What to watch as summit kicks off | Top general dodges on Trump emergency declaration Retired officers express 'grave concern' with Trump's defense of transgender military policy Trump backs off total Syria withdrawal MORE additionally warned the isolated state not to threaten the U.S. or its allies, or it will be met with a military response.LOS ANGELES – Jaxson the alligator had apparently been living with the Mattson family for more than 37 years.
But their decades of life together came to an abrupt end this week when Los Angeles animal control officers raided their home and seized the 8-foot female alligator.
“You cannot own a reptile … like this in the City of Los Angeles without having a proper permit. And obviously for an alligator, we would not permit that,” Mark Salazar, the head of field operations for Los Angeles Animal Services, told CNN affiliate KCAL/KCBS.
City officials say they found the carcasses of two dead cats next to Jaxson in a covered box in the backyard of the house in the Van Nuys area of the city.
The family denies they were feeding the animals to the reptile, but authorities are asking residents of the area to get in touch if any of them have had small pets that have gone missing in the past 40 years.
Alligator was ‘raised with cats’
Laura Mattson, Jaxson’s owner, says there is “no way” she would have used cats as food for the alligator, who reportedly lived off chicken meat.
She said the family had taken care of cats, as well, pointing to a photo of the alligator with two small kittens, one snuggled against the reptile’s side.
Jaxson “was raised with cats” and had no problem with them, she told KCAL/KCBS.
Mattson says she took over responsibility for the reptile after her husband, Jim, died a few years ago. He apparently got the reptile back in 1977 when it was a baby.
Officials estimate the animal could now be as old as 40.
‘Like losing part of my family’
Authorities’ seizure of Jaxson is “like losing part of my family and plus losing part of Jim,” Mattson told CNN affiliate KABC.
She and her brother Ron Gorecki acknowledged that keeping the unusual pet wasn’t strictly by the book.
“I understand now it’s not legal, but when it becomes a pet, it becomes your family,” Gorecki told KABC. “When it becomes your family, you protect the pet and the people involved.”
They say they had previously tried without success to find a new home for Jaxson, including getting in touch with the L.A. Zoo.
“They had no room,” Mattson said.
Criminal investigation
But despite their assertions, the family could face criminal charges.
Animal Services is conducting a full criminal investigation and is expected to present a case to the City Attorney’s Office for prosecution, reported CNN affiliate KTLA.
Officials had previously searched the home in late 2014 after receiving a tip, but they didn’t find an alligator, KTLA reported, citing a statement from the City Attorney’s Office.
The search this week took place on Monday after another tip. A resident at the home refused to let the animal control officers inspect the property, so they obtained a search warrant, the statement said.
Jaxson is now apparently in the care of keepers at the L.A. Zoo.
Mattson told KCAL/KCBS that she thinks that’s a good place for the alligator.
“I’d be really happy if the zoo took her,” she said. “That would be the best thing for her, plus maybe she could find a mate.”
– Jethro Mullen for CNN
– BY KENNEDY RYAN AND CHRIS WOLFE for KTLAI shop at Urban Outfitters with my dad. Not because my mom isn't around or because I have no other choice, but simply because. He helps me find clothes, and this is far from the first time; it's just another day for my dad. Yet, as we walk around the store, the stares of others pile upon our backs.
Yes, my mom is still around and present in my life. No, she is not too caught up in her work to have time for me. The roles are just reversed. It's what works for our family and many others.
Several months before I was born, my dad left his job as a sportscaster to become a stay-at-home dad. With a wife who was quickly rising in the field of pediatrics, my dad saw the opportunity to pursue a different avenue. He left one passion and began to rebuild his professional identity elsewhere.
While my dad's initial decision to become a stay-at-home dad in the late '90s was more nuanced, this decision has slowly become more commonplace. From 1989 to 2012, the number of stay-at-home dads roughly doubled. In a world where gender roles and stereotypes are slowly dissolving, my dad tested the waters early on with his change of profession. But even with the progression of time, many of the innate prejudices have persisted.
A couple of weeks ago, my dad checked out at the grocery store during one of his weekly shopping trips for groceries. While this was just another one of the things to do on his long list and nothing out of the norm, the response of cashier to seeing a man shopping for his family is still somewhat startling considering that we are now living in the year 2016.
“Wow, you must be the best husband ever to shop for your wife. Were you able to find everything OK? She must really appreciate you doing this for her.” The last part of this statement is correct. My mom does appreciate every little thing my dad does for her.
But the first part is an assumption that continues to persist. Just as my mom goes to work every morning, so does my dad. This is part of his job. He goes and buys our groceries, along with many other duties. Buying groceries doesn't have to be the mom's job.
While my last statement may sound obvious and heavily biased in favor of the destruction of “gender roles,” it is simply a statement and observation of what is being assumed regarding the capabilities of men.
Take this Clorox commercial for example.
The mom comes home to a dad who has strewn mess upon mess all over their home. He is portrayed as lacking the proper abilities to responsibly manage for their child while his wife is out of the house.
This commercial only furthers the stigma that men can't provide and take care of their family/children on their own. The single mom is heavily praised in today's times. She should be. But how often do we hear about the “heroic” nature of the single dad?
Evolutionary predispositions lead us to believe that the mother is the only true nurturer. But with improvements in accepting the LGBTQ+ community and many others, why has the gender division and assumptions regarding what each is capable of persisted? It is time to realize that we can change this evolutionary predisposition. Progress and allow your mindset to adapt to current times.
Do women's rights need improvement? Absolutely. My championing against our unconscious stigmas regarding the role of men has nothing to do with what I feel regarding the role of women. My voice for this issue empowers men, but nonetheless aims to take nothing away from women.
While we have empowered women and their ideas which is much deserved, we have, in the process, forgotten that men are equally capable. My dad is not lost as he shops in the grocery store or helps his daughter buy clothing. These issues are smaller and obviously not the type to be debated over in Congress, but they are a part of a larger issue. Our mindfulness of our unconscious mentality must be attended to.(CNN) The Sunni terror group ISIS says it's behind a series of attacks in Iraq's capital Wednesday that targeted Shiites and left more than 90 people dead.
At least 64 people were killed when a car bomb went off at a market in Baghdad, according to Iraqi police. Another 87 people were wounded in that attack in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City.
A crowd looks at the damage following a car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shiite area north of the capital Baghdad.
Pictures of the aftermath of the explosion showed hundreds gathered near a chaotic scene. Blood marked the street, cars had their windows blown out and nearly an entire sidewalk was left charred.
Later in the day, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest detonated in a busy square in the Shiite neighborhood of al-Kadhimiya, killing 17 people and wounding 43 others, two police officials in Baghdad told CNN. A suicide car bomber exploded in the Sunni neighborhood of al-Jamia in western Baghdad, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others. The attackers targeted a checkpoint manned by Shiites.
Read MoreNEW DELHI:AIADMK'S Jayalalithaa has often said her dream was to be a lawyer but last Saturday when a court convicted her in the disproportionate assets case, it was a woman lawyer, 87-year-old Lily Thomas, who was whisked away by anxious family members from her apartment in Delhi to a'safer location.'"Seeing the reaction of people in Tamil Nadu, we were worried about her safety as she lives alone in Delhi. So we brought her to live with us," said Thangam, her niece who lives in Gurgaon.Lily Thomas is behind clipping of wings of politicians such as Jayalalithaa and Lalu Prasad who have been accused of accumulating wealth through unfair means. She was the petitioner in the case - now referred to as the Lily Thomas judgment - where Supreme Court struck down Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act. Following the verdict, a legislator stands disqualified immediately when convicted for two or more years' prison."She (Jayalalithaa) looked so powerful when in power but now she stands betrayed and alone. Why didn't her party stop her? Where is the wealth now? Shouldn't it be confiscated? Our law should be so clear that there should be no ifs and buts," Thomas said.Last week, while coming down the stairs of her New Delhi apartment, she broke her arm and has been asked to take rest. Sitting with a bandaged arm, she recalls it was in 2005 that she filed the petition first, enraged at the sight of convicted getting stay from courts, contesting elections and winning them. The petition was rejected and it was only in her third attempt that she succeeded."Earlier, a convicted politician could file an appeal which could result in a stay on the conviction. It encouraged tainted leaders to contest elections," she says. When the UPA government last year prepared an ordinance to nullify the judgment, Thomas quickly prepared a review petition and was all set for another fight, but it was withdrawn. "Krishna in Bhagwad Gita says he will be born for restoring Dharma whenever it is in danger. Here, Dharma gets broken every day. Judiciary has become the correcting mechanism. What we need is a satvik Parliament devoid of corrupt politicians, so that democracy is run on principles." Thomas says she got help from other experts, including Fali Nirman, who argued for the case on her request.Originally from Kerala's Kottayam, Thomas grew up in Trivandrum and enrolled in the Madras High Court in 1955, after pursuing a law course in Madras University. She then joined the Supreme Court where only three women lawyers were in active practice. Thomas has been filing petitions since 1964 on a variety of issues - from questioning the validity of government exams and sorting out issues of railway employees to one in which the Supreme Court came down heavily on conversion to Islam for the express purpose of entering into a second marriage. Her hero is her father, also an advocate, who fought all his life to demolish a church meant only for Dalits, she says.For Thomas, age is only a number. Her courage and enthusiasm have not dimmed nor has her sense of humour. Even now, she goes to the court every day and works for 8-10 hours. With over 55 years of experience, she has people coming over for legal advice every day. She can be consulted on any legal issue, except divorce, which she believes should be avoided."I read Mills and Boon for fun. I have read all 600 of them. I like the simplicity and warmth of these books." Single at 87, Lily has few regrets. "All the men I liked were already married. I was a romanticist. I wanted Lincoln, James Bond and Churchill in one man." She recalls a judge asking her if she was a miss or a Mrs, "I told him I am a miss but I don't miss much. He laughed so hard that even it would have been audible at India Gate."She is thorough with the Bible and the Vishnu Sahasranam. "Most Hindus and Christians have not understood their religions well," she says. Niece Thangam and her husband Issac said that their aunt would often give away food and clothes to rag pickers. On a regular day, she is busy preparing PILs to make government answerable for the time-frame of each trial. "I am believer. Jesus is with me all the time, asking me answers to all my actions. As an advocate, I have many responsibilities which I am trying to fulfill," she concludes.AS STAFFORD Woodrow gathers his family together over Queensland's summer holidays, he'll be thinking of the poor, frightened, fatherless boy in war-ravaged England who once closed his eyes and wished for a better life.
Stafford is 77 now and still helps out as a volunteer first responder for medical emergencies at his home in Kilkivan, west of Gympie, rushing off in his immaculately polished boots to traffic accidents, heart attacks and even overdoses.
He's well aware how fragile life can be.
It was in the dead of night in April 1942 that the air raid sirens pierced the cold air above Junction Rd in Norwich, England, and Stafford's father Leonard - a bricklayer by day and volunteer ambulance driver by night - bolted from the family home in the boots that Stafford had just polished to a mirror shine.
The German bombers were coming. Leonard kissed his wife Kathleen, a nurse, goodbye and told her not to worry, saying: "Chin up, duck, I'll see you in the morning."
Stafford says: "But Dad never came home on that awful night. My mother was only 31 and she was suddenly a widow with four young children. She even had to borrow the black clothes to wear to my father's funeral."
Life over the next few years became almost unbearable for Stafford and his family, with food rations and constant fear.
"Often we had to hide in the bomb shelters and once we all had to huddle under our kitchen table with our dog as the bombs exploded all around us," he recalls.
"I often saw planes attacking each other above us and I remember seeing a big American plane that had been hit, passing over our house so low that you could see the faces of the airmen trap-ped inside. All of them were killed."
The war ended in 1945 when Stafford was nine and already the man of the house. He learned about Australia at school and decided sunny Queensland sounded like a welcoming place for his poor mother and siblings to start a new life.
Two years later, Stafford closed his eyes, made a wish and in his childish hand wrote a letter, addressing it "Any Farmer, Queensland".
"Dear Farmer," he began. "My name is Stafford and my sister and brothers and myself want to come to Australia when we grow up. Do you think you could find us pen friends so we will know something of the country by the time we are able to come?
"Our ages are sister 131/2, brother, 10, and youngest brother, six.
"Our father was killed during the war so we only have Mummy, and so you see she would have to come, too."
Stafford's letter might have gone nowhere, except for a postal worker in Brisbane who directed it to Queensland's Department of Agriculture.
From there, it made its way to Queensland's State Migration Officer David Longland.
Touched by Stafford's words, Longland wrote back to the small boy and his mother and told them he would sponsor their migration to the Sunshine State and that the Queensland CWA would give Kathleen a job as a hostel matron in Ipswich.
It took 18 months of planning, but finally Kathleen and her four children left London on August 19, 1949, for the eight-week voyage out to Australia on the SS Ranchi.
"When we arrived in Sydney, we didn't have a penny to bless ourselves because Mum's purse was stolen on board," he says.
He started work at 14, helping a cabinetmaker, later drove cabs and trucks and opened Singer sewing machine shops.
"We all made good lives for ourselves in Australia," Stafford says.
"I'll always be grateful to Queensland for answering the wishes of that little boy all those years ago."+ 43
Designer Alireza Taghaboni
Project managment Farideh Aghamohammadi
Project Associates Rouholah Rasouli, Hamid Abasloo, Faezeh Arefnazari, Ramin Movasat, Negar Rahnamazadeh, Shideh Porjolay, Khashayar Bakhtiari
Structural Design Bastanpol Co. (Vahid Gharekhaninia)
Mechanical Consultant Hoofar Esmaeli
Electrical Consultant Nina Amooshahi
Supervisions Masoud Saghi, Mohamadreza Mohebali
Construction Javad Hadavandi, Ehsan Yarmohammadi, Soroush Alipour
Interior Consultant Memaran Honarman Bartar Co.
Presentation Fatemeh s.Tabatabaeian, Asal Karami
Model Shima Mohammadi More Specs Less Specs
Text description provided by the architects. The project is located in an inner-lot, with limited street access. However, situated low and deep inside the organic fabric of the neighborhood, it overlooks a riverbed at the back.
In conceiving the project, there was an inherent contradiction to be addressed:
How can one conceive of a project that due to its urban context is situated deep inside privatized fabric, in a way that it stands out, while warding the visual access of the neighbors to its private open spaces.
This was achieved by proposing a curvilinear V-shaped plan, and placing the yard -which overlooked the riverbed- between its wings.
The same exaggerated form, shapes the project sectional. The choice of this sectional configuration is very much informed by the long history of sloped roof construction in northern Iran.
Yet, the conventional form is re-visited with a grain of salt. The redefinition of the sloped-roof, through the lens of exaggeration, allows for contradictory spatial experiences to emerge in different interior moments of the project:
The project’s verticality seems at odds with normative horizontal configuration of residential constructions. This, opens up to a variety of “non-standard” interior experiences.
Furthermore, Alternation between spatial expansion and contraction in the interior, along with the Gothic proportions and frequently interrupted curvilinearity of architectural elements, result in spatial compositions that seem extravagant, yet enjoy a touch of “feminine” grace as one may relate it to peculiarities of the architectural form.
The roof’s trapezoidal sections were custom-designed to fit the desired curvatures of the inner surface of the roof in order to avoid any fake stucco work to create the curvilinear roofs of the interiors.Search Gallery Naruhina: Your Face Pg7 bluedragonfan 140 Naruhina: Your Face Pg6 bluedragonfan 110 Naruhina: Your Face Pg5 bluedragonfan 108 Advertisement Advertisement Naruhina: Your Face Pg4 bluedragonfan 91 Naruhina: Your Face Pg3 bluedragonfan 81 Naruhina: Your Face Pg2 bluedragonfan 84 Naruhina: Your Face Pg1 bluedragonfan 125 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg8 bluedragonfan 123 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg7 bluedragonfan 131 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg6 bluedragonfan 126 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg5 bluedragonfan 125 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg4 bluedragonfan 105 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg3 bluedragonfan 114 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg2 bluedragonfan 117 Naruhina: Completely Defeated Pg1 bluedragonfan 161 Naruhina: Hold The Phone Pg3 bluedragonfan 171 Naruhina: Hold The Phone Pg2 bluedragonfan 120 Naruhina: Hold The Phone Pg1 bluedragonfan 142 Naruhina: Naruto VS Diobedient Kitty Pg4 bluedragonfan 219 Naruhina: Naruto VS Diobedient Kitty Pg3 bluedragonfan 201 Naruhina: Naruto VS Diobedient Kitty Pg2 bluedragonfan 159 Naruhina: Naruto VS Diobedient Kitty Pg1 bluedragonfan 235 Naruhina: My Doll Pg17 bluedragonfan 156 Naruhina: My Doll Pg16 bluedragonfan 151A Woodstock woman is sending a message to parents: make sure your children are registered for child benefits at birth.
Theresa Blackburn found out last October that her family missed out on more than $18,000 in benefits because only one of her three kids had been registered.
Blackburn only found this out after she registered for the new Canada child benefit introduced by the federal Liberal government.
"We thought, oh, we're owed since last year when this new [program] started," said Blackburn.
"They said no, only one child was ever registered, our oldest."
Blackburn's first child, who was born in Halifax, had been registered. Her two other children, born in Iqaluit, Nunavut, and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., hadn't been.
Blackburn said she never received the forms at the hospital after giving birth.
In New Brunswick hospitals, new parents are given a registration-of-birth package, which includes the option to apply for Canada child benefits as well as for a social insurance number. If parents don't apply at the hospital, they can apply later by going to the Canada child benefit website.
Money would've been appreciated
Blackburn said the money would've helped her family a lot.
"The |
to join the ranks. Mormon Youth-in-Asia for the Religion Making Business
"After much practice in the Wasatch Range, our team of Mormon Missionary Mountaineers are prepared to summit Mt. Kailash," A Mormon Missionary Spokesman further stated, "Part of the plan is to transport all gear to the mountain-base in two wheeled carts pushed and pulled by hundreds of young Mormon Missionaries. On Kailash Circumbulance: a troop of God's Army, 500 in all is going to circle Mt. Kailash and cache thousands of Books of Mormon in kerns for future Mormon Pilgrims to refer to for spiritual guidance as they circle our conquest." It's true the highest peak of Gangdise mountian range, Mt. Kailash is a wonder. Several female missionaries on the team have expressed unconditional love for the conquest of such a mission for Jesus and the Prophet Joseph Smith.
Assent to the Locus of the World by Youth-in-Asia
The four great rivers, named after the four supernatural animals in paradise - the horse, lion, elephant and peacock, orginated from Mt. Kailash and flow off in four directions. The Indus runs towards the north conferred the courage of a lion. The Ganges flows toward the south and grants the beauty of a peacock. The Brahmaputra flows towards the east and grants the speed of a horse.The Sutlej runs to the west and confers the strength of an elephant. "And we will capture it all for Jesus." Mormon Climbing team in training on the Wasatch Range
Pushing toward the summit to to secure States of Grace.
Mormons Missionaries have been involved in intense traning on the Wasatch. Hyrum Palmer Smith heads up the the climbing team. "The climbing missionaries are able students; They have the spirit in them to excel in anything they do so climbing for the church is a calling that fits their love for Jesus."
Others in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have grumbled about the expense of such and enterprise, "when there are souls to save all over the land why send Mormon Missionaries to the top of a mountain in Asia? Some Mormon Elders have deep doubts of the need to conquer yet more territory. "It's hard enough defending what we already have." From Wasatch to Kailash More Training
The teams trained to use the famous two wheel handcarts are headed up by Brigham B. Hokum a former dog and pony trainer. His teams work out on the BYU campus in Provo. If you have seen them they are an impressive sight, like lusty steeds, trotting along in groups of two to a handcart in long lines of as many as fifty carts in a row. They have learned many of the old hand-cart hymns so happily sung on the trail to Zion (Salt Lake) so many years ago. Brigham says, "We do our best not to slow traffic too much but the flat and smooth road surface is best to get the youthful missionaries in shape. There are two women in training too; they believe that Mother Gonhorra would expect to see a Mormon Empty Vessel on the team.
There are plans to take the Cart Teams out in the desert soon for realistic conditions. The Mormon Carts to be used in Tibet are already delivered to Lhasa and await the Hand-cart Teams. BYU Technicians are involved, theological espionage
BYU Faculty are busy with equipment that may add more accolades beyond Cold Fusion.
Faculty is busy calibrating aquired equipment from disaffected Scientologists who have converted back to Mormonism. The Scientolgy Dianetics Metering and Auditing devices are used by Scientologists to measure electric charges eminating from alien matter and detirmine the source of this energy. Defecting Scientologist are happy the BYU scientists can put the perloined Dianetics equipment to good work for God's Army in the Mormon Cause. Mormons gain more wisdom, wisdom by the awful grace of God, the appropiate use of technology and the Mormon Vice Squad.
BYU: Mormon technicians contribute to more advances for L.D.S hegemony.
BYU Technicians promised the Chinese Officials, also tasked, to find a solution for fecal matter. Mormon Socialism a tribal act
"some things that are true are not very useful"
some things that are useful are not very true
The Mormon Wars There were reasons for Mormons to be persecuted. As the persecutors, one could only expect push back.
The following edict was revealed by Joseph smith when setteling Kirtland and Farwest.
It can only be concluded that as Mormons resorted to these means they might expect the counter-insurgency to mount a swift and violent response.
Thus came the Mormon Wars.
mormon social mission In short: "Mormons moved to Kirtland and bought the land needed at the price they wanted to pay.
If they won't sell, and it does not come to pass then steal, burn and kill to acquire the needed parcel by trechery.
Disinherit the landowner by thieft or death. God has deemed it so. Go forth ye Mormons and do God's Will." The Mormon scriptures on this topic are written as if God were speaking directly to them, The Mormons, read: "Purchase this whole region of country...
Let them do this lest they receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood." (D&C 58: 52-53; emphasis added.) And then later it reads: "Behold, the destroyer I have sent yee forth to destroy and lay waste mine enemies; and not many years hence they shall not be left to pollute mine heritage, and to blaspheme my name upon the lands which I have consecrated for the gathering together of my saints..I have commanded...my warriors, my young men, and middle-aged, to gather together for the redemption of my people, and throw down the towers of mine enemies, and scatter their watchmen." (D&C 105:15-16; emphasis added.)
In short: Joseph Smith mounted an inserrection. "Mormons moved to Kirtland and buy there the land needed at the price they wanted. If this did not come to pass then steal, burn and kill.. Disinherit the landowner by thieft or death. God has deemed it so. Go forth."
The Mormon Wars were propagated to some end by this proclaimation. They raised lances and the struggle for Zion Began;
To what end came the wrath of Elohiem and his medium, Josepth Smith. On Satan:
The Mark of Cain and the Pigmentocracy
I have been deceived by the evil one himself he has fooled me into believing that he doesn't exist. LOL. Temple Baptised Mormons are not only afraid of him, but they are afraid of NOT being afraid of him (that would mean they are under his spell or he is not there at all but merely ambigious in nature by being neither good nor evil. We Mormons are working on finding the source of this dilemma, some ointment or special glasses that will reveal unto us the source of evil.
Further findings will follow.
pretext The message was the messenger: Ingeel
The messenger was the message: Ingeel
Agape... Mormon World
Es War Einmal Mormonen Ubermenchen sagt, "arbeit macht frei Und es kommen passiet, Fanatische Christen beschimpfen Schwule
fur beschimpft glauben ubermenchen." Und es war ein mal nachmal, Der Mormonen Ubermenchen sagt, "arbeit macht frei. Die Mormoen Macht Gottes übertragen worden." Global Mormonism : Mormon Pyramid Schemes around the world
Egyptology, Pyramid Schemes, introduction to the Mormon World Giza: it was repoted in late 2006 that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was in negociation with the Council of Antiquities in Cairo Egypt.
Global Mormonism: The Newest Zion Pyramid Scheme
Pharaonic Reconstruction
Pyramids of Cheops, Cairo Egypt
Missionary Mormons have proposed to the Council of Antiquities in Cairo a bold idea, to rehabilitate the Sphinx of the Cheops to conform to a revisionist historical view of the world. Beyond Postmodern, the project is touted to increase visitorship to Egypt and its historic sites. It is said to target an untapped market for both psudoscience and mythology for the prophet. The dollars discussed are substantial.
At present the Cairo Museum is doubtful of the success of the project, however, the proposal is on the table and if there are the funds it will be done.
As part of the project, the missionaries have insisted on replacing the traditional camel tours with tours in two-wheeled carts to be pushed and pulled by young Mormon Missionaries. The carts are to symbolize the Great Western Mormon Migration to Salt Lake City of the 185o's. Latest Sacred Development: 2008 growing the business of faith
Cairo has decided to entertain the prospect posed by the Mormons.
This would mean a whole new tourist destination for Mormon Pilgrims. With the restoration of the Sphinx of the Chipos to Mormon Revisionist Historical Standards, Egypt will be a prime location for Mormon Tourism and connoisseurs of wonder.
The Mormons must demonstrate the efficacy of the project, twenty five two wheel carts are being shipped to Cairo. These will be stationed at the entrance to the Great Pyramids with the requisite Mormon Missionaries to proselytize and pull the carts through the sacred site of Giza. Once the Mormons have demonstrated good faith in the religion making business, restorations on the Sphinx of the Cheops can begin. The sums discussed were not revealed by Church Officials, however, it is assumed to be substantial.
Mormon Global Expeditions around the world Mormon Global
Mormon Global is a committee selected by the Quorum of Seventy to explore potential locations suited for mormon habitation and development all over the world. Several pilot projects are now implemented for sounding the potential for the religion making business.
At present preliminary results are promising as we move to partner with other entities for further expansion on the Arabian Peninsula along the Lehi - Nephi trail. The Sultan of Dubai has offered his vast resourses, at our disposal, to promote desinations in Saudi Arabia, Yemen or Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden Peterha Hamdharaum If the pilot project is successful there are plans to move more carts and Missionaries to Luxor to tour the Valley of the Kings and carry on the tradition of having many more Mormons in the Holyland for the Religion Making Business. Mormon Branding and Counter-Apologetics
there we were, in prayer, "Pay-lay-ale" etc. and after an eternity of mumbling the repitition of "Pay lay ale," we looked up and falling from the sky was an angel.
We could hear the rush of his wings, all the while the Angel was heard screaming, pay le ale as he hurtled to earth; his horn was lost in the moment. Again and again "O God, hear the words of my mouth!" until he joined us in our sacred ritual. " like us he was cast adrift with wings akimbo...
Speaking of Faith.Org, interview with:
Robert Millet Mormon extraordinaire
Program Comment, 1/27/08: Mormon-ism and the
many states of grace "the religion making business"
I was disturbed by your interview with Robert Millet and his notion of "the religion making business." Krista Tippett sent one slow-pitch softball after another for Mr. Millet to bunt and run with. When speaking of the 1st Revelator of the Mormon Dynasty you make no mention of the basic socialist underpinnings of this Religion Making Business and from whence it came. Mormons subscribe to a socialist notion for themselves while insisting the "Gentile" population must play on a hard scrabble scrum line. You serve up little background on the Spiritualist Movement of the time with regard to influences on Joe Smith's "many visions" and revisions to his visions.
You said nothing of the Pyramid Schemes: of land dealing, counterfeit money, invasion by conquest, war and assinations; there was nothing on that famous visitation by John The Baptist along with Christ's Apostles and of course the Quid Pro Quo of trading Polygamy for territorial recognition. There was no mention of the Mormon Pigmentocracy. Why?
You let Millet wax on pre-existence and post-sustenance without touching on "the nuts and bolts of Mormon Heaven," and there are lots of bolts to be slapped home and nuts to be turned; and, for the record, there are many accountants in Mormon Heaven.
Try: http://www.scari.org/Mormon.Deconstructed.html
or http://www.scari.org/mormon-haplessness.html
The Mormon sunstone at top of page will carry you off to other places mormons may not want you to think about.
I grew up as a gentile in severe Mormon Country, southern Idaho, and I can testify to the vicious nature of the "Great Mormon Organ."
You blithely pass over such issues as the confusion of what Mormons deem what is sacred and what is secret; they are interchangeable when speaking of Mormon Rights of Passage through their bureaucracy.
What of Mormon Environmentalism? Thrity years ago, I was told by a Mormon Elder, "The Earth is like a rubber ball and will bounce back." Mormons are convinced of the same notion to this day.
My perception of the program was of a Millet, Tippett seance to sell something older than the oldest profession. Perhaps the oldest profession was the priesthood for without the shunning of prostitution, the crime would be left unpunished and unknown. Priests know this on a viseral level.
Please revisit this Business called Mormonism with an eye torward exhibiting truth, for the Mormons think they love truth; They are Members of the one True Chruch.
Thank you, Gus O. Kahan
Professor Robert Millet and The Mormon Religion-making Business:
First Mormon Theolator: As in the long line of Revelators, Dr. Millet made the revelatory statement regarding his religion. "We are in the Religion Making Business" is as close to an authentic revelation as there has been uttered regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As in a Corporate Sporting event the idea is to win at any cost. Religion Making requires a team fleet of foot and a rule book that states as its first axiom; to win at any cost, it's Grow or Die. Grow team grow; Team Mormon goes for the gold in the Business of making Religion for the Religion Making Business to Grow the Faith. doubters persist with the Persistence of Doubt
Professor Millet continued: On The Religion Making Business
If we are to read Professor Robert Millet as uttered, we would assume, the expert in'religious understanding' has a cynical view of this world and the religions that here reside. Millet is convinced, "the Business of Religion" requires only time and a priesthood willing to go the extra mile to create an authentic Mormon Business Model for Religion Making. Millet has set his stars on the Latter-day Awakenings of the Mormons, or, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as his brand. His faith has declared the fully reinvested church by Joseph Smith as it was intended before we humans mucked it up.
Professor Millet states as articles of faith the most correct faith is the LDS Church. Mormons claim all ground not previously occupied and those spaces, the"Enemy," Christian Evangelicals inhabit too; in the past, conquest of gentiles, has been done simply with the invocation of terror For Mormons this carries on today.
Millet claims apologetics for theological youth as an excuse for dropped stitches, fumbled balls and the penalties of clipping, off sides, etc. Millet pleads, "We're in the religion-making business" and only now "halfway to Nicaea," he says referring to the fourth-century council at which the New Testament canon was finally formalized and many core Christian doctrines clarified, authoritatively, for the first time.
So Mormons have several hundred more years of fumbling around with the Religion Making Business before Mormon Deities reach maturity. With bated breath and much trembling, we can hardly wait till they get it right and pierce the veil into the radience of full theological and dogmatalogic maturity. The Latter-day saints that have gone before have no guarantee of the afterlife expected through revelation but must wait in some sort of apostolic holding-pen till it all gets sorted out. Mormon Intellectuals are working out the details.
Mormon Intellectuals are led by the leading scholar, Joseph Smith, the Revelator. So Mormon Intellectuals are significantly infirmed by Mormon Tenants and Doctrine. For Mormonism, a Mormon Intellectual is, in the purist form, a Mormon Oxymoron, A Mormon intellectual is oxyMoronic. Evangel Nécromancier Why why why
Why disparage Mormon Branding?
One could resent a ninteenth century fraud based on folk supersticion spun and laundered as authentic to the spiritually needy; a theocracy defined by a bloodline hierarchy of established priests to deliver the truth through revelation. In the year of our Lord, 2007, there are many ways to describe such an organization, most of which are not kind to this leap of dogmalogical faith.
One could declaim that lying to it's devotees and to the outside world is the practice rooted in Mormonism's Masonic-borrowed oaths of loyalty and obedience to the tribe; (Occultic and Masonic Influence in Early Mormonism ) a practice of deception from inception.
New Revelatons from the first dynasty of the martyr and Prophet Joseph Smith.
Branding Mormonism: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the branding monicker for the Mormon Brand. Insistence on placing "Jesus Christ" in the middle of the Mormon Brand or Church of Latter-Day Saints seems to be the best
Mormons can do to Beat Back the Beast and neutralize those niggeling questions
that persist over the veracity of the one "True Church" on earth.
Subscribe Now and enjoy the sacred signs, legend, myth, lore,
revelation, cosmology, gods, goddesses, stars and stripes with sprinkles and glitter. Remember Mormons are now The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
and does a rose by any other name...? Mormon Perception Management
carries on and on strength in the loins, mush in the brains. Robert Millet Professor of Ancient Scripture and religious understanding at BYU is the foremost authority on mormonism and the religion making business.
Mormons reach
for the Stars Expanding The Mormon Religion-making Business. Mormon Missionaries are not known for their vision-quests. Mormons are not interested in exploring reigions beyond the city limits; after all that's where the converts are, that's where God's Army normally lurks. Mormon Missionaries are normally gathered in groups to make a pitch to unsuspecting gentiles, they rarely stray off the beaten path to explore the essence of spirituality, however, Church Elders have embarked on a new branding event employing the young shock troops in God's Army to stake calim to etherial territory. The Church hierarchy have decided to conquer Mountains, not just any mountain but the plan is to summit Mt. Kailash in Eastern Tibet. The choice of summit is still a mystery but the plans are going forward for the glory of Mormonism. The plans have been in the works since 2002. There has be considerable preperation for the Mormon Mt. Kailash assault of 2009. Kolob found in Mirror Galaxy
Mormon Missionaries reach for
the stars using sacred Mormon Myopia Mormons Move one step closer to Heaven, The mormons are coming Mormon Branding
Tibet: Mormon Trek on the New Mormon Trail
Mormon handcarts delivered to Lhasa - waiting
Transportation is ready
On the outskirts of Lhasa awaits
the main form of transportation. New Mormon Pioneer Trekker: Young Mormon Missionary Girl (in the trade thay are called Kailashians) awaiting the rest of her Hand-Cart Crew soon to arrive.
The handcarts are to be loaded with provisions for the jog to Mt. Kailash, a trek of some 350 km. Mormon Youth-in-Asia will have a great opportunity to work out the kinks as they travel to Darchen, their base-camp. She shares with Tibetian Natives many of the old hand-cart chants and hymns so happily sung on the trail to Zion (Salt Lake) so many years ago; a part of the Mormon Cultural Exchange.
Provisions are arriving daily. The Mormon handcarts were built in China by Chinese craftsman and constructed to specifications provided by Mormon Historical Documents; they are exact replicas of the Mormon Hand-carts used in the 1850s by English Immigrants. The newly converted Mormons were set on the trail for the winter trek to Salt Lake City; ill-prepared these devotees died like flies in a series of blizzards a Mormon form of euthanasia. Innocent women, children and the unborn were to perish along the ragged trail to Zion. It is hoped the Mormon Youth-in-Asia will succeed where their antecedents didn't. The Mormon immigrants were to starve and freeze on the trail to Salt Lake City but, "Some things that are true are not very useful;" the fiasco was later described as a heroic adventure not as a classic blulnder, a set of bad decisions, abysmal planning and a cynical expenditure of human resource another form of Mormon Euthanasia.
Beyond the sound of one hand clapping
there is the Melchizedek Priesthood,
the powers of which allows one to keep time
with no hands clapping. "Some things that are true are not very useful"
Deep Schizophrenic Thoughts
The following 2000-2001 Priesthood/Relief Society Manual lesson titled
"Liberty through Obedience,"
gives contradictory messages. A schizophrenic plea for fealty to the prophet.
"We do not preach the gospel of fear. We do not seek to terrorize the souls of men. We do not ask a man to be righteous because of the terrors of the damned. We do not want you to be good because you fear the punishment of the wicked. We do not want you to do right because of the penalty that attaches to the doing of wrong."
"You will suffer the consequences of your own mistakes, of your own errors, though they bring sorrow, or sickness, or death! So, I acknowledge the hand of the Lord in this agency that he has given to the children of men."
"Can you find an organization, ecclesiastical or otherwise, that has the same perfection of government and organization in it as can be found in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, established by inspiration through the Prophet Joseph Smith? And what is the object of that organization? Is it to crush men? Is it to injure you? Is it to bow you down unto the earth? Is it to deprive you of your liberties, of your rights, of your privileges? Is it to make you slaves, menials, and degrade you unto the dust? Or is it to raise you up into the scale of intelligence and of manliness and increase your liberties, for there is no liberty like the liberty of the gospel of Jesus Christ?"
"The free agency of man is a fundamental principle which, according to the tenets of the Church, even God Himself does not suppress."
"I believe that there is not a freer, more independent nor a more intelligent people to be found anywhere in the world, who are more independent in choosing the course which they pursue, in the work that they perform and in everything that they have to do with, than the Latter-day Saints. There is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in good standing, anywhere in all the world today that is not such by reason of his independence of character, by reason of his intelligence, (and) wisdom.."
- Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, 32: "Liberty through Obedience", From the Life of Joseph F. Smith, Page 283 Cosmetics is everything for the quaffed faith
Extremism in the name of faith is no vise.
Mormon Cosmetology and the Collective Subjective lives on through sacred revelation, willfull ignorance; its a classified
meritocracy for the Mormon tribes. To Look Good at any cost beyond the use of muggle jelly and mormon science there is the problem of excessive use of vibrators. Vibrations are compelling but numbing to the senses, prayer management is the answer. Placebo Nocebo
States of Grace with Mormon Thinking
Mormon Culture knocking at your door It's unfortunate but Mormons believe our earth is only a means to the end,
Mormons are convinced:
"The Earth is like a rubber ball and will bounce back."
Scari.org
copyright Scari©2008
all rights reserved Scari.Org "Robert Millet is the theological equivalent of Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia." Robert Millet, deceptive theologian, is training a new generation of Ersatz Christian for the Religion Making
Business of deceptive theology
creating a different kind of Jesus. Mormon apologist
millet mormon zeitgeist
He's not a closet mormon On Mormon Branding
One might Ask Is it the religion making business or the business making religion? Boyd K. Packer said: "some things that are true are not very useful."
As in Packer's simple statement, Robert Millet carries on that religious tradition, "Some things that are useful are not very true." In the Religion Making Business, some things that are useful are not very true.
follow the money
A Mormon's comment on Dr. Millet If Millet were selling used cars or insurance then he would go to jail. Since he is in religion, he considers his lack of candor virtuous.
Millet has no idea how dangerous his behavior is because he willfully ignores the consequences of his actions. In reality, he is just another salesman with an unhealthy dose of self-righteousness. When people believe him, folks will get hurt.
Comment by Helmut March 23, 2007 Millet Reconciliation
The talking head says 'I have No Problem with Mormon Paradox'
Millet: a Mormon's Mormon on Mormonomics mormon page 10
Shinehah Shinehah Shinehah Mormon Branding,
On "the Religion Making Business"
One might Ask? One might ask, why pick on the Mormons, and that's
a fair question.
One might say because, as a metaphor, it's easy. When shaping a short treatise on self deception to model all organized religion why not choose a no brainer...
Mormonism is "in the religion making business," just another franchise like Starbucks but without the coffee.
Do the math. GOK When speaking to gentils, Mornons claim to be misurderstood, but, we know Mormons are misunderstood all too well.Image caption Many orphaned children were sent to the Fairbridge Farm School in Australia
A group of former British child migrants has launched a class action suit against the Australian government.
More than 65 people are seeking compensation for the abusive treatment they received at the Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales.
The British and Australian governments have both previously issued a formal apology to child migrants but not offered any financial compensation.
The UK deported thousands of children, telling many their parents had died.
Hundreds of British children - some as young as four years old - were sent to the Fairbridge Farm School in rural New South Wales between the start of World War II and the mid-1970s.
Before being shipped out to Australia, many of the British children were told they were now orphans, and that a more abundant life awaited them in Australia.
Most were deported without the consent of their parents, and in mothers and fathers were commonly led to believe that their children had been adopted somewhere in Britain.
On arrival in Australia, the policy was to separate brothers and sisters. And many of the young children ended up in what felt like labour camps, where they were physically, psychologically and often sexually abused.
Many claim they suffered physical and sexual abuse, and say they have borne life-long bodily and psychiatric injuries as a result. Now they are seeking legal redress and financial compensation.
In total 130,000 British children were sent from the UK to Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and Australia.
Post-war, 7,000 were shipped to Australia and 1,300 to New Zealand, Rhodesia and Canada.
Government apologies
The former pupils in Australia have now joined together in what is believed to be the first class action suit against an Australian government connected with the practice of child migration.
It is aimed at both the state government of New South Wales and the federal government in Canberra.
In 2009 former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to hundreds of thousands of people, which included British migrants, who were abused or neglected in Australian state care as children.
He said he was "sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused, sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care".
Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown apologised in 2010 for the UK's role in sending more than 130,000 children to former colonies, including Australia, where many suffered abuse.
He expressed regret for the "misguided" Child Migrant Programme, telling the Commons he was "truly sorry" and announced a £6m fund to reunite families that were torn apart.Like some ancient megalith, an imposing windowless structure in Manhattan may be even more sinister than it appears. The AT&T Long Lines Building at 33 Thomas Street was built for machines, designed to house long-distance phone lines in the 1970s, but reports now suggest it has been used by the National Security Agency as a listening post in the heart of America’s financial capital. Welcome to the home of Project X, both a supposed name of the place (also known as Titanpointe) and title of a short film about it by Henrik Moltke and Laura Poitras.
Aside from its everyday functions, the 29-story, bunker-like building was constructed to house over 1,000 people in a nuclear attack (with its own food, water and generators) — what better place, really, to conceal government agents for indefinite periods of time? The building is located toward the southern tip of Manhattan, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Its proximity to offices and meeting places of the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank also make it an ideal location from which to spy on such organizations.
According to reports, NSA and FBI employees and contractors working in the building were given tips on how to avoid standing out when entering and exiting the structure. They were told what clothes to wear and cars to rent to remain inconspicuous.
Edward Snowden was a major source for the associated links now bringing this all to light. Apparently, there is no direct evidence that government agencies used the actual AT&T equipment on site — it may have just been an ideal staging space for their own technologies and operations. There is, however, a major “gateway switch” on site (routing international calls) which has led some to suspect there may be more to the story. So far, of course, the NSA has declined to comment.
“This is yet more proof that our communications service providers have become, whether willingly or unwillingly, an arm of the surveillance state,” says Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “The NSA is presumably operating under authorities that enable it to target foreigners, but the fact that it is so deeply embedded in our domestic communications infrastructure should tip people off that the effects of this kind of surveillance cannot be neatly limited to non-Americans.”Jefferson County Jail Eric Robert Foreman
Jefferson County Jail Eric Robert Foreman
MADRAS, Ore. - A man who got in a fight at a Madras bar left and returned with a handgun early Saturday, leading to a struggle in which the gun went off twice, both times striking a Madras woman, police said. The woman was taken to the hospital while the Madras man was arrested on assault and other charges.
Officers responded shortly before 2 a.m. to the reported fight and shooting at the Madras Pub and Deli at 118 Southwest Fifth Street, said police Detective Sergeant Steve Webb.
Officers arrived to find a group restraining someone on the ground outside the pub, and the man, identified as Eric Robert Foreman, 30, was taken into custody by police.
An investigation found that Foreman was in an earlier altercation with a man, left and returned to the pub with a handgun, Webb said.
Foreman allegedly showed the weapon and witnesses acted, taking him to the ground, the detective said.
While trying to take the gun away, there was a struggle in which a 38-year-old Madras woman was struck twice by gunshots, resulting in non-life-threatening injuries, Webb said.
The woman was taken to St. Charles Madras but released later in the morning.
Foreman was lodged at the Jefferson County Jail on charges of third-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, pointing a firearm at another person and felon in possession of a firearm. He was released about 12 hours later after posting 10 percent of his $60,000 bail, a jail officer said.
Anyone with information that could help in the shooting investigation was asked to contact Madras Police Detective Mel Brown at (541) 475-2424.Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, holding him “responsible” for the “complete failure” in implementation of the demonetisation initiative and the “unprecedented rise” in terror attacks against armymen.
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Watch What Else is Making News
Pawar’s attack against Modi, which comes a day after the month-long winter session of Parliament ended amid the storm over the demonetisation row. The Maratha leader had originally praised Modi for the decision on demonetisation. Also last month, Modi had publicly admired Pawar’s role as a mentor during his early days in politics at a function in Pawar’s bastion, Baramati.
On the demonetisation row, Pawar said, “While there is no doubt in my mind that the demonetisation of the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes would have helped curb black money and boosted the economy, there has been a total operational failure of the government in implementing it, which has left the common man reeling and the economy in disarray.”
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“The old saying that the operation was a success but the patient died sums up the Centre’s fiasco in the implementation of demonetisation,” he added.
“You (Modi) take such a major decision, but do not prepare for it. The government and those behind the move cannot simply wish away the responsibility of the pain and hardship people are facing due to the poor implementation,” said Pawar.
He also fired a barb at the Centre over unearthing of Rs 200 crore in new currency notes during raids on certain businessmen, hawala operators and politicians. “On the one hand, the common man is grappling to find cash to make ends meet while, on the other, the Income-Tax raids have caught some people with crores in new currency notes. The latter suggests someone in the official machinery had helped some take away crores in cash through the backdoor. The Centre is to be held responsible for this mess too.”
But Pawar’s sharpest attack against Modi was in the swipe he took against him over the unchecked terrorist attacks coming from Pakistan. “I’m concerned about national security. Our information is that between February 4 and December 9 this year, the country has braved 162 terror attacks. Of these, 104 attacks have been on the country’s security forces, which have seen 57 armymen martyred. Never has the country seen such a spike in attacks against armymen,” said Pawar.
The NCP chief said, “Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi had consistently counselled the then UPA government to ‘stop writing love letters to Pakistan’ and had used the 56-inch chest rhetoric. But national security has been under seige and no concrete action is being taken.”
When a reference was made to the surgical strike across the border in October, Pawar quipped, “You (Modi government) build such an environment around one strike, but fail to enact concrete steps to guard our borders.”
Pawar added that he was “not politicising” the national security issue and that the Opposition was willing to walk with the government in this regard. “But the terrorist attacks demand a firm response,” he said.
On demonetisation, Pawar claimed that the aftershocks of the poor implementation have already been felt in the economy. “The worst-hit is the farm sector and small-scale businesses. But the government does not seem to be taking the distress signs seriously. The construction sector too has been hit,” he said.
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Dropping names of two manufacturing giants (names withheld), the NCP chief said the companies had begun laying off employees. “All this will lead to a rise in unemployment. But the government does not seem serious about it,” he said. Pawar also criticised the Modi government for curbs on transactions of district cooperative banks.Australia is far from the largest cybersecurity marketplace in the world, but that hasn't stopped Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull from having soaring ambitions of Australia becoming a leader in both the Asia-Pacific and internationally.
As part of his national innovation and science agenda last year he unveiled plans for an industry-led "growth centre" that will facilitate cyber security research and development. The centre was touted again in the government's new cyber security strategy, unveiled in April.
It is intended to ensure Australia is a "global industry leader" able to "export products and services in the global marketplace" while helping Australian organisations address the growing threat of cyber crime.
While it all sounds great, at current standing we lack the innovation and growth culture that is required to reach these lofty heights.
A recent story about the Pegasus malware has once again drawn the industry's attention to Israel as an exemplar in cyber security industry growth, leaving me to wonder - are there lessons Australia can take to mimic its success?
There's a variety of reasons Israel has established itself as a real challenger for the title of cyber security industry growth and development leader globally.
Firstly, its policy on military service means that, aside from a few religious exemptions, all citizens are conscripted into national service at the age of 18. The selection process sees every teenager take a series of medical, cognitive and psychological examinations which determines where they will work. And this is where it gets interesting.
The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has an intelligence unit - globally renowned for its hi-tech capability - known as 8200. To get into |
of thousands of copies of Moby Dick and then pasting the individual sentences back together
It was these mechanisms, and more, that de Magalhaes hoped to answer by peering into its genome. Initially, he struggled to find a way to sample the tissue. Eventually, however, he found a team who had already built links with Inuit hunters. To preserve their traditional way of life, indigenous societies around the Arctic are allowed to capture and kill a limited number of bowheads each year. Although they were initially suspicious of outsiders, the hunters eventually agreed for the scientists to sample some of the tissue collected from their kills.
Even once they had collected the material, the team still faced the extraordinary task of building the genetic sequence. Given the enormous volume of data, the task was akin to shredding hundreds of thousands of copies of Moby Dick and then pasting the individual sentences back together into a meaningful order.
The result is a series of leads that might just pave the way for future medicine. Of particular interest, they saw notable changes on a gene called ERCC1. This gene is known to code for a molecular toolkit that can patch up small areas of damage to the genome. It seems likely that the bowhead’s mutation makes it even more efficient at its job, perhaps preventing the build-up of harmful mutations that cause cancer.
The team also found changes to a gene called PCNA, which is involved in cell proliferation. It codes for a protein that acts as a kind of clamp, holding together the molecular machines that cause DNA to replicate. Bowheads have duplicated regions of the gene, and their mutations seem to help it interact with other parts of the toolkit involved in DNA repair. The team hypothesise that this single change could promote healthier cell growth without the damage that comes with age. Taken with other notable adaptations that might have helped the bowhead mop up cellular stress, these insights offer a first glimpse at the whale’s secrets to longevity.
'Longevity signature'
Across the Atlantic at Harvard, Gladyshev recently performed his own study of the bowhead whales’ “transcriptome”; not just studying the genes, but also exploring how active they are. If you can see that certain genes are particularly active, then you know that it too might be playing an important role in ageing. Tellingly, he has found the same kinds of changes to insulin signalling that he also saw in Brandt’s bat. “It may change the metabolic setup of the cells, so that somehow it is longer-lived,” he says, “though the exact intricacies are still a matter of debate.” Together, the results provide a “longevity signature”, he says, that could then be used to guide future research.
The findings are attracting attention from some of the most important figures in medicine. Francis Collins, the director of the US National Institutes of Health has been impressed, writing that Gladyshev’s work brings us “right up to the threshold of new insights into healthier, longer life”.
The findings are attracting attention from some of the most important figures in medicine
Once over that threshold, there are many potential ways that these findings might improve treatments. Gladyshev suggests that we could see whether diet or exercise programmes could help to shift the body to match the longevity signature of the whale. For example, some have suggested that fasting, or “caloric restriction” slows ageing processes, and it might be interesting to compare whether it brings the kinds of metabolic changes that help the whale survive for so long. In this way, the bowhead whale could offer immediate guidance for the best ways to life longer.
Alternatively, these long-lived creatures could inspire some more radical treatments. The first step, says de Magalhaes, will be to grow human tissue with some of the mutations seen in the bowhead whale, Brandt’s bat and naked mole rat. “If we change human proteins to resemble it, we can see if it improves DNA repair,” he says. “And I’d like to take bowhead whale genes and put them in mice to see if they live longer.”
Gene therapy could allow us to benefit from the helpful mutations that took millions of years to evolve
After these initial tests, the next hurdle will be to find a way to create the same changes in the enormously complex human body, perhaps with drugs that mimic the effects of the genes. In some cases, you could genetically engineer organisms like yeast to churn out the relevant proteins in large vats that could then be purified for human use, or to find drugs that mimic the effects. In the future, gene therapy could even allow us to tweak the DNA in living people; in an instant, we could benefit from the helpful mutations that took millions of years for the bowhead whale to evolve. Given the recent advances in gene therapy, he says “there’s no reason to think it’s not a possibility further down the line.”
Clearly, there will be trials ahead. Although we are relatively closely related in evolutionary terms, what works in a whale, or naked mole rat, may have limited or no benefit in the human body. “You can always find the different ways different organisms will suppress cancer – but whether they will be therapeutically useful, you just can’t predict in advance,” says Nunney. Nature’s answers to cancer evolved in a “serendipitous process” he says, with haphazard solutions arising from each organism’s unique circumstances. Even so, he welcomes this new approach to looking to nature for answers to medical issues. “I think cancer biologists are beginning to recognise that incorporating evolutionary ideas can be a fruitful endeavour.”
De Magalhaes and Gladyshev are under no illusions about the arduous journey – but they remain hopeful. “History is full of claims by experts that certain advances are impossible, only to be proven wrong soon after,” says de Magalhaes. Consider the state of medicine just 120 years ago, when some of today’s bowhead whales were still in their infancy. Back then life-threatening infections were just a fact of life. Today, antibiotics are taken for granted as the most basic healthcare.
Ultimately, de Magalhaes sees ageing as the ultimate disease – an illness that can be “cured” in its own right. “We’re not just extending the period of decrepitude,” he says. “We want 70 year olds with the health of a 50 year old – that’s the ultimate goal.” Maybe, in 2120, we will look back with wonder at his first steps to reach that goal.
David Robson is BBC Future’s feature writer. He is @d_a_robson on Twitter.
Follow BBC Future on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and LinkedIn.This Saturday is the anniversary of the 1983 American invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, which squashed a revolution on the tiny island that dared to challenge US control of the Caribbean. Margaret Thatcher, the UK prime minister at the time, felt put out because US President Ronald Reagan had kept her in the dark about his plans to land troops on the former British colony. But newly discovered documents reveal that the previous Conservative government had hatched a virtually identical invasion plan almost a decade before the Americans stormed the island in order deal with a younger version of those same revolutionaries.
Grenada was once a British sugar plantation worked by African slaves. By 1974, Grenadian strongman Eric Gairy looked set to become the country's first prime minister when the Brits eventually left. Gairy was obsessed with UFOs, compared himself to God, and relied on a personal militia called the Mongoose Gang to crush protests against his increasingly dictatorial leadership.
As mad and ruthless as Gairy was, his presence on the island represented stability for British interests. So British spies in the Caribbean were busy trying to stop opposition elements from assassinating him on Independence day, “when his public presence amongst crowds, noise and fireworks might present a favorable opportunity,” according to declassified UK government files that I found at the National Archives in London.
One intelligence report, marked “secret,” was written by an MI5 officer. Describing his work as “intelligence” might be a stretch, however, as the British spook also reported, “On the other hand, the West Indian temperament does not seem to lend itself to determined and fanatical action except sporadically.” That sounds like a weird mix of guesswork and racial stereotyping rather than legitimate insider information.
Nevertheless, the files reveal that information from this officer prompted the British military to prepare a full-scale invasion plan on the eve of Grenada's independence, “to restore law and order and constitutional government. This would involve a reversion to colonial rule,” the foreign secretary warned Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath in January 1974.
MI5 was worried about the New Jewel Movement ("Jewel" was an acronym for “Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education and Liberation"). It was viewed as “an extremist organization whose main aim is the overthrow of Gairy and his government (by force if other means fail) and the setting up in its place of a people's revolutionary regime.” The files show that Britain's economic interests in the Caribbean were comparable with investments in India and oil reserves in the Middle East. They reveal that MI5 spied on Grenada's trade unions and ran informants inside the New Jewel Movement (NJM) in the months before independence, looking for plots against Gairy.
MI5 did this knowing that Gairy was no angel. Their intelligence reports refer to his Mongoose Gang as “ruthless” and described it as “an un-uniformed and undisciplined body... many of them have criminal records.”
In the end, the British invasion plan was never used, because Gairy clung to power during independence. It would be another five years before the NJM ousted Gairy in a coup, creating a progressive republic in the Caribbean that would be a thorn in the side of American free marketers with slogans like “Education: A Right, Not a Privilege.”
Chris Searle, a former speechwriter for the NJM leader, told me he was surprised to learn about the UK's contingency plans, as the movement had viewed British imperialism as in the past, unlike the threat of American aggression. But the British plans were credible. The secret intelligence reports on Grenada were compiled by the MI5 station on the neighboring island of Trinidad, which had orchestrated the overthrow of Guyana's democratically elected government in 1953 when Winston Churchill feared the country's leader, Cheddi Jagan, was too left-wing.
British concerns about the NJM overthrowing Gairy in Grenada went to the very top of the government. On January 25, 1974, the foreign secretary advised the prime minister that “the internal situation in Grenada has deteriorated seriously in the last few weeks. There have been strikes, interruptions of public services, and demonstrations which have led to violence including shooting, with resultant casualties including three deaths. Nevertheless Mr. Gairy's Government is still in control. There is a fair chance that, with the security forces at his disposal (the police and the newly recalled 'police aides' [the Mongoose Gang]), he will succeed in containing the situation at least until independence on the 7th February 1974.”
However, the foreign secretary warned the PM that drastic measures had to be contemplated. “In the worst case it is possible that the government may not succeed in retaining control so that it becomes impracticable to transfer sovereignty on the 7th of February to a cohesive and effective authority,” he wrote. This would put the UK in a difficult position, the minister explained, and an invasion to restore “colonial rule” had to be considered.
Britain's defense secretary then convened a meeting on January 30 with the military top brass to discuss a secret paper titled “Grenada: Policy on Intervention by HM [Her Majesty's] Forces.” On the scenario of “Intervention to restore law and order after a breakdown of the Gairy Government,” the briefing noted that “the Ministry of Defense has examined in general terms how such an operation might be mounted.”
The plan bears striking resemblance to the 1983 US invasion. It involved a battalion of Royal Marines or paratroopers, a squadron of helicopters, and warships with “sufficient logistic support for 28 days' operation.” Military lawyers even asked, “What would be the legal position of British forces sent into the Island? If a Marine, in the course of his duty, should kill a local inhabitant, would he be liable for trial by court-martial for the civil offense of, for example, manslaughter?”
The papers also show how British planners were concerned about deploying the Parachute Regiment in Grenada, “whose associations with Londonderry we might wish to avoid in the Grenada situation”—a reference to the paras' role in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre of peaceful protesters in Ireland. You can see why. In November 1973, Gairy's Mongoose Gang had shot activists in an episode known as Grenada's Bloody Sunday.
In fact, Whitehall had sanctioned Gairy's crackdown. The foreign secretary sent a secret memo to the prime minister in May 1973 warning, “There are signs that the role of the official Opposition in Grenada may before long be taken over by a newly formed Black Power organization.” The minister suggested, “It might be better that Mr. Gairy should have a free hand to keep such developments under control in an independent Grenada than that we ourselves should run the risk of becoming involved in the task.”
The UK Foreign Office did not respond to requests for comment.Titus Maccius Plautus, better known simply as Plautus (actually a nickname meaning ‘flatfoot’), was, between c. 205 and 184 BCE, a Roman writer of comedy plays, specifically the fabulae palliatae, which had a Greek-themed storyline. His plays are the earliest complete surviving works from Latin theatre and they are noted for adding even more outrageous comedy to traditional comic plays. Plautus is also celebrated as a developer of characterisation and a master of verbal acrobatics. Finally, the plays are a rich and valuable source of information regarding contemporary Roman society.
Biographical Details
Details of Plautus’ life are sketchy and unreliable; even his name may be simply a collection of nicknames attributed to a particular playwright. Plautus is said to have been born in Sarsina, Umbria. Ancient sources, now largely discredited as pure invention, tell of his early career in theatre when he worked as a stagehand, his bankruptcy from spurious business ventures, and his time working in a mill to make ends meet.
Plautus’ Complete Works
Twenty complete plays by Plautus survive along with around 100 lines of Vidularia (The Suitcase) and fragments from several others. This body of work was first attributed to Plautus by the 1st century BCE Roman scholar Varro and the titles are:
Early works:
Cistellaria (The Casket Comedy)
Miles Gloriosus (The Swaggering Soldier)
Stichus (200 BCE)
Pseudolus (191 BCE)
Later works:
Bacchides (The Bacchis Sisters)
Casina
Persa (The Persian)
Trinummus (Threepence)
Truculentus (The Ferocious Fellow)
Date/period unknown:
Amphitruo
Asinaria (The Comedy of Asses)
Aulularia (The Pot of Gold)
Captivi (The Prisoners)
Curculio (The Weevil)
Epidicus
Menaechmi (The Menaechmus Brothers)
Mercator (The Businessman)
Mostellaria (The Haunted House)
Poenulus (The Punic Chappie)
Rudens (The Rope)
Influences & Style
These works are adaptations of 4th century BCE Greek New Comedy (and perhaps also Middle Comedy) plays with some Latin Comedy additions such as mime and bawdy jokes. The earlier Greek plays already had stock characters and Plautus freely expanded the roles of such staple characters as the cunning slave, the cook, and the parasite, giving them memorable character names into the bargain – for example, Chrysalus (Goldfinger) from Bacchides.
Plautus frequently uses wordplay, alliteration and puns to deliver a series of devastating linguistical acrobatics.
The plots of Plautus’ plays are also stretched to implausibility so as to heighten their comedy. Confusions of identity and misunderstandings between characters are frequently employed for comedic purposes. Many plays are set in a world which is reversed from the norm, as in the Roman Saturnalia festival where, for a brief time, slaves became masters and vice-versa. Hence, in Plautus’ plays, very often, the cunning slave character comes to the aid of a young lover and both get the better of the old master. In addition, the plays often have an ambiguous morality where lovers are unsuitably matched and such characters as prostitutes are not negatively portrayed.
Plautus employs a full range of language from colloquial phrases to technical terms and he frequently uses wordplay, alliteration and puns to deliver a series of devastating linguistical acrobatics. The plays have a great variety of both metre and music too, especially in the cantica segments – operatic arias and duets. Plautus also frequently reminds the audience that they are watching a play (metatheatre) to squeeze even more comedy from his scenes, using such tricks as signalling to the audience exactly how the play is progressing and reminding them that the story is set far away in Greece.
Plautus’ Legacy
Plautus’ plays continued to be popular after his death and they were performed in Rome for another century or so. His works were also read, studied, and copied for centuries after that. The oldest manuscript of a Plautus play dates back to the 6th century CE and the reappearance of previously lost manuscripts made Plautus once more popular during the Renaissance. The plays were performed in theatres again and, along with Terence, Plautus is credited with influencing the evolution of European comic theatre and inspiring such playwrights as Shakespeare and Molière with his rich characterisations. For example, the former writer’s Comedy of Errors shares many plot and character details with Plautus’ Menaechmi.
Below is a selection of extracts from Plautus’ plays:
Peniculus: Gods confound who first invented public meetings, that device for wasting the time of people who have no time to waste. There ought to be a corps of idle men enrolled for that sort of business. (The Menaechmus Brothers, lines 420-472)
Pseudolus: The best laid plans of a hundred skilled men can be knocked sideways by one single goddess, the Lady Luck. It’s a fact; it’s only being on good terms with Dame Fortune that makes a man successful and gives him the reputation of being a clever fellow. (Pseudolus, lines 641-693)
Euclio: The first thing that occurs to me, Megadorus, is that you are a rich man, a man of influence, and I’m a poor man, poorest of the poor. And the second thing that occurs to me is that for me to make you my son-in-law would be like yoking an ox with an ass; you’d be the ox and I’d be the ass. Unable to pull my share of the load, I, the ass, would be left sprawling in the mud, and you, the ox, would take no more notice of me than if I had never been born. I should be out of your class, and my class would disown me; if there were a question of divorce or anything like that, my footing in either stable would be very – unstable. The asses would be at me with their teeth, and the bulls with their horns. It’s asking for trouble for an ass to promote himself to the bull-pen. (The Pot of Gold, lines 213-256)The Washington Redskins used their offseason practices to begin the transition from former coach Mike Shanahan’s offensive system to that of Shanahan’s successor, Jay Gruden. The early indications, according to Redskins players, are that the shift will be more about tinkering than overhauling.
“It’s not much of a difference from the offense last year, to tell you the truth,” wide receiver Pierre Garcon said as he walked off the field at Redskins Park following one offseason practice. “It’s the same offensive coordinating guys from last year.”
Gruden promoted Shanahan’s tight ends coach, Sean McVay, to offensive coordinator and vowed to retain ingredients of Shanahan’s offensive system, particularly those involving the running game. Players say they indeed have found Gruden’s system to be similar.
“I think having two years’ experience running an offense, a pro-level offense, West Coast type, this is very similar,” quarterback Robert Griffin III said during offseason practices. “So it’s not been as tough as you might think. But all the concepts translate over. They might be called something different. But the reads are similar. It’s just about the philosophy of the coach. Jay has a little bit different philosophy. We’ll find out what that is on Sundays.”
When the Redskins drafted Griffin in 2012, Shanahan and his son, Kyle, who served as his father’s offensive coordinator, crafted an offensive system designed to take advantage of Griffin’s varied talents. They borrowed elements traditionally associated with the college game, such as the pistol offense and option plays, and combined them with longtime staples of Mike Shanahan-coached teams, including a West Coast passing scheme, a zone-blocking style by the offensive line and stretch running plays.
The Post Sports Live crew looks back at some of LaVar Arrington's greatest moments on the show and bids farewell to him as he heads to the NFL Network. (Post Sports Live/The Washington Post)
It all worked superbly in Griffin’s rookie season. He was the NFL’s offensive rookie of the year. An unheralded sixth-round draft choice, running back Alfred Morris, became a highly productive runner as a rookie and the Redskins won the NFC East title.
But things unraveled from there. The Shanahans’ use of Griffin as a frequent runner came under intense scrutiny, as did their relationship with him. Griffin failed to recapture his rookie-year magic last season as he worked his way back from offseason surgery to repair the injury to his right knee, suffered during the Redskins’ playoff loss to end his first season. The Redskins went 3-13 and Shanahan was fired, leading to the coaching search that resulted in the hiring of Gruden, who was serving as the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.
The designed running plays for Griffin are likely to be curtailed with Gruden in charge. People in and around the organization say they expect the new coaching staff to emphasize Griffin’s development as a pocket passer. The great majority of Griffin’s running plays, they say, should come when his pass protection breaks down or when no open receiver can be found. The running game will be left, for the most part, to Morris. When Griffin was asked during offseason practices which player he considers the team’s biggest threat on offense, he named Morris.
“Our running game has stayed pretty true to what it is and our passing game, we’ve had to learn some new things,” Griffin said. “Even if it might be the same concept, like I said, it might be called differently. I think everybody is doing a great job being on top of that, being in the right place.”
The Redskins have reworked their offensive line and added wide receivers DeSean Jackson and Andre Roberts as free agents. Those changes, plus the progress made by second-year tight end Jordan Reed, could make the biggest difference in their offense.
“I have high expectations,” Jackson said. “There’s a lot of playmakers on this team all the way from... Santana Moss to Andre Roberts, [Jordan] Reed. It’s very exciting. Everybody is young, just having fun out here working together and enjoying. We’re out here working together like it’s training camp. That’s a good thing to have.”
Jackson and Garcon each had more than 1,300 receiving yards last season, with Jackson’s production coming for the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s questionable whether they can duplicate those numbers while playing on the same team. But Jackson said during offseason practices that he expects the two to thrive in tandem and benefit one another.
“I respect Garcon,” Jackson said. “He’s a good player in this league, a great receiver. This is my first year really getting to know him and having that relationship with him. I think me and him will be able to be like that one-two punch in the NFL and have a great year. So whatever it is I can help him with, vice versa, whatever he can help me with, I look forward to that. It’s gonna be tough on defenses. People are going to have to account for him. They’re going to have to account for me. Not only that. We have other players involved in the offense, too, that people are going to have to account for.”Objectives: Western-style diets high in saturated fat and refined carbohydrate have been shown to alter gut microbiota as well as being associated with altered behaviour and learning ability. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of short-term intake of a Western-style diet on intestinal cytokine expression, tryptophan metabolism, and levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.
Methods: At 7 weeks of age, 129S1/SvImJ mice were placed on a standard chow or Western-style diet (fat 33%, refined carbohydrates 49%) for 3 weeks. Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed by the latency to step-down test and exploration assessed in a Barnes maze. Neurotransmitter levels in forebrains were analysed by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Liver metabolism was examined by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Cytokine expression in the intestine was measured using MesoScale discovery platform. mRNA levels of tryptophan hydroxylase (Tph) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) in the brain and intestine were measured using qPCR.
Results: Results showed that mice fed the Western diet displayed reduced exploratory and anxiety-like behaviour. Anxiolytic effects correlated with increased hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and tryptophan levels. Brain serotonin was not altered. These changes were associated with reduced expression of small intestinal indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, a tryptophan-processing enzyme. Western diet-fed mice exhibited low-grade systemic and intestinal inflammation along with altered liver metabolic profiles.
Discussion: In conclusion, diets high in fat and refined sugar are associated with increased levels of brain BDNF and tryptophan and decreased exploratory and anxiety-like behaviour. These behavioural changes correlated with altered intestinal tryptophan metabolism and liver metabolic profiles.In our family, we have been thinking a lot about community. What it means to have a community, to be a part of one, to develop one. Yesterday we were invited to join the Linn-Benton County Baha'is for their reflection meeting as they came together and consulted on precisely this. Except that they are very far ahead of us, and they are looking at questions such as how do we expand our community and help each other in our daily lives more effectively? There were families who had taken in fragile youth and helped them on their way with grace and purpose. Youth who organised the junior youth in their neighborhoods and schools, junior youth who helped with children. It was a beautiful thing to see. Everyone focused and intent on how they could be of better service to those around them, how to continue to expand these circles of friends and families to support the larger community as a whole. It's not as if anyone had all the answers-- this was clearly a process that everyone from the grandmothers to the babies is participating in and dedicated to. And what I found most heartening is that this isn't about proclaiming some agenda; this is about providing people with the warmth and strength to do what they need to do for themselves.
I kept thinking again and again about what it means to be a Baha'i. Truly, it means to love humanity and to strive to be of service to those around you. To continually direct those around you towards the good, the true, the whole. And this will not look the same for everyone. Baha'u'llah did not come only for Baha'is; this is about seeing where people are at, where they need to go, and trying to get there together.
I am not very good at expressing these things. They are incredibly deep and difficult on one level, yet almost laughably simple on another.
But. I am grateful to have connected with these people. My children came away full of spark and energy and eagerness to look for ways to serve those around them. Asher thought a lot about what it means to be a good friend and a positive influence to those around him-- a skill his sisters excel at, and one that he is beginning to identify with as part of who he is and how he is.
Lately, i have been wondering about this space and how I use it. Most of the blogs I read seem to focus more and more on the safe and insular (pretty products, recipes, what the baby did today). And I am not really satisfied with that. Perhaps it is a character flaw of mine-- I have never been one to leave well enough alone; I always want to dig a bit deeper, push that boundary a bit further.
So all of this to say, I may be experimenting a bit here. It is not my agenda to offend or to push my views, But I do want to think deeply, really address what is going on around me. Because this world is often a horrible place to be, and I am thrusting my children right out into the thick of it, expecting them to be actively engaged in it, and equally actively influencing it. Sometimes this is terrifying and I wonder what I am even thinking. But mostly this is good and right, and I have so much to learn. I hope that I am not the only one...With the win over Nerchio yesterday, MMA is almost certain to make it to Blizzcon 2013. MMA did live up to the “Terran hope” title by showing great execution and innovation. Game 1 and 3 are worthy of a post here.
Game 1: Yeonsu
MMA: 12/12 Reaper expand
Nerchio: 5:00 Roach warren on 2 bases
Based on MMA’s recent games (GSTL), he seems to prefer Reaper opening to command centre first in TvZ. His Reaper micro against Nerchio was crazy.
In general, a Reaper opening will transit into reactor Hellion map control with a third command centre behind it. MMA put down a tech lab on the factory, and this indicated that he wanted to get a tank out against potential all-in. However, MMA also put down a starport next to the factory for Banshee production. In my opinion, Banshee is so-so in TvZ even after the buff.
MMA reacted well after he scouted Nerchio’s roach warren at 6:15 with one Reaper and no 3rd hatchery with another. Reaper expand into reactor Hellions is very vulnerable to Roach timing. You only have two Marines, two Reapers and two to four Hellions, and they are no answers to Roaches. This is the reason why Terran players sometimes go for a Tank and some Marines before moving back to reactor Hellion.
The counter attack with Reapers was a great move, because they don’t add value by defending against the Roaches. Interestingly, MMA showed Nerchio the Banshee by attacking the Roaches. At the same time, MMA shifted back to the convergent point by getting a 3rd command centre and double engineering bay.
MMA’s next move was the highlight of this game. It is hard to defend an early 3rd on Yeonsu because of the rocks between the third and natural. The Banshee “prevented” the rocks from being taken down.
Simultaneously, MMA moved his Marines to kill the isolated third hatchery. #Mindblown
Clearly, MMA’s build was planned and not was improvised. I wonder how MMA’s Banshee build would have shaped up if Nerchio chose to do a normal 6:00 – 6:30 hatchery with Zerglings and Queens.
—
Game 3: Frost
MMA: 14 CC into reactor Hellion and 3rd CC
Nerchio: two bases Roach and Baneling all-in with Baneling speed
MMA scouted no 3rd hatchery by 7:30 and there is a Roach and a spine crawler at the natural. Intuition tells you that something is coming. The scan revealed everything.
MMA reacted by building five more bunkers (six in total), and started Marauder and Widow Mine production.
I often scouted all-in but I still lost. This is simply because I didn’t plan the defense well enough. Yes, I built bunkers and produced Marauders and Widow Mines.
MMA’s answer is to trade bunkers on the low ground for Banelings, while the top of the ramp is the main defensive line.
There is only one Marine in each of the front bunkers to draw Banelings. Without Banelings, it is hard for Zerg to break the top ramp with just Roaches. MMA did not pull Scvs to repair the front bunkers. The Widow Mines were not planted at the natural as they are most effective at the top of the ramp as the Zerg units would cluster the most at the ramp.
The focus was the top ramp.
The epic Widow Mine shot on the group of Banelings would not happen if the Widow Mines are planted at the natural.
And hell yeah, MMA is back.Permanent TSB improved its margins and reduced impairment charges in the third quarter but said new lending was being constrained by limited growth in the mortgage market that is key to its growth.
In a trading update, the lender said its financial performance has improved further in the third quarter.
It said that the improving Irish macro-economic performance has contributed to continued reductions in its loan losses.
Permanent TSB said it has seen an increase in current account balances and lending drawdowns since the start of the year.
The bank said current account balances were up 6% since the end of 2014, while lending drawdowns are up 34% year on year.
But it said its mortgage drawdowns have remained broadly in line with the figures from last year, with the market failing to grow at the speed anticipated.
The lender also said that 76% of cases identified in its Mortgage Redress Programme have now been dealt with.
PTSB agreed to compensate to 1,372 mortgage owners in July after the Central Bank found it had failed to warn them of the consequence of breaking the term of a particular loan agreement.
The level of mortgages in arrears further declined between July and September this year, the bank added today.
Permanent TSB said that the growth in the economy is providing a strong backdrop for its targeted return to sustainable profitability.
"At the same time, challenges remain in the form of increasing costs of meeting higher regulatory standards, limited housing supply resulting in constrained growth of the mortgage market and over supply and volatility in the UK mortgage asset market," the bank said.
The bank said its net interest margin, a key measure of profitability that the bank aims increase to 1.7% by 2018, rose to 1.26%, reflecting cuts to its deposit rate. This took the nine-month average to 1.07%.
Shares in the bank were sharply higher in Dublin trade today.Metropica, a master-planned community in Sunrise, is the latest South Florida condominium to receive conditional Fannie Mae approval, as developers try to lure domestic buyers.
Once Metropica receives final approval, buyers will be able to purchase qualifying residences with as little as a 5 percent down payment on primary residences, 10 percent for second homes and 20 percent for investors, the developers said.
Lender New Penn Financial assisted Metropica through the process of obtaining Fannie Mae approval, and serves as the development’s preferred mortgage lender, Jeffrey Brown, manager of the Developer Services Division for New Penn Financial told The Real Deal. The loan program, backed by the federal government, is only available to domestic buyers.
Metropica Holdings LLC, a venture led by real estate developer Joseph Kavana, CEO of KGH International Development, LLC, is developing Metropica. The $1 billion project will span 65 acres in southwest Broward, and will include eight residential towers with 1,900 units, 400,000 square feet of retail, 650,000 square feet of office space, and landscaped parks, the latter of which will be designed by EDSA. When completed, the community will include a health and wellness center, a resort-style beach club and elevated recreational amenities such as tennis courts and mini soccer fields. Chad Oppenheim is the lead designer.
In November, Kavana closed on $38 million in construction financing for Metropica.
So far, construction is underway at the first residential tower, Yoo at Metropica, which broke ground in October. The 28-story condominium with 263 units and 10 penthouses is now 50 percent sold, the developers said.
As foreign economies falter, developers are increasingly turning to the domestic market for buyers and are seeking Fannie Mae approval as an incentive.
Canvas, a condominium tower planned to rise in Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District, last month received conditional project approval from Fannie Mae, which agreed to purchase or securitize mortgages on individual units in the 513-unit property being developed NR Investments. Brown said Penn Financial helped secure the approval.
In January 2015, the developers of the Crimson in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood also received Fannie Mae approval, in anticipation of a drop in foreign buyers looking to buy Miami condos.It was late August when the perfect day arose to get my ass off the computer chair and meet one of these highway dwellers. I had the idea for the story months in advance, and during the time in between I made routine drives up and down the off-ramps to locate the hot-spots for these panhandlers who’d seemed to pop up over night.
It was roughly 1 p.m. and Neil (Swept’s local lit editor) and I were already behind schedule. After having some lunch and a quick smoke break, Neil and I set out from my house to hit the 410 to locate one of these panhandlers and find a story.
It took us no longer than five minutes to find our man. My research (driving up and down the highway for months) determined that Queen and 410 off-ramps tend to be the most active.
As we stopped for the light at the end of the southbound off-ramp at Queen Street (ironically a giant Goodwill sign is within plain site of the off-ramp), we watched as our prospective homeless man collected money from three people in front of us. At the top of my lungs, I hollered at him to make sure we had made contact before the light had changed.
He made his way over to my beat-up SUV. With roughly $5 change ready in my |
in Cairo in 1005 CE by the Caliph Al-Hakim. This Academy was closed in 1171 CE when Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyobi (Saladin) put an end to the Fatimids Dynasty in Egypt, and sold the palace treasures, including the contents of this Academy. (NM, p.144 & E of I)
One must also mention that in some of the cities of the Eastern Provinces of the Islamic World, several "Houses of Science" (Dour Al-‘Ilm, singular Dar Al-‘Ilm), or more accurately "Houses of Knowledge", were established in the 9th and 10th Centuries to emulate that of Dar Al-Hikma in Baghdad. (MJ & AS, pp. 254 & 255; NM, p. 129) Such cities included Mosul, Basra, Shiraz, Rayy, etc. (Encycl. of Islam).
Imaginary drawing of the "House of Wisdom" library (Source)
It is reported about Al-Ma'moun that he gathered a group of wise men (Hukama') and asked them to prepare a map of the world for him, and which they did; this was known as Al-Ma'mounite Picture (Al-Soura Al-Ma'mouniya). It far exceeded those, which were available during the lifetime of Ptolemy and other Greek geographers. Also, about twenty geographers wrote a book about geography for Al-Ma'moun. (MJ & AS, pp. 133 &134)
Al-Ma'moun took after his father Al-Rashid in establishing many higher institutes, observatories, and factories for textiles. It is said that the number of higher institutes during his reign reached 332, and they were packed with students pursuing various subjects in the Arts and in the Sciences.(ref). These were built in according to the finest style, and most of them were in mosques and monumental buildings (Mashahid); this figure excludes the equivalent of primary schools (Katateeb) not including schools.
He also built hospitals (Bimarstanat or Maristanat), which were crowded with their physicians, surgeons, 0pthalmists, dentists, and their students (and of course as well as patients). (MJ & AS, p. 133)
1001 inventions "House of Wisdom" Canvas: Scholars from all over the Muslim world worked at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. The illustration depicts scholars, both male and female and of many faiths, who came to study and research at this Baghdad powerhouse.
Some of the historians have given Al-Ma'moun the title of "The Master of Arabic Civilisation" (Ustad Al-Hadhara Al-Arabiya) because of what he had left behind of useful scientific knowledge and cultural heritage. (MJ & AS, p. 133 quoting Rifa'I, vol. 1, p. 375 etc.) His achievements had great impact in introducing civility, civilisation, culture and heritage to the Arabs (and of course to the Muslims as a whole as well).
It is important to put the House of Wisdom in the Context of the city of Baghdad as the Capital of the Islamic World during its Golden Age. Baghdad played a major part in the propagation and spread of knowledge in the Arts and in the Sciences and in the development of their material wealth.
Baghdad had reached its highest reputation and glorious status during the reigns of the Caliphs Al-Rasheed, Al-Ma'moun, Al-Mu'tadhid and Al-Muktafi. Its buildings had expanded widely on both banks and sides of the river Tigris, in a form of urbanism resembling that of contiguous towns, and its population had reached about one million. It was the centre for Islamic (if not the world) culture and civilisation, as well as the headquarters for the Arts, Sciences and Letters. It was crowded with Scientists, Physicians, philosophers, Mathematicians, Astronomers, Men of Letters, Poets, Writers, Translators, Scribes, and Professionals in the various arts and crafts, etc.
Additionally, one must mention the Great Library of Cordoba of the Umayyad Dynasty in Andalusia with its thousands of magnificent books and manuscripts. One can only imagine its invaluable collection when one reads that after 1492 and during the Spanish Inquisition when about half-a-million of its priceless books and manuscripts were deliberately and callously burnt!
There were rivalry and competitions between these three libraries in obtaining the most magnificent books and manuscripts as well as in attracting the best scholars to work there. Such competitions were very beneficial to the advancement of scientific research and publications in the Islamic World.
The round city of Baghdad in the 10th century at the time of House of Wisdom. Illustration: Jean Soutif/Science Photo Library (Source)
It would not be an exaggeration to imagine camel caravans loaded with magnificent books and manuscripts criss-crossing the Islamic World on their way to reach the magnificent Libraries of Bayt or Dar A-Hikma in Baghdad, Dar Al-Hikma in Cairo or the Great Library of Cordoba.
Tragically, during the 2003 war in Iraq, the Central Library in Baghdad, the House of Islamic Manuscripts (Dar Al-Makhtoutat Al-Islamiya) in Baghdad, and many other university and public libraries in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra were pillaged and burnt down. The heritage contained in the Iraqi Museum suffered the same.
A point has to be made here about the term Medieval frequently used in civilisation literature. It is not acceptable to speak of "Islamic Medieval Civilisation", "Islamic Medieval Architecture", "Islamic Medieval Science", "Islamic Medieval Philosophy", etc. This is because the term "Medieval" applies to European history only, for while Europe was asleep during the Dark Ages, Middle Ages, Medieval Ages, Islamic Civilisation, Culture and Heritage were in ascendancy and reached their highest achievements in various parts of the Islamic World.
Proposed alternative terms may include: "Golden Age of Islam", "Golden Age of Islamic Civilisation", "Islamic Age", "Islamic Era", "Islamic Epoch", "Islamic Time", etc.).
House of Wisdom illustration (Source)
A Short Selected Bibliography
Al- Bustani, Butrus (1987); Muhit al-Muhit: an Arabic-Arabic Dictionary. Librairie du Liban.
Al-Khatib Al-Baghdad, T'areekh Baghdad (Baghdad's History) in 16 vol.
Al-Qifti, Ali bin Yousuf; T'areekh Al-Hukama'. (The History of Wise Men).
Encyclopaedia Of Islam (2nd Edition).
Hayes, John B. (Editor), (1983 2nd Edition). The Genius of Arab Civilization: Source of Renaissance. (Acollection of 11 articles /papers by different specialist authors). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, x, 260 pp., illust.
Jawad, Mustafa; and Susa, Ahmad (1958); A Detailed Guide to Baghdad's Map: in Baghdad's Plans, Old and Modern. Baghdad: Iraqi Scientific Academy Press, x, 405 pp., illust.
Ma'rouf, Naji (1968); "Thaqafat Al-Baghdadiyin" (The Baghdadis' Culture), pp. 127-197 in Baghdad: An Illustrated Historical Exposition, by Mustafa Jawad, Ahmad Susa, Mohammad Makiya, and Naji Ma'rouf. Baghdad: Iraqi Society of Engineers.
Rifa'i, Ahmad Fareed; (1928, 4th edition), ‘Asr Al-Ma'moun (Al-Mansour's Era), in 3 vol., Cairo.
Roper, Geoffrey (2005): "The Fate of Manuscripts in Iraq and elsewhere." A lecture given at Al-Furqan Islamic Foundation, Wimbledon, London on 18.05.2005 in 11 pages.
Yaqout ibn `Abd Allah al-Hamawi (Yaqut); Irshad Al-Areeb Ila Ma'rifat Al-Adeeb.
Yaqout ibn `Abd Allah al-Hamawi (Yaqut) ; Mu'jam al-Buldan. Bayrut : Dar Sadir, 1955-1957.
13-th century manuscript, drawn by Al-Wasiti of the celebrated book “The Assemblies”. Written by Hariri, shows a library in BaghdadSome call it a human zoo or a horror show, others a zombie tourist attraction or Brazil's shame. But the most common name for the district south-west of São Paulo's Luz station is Cracolândia.
Drug users, many wrapped in dirty blankets, lie on the pavement or are slumped on stained sofas. Others shuffle along the road, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings. Nobody bothers to conceal the main reason they are here: crack cocaine, which is smoked openly and everywhere in white, single-hit balls that cost from three to 10 reals (£1 to £3.30).
Just over a year ago, this area in the heart of South America's largest city was considered so dangerous that it was practically a no-go zone even for the police. Studies suggest one in three people died within five years of ending up on these streets, usually violently.
But with Brazil now gripped by the world's second biggest crack epidemic (after the US), the authorities have launched a series of controversial initiatives to address this very visible symptom of the country's social ills.
Since the start of last year, São Paulo has introduced street clearance operations by police, increased funds for rehabilitation centres and, most recently, focused more on judicial intervention and involuntary treatment.
Supporters say such measures are steps towards a solution of one of the city's worst problems and a long overdue allocation of resources to help those who have fallen as low as you can go.
Critics, however, argue that the policies are haphazard, shift with the political winds, often violate the rights of the users and may be driven by business demands to clean up a piece of potentially valuable land.
In the 1990s, São Paulo was the first city to report a crack problem in Brazil, but the problem has spread with economic development: nationwide, usage is thought to have expanded tenfold since the turn of the century.
Many in Cracolândia have tales of sexual or physical abuse, or a long history of addiction in their families. Chris, 17, came to São Paulo from the north of Brazil 10 months ago to look for her mother, a crack user. All she found was addiction.
She first tried cocaine when someone offered it to her at a party and she became addicted. She checked herself into a rehab centre, but then a dealer came to the gates of the facility.
"They only had crack, but I craved a high so much at that time that I took it, even though I knew it was dangerous," she said. Now, she is constantly running away from the treatment centre to get high in Cracolândia, which is just five minutes' walk away.
A man smokes crack openly. Studies suggest one in three people died within five years of ending up on Cracolândia's streets, usually violently. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
No reliable statistics exist, but at its peak, Cracolândia was thought to be home to about 2,000 users. Today, at its busiest – 2am on a Friday night – there are closer to 800. Instead, crack users are increasingly evident in other parts of the city centre, such as the park next to the Sé Cathedral. There are also moves to detain and treat more addicts."Cracolândia is shrinking because of police and media attention. It's less visible now, less of a horror-show tourist attraction. But instead of one big Cracolândia, you now have many small Cracolândias," said Samuel Karasin, a judge working at a state rehabilitation centre.
He said his transfer to the facility in January was a historic initiative by the São Paulo court to press local authorities to live up to their legal obligation to provide health treatment for all citizens. Family members should now get extra support from lawyers and quicker decisions by a judge when they are asking medical staff to intervene in the cases of addicted children, siblings and parents.
"It is the first time that a court has taken proactive measures to deal with an issue of poverty and drug addiction," said Karasin. "When we started, it was like the bursting of a dyke. So many people came in. In the first few days we had thousands."
The change is partly due to politics. São Paulo's new mayor, Fernando Haddad, a former education minister, announced in January that the city would make more use of compulsory intervention. Since the announcement, there have been 33 involuntary detentions, though officials say most later agreed to their treatment. "The project is that if we need to use compulsory intervention we will, but we would rather convince them," said Rosangela Elias, mental health co-ordinator for São Paulo state, who is working on a new two-year plan to help more users. "Our aim is not to clear up Cracolândia. Our aim is to treat people."
But she acknowledges pressure for a cosmetic solution. "You cannot just wave a wand and make Cracolândia disappear, but politicians and business people push us to find a magical instant solution."
The city government wants to redevelop the district. It has invested billions of reals in a new Portuguese language museum and has plans for a new art school. Haddad says he will also provide social housing for street dwellers. The government also hopes to attract private capital to build residential accommodation. But that's difficult, when the few existing local businesses complain of constant thefts and violence from the drug using community.
At the local dry cleaners, the staff say they have lost count of the times they have been robbed.
"The new mayor is promising to remove the crackheads from here and provide shelters for them all. But I don't believe he'll do anything. It's just a campaign promise," said Maria de Lurdes Marques, an employer.
Under the previous administration last year, the police launched a campaign to arrest dealers and evict homeless people from public buildings. Street dwellers say the measures were brutal. "I was asleep and the police pulled the blanket off me, then, when I complained, they beat me. They broke three ribs," said Washington Luiz Maciel who lived on the streets for 20 years. "They are still trying to clear us out because local residents and businesses ask them to get rid of us."
He was doing up to 40 hits of crack a day at one point. Now he is in the Complexo Prates rehab centre and has been clean for several months.
The facilities are impressive. There is a health unit that sees around 100 cases a day for assessments, prescriptions of antidepressants, counselling sessions and various types of therapy.
Brazil's military police carry out an operation to remove drug users and arrest dealers in São Paulo in 2012. Photograph: News Free/CON/Getty Images
Residents, who come voluntarily, can play dominos or table football, take art classes or study to read and write. There is a computer room, table football, dormitory accommodation for 110 adults and 20 juveniles, as well as a dining room that proves four meals a day.
Myres Cavalcante, mental health coordinator for the central west region of São Paulo believe the crack issue has been hyped by the media. There is not a big increase in users in São Paulo and compulsory intervention is not a new development.
"We are treating more and hosting more. We're containing the problem. It's not getting worse," she insists.
However, the health minister Alexandre Padilha says the nationwide situation is at epidemic levels. Last December, Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, announced a 4bn-reals plan to tackle crack addiction through education, training and the provision of more rehabilitation staff and beds. But it has got off to a slow start.
São Paulo – which aims to be a model – has only 700 beds available and expects to increase that number to 1,100 next year. Shortages are even greater elsewhere. The biggest growth areas for the drug now are in the inland and northern provinces, many of which now have their own Cracolândias.
Critics say a fundamental flaw in the approach by the authorities is that they have not properly assessed the scale of the problem or conducted studies to monitor the effectiveness of different types of treatment. There is also little coordination between different branches of government. "The money is being spent on nothing. It makes me so angry," says Ronaldo Laranjeira, director of the National Institute of Alcohol and Drug Policies at the Federal University of Sâo Paulo. "When I talk to my colleagues in the government, they don't have a clue. I don't think they have a plan at all. It's a mess. Implementation is chaotic."
"Cracolândia is as low as you can go in society," he says. "It is an aberration that would not be allowed in any other country. We have to get these people off the streets."
Laranjeira supports compulsory intervention on the grounds of equality. Currently, he says, involuntary intervention is mostly only carried out for users from middle-class families, whose parents or siblings pay doctors to prescribe a period of treatment. The same support should be available to all, the government adviser says.
"In extreme cases, crack users need involuntary treatment. This is not a punishment … This is not an issue of freedom or long-term incarceration. These people are really sick. They need short-term treatment for a month."
It is not hard to find crack users who agree. "I think treatment should be compulsory. As a user, I know how good the drug feels and how hard it is to reject it. When you are on the drug, you can't control yourself," says Chris, who is now back in rehabilitation.
Full of youthful energy, she grins and gesticulates as she talks about her struggle to start afresh. "I feel better. I've been clean a week now. The staff here are like mothers to me."
There is clearly a close bond between them, but next week, Chris will turn 18 and then she can no longer be treated as a juvenile. That means a lot less government support and a heightened risk that she will end up back in Cracolândia. At the moment, she feels there is nowhere else she can go, including her old home.
"If I went back, it wouldn't help. My entire family is addicted."
With the Cracolândia community dispersing, Chris is also resigning herself to not being reunited with her mother any time soon. "She said she'd be with me for my 18th birthday, but I don't know if that is going to happen.""A single corn kernel coated with a neonicotinoid can kill a song bird." As a long time environmental lawyer and campaigner, I should not have been stunned by that fact but I was. Shaking my head in dismay, I read on, "Even a tiny grain of wheat or canola treated with the...neonicotinoid... can fatally poison a bird."
The report is from the American Bird Conservancy and the neonicotinoids referred to are a relatively new class of insecticides that have become the most commonly used in the world, with several hundred products approved for use in the U.S. These "neonics" are neurotoxins that paralyze and eventually kill their victim. My organization, Center for Food Safety, has been working hard to halt the use of these neonics through litigation, legislation, and legal petitions to the Environmental Protection Agency. We are suing to address the well-publicized threat that neonics present to the survival of honey bees and wild bees. At the time we launched our legal actions, I did not even know about the song birds.
The anger-stirring realization that a song bird could be felled by a single seed and the prospect of bees being silenced forever brought me back to the words of Rachel Carson, written more than half a century ago in Silent Spring. "These... non selective chemicals have the power to kill every insect, the 'good' and the 'bad,' to still the songs of the birds and the leaping fish... they should not be called insecticides but biocides." Through Carson's crusade, biocides like DDT were eventually banned but new chemicals like neonicotinoids and other similar "systemic" insecticides/biocides have taken their place causing similar ecological havoc. Sadly, our regulatory agencies under the sway of the agrochemical industry have enabled this tragic and continuing environmental destruction.
I think it is long past due that we who work in the food and environmental movement adopt Carson's nomenclature. Let's not refer to pesticides, whether they are insecticides, herbicides or fungicides, by anything but their real name: biocides. Words do matter.
The "cide" ending in all these terms comes from the Latin caedare meaning "to kill." Given that these chemicals are designed to kill that root word is accurate. But using the word pest-icide gives the impression that all these chemicals do is kill "pests," whether insects, plant, or fungi pests. The neonicotinoids killing bees and song birds puts that delusion to rest. The bee is an insect but not a pest and the song bird is neither an insect nor a pest.
But Carson only referred to insecticides as biocides. Is it fair to put all pesticides, including herbicides and fungicides, in the same pejorative etymological category? Well, let's look at Monsanto's Roundup. It is the most widely used herbicide in the world because of the adoption of genetically engineered (GE) crops designed to tolerate the chemical. Is Roundup just a pesticide, a careful killer of just those "bad" plants called weeds that farmers wish to remove? Of course not. Roundup does so much more than kill plant pests. It wipes out beneficial plants of all sorts: food crops, fruits in the orchard, flowers in the garden, in fact anything that is green. Most of these are not pests or weeds. Among the beneficial plants it destroys is milkweed, on which monarch butterflies depend. The massive use of Roundup in the U.S. has destroyed so much milkweed that monarch butterflies are now at risk of extinction. Monarch butterflies are not pests or weeds.
Then there were the University of Pittsburgh researchers who a decade ago tested how Roundup might impact immature and mature frogs in ponds. This is how the researchers summarized their results: "The most striking result from the experiments was that a chemical designed to kill plants killed 98 percent of tad poles within three weeks and 79 percent of all frogs within one day." That is very effective killing indeed, but of course frogs are not pests or weeds. Argentinian researchers using animal models then linked Roundup and its active ingredient glyphosate to cranial malformations and other birth defects long reported in the children of farm workers who were repeatedly exposed to the chemical. Infants are not pests or weeds. And then in March 2015, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) cancer authorities -- the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) -- determined that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic to humans" based on multiple lines of evidence: kidney, pancreatic and other tumors in glyphosate-treated test animals; epidemiology studies showing higher rates of cancer in farmers that used glyphosate; and research showing that glyphosate damages chromosomes, one mechanism by which cancer is induced.
So Roundup is a butterfly killer, a frog killer and potentially an infant and adult human killer. And it has numerous other untold victims, to be sure. None of these are pests or weeds. So let's not continue to use misleading euphemisms. Roundup is not a pesticide or herbicide; it is a "biocide."
And now to fungicides. Their use in agriculture in the U.S. has skyrocketed, almost doubling in the last seven years. Unfortunately, research on their ecological and human health impacts has not kept up with the exponential growth in the use of these chemicals. But there is growing evidence that many of these toxics kill beneficial soil life, disrupting essential soil ecosystems. They are also increasingly becoming a water pollution problem, threatening aquatic life. Research has also pointed to concerning synergistic effects when used in tandem with other pesticides - delivering an even more toxic cocktail to bees and other beneficial insects exposed to the chemicals. Past studies indicate that 90 percent of fungicides are carcinogenic in animal models. To add insult to injury, they are also suspected of increasing obesity, especially in children. These health impacts remind us of yet another Carson insight: "Man is a part of nature and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself."Enemy won’t win any awards for writing, and it’s not full of carefully marshalled academic evidence. The language is rough, which is how Tommy talks. He repeatedly calls the police dickheads and wankers; his MP Gavin Shuker is an “idiot”; Quilliam’s head of communications is a “squealing moron”. It’s refreshing at first but after a while can get a bit difficult to read.
Tommy sees this book as the chance to get his side of the story out, and is disarmingly honest, offering up a series of (often) surprisingly funny stories of what went on during his time as head of the EDL that will interest greatly anyone who’s followed the group. The public picture of Tommy Robinson– a nasty angry man full of hatred – is at odds with the reality. He’s charismatic (which is one reason he managed to hold a group like EDL together for so long; and why it collapsed in his absence), a prankster, and surprisingly plucky.
In one story, Tommy caught prospective Tory MP Afzal Amin on camera trying to persuade him to stage manage an EDL demonstration so he (Afzal) could then “persuade” them to not go through with it – and take the credit. (Afzal resigned from the party as a result.) Then there’s the comic account of how Tommy ended up on the roof of the Fifa headquarters building in 2011 on a whim to protest about England fans not being allowed to wear poppies on their armbands.
This being the former EDL leader, the flow of events are frequently interrupted apropos nothing so he can set out his views on Islam and UK politics: whether the Koran justifies burnings, to the British justice system, to why we shouldn’t let in refugees, to Saudi Arabia funding mega-mosques. Analysts will find a lot to chew over in the stories about the EDL, and probably less in his views on religion and society.
But by far the most interesting parts of the book relate to his upbringing and his experience of the police. Though this is probably not his audience, for academics and civil liberties campaigners this book provides a wealth of almost accidental insight.Last Monday's lead editorial began:
"Here we go again. In the 1990s Pat Buchanan launched a civil war within the Republican Party on a platform targeting immigration and trade. Some claimed Pitchfork Pat was the future of the GOP, though in the end he mainly contributed to its presidential defeats."
But, woe is us, "the GOP's Buchanan wing is making a comeback."
Now it is true that, while Nixon and Reagan won 49-state landslides and gave the GOP five victories in six presidential contests, the party has fallen upon hard times. Only once since 1988 has a Republican presidential nominee won the popular vote.
But was this caused by following this writer's counsel? Or by the GOP listening to the deceptions of its Davos-Doha-WSJ wing?
In the 1990s, this writer and allies in both parties fought NAFTA, GATT and MFN for China. The WSJ and GOP establishment ran with Bill and Hillary and globalization. And the fruits of their victory?
Between 2000 and 2010, 55,000 U.S. factories closed and 5 million to 6 million manufacturing jobs disappeared. Columnist Terry Jeffrey writes that, since 1979, the year of maximum U.S. manufacturing employment, "The number of jobs in manufacturing has declined by 7,231,000—or 37 percent."
Does the Journal regard this gutting of the greatest industrial base the world had ever seen, which gave America an independence no republic had ever known, an acceptable price of its New World Order?
Beginning in 1991, traveling the country and visiting plant after plant that was shutting down or moving to Asia or Mexico, some of us warned that this economic treason against America's workers would bring about political retribution. And so it came to pass.
Since 1988, a free-trade Republican Party has not once won Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois or Wisconsin in a presidential election. Ohio, the other great Midwest industrial state, is tipping. The Reagan Democrats are gone. Who cast them aside? You or us?
Since the early 1990s, we have run $3 trillion to $4 trillion in trade deficits with China. Last year's was $325 billion, or twice China's defense budget. Are not all those factories, jobs, investment capital and consumer dollars pouring into China a reason why Beijing has been able to build mighty air and naval fleets, claim sovereignty over the South and East China seas, fortify reefs 1,000 miles south of Hainan Island, and tell the U.S. Navy to back off?
The WSJ accuses us of being anti-growth. But as trade surpluses add to a nation's GDP, trade deficits subtract from it. Does the WSJ think our $11 trillion in trade deficits since 1992 represents a pro-growth policy?
On immigration, this writer did campaign on securing the border in 1991-92, when there were 3 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
But the Bush Republicans refused to seal the border.
Now there are 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants and the issue is tearing the party apart. Now everybody is for "secure borders."
We did urge a "moratorium" on legal immigration, such as America had from 1924 to 1965, to assimilate and Americanize the millions who had come. The WSJ Republicans called that xenophobia.
Since then, tens of millions of immigrants, here legally and illegally, mostly from the Third World, have arrived. Economically, they consume more in tax dollars than they contribute.
Politically, most belong to ethnic groups that vote between 70 and 90 percent Democratic. Their children will bury the GOP.
Consider California, which voted for Nixon all five times he was on a national ticket and for Reagan in landslides all four times he ran.
Since 1988, California has not gone Republican in a single presidential election. No Republican holds statewide office. Both U.S. Senators are Democrats. Democrats have 39 of 53 U.S. House seats. Republican state legislators are outnumbered 2-to-1.
Americans of European descent, who provide the GOP with 90 percent of its presidential vote, are down to 63 percent of the nation and falling.
By 2042, they will be a minority. And there goes the GOP.
Lest we forget, the "Buchanan wing" also opposed the invasion of Iraq while the WSJ-War Party wing howled, "Onto Baghdad!"
"Unpatriotic Conservatives," we were called in a cover story by a neocon National Review for saying the war was unnecessary and unwise.
Now, a dozen years after the "cakewalk" war, GOP candidates like Marco Rubio and Bush III are trying to figure out what it was all about, Alfie, and what they would have done, had they only known.
Our agenda in that decade was—stay out of wars that are not our business, economic patriotism, secure borders, and America first.
The foreign debt and de-industrialization of America, the trillion-dollar wars and the chaos of the Middle East, the shortened life span of the Party of Reagan, that's your doing, fellas, not ours.
Patrick J. Buchanan needs no introduction to VDARE.COM readers; his books State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, and Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025? are available from Amazon.com. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of the new book “The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority.Residents of overwhelmingly Democratic city groan at prospect of voting at building with Republican’s name attached, but few are likely to vote for him
The seemingly interminable and acrimonious presidential election will finally draw to a close on Tuesday, but not before some residents of the overwhelmingly Democratic New York City are dealt a final indignity: being forced to cast their vote in a building named Trump Place.
The official polling site address for people living in sections of Riverside Boulevard, in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is: Trump Place, 180 Riverside Boulevard.
Who will be hurt more by a third party 'protest' vote – Clinton or Trump? Read more
It has irked some voters already sensitive about living in the building, which bears the Republican nominee’s name. The building was developed by Trump in the 1990s, but is no longer managed by his company.
“His views are just completely disconnected from the reality of people who live here,” said Erin Kelly. She lives on Riverside Boulevard and will be voting in Trump Place on Tuesday, though not for Donald Trump.
“It had not occurred to me that I’d have to vote in a building with Trump’s name on it until I went to verify that my registration was still valid. And there it was. That was my polling place,” Kelly said.
“My consolation is knowing that the majority of the voters who have to vote there will not actually be voting for Trump.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The polling site for some Manhattan residents: Trump Place. Photograph: New York Board of Elections
In 2012 President Barack Obama won 83.75% of the vote in Manhattan. Mitt Romney got 14.92%.
The New York City board of elections did not respond to a request for comment, but its website displays the Trump polling station. “Trump Place” appears in a large font with “180 Riverside Boulevard” written underneath.
Residents wishing to exercise their voting rights will have to walk beneath a large gold “Trump Place” sign.
There is no building in Manhattan bearing the Clinton name, although there is a William J Clinton Presidential Center and Park – Bill Clinton’s presidential library – in Little Rock, Arkansas. A spokesman for Arkansas’s Pulaski County board of elections, which covers Little Rock, said the Clinton presidential center was not a polling site.
The Trump Place polling station is a sensitive issue as a number of local residents are currently campaigning to have his name removed from their buildings.
Trump developed the apartments, between 59th Street and 71st Street on the west side of Manhattan, in partnership with investors from Hong Kong in the 1990s, according to the New York Times.
Seven buildings bear the Trump name, although the three apartment buildings at 140, 160 and 180 Riverside Boulevard are no longer managed by Trump, and in October residents started a petition to have the Trump signage removed.
The petition cited Trump’s “appalling treatment of women, his history of racism, his attacks on immigrants, his mockery of the disabled, his tax avoidance [and] his outright lying” as factors in wanting to “dump” the Trump name.
Kelly said she was among the signatories.
“For the whole time I have lived here I have apologized for the name on the building,” she said. I’ve explained it as: ‘We’re not necessarily fans but it’s a great place to live.’
“But when he launched his campaign and referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists it got really serious for me.
“Every taxi I got into, every playdate my child had, whenever I was giving people directions I was very clear about: ‘It’s just a name on the building, he has nothing to do with it, it was a real estate deal from 15 years ago, and please know that he has zero connection to our philosophy as humans.’”
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, did not respond to a request for comment.Update: CNN's Sara Murray reported early Thursday afternoon that Trump has made this connection in a much blunter fashion. The original post follows.
Trump: "Whenever there’s a tragedy, everything goes up, my numbers go way up." — Sara Murray (@SaraMurray) December 3, 2015
Donald Trump's retweeting habits leave something to be desired. His retweets have managed to insult Iowans, pass along bogus statistics that suggest blacks kill whites at an alarming clip and have featured an image of Jeb Bush with a swastika.
Early Thursday morning, Trump did it again. This time, he retweeted a supporter who pretty clearly appeared to suggest that the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., on Wednesday — shootings that killed 14 and injured 17 — would help Trump's "poll numbers."
And below is the context of the tweet Trump forwarded to his followers. As you can see, the previous commenter suggested Trump would get a bump from saying "no more muslim immigration to america." In response, the Twitter user that Trump retweeted said, "his poll numbers jump every time instances like this occur."
The tweet is a pretty clear reference to the San Bernardino shootings, given they dominated the news over the past 18 hours and that one of the suspects, Syed Rizwan Farook, has been identified as a devout Muslim.
The man Trump retweeted made his feelings on the connection between the shootings and Trump's poll numbers even clearer in a previous tweet.The movement to combat violence against women must address the problem of pornography.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend the White House Summit on “The United State of Women” held in Washington, DC. This event brought together “change-makers” impacting women’s equality in America. Many notable advocates for the end of sexual violence, such as actress Mariska Hargitay, were in attendance. At a time when the nation has been rocked by sexual assault cases like those occurring at Stanford and Baylor Universities, the importance of addressing these social ills is particularly poignant.
Oddly, there was little talk at the Summit about concrete prevention strategies or the societal factors which fuel the problem.
Now more than ever, we must address the impact pornography has on sexual violence against women.
It’s no coincidence that in the aftermath of the Stanford rape case (in which Brock Turner, who was convicted on two counts of sexual assault and one count of intent to rape, received a sentence of only six months in jail and three years of probation) the pornographic website xHamster started blocking videos depicting rape.
The website declared this new policy the “Brock Turner Rule.”
It makes sense that pornography depicting rape sends harmful messages about the importance of consent. xHamster clearly decided to “get out” of this deplorable, and highly popular, genre of pornography before public scrutiny could be turned on it.
But don’t make the |
patterns+ It is now possible to randomize single tracks+ A Metronome has been added.+ The open and save / save as functions now have a log display+ The log display has been improved. It still looks like MS-DOS but that's how i like it... ;-)+ If you open an existing project and Sonitus Mortis can't find certain samples it will ask you for the path to the missing sample(s).For more details please see the included ReadMe.txtThe demo MP3 was created using the small project included in the installer.If you want to know how the program works i recommend opening this demo project.After installation you can find it here:Vista/Windows 7: 'C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Sonitus Mortis'Windows 2000/XP: 'C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Application Data\Sonitus Mortis'Also please note that the ReadMe.txt now includes a small beginners guide.Regards,ReadError Pages: [1]
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Feel free to support NetMeter:For about as long as humans have been living in places, bed bugs have been infesting them. In a new study in Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers present evidence of the oldest bed bug ancestors ever uncovered: tiny fragments of insidious insects from some 5,000 to 11,000 years ago.
Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus, the species that haunt our nightmares (and sometimes, if we're really unlucky, our apartments) are thought to have split from their close relatives at least 98,000 years ago—perhaps even before modern humans hit the scene 200,000 years ago. But we only know that by turning back the evolutionary clock in their DNA.
"Cimicidae is almost unknown in the fossil record," the researchers wrote in the study. One fossilized bug from a mid-Cretaceous amber deposit in Myanmar is considered a member of the same broader family as Climex, but it's not a close relative—Quasicimex eilapinastes is what's called a stem-group member, which means it descended from an ancestor shared with the bed bug but has no living descendants. Cimex lectularius has been spotted in the remains of wells and latrines from colonial Jamestown and settlements of similar time periods, and once even in 3,500-year-old fossils in Egypt, but the rest of the insect's history is without record.
The newly described ancient insects aren't of the sort that would suck human blood, but they represent the oldest-ever fossilized records of the genus Cimex. Until these bits of Cimex pilosellus, Cimex latipennis, and Cimex antennatus were found, the oldest known bed bugs of any sort were the Climex lectularius specimens found in Egypt in the 1990s.
The fragments described in this new paper belonged to species that feed on bats. But, study author and zooarchaeologist Martin Adams told Live Science, they likely "would have fed on humans if the opportunity presented itself." There are many recorded instances of this in the modern day, the researchers noted.RN Bhaskar
Did demonetisation help the government unearth significant amounts of black money?
No, or at least not as a proportion of undisclosed income uncovered by the authorities over the past three years, the Centre’s own data suggests.
In its submission before the Supreme Court of India, the government stated, on 23 July 2017, that it had uncovered undisclosed income of Rs.71,941 crore during the three years ranging from 2014-15 to 2016-17.
This "undisclosed income" was ferreted out, the government stated, through massive searches, seizures and surveys by the Income Tax department.
The government also stated before the apex court that immediately after demonetisation came into effect — in about two months from November 9 2016 to January 10, 2017 — "significantly large number of enforcement actions were undertaken by the IT Department"..."They included 1,100 searches and surveys and more than 5,100 verifications. The total seizure through these actions was of about Rs 610 crore, including cash of Rs 513 crore. The cash seizure included seizures in new currency of more than Rs 110 crore. The total undisclosed income admitted was more than Rs 5,400 crore."
This tallies with the statement the government made before the Lok Sabha on 3 February 2017 (in reply to the unstarred question no. 387) that the Income Tax Department conducted more than 1,100 searches, seizures and surveys and issued more than 5,100 notices, during the period November 9, 2016 to January 10, 2017, for verification of suspicious high-value cash deposits in old high denominations. These actions led to seizure of valuables of more than Rs 610 crore which includes cash of Rs 513 crore.
The rest of the seized valuables are mainly in the form of gold, jewellary and silver. This means that unaccounted gold & jewellery was just Rs 97 crore! Moneycontrol.com had pointed out a fortnight ago that of the 100 tonnes of gold estimated to be smuggled into India each year, the total seizure during this period accounted for just 0.003 percent!
What this also means that demonetisation by itself accounted for seizures that were considerably small compared to the seizures and the disclosures the Income Tax managed outside the period of demonetisation. Even if one deducts Rs.5,400 crore from Rs.71,941 crore, it would appear that money,“undisclosed income” unearthed by the government outside the demonetisation period was larger than during the period.
So, going by the government’s own figures, it looks as if the pain caused by demonetisation wasn’t worth the effort. Maybe data it will release in the future would suggest a great success, but we are not holding our breath.
(RN Bhaskar is a consulting editor with Moneycontrol)Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul announced Wednesday that he would filibuster any attempt by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring the Protect IP Act to a vote.
PIPA, the Senate version of the Stop Online Piracy Act, is being sponsored by Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy and pushed by Reid as a “job creator.”
The bills would ostensibly crack down on online copyright infringement, but critics contend that the legislation would also challenge free speech and the ability of large websites to function.
Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, the sponsor of SOPA, announced Tuesday that the bill would continue to undergo markup in the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, in February.
An unprecedented online protest by companies opposed to the bills occurred Wednesday. Online encyclopedia Wikipedia, social news website Reddit and the classifieds site Craigslist all blocked their U.S. versions in protest and directed visitors to contact their elected officials.
“Both PIPA and SOPA give the federal government unprecedented and unconstitutional power to censor the Internet,” Paul said in a statement. “These bills enable the government to shut down websites that it deems guilty of violating copyright laws.”
Paul continued: “While we support copyright protections, we are also concerned about websites being shut down without their day in court, and making innocent third parties bear the costs of solving someone else’s problems.
“I will not sit idly by while PIPA and SOPA eliminate the constitutionally protected rights to due process and free speech. For these reasons, I have pledged to oppose, filibuster and do everything in my power to stop government censorship of the Internet,” Paul said.
Follow Steven on TwitterCount Jim Washburn among those unhappy -- and completely surprised -- to see pass rusher Jason Babin shuttled out of Philadelphia this week.
The Eagles defensive line coach was "not pleased" when Andy Reid cut Babin, sources close to Washburn told Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday.
One source said Washburn believed Babin, 32, was made the scapegoat for a crumbling Eagles defense that's fallen apart since Juan Castillo was fired from his post as defensive coordinator.
The Jacksonville Jaguars claimed Babin off waivers Wednesday, ending the lineman's long association with Washburn, who recruited the edge rusher back to Philadelphia after they worked together on the Tennessee Titans.
This was an Andy Reid decision. That he went ahead and made it without consulting one of his most respected coaches is telling.
The problems in Philadelphia extend beyond the shoddy play of the defense. The clock is ticking on this team and the Babin exit will not be the final change the organization makes in what promises to be an intriguing offseason.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.I’d like to introduce our newest contributing editor. Army veteran-turned photo journalist, Coty Giannelli (full bio below). Here’s his latest, which I’m sure you’ll find very insightful. Welcome aboard, Coty.
-Brandon Webb, Editor-in-Chief
As the Syrian Revolution enters into its third year and the death toll rises to around 120,000, the international community has still done little to help stabilize the region. Obama’s administration has acknowledged that the Syrian government had crossed the “red line” with the use of chemical weapons. The U.S. has now pledged lethal aid in the form of small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles, to certain rebel groups fighting in Syria.
“We wish we could tell the difference between the colored lines. We are fed up with the red lines, yellow lines and green lines,” said Abu Hassam, a retired Syrian Army officer who now teaches military tactics at a small FSA squad, mocking President Obama’s recent declaration that Assad’s regime had crossed a red line. “The big players [of the world] are saying much but doing little.”
Abu Hassam is not the only Syrian who feels this way. At this point in the revolution, many Syrians, fighters and civilians, have lost all hope that the international community will step in to provide the aid they need. The international communities’ lack of intervention says to many of the Syrians that the world is “condoning” Assad Bashar’s actions against his people.
“If they do not want to help [the fighters] at least help the [civilians] here,” said Hussein, an English teacher who used to live in London. He now leads a small platoon of fighters a little North of Aleppo in Hritan. “They did not choose to be in the middle of this.”
That thought is shared throughout the military community in the areas around Aleppo. In fact, many of the leaders are confident that they can win the revolution without international aid, though it will take longer.
“We [FSA] are advancing everyday. We will win,” Ahmad Afash, the commander of Ahrar Suriyah, said in an interview. His brigade is arguably the strongest brigade in the area. “We [will] fight until our last drop of blood.”
Afash wasn’t always a soldier. Before the revolution he was a wealthy real estate broker. When the bands of rebels first stood up to the government forces, they were using hunting rifles and shotguns. It became apparent that those weapons would not suffice. Using the money he had made as a broker, Afash bought military-grade weapons and armed a small group of fighters.
In the early day of the brigade they were able to win major victories in the area, including a large regime military checkpoint in Anadan, about four miles North of Aleppo. From this victory they were able to acquire assault rifles, ammunition and a few armored vehicles, such as the Russian-made T-72 tank and BMPs, an armored personnel carrier.
His brigade’s fighting strength is now in the thousands, many of them not receiving salaries, and those who do are receiving very little.
Even as one of the stronger and more organized brigades in the area, they have received little help to get where they are today and, like most units, are struggling to get the arms they need to end the conflict.
“We are depending on what we are manufacturing, what we are taking from the regime and God,” Afash said. “We were waiting for support, for anyone to support us.”
That support never came but that did not stop his brigade from thriving on the battlefield.
Secret Factory of the Ahrar Suriyah
Underground at an undisclosed location in the northern countryside of Syria, there is a factory run by six brothers and a handful of others. It’s a factory so secret that the thousands of fighters they build arms for know nothing of its existence. Here these men, some teenagers, machine, manufacture and develop weapons for one of the strongest Free Syrian Army brigades in the area, the Ahrar Suriyah.
Four of these six brothers left their jobs as foremen in Beirut; none of them had made explosives like the grenades and mortars that they now produce. Mohammed, 37, said they started off with less advanced weaponry, creating cannon-like weapons to combat the regime’s armor. But as they learned the ins and outs of manufacturing weapons they moved to more traditional rounds.
After receiving the forged mortar casings, the workers begin hand-making each part that is needed for a functioning shell, from the tail fins and innards of the mortar to the more advanced fuses.
Using outdated machines and recycled material, this facility is able to produce 50 mortar shells, ranging from 40 mm to 120 mm, in 14 hours, and 1,000 grenades a day, these being made using old pipe, salvaged explosives and fuses that must be lit. Mohammed says they could produce much more if they could get their hands on newer machines, but they make do with what they have.
Abu Abdul stands in a corner of the facility surrounded by scraps of metal, gutted fired extinguishers and other materials they will use to develop new weapons to combat the advanced weaponry of the regime. He slides his welder’s shield down and begins to work on one of the factories newer projects, rockets. At this stage in the development the rockets look like something you would see in a cartoon, a long cylinder, with bent metal triangles as fins and a comical-looking cone, to top it off. This is just the beginning though, they hope to develop a guidance system for these weapons.
The biggest thorn in the FSA’s side has been the tanks and other armored vehicles that the regime uses ruthlessly against them. Fighters are forced to use mortars to combat the enemy tanks, but they lack the technology to accurately aim the mortars, making it very hard to hit even a group of tanks from a mile away.
The workers are doing what they do best though and overcoming a challenge. They have recently started to develop anti-tank mines, basically improvised explosive devises. According to an officer in the Ahrar Suriyah, if these mines are used properly then one is strong enough to destroy two tanks. There is a downfall to this method; the fighter triggering the explosive must be close enough to the tank to send the electrical charge down the wire to ignite the blasting cap.
As the revolution continues, with no sign of the advanced weapons they had hoped the west would provide them, the brothers set their eyes on the sky, in the 200-mm mortar shells, grenades, more like the Russian ones the regime is equipped with and even a device that can only be described as a handheld grenade launchers made from scrap and using recycled Dushka casings as ordnance.
Adapting to Overcome
Building missiles and mortars is one thing, but how do the rebels accurately aim them to minimize civilian casualties and maximize the small amount of ammunition that they have? Tawfik, a math teacher living in Aleppo, has come up with a method of directing ordinance to a target using only Google Earth and a compass. His method works so well that he says about 90% of the weapons launched using his method hit their intended target.
Tawfik starts off by scouting locations to fire from and targets on Google Earth. From there they can get the longitude and the latitude of the target. Next, they go to the area they plan to launch from and make sure it is safe. From here they can use an electronic compass to determine the angle of the mortar tube or missile platform. Of course there are other factors to take in like wind speed and quality of the weapon they are using, some local manufactures have not mastered the process of creating a mortar or rocket, leaving room for errors in their design and making it harder for Tawfik to use his method of aiming.
Tawfik has taught other fighters his method and he says that it is simple enough that most fighters pick it up after seeing it done once and those who don’t just take a few more extra lessons.
Tawfik said the weapons they launch using this method are anti-personnel. They lack the punch needed to penetrate the thick armor of a tank. According to Tawfik, the FSA has chemist and physicists working on a way to develop more deadly explosives, like C4, to increase the destructive power of their missiles and take away one of the few advantages the regime has over them.
The Birth of a Democracy
The people of Aleppo have not only stepped up as a fighting force but have also set up a governing body. At first, villages set up councils that are established with a popular consensus. At the beginning of the revolution some of these councils were funded by military brigades. They would organize public services like garbage removal, sewage issues and fuel production. A council in Qubtan Eljabal is even urging its young people to do volunteer work around the city. A lot of this work is about maintaining the city and beautifying it after months of neglect.
“Fighters should fight and civilians should [help out with problems on the home front],” one of the men in charge of organizing the volunteers said.
“Before the revolutions there was nothing like this, now you can find it everywhere,” Muhammad Ali Ahmad, the Qubtan Eljabal council head, went on to say. “Although we don’t have enough financial aid we are trying to do the most we can.”
Even in the city of Aleppo, where fighting is a daily occurrence, garbage filling the street and walking down the wrong side of the street could mean death, the FSA has managed to take care of the civilians trapped there. But with money and food scarce, and ammunition even more rare, the people and fighters have been forced to sell their possessions to buy the things they need. For example, fighters must pay 185 liras, or 1 dollar, for a round of AK-47 ammunition.
Eventually the village councils selected representatives to take part in something bigger. A governing body to organize the people living in the free part of Aleppo and provide the things a government would normally provide. Every village chose two or three representatives, and those 243 people convened in Gaziantep, Turkey to vote for the municipality council of Aleppo. Twentynine council members were elected and from there those members voted for the president and vice-president of the committee.
From there the governing council hired employees and set up ten different offices in charge of organizing different areas of the newly free areas of Aleppo.
“Our responsibility is to organize services and try to provide for our society,” said Ahmed Eido, the Secretary General of Aleppo Municipality Council. “We are in a difficult stage. We lack financial support.”
The council is operating on a very small budget and higher-ranking members of the council work for as little as $100 a month. Their six-month budget is equivalent to what the regime’s government’s budget was for one day.
The council is hoping for outside support. They have met with Turkish and Syrian businessmen hoping to receive support in the form of a loan.
They aren’t just waiting on handouts though. They are looking for ways to support themselves. The council has been stockpiling wheat and selling bread. They are planning to build two bakeries in the area that will sell goods made with government wheat. The income from these bakeries will be split with local councils, and will allow them both to finance future projects and rebuild Sheikh Najjar, the industrial city just North East of Aleppo.
Sheikh Najjar has about 2,500 factories within its limits. These factories produce things like textiles, medicines, petrol and types of food. Only about 1,000 of these factories are currently producing goods. There are many problems that need to be resolved in the industrial city: electrical malfunctions, lack of raw materials needed to produce their goods, and a lack of markets to sell said goods.
The municipality council of Aleppo is convinced that, if the industrial city gets up and running, then the economy of Aleppo and the surrounding countryside will once again thrive.
The revolution still has one big obstacle to overcome before any of this can come to fruition: defeating Bashar Assad and his regime, and its foreign supporters.
The Fighting
The sound of gunfire, war planes and artillery echo throughout the night sky in northern Syria. Outgunned, the rebels have set up snipers to watch their enemies during the day, hoping to catch a few off-guard to even the odds. The regimes superior airpower forces the Free Syrian Army, and groups like it, to wait for the cover of night to launch their attacks.
The lack of advanced weaponry hasn’t stopped the rebels from advancing. In the past weeks, rebels have made progress taking back neighborhoods in Aleppo and increasing the pressure on regime troops under siege at Mingh military airport.
Multiple rebel groups, such as Al-Nusfra, the Squadrons of Ilbez and Ahrah Suriyah, have come together to work as one fighting force to take most of the compound. They estimate about 150- 200 regime soldiers are left holding that part of the compound on the west side of the airport. They are equipped with at least three functioning Russian T-72 tanks, armored personnel carriers and assorted small arms. The besieged troops only receive supplies from regime aircraft that are forced to drop them in via parachute from high altitudes. This method has proved more helpful to the rebel fighters surrounding the compound. The leader of the Squadrons of Ibez reports that they receive about two-thirds of the supplies dropped.
The armor inside the compound and the constant threat of air strikes against the rebels has drawn out the battle for Mingh military airport for about eight months. The rebels here have only RPGs, heavy machine guns and assault rifles, none of which are able to take out a tank from a distance. That does not stop them from trying to advance. At night they sneak into the compound and attempt to get close enough to disable the tanks with RPGs but have been unsuccessful.
On June 23, 2013, the rebel fighters surrounding the airfield loaded an armored personnel carrier with explosives, reportedly up to four tons, and remotely controlled the vehicle towards the area held by regime troops. The attack failed and the explosion was felt from about 10 miles away, but an organized attack like this illustrates the resourcefulness of the rebel fighters and their determination to defeat the regime.
The Cost of War
The revolution has touched everyone in the country in some way, from the child who lost a father, the military leader who lost his two brothers and 36 of his cousins, to Helal, whose four sons paid the ultimate price during the fight for their village’s freedom.
Helal, a frail-looking, elderly man suffering from a heart condition sits on a stone. He is wearing traditional Syrian garb, with a red scarf around his head. He takes a sip out of his tea. Within arms reach, hiding behind a curtain is an AK-47. Because of his age and his heart condition he is unable to fight, but he keeps his rifle near him, hoping that the regime will return to Benoun, an area under FSA control, and he will get his chance to fight them.
“[The regime] is a bunch of criminals, they chose to fight us we are only defending our village and ourselves,” Helal said. “When we win against the regime, I will feel like I have my children with me again.
As the revolution continues and the first few nails are hammered into the regime’s coffin, a vibrantly painted phrase can be seen painted on walls around northern Syria. This phrase describes the feelings of the Syrian people like only they can.
“It’s important to be free, but it is more important to know what freedom means.”Josh Bell of the LG Twins blasts a two-run home run against the Doosan Bears in the top of the third yesterday at Jamsil Stadium in Songpa District, southeastern Seoul.[NEWSIS]
Waking up from a five-month hibernation, the 2014 Korea Baseball Organization season has begun its seven-month journey, with all six games of the opening weekend selling out, save for the game between the Lotte Giants and Hanwha Eagles.The most exciting opening series was between the LG Twins and 2013 season runner-up Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium. The Seoul rivals split their two-game series and each benefited from the addition of a foreign bat.In yesterday’s game, the Twins destroyed the Bears, 14-4, thanks to a two-run homer by third baseman Josh Bell and the first grand-slam of the season by team captain Lee Jin-young.The 27-year-old American, who watched Jorge Cantu slug a three-run home run for the Bears in the KBO opener Saturday, showed off his power in the top of the third with a runner on first and the Twins ahead with a 2-1 lead. Bell crushed the 118-kilometer-per-hour (73-mile-per-hour) curveball from Bears’ starter Noh Kyung-eun on a 2-2 count over the right field fence. He hit.375, or three for eight, with 2 RBIs for the two games.In the Saturday game, the Bears enjoyed having their Mexican import Cantu, whose three-run shot was the difference in a 5-4 victory. In the bottom of the third with two runners on base, two outs and the Bears behind 3-1, Cantu sent a 132-kilometer-per-hour hanging slider from Twins starter Kim Sun-woo 132 meters (433 feet) over the center field fence for a 4-3 lead.Cantu missed most of the preseason due to several minor injuries, but it didn’t take him long to prove his value as a cleanup hitter.“I’m very excited,” Cantu said. “I’m happy that I’m being a part of the Bears and the support the Bears fans showed in the ballpark was amazing. I think this will be a great season.”It may be too soon to say, but his Saturday home run brought back memories of Tyrone Woods, who hit.294 and 174 home runs from 1998 to 2002 with the Bears.Before yesterday’s game, the Twins announced the signing of lefty starter Everett Teaford in a one-year, $500,000 deal. The contract includes performance-based options, but the Twins didn’t specify the details on Teaford’s request.The 30-year-old was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the 2006 amateur draft and made his MLB debut in 2011. In the past three seasons with the Royals, he went 3-5 with an ERA of 4.25 in 45 games and he has a record of 54-35 with an ERA of 3.80 in the minor leagues.The Twins said Teaford’s repertoire includes a 150-kilometer-per-hour four-seam fastball, cut fastball and curveball. He will arrive in Seoul on Wednesday.Other new foreign faces also impressed fans with good performances. Yamaico Navarro of the Samsung Lions hit a two-run home run against Kia Tigers’ starter Song Eun-beom that gave the team a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first of yesterday’s game, which the defending champions won 8-4.On Saturday, new Tigers pitcher D.J. Houlton contributed to the team’s 2-1 victory by only allowing one run in six innings, while striking out six and walking three. His fastballs only reached 140 kilometers per hour, but he overpowered Lions’ hitters by mixing them up with changeups and pinpoint control.The Tigers’ new closer, Jairo Asencio, who is considered to be one of the most important keys to a successful season, also picked up his first save in the Saturday game. That had Kia management breathing a bit easier after his poor preseason performance (0-1 with two saves and an ERA of 5.14).Former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Luke Scott of the SK Wyverns also hit his first KBO home run against the Nexen Heroes on Saturday, which the team lost 8-3. The Wyverns won yesterday’s game 6-4.BY Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]It appears that Jordan Brand has teamed up with Public School once again and this time they use the Air Jordan 12 as the silhouette.
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The last design were two Air Jordan 10 versions, and now they take their talents to design this premium Air Jordan 12.
The shoe is fully built with a premium suede upper that is full covered in all-Dark Grey and Black. Other details include the PSNY logo on the tongue and sock liner, finished with Public School wording on the insole.
Air Jordan 12 PSNY Release Date
Check out the detailed images below and look for the Public School Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” to release on December 12th, 2015 at select Jordan Brand retail stores, including Nike.com at 3PM EST. The retail price tag will be set at $300 USD.
Air Jordan 12 “PSNY”
Dark Grey/Dark Grey-Black
130690-003
December 12, 2015
$300
RELATED: Air Jordan Release Dates
UPDATE: The Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” will once again release tonight exclusively on publicschoolny.com at 8PM EST via J23App. – Anyone get lucky?
UPDATE: Public School will be re-releasing their Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” tonight at 8PM EST exclusively on publicschoolnyc.com.
UPDATE: The Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” will be debuting tomorrow, December 12th and they’ll be housed in a familiar slide-out box that is used on the brands iconic Air Jordan 11 silhouette. Check out a few detailed images below via JD and let us know how many of you will be copping these this weekend in the comments section?
UDPATE: The Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” will be available on December 12th on Nike.com at 3PM ET and 12PM PST. Retail is set at $300 USD.
@Xx_Jonathan The Air Jordan 12 Public School launches 12.12 at 3pm ET for $300. Please stay tuned for the latest. — Nike.com (@nikestore) December 8, 2015
UPDATE: Nike has released official images of the highly anticipated Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” that will be releasing on December 12th.
UPDATE: Jordan Brand has announced the official release date for the Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” that will debut on December 12th, 2015.
UPDATE: The Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” now has a release date set for December 12th, 2015 via @_PO2345 with a look at the tag label.
UPDATE: While we still wait for a release date, here are a few on-feet images of the Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” via @copkickz.
UPDATE: Here are the latest detailed images of the Air Jordan 12 “PSNY” collaboration that is still without any release details at the moment. Stay tuned for more updates.
UPDATE: Following a few set of preview images, we finally have a detailed look via @us11hustla at the Public School x Air Jordan 12 Retro that is fully dressed in a Dark Grey/Black color scheme with PSNY branding throughout and Public School wording on the insole. Still no release date, but stay tuned for more updates.EXCLUSIVE: When Hamilton began Broadway previews on July 13 at the Nederlander-owned Richard Rodgers Theatre, it already was a smash hit, arriving with advance ticket sales of $32 million, sold-out houses for months and a list of celebrity endorsements that included President Obama and grows with each week while legal scalpers offer day-of-performance tickets for $3,000 the pair.
Hamilton also arrived at the Rodgers with one considerable advantage over some other new shows: a low-cost tryout at the Public Theater that was wholly financed by the Broadway producers. Such arrangements, called enhancements in the odd lingo of commercial shows initiated in publicly subsidized theaters, are more the norm these days than the exception. And the benefits run both ways: For a fraction of the cost of a Broadway production, commercial producers get a show on its feet and in front of an audience before raising the entire $10 million to $20 million and more required to mount a show on Broadway, while the nonprofit theaters get a steady stream of income if the show transfers and is a hit.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical about America’s first Treasury secretary offers a perfect illustration of this symbiosis. Although the producers of Hamilton — Jeffrey Seller, Sander Jacobs and Jill Furman — declined to speak with Deadline for this story or to provide figures, documents obtained under New York State’s Freedom Of Information Law (FOIL) reveal how the show was developed and mounted at the Public Theater under an enhancement deal for $1.7 million and then transferred to Broadway as a $12.5 million hit that had unprecedented rave reviews and promotion before a single preview had gotten underway.
Seller, a veteran who with sometime partner Kevin McCollum first identified and developed Rent some two decades ago, formed a limited liability corporation, Hamilton Downtown LLC, to raise the money for the Public Theater production. His partners, Jacobs and Furman, are also producers with long experience working the Broadway bazaar. The original offering, according to an October 2, 2014 filing with the state Department of Law Inspector Protection Bureau, calls for $1.9 million, with a minimum of $1.7 million for the purpose of “developing the Play, providing the Public Theater Contribution; paying expenses relating to the development and exploitation of the rights in and to the Play” for the Public Theater production of Hamilton set to begin in February 2015. The amount to be given to the Public Theater is stated as $1.7 million.
Here’s where it gets interesting. The enhancement agreement stipulates that the commercial partners will have no control, artistic or financial, over the Public Theater presentation of Hamilton, nor can they benefit financially from the tryout. This protects the Public Theater’s nonprofit status as a developmental theater; it also protects the creative team led by Miranda from commercial considerations during the Public Theater run. The Public, under artistic director Oskar Eustis and executive director Patrick Willingham, provides its best theater, the Newman; its membership and, most important, a safe space for doing the work.
But that $1.9 million enhancement fund also is protected.
The disbursements made by Hamilton Downtown LLC for the Public Theater production included $10,000 to Ron Chernow, whose biography of Alexander Hamilton inspired Miranda and formed the basis of the musical; $30,000 for the physical production, and a $175,000 advance to Miranda for writing the show (smaller amounts were paid to other members of the creative team). Any money made from the run, which was extended several times and was completely sold out, returned to the Public Theater coffers, a good thing. The Public would also have a stake in the Broadway transfer, which was all but inevitable.
On April 13, 2015, documents were filed for Hamilton Uptown LLC detailing the Broadway move, which was delayed several weeks at Miranda’s insistence to allow the creative team time to do further work on the show after the Public run closed. Uptown Hamilton budgeted the Broadway production at $12.5 million. The offering states, however, that “the Downtown Company Capitalization, which equals $1.9 million in the aggregate, will be deemed to be part of the the capitalization” of Uptown Hamilton. The actual cost of the transfer will be $10.6 million.
Uptown Hamilton agreed to pay the Public 5 percent of net profits initially, rising to 6 percent at 200 percent of recoupment. The Public also gets a weekly royalty of 1 percent of the gross weekly box office receipts, rising to1.5 percent after 110 percent of recoupment.
Neither the producers nor the Public responded to a request to comment on these figures, but here’s a translation and analysis: “Gross receipts” is what the box office takes in, minus deductions for credit cards and other expenses that can add up to about 8 percent of the total. “Net profits” is essentially what’s left after the bills are paid: recoupment, rent, fixed theater costs, salaries, management and certain royalties.
What’s the bottom line? Very good for the Public Theater (not to mention the producers and the creative team, who share in various iterations of the net and gross figures). Last week, Hamilton took in $1.7 million at the Richard Rodgers, an extraordinary 17 percent over its gross potential, during a slow week on Broadway. Subtract 8 percent for the actual gross, and you still have receipts of about $1.5 million. It’s a big show with a large cast, so let’s estimate weekly running costs of $650,ooo, leaving profit of about $900,000 in a very good week. (The producers declined a request to say how much Hamilton costs to run on a weekly basis.)
For the Public Theater, $17,000 (1 percent of $1.7 million) before recoupment, which will likely come within six months. After that, its earnings from the show could hit $3.2 million. Even if the running expenses are as high as $750K per week, the Public would still receive the equivalent of $57,000 per week, just shy of $3 million per year, to continue its good work, which includes Free Shakespeare In The Park and all those shows down at the Public in the East Village. All these numbers will adjust up or down and pay out on a quarterly basis, but the numbers should be close to these.
In a time of diminishing public support of the arts, these deals have been a lifeline for nonprofit theaters including the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA (Finding Neverland), Hartford Stage (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder) and New York Theatre Workshop (Rent, Once) among many others.
At the same time, the producers enjoyed the benefits of a tryout for a fraction of the cost of mounting a show in a a commercial venue. (The Public is also receiving income from the commercial transfer of the Tony winning musical Fun Home, although that show is running in a much smaller theater and is not expected to generate income on the same level as Hamilton.) A spokeswoman for the Public said that Eustis would not comment on income from the theater’s commercial transfers.
Through a spokesman, Seller also declined to comment on a report in today’s New York Post that cast members from Hamilton are looking for greater remuneration for their contributions to the workshops and enhanced run. That demand eerily echoes the protest by actor/dancers who participated in the |
it, but perhaps the implicit understanding of all fans and spectators that they could creates the general sense of unease surrounding other, as yet unseen, defensive formations.
Consider an alternative adjustment. If a defense sees fit to shift on a lefty hitter, it’s because his tendencies indicate that he far more often than not hits the ball right of the second base bag. Maybe he’s even as extreme as the old saying: “dead pull hitter.” A dead pull lefty hits very few balls over the third baseman on a line for doubles. The left field line, and likely regions of straightaway left, see statistically irrelevant numbers of balls land fair relative to the “hotspots” of center, right center, straightaway right, and the right field line.
You can still create rovers and overwhelm the hotspots of this spray chart by letting the third baseman guard against the bunt and adjusting everyone else. Swing the shortstop over as an additional ground ball guard, perhaps even use the second baseman as the customary rover in very shallow straightaway right. Now shift the right fielder much more toward the line, the center fielder closer to straightaway right, and your left fielder into straightaway center. Keep in mind the three outfielders don't need to remain at uniform depth; rather assign their depth based on the hotspots of our particular dead pull lefty.
Any defensive alignment will present tradeoffs. Some ground has to go uncovered. If our dead pull lefty never sprays it to straightaway left, force him to adjust his swing mechanics to stay inside the ball and loop it over the 3B to collect a double. Leaving that entire stretch of field uncovered feels terrifying, and the consequences disastrous the rare times a ball makes it out there.
Still, consider the profile of our hitter: a dead pull lefty with power and an extraordinarily unbalanced spray chart. Most of our hitters who fit this profile are not speed demons, so the anomalous hits that land out there will almost certainly be triples at most, possibly still doubles as they always were. Also, our left fielder, now positioned closer to straightaway center, can prioritize more or less everything to that side of the field, as his overloaded outfielders and rovers all focus on his pull area. Restated, our left fielder can now play with the priority knowledge that he never breaks to his left. In this formation, he will attack balls over his head in center and to his right in the alley, and dead sprint on base hits through the vacated shortstop hole and the rare 1% of batted balls that go over the third baseman’s head.
In that rare case, any Texas Leaguer or broken-bat blooper to left, the pitcher covers third as the third baseman races to corral it. Anything deeper the left fielder flags down on a dead run. As in all defensive alignments, execution of the strategy truly demands that all pieces be willing and able to move to meaningful spots on every play.
Now, our dead pull lefty cannot bunt through our shift and is forced to shorten and slap over it. This is a far more difficult skill to cultivate than bunting to an area that's nearly half the infield. Any ball he pulls down the line or alleys now enters the teeth of our coverage, and the pitcher can now promote this outcome by attacking him middle in. While this approach will cause more hard-hit balls that would conventionally fall in for hits, they should account for outs an overwhelming percentage of the time based on where our fielders are positioned.
THE THEORY IN A NUTSHELL
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions.” -Miyamoto Musashi
Sabermetrics attempts to invent metrics to distinguish the statistically above average player from the average one, but for our purposes, simply quantifying the average one can in theory improve our defense by leaps and bounds. For now, the primary element of value in our analysis regarding the average position player is the amount of ground he can cover in all directions. Let's call the amount he can cover in a vacuum his Halo. (The maximum area a player can cover running in on the ball, laterally, or back toward the fence will certainly not form an exact circle, but we’ll envision it as such for a simplified version of the theory.)
Bill James's Baseball Abstract, the original bible of Sabermetrics
With Default, every outfielder plays medium deep. Their Halo is large, but that standard alignment allows for hits down the lines, in the gaps, and over their heads. The Halos of infielders overlap on fly balls but generally do not on ground balls. In a nutshell, redesigning defensive alignments places the Halos of our fielders such that they all but devour the most statistically likely places the ball will be hit. Moreover, overloading in this fashion simplifies priorities—the protocol as to which player should attempt to field a given ball—by leaving the deepest players, also known as your Last Lines of Defense, as the only players who should really ever go back on a ball. With enough players in one area, a player at a secondary level of the defense can take a step or two back on a ball and instantly concede it to a player behind him should the ball carry.
By understanding the maximum ground an average player can cover, we can place each player’s Halo optimally to minimize the likelihood of opponents hitting their way on base. The data mining taking place today with respect to hitter tendencies exposes the likeliest outcomes. In order to play the best possible defense, managers and their fielders must apply this data, removing the hitter’s strengths and forcing him to hit the ball where he is the least capable of doing so.
FOOTBALL VS. BASEBALL
When football games are played inside baseball stadiums, the football field fits inside the baseball stadium with ample room to spare. However, defenses in football are expected to defend a much smaller area, with more players, in a different formation on every single play. Priorities and responsibilities change within fractions of seconds, all in an effort to prevent the offense from executing its strategy.
Picture a generic football scenario. The game begins; the kicker kicks the ball off for a touchback. The offense begins on their own 20 yard line with 80 yards, or 240 feet of ground, left to advance upon and secure before scoring. Now picture how strange it would appear if all eleven defenders were evenly spaced out over those eighty yards, as though any play run by the offense were equally likely.
Instead what you see, at all times in football, is defensive alignment geared toward outcome management. On 3rd down and 14, defenses will gladly concede an 8-yard checkdown to prevent a first down and force a punt. In baseball, with the correct use of defenders, outcomes can be similarly managed to prevent hitters from reaching base.
Granted, a simple counterargument to this is that in football, there are far more offensive players to account for than baseball. Yet in either game, the ball for all intents and purposes is only traveling in one direction. The quarterback cannot hand the ball off to his running back if he has already passed to his X receiver. Thus teams are using their understanding of situation, score, tendencies, and probability to construct defenses which will, to the highest degree of likelihood, counteract the play run by the offense.
By contrast, in baseball the defense has the ball, yet it typically adopts the formation least prepared to account for likely scenarios. It guards against all outcomes equally despite virtually every hitter’s spray chart reflecting a staggered distribution of outcomes.
By incorporating the basic principles of football defensive alignment into baseball defenses, the seven players behind the pitcher can line up and move to much greater advantage. This approach requires an understanding of the game similar to players’ and coaches’ understanding of football. With many more alignments, responsibilities, and priorities, defensive speed and baseball IQ must increase across the board. Most importantly, the idea of a ball landing in an optimized defense that would not in Default must be ignored. The focus for defensive strategy must be to at all times address likelihood and probability, as football does.
SABER AND MARKET INEFFICIENCIES
Sabermetrics, a set of advanced statistics calculated by fans and general managers alike, are designed to find poorly understood players that will help low-payroll teams compete more effectively. Yet they assume that defense is more or less a constant, and that any more runs that can be scored over a meaningful sample will necessarily lead to more wins. While not wrong, this strategy demands acquiring new personnel.
Others prioritize more the statistic known as Run Differential (runs scored minus runs allowed) as the most meaningful indicator of a team's ability to compete. This can be used as a means to project wins and also factored into more complex equations to measure how lucky a team may be.
In either case, both fans (thinking in terms of theoretical wins) and GMs (thinking in terms of actual on-field dynamics) analyze these stats from the perspective of acquisition and offensive strategy. They are concerned with obtaining—through the draft, trades, free agency, or waivers—new players who will improve the scoring potential of their offense.
However, by optimizing defense—radically diminishing opponents’ ability to score—a team can increase its wins without necessarily replacing any existing players. In 2011 the Yankees scored 867 runs, or 5.35 runs per game on average. Seattle, the worst team in the league, scored 556, or 3.43 runs per game. Assuming those numbers hold over an infinite sample, on an average day Seattle will lose to the Yankees by 1.92 runs. But if Seattle optimizes its defense and reduces the batting averages of Yankee hitters in a statistically relevant fashion, they will narrow this theoretical gap, possibly so much as to overcome it without adding a single 35-home-run bat.
In other words, by preventing opposing base runners and maximizing the likelihood of opposing outs, clubs with weak offenses can reduce their need to score runs. This theory works hand in hand with Moneyball as its defensive counterpart, and teams emphasizing run differential may now win that battle without scoring any additional runs.
THE RAYS
The team with the deepest understanding of this notion currently is the Tampa Bay Rays. They shift far and away more often than any other team in the major leagues, and they employ by far the widest variety of shifts, which are often uniquely suited to individual players. Whatever else this approach may be doing, it certainly isn’t hurting: in 2011 they saved 85 runs, more than any other team. That same year they led Major League Baseball in fielding percentage, a category in which they currently rank second for 2013. And with respect to the lesser-known but simple statistic called “defensive efficiency”—percentage of balls in play converted into outs—their performance has been even more impressive: this season they rank third, last year they placed in the top 5, and in 2011 they ranked higher than any other team in baseball in the past twelve years, with a whopping.724.
However, Tampa’s focus remains overwhelmingly on repositioning infielders, prompting the question: have they stumbled partway into a strategy whose broader potential they have yet to recognize, or are they trying to phase in a fully integrated, seven-man optimized defense which they simply need more time to implement?
If anyone can take this revolution all the way, it’s Maddon and the Rays. Those who criticize their approach as a negligible improvement over Default ignore two key factors. One, the first to try anything is responsible for working out all the kinks. Two, if it doesn’t use all fielders to their maximum potential, a revised defensive alignment can be exploited just like Default—though perhaps less often. To achieve true impact the strategy must be integrated on every level, as I’ll explain momentarily.
THE FUTURE IS THE PAST
We’ve already examined in detail what makes “the shift” exploitable. Yet it does work to some degree, as the obvious hole left on the third base side remains unchallenged. Hitters and managers faced with the shift stubbornly continue offense as usual, rather than adjusting so as to pick up easy hits—and prevent future defenses from shifting.
An easy retort here is that elite power hitters aren’t taught to bunt at a young age and simply don’t have the skills to do it. Moreover, it would be considered an insult to “take the bat out of their hands” by asking them to bunt safely through a shift.
I won’t offer a full critique of this traditionalist thinking here. I mention it only because bunting pales in comparison to the adjustments a hitter would need to make to hit through an optimized defense.
Hitting is the most difficult physical act in all of professional sports. Distance from mound to plate, reaction times, the need to judge balls versus strikes, differences in break, cuts, velocity: every variable puts the hitter at a disadvantage. That’s why failing 7 out of 10 times puts a hitter in the Hall of Fame. Baseball is a cruel game, perhaps the cruelest of all—yet it allows offensive players at least the clemency of gaps and open space which could just as easily be sealed off entirely. A lefty stubbornly ignoring his bunt option can try to mash a ball through the shift. Difficult and arguably stupid, but possible.
Optimized defenses would make the cruel game that much crueler. A hitter facing an optimized defense must change his whole approach—or swing for the fences—or fail.
Keep in mind that spray charts are more than just cold data. For fans who stress the importance of “intangibles,” tendencies, and the subjective, the charts expose all this information as well—hitter for hitter, matchup for matchup, count for count. Statistically speaking, a guy who “seems like a dead pull hitter” probably is a dead pull hitter. From a subjective standpoint, he is far more comfortable trying to yank the ball out of the park than trying to hit the ball where it’s pitched, staying inside the ball and creating a more uniform spray chart.
Spray chart for J. D. Drew. (Bloomberg Pro Sports Tools/Baseball Prospectus)
In order for an offensive player to compete at a high level facing an optimized defense, he must be willing to adjust to hit in a way that makes him absolutely the most uncomfortable. If his spray chart overloads left of straightaway center, then that’s where the defenders will crowd to catch an overwhelming percentage of the balls he hits squarely. That leaves statistical variance and mishits as his only chance to hit safely—unless he radically alters his swing and approach in an effort to normalize the defense.
Luckily for teams seeking cheaper ways to win, all evidence we have seen in professional baseball indicates that most players, most coaches, will not adjust. They’ll laugh off new defensive setups as hokum and stupidity, flash-in-the-pan nonsense that flies in the face of 150 years of baseball. However, if hitters opposing these defenses routinely experience huge drops in batting average and on-base percentage, eventually something will have to give. Then it will be the men with pristine bat control, the rare gems like Tony Gwynn and Ichiro Suzuki, who rule the game, while the bloated vestiges of the steroid era all but go extinct.
Oddly enough, this newfangled baseball would in many ways resemble old-fashioned baseball. By placing a premium on finesse, speed, and strategy (especially bunting and base stealing), it would revive many of the features of the “inside game” associated with the pre-1920s dead-ball era. As the name suggests, the baseballs of this era were soft and difficult to hit for distance. Offenses fought to eke out runs by playing “small ball.” The superior outfield coverage of an optimized defense would place a similar check on power hitting—including home runs, since swinging for the fences would become a riskier strategy. The Show, as players affectionately call Major League Baseball, would revert from a home run extravaganza to an exhibition of technique and skill. The future of baseball may well lie in its past.
STRATEGIES AND COUNTER-STRATEGIES
Nothing prevents every team from adopting this strategy—nothing but the tendency of baseball’s Old Guard to adopt new thinking very, very slowly. Imagine for a moment that just one team, the Chicago Cubs, tried an optimized defense in its fully realized fashion. What would this even look like?
Position players would shift alignments not only on every play but on every pitch. Hitters offer us a big enough sample to understand how their spray chart is affected by variations in a count. In 3-1 counts his results will look different when the likelihood of a fastball increases, whereas in a 1-2 count his approach will change as he will certainly see a higher percentage of offspeed pitches and breaking balls. What this translates to is defensive players in constant motion, with one “quarterback” of the defense—most likely the catcher—calling out revised alignments before the pitcher takes the sign.
As the last piece of the puzzle, the alignment of our defense would now inform what types of pitches our pitcher throws, and where he aims them. Let’s say the batter is Derek Jeter, who’s well known for trying to stay inside the ball and drive it to right field rather than pulling it to left. The conventional strategy against him, therefore, is to pitch him inside, try to tie him up and produce softly hit balls. Yet in an optimized defense, the approach reverses. Given his limited power, you can safely pitch him away and let him either drive the ball into the teeth of the defense, maximizing the probability of an out, or let him try to pull it and hit a weak grounder to the left side.
As in football, these strategic calculations would eventually become complex enough to warrant a very thick playbook, along with a defensive coordinator whose sole job it is to make sure defenses are aligned properly. There is no clock in this game, so any time a defense goofs its positioning, a pitcher can simply step off the mound and let the defensive coordinator indicate where to align them.
So how do you defeat the defense? One thing currently helping the Rays is the unwillingness of players and teams to adjust to them. As they are the only team in baseball realigning defenses to this extent, most opposing teams are simply willing to eat the potential losses against them without radically adjusting their approach or the swing mechanics of their respective hitters.
The more teams adopt this philosophy, the more offenses must adjust. When Alex Rodriguez sneered after a night playing against a Rays shift: “It must be the computer stuff. All I can do is hit the pitch and smoke it,” he offered a fascinating insight into the mentality of elite players. The Rays have wisely realized that a player positioned up the middle is invaluable, as the pitcher is effectively useless at stopping balls hit hard back up the box. Rodriguez and others like him would have no choice but to adjust if they faced 25 teams doing this. Just trying to “smoke” a ball would no longer cut it. Each at-bat would involve assessing where fielders are positioned and tailoring offensive approach accordingly—even if it meant altering swing mechanics to hit the ball in whatever direction feels least comfortable and comes least naturally.
In other words, to defeat a defensive coordinator and an optimized defense, teams would need an offensive coordinator and an optimized offense. In addition to the inside game of drag bunting, players would need to know how to push bunt, slash bunt, and possibly even choke up on the bat and try to spray the ball to an uncovered area. Stolen bases and pressure from the running game would further test a defense’s understanding of changing priorities. Ty Cobb would be in heaven.
Cobb was notorious for keeping his hands separated on the bat, and then, depending on the pitch or the situation, sliding one hand or the other as the pitch arrived. He’d slide the top hand down and take a healthier cut when ahead in the count, or slide his bottom hand up and cut down his swing when behind. Such an approach might well be necessary to counteract an optimized defense.
This brings us to the final exciting change our revolution would produce. If adjustments like these were made offensively, then moving players around pre-pitch would prove insufficient. Certain defenders would have to key on the hitter and adjust while the ball is being pitched. An infielder, for example, seeing that bottom hand slide up on a lefty hitter, might now have to break hard to his right to cover shallow left and prevent the hitter from successfully spraying it there. In effect, in an optimized baseball world, you could actually see defenders blitzing while the pitcher is in his windup.
A MAJOR LEAGUE CHANGE
How long would this transformation take? Probably years. It would take at least a season or two before any teams actually made offensive adjustments, or even player evaluation/scouting/drafting adjustments, to strategize against a defense attempting to optimize. Everything about the game would change. Power would be intensely devalued, and speed, throwing accuracy, and baseball IQ would become far more valuable in developing players. The actual value of sacrifice bunting, hit and runs, and stolen bases could be quantifiably solved. Defenders would be flying all over the field, and it could take years before teams fully sort out how to run plays without miscommunications and collisions. It would be utter chaos.
If the game reaches that point, everything about it, beyond the core rivalry between the pitcher and the hitter, will transform before our eyes. The sport known for its slow pace and stretches of stillness will become restless and fluid. The sport known for its consistency through the decades will never be the same, yet will somehow call back to an earlier time in the game’s tumultuous history. Love it or hate it, I’m willing to bet fans will snap up tickets to the Shit Show.Republicans leaked the email summaries, CBS News' Major Garrett reports. Given the way Karl's anonymous source justified the inaccurate summary in a subsequent email, that seems likely. The source said:
"WH reply was after a long chain of email about State Dept concerns. So when WH emailer says, take into account all equities, he is talking about the State equities, since that is what the email chain was about."
Who could that be? On February 15, the general counsel for the national intelligence director's office briefed the Senate Intelligence Committee, leadership, and staff on the emails, according to the Associated Press. On March 19, there was a similar briefing in the House. Karl reports that included the members of the House Intelligence Committee, their staff, and a senior aide to Speaker John Boehner. (Boehner was invited, but sent an aide instead.) That's a lot of people, though a lot less than all Republicans on Capitol Hill. It's 12 senators, plus the staffers who attended the meetings, and 12 representatives, plus Boehner's aide.
And we can probably narrow the source even further, to just the House. A report by five House Republican committeemen made claims that seem based on the inaccurate summaries of the emails. As The Daily Beast's Eli Lake reported April 23, "to protect the State Department, the Administration deliberately removed references to al-Qaeda-linked groups and previous attacks in Benghazi in the talking points used by Ambassador Rice." (We now know that the CIA's Mike Morrell actually took out those references.)
The report says Rice "was informed that the talking points were created for Congressional members, and modified to protect State Department equities and the FBI investigation." The phrase "State Department equities" is awfully close to the language of the summaries provided to ABC's Jonathan Karl, as well as the justification of the summaries. Only House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers was both on the committee that saw the emails and signed the House report, but obviously the report, and the "equities" line, could be based on the emails of many representatives' staffers.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.CLOSE Enjoy a exclusive first listen to the new song from 'Frozen,' a sonorous sneak peek starring Josh Gad and Jonathan Groff, titled 'The Making of Frozen'
Songwriting team Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez go behind the scenes in "The Making of 'Frozen.' " Look out for a new song highlighted here featuring the actors behind the movie.
Josh Gad, left, Jonathan Groff, right and other members of the cast of "The Making of Frozen," perform a behind-the-scenes video about the animated movie "Frozen." (Photo11: Disney) Story Highlights 'The Making of Frozen' is a song and feature available on the Blu-Ray/DVD release available March 18 (and digatally Feb. 25).
Bobby Lopez and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez say they were inspired to write after people constantly asked how the film was made.
The song and video are previewed on USAToday.com for the animated hit which passed $900 million at the box office.
A lively new song has broken through the ice of Disney's animated hit film Frozen as it heads to DVD.
Oscar-nominated tunesmiths Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez are unveiling The Making of Frozen, a song and behind-the-scenes video that will be available on the film's Blu-ray/DVD release March 18 (and for download Feb. 25). The video features some of the actors who voiced the parts in the film, including Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), Kristen Bell (Anna) and Josh Gad (Olaf the Snowman), as they dance and sing on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, Calif.
The production is so elaborate that High School Musical director Kenny Ortega was drafted to direct the video.
MORE: 'Frozen' goes live for one night only
"We were lucky enough to have three of the stars of the film who serve as tour guides for the'making of'' experience," says Bobby Lopez. "There were huge cranes with cameras on them for the shoot, dozens of assistant directors running around with headsets. It was like Disney animation turned into an old Hollywood musical."
The Lopezes, whose Frozen number Let It Go is nominated for a best-original-song Oscar, say they were inspired to make the video since they are constantly asked how an animated movie comes together. Kristen did some research, and "once we finally had all the information in our head, at that point the song bubbled out of us."
The video showcases the singing and dancing talents of the cast, all of whom are stage vets. Broadway star Groff (Spring Awakening, and HBO's Looking) only has a short song in Frozen, so he enjoyed belting out the new tune and dancing during the video's two-day shoot.
Josh Gad, left, Kristen Bell and Jonathan Groff, of the cast of "The Making of Frozen," perform a behind-the-scenes video song and dance on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank, Calif. (Photo11: Disney)
"It was nice to sing a bit longer. But the greatest thing was that Josh, Kristen and I never were in the studio together initially," he says. "Here we got to spend some 12-hour days together and really formed a bond. There was a lot of laughing."
The video also features dancing cameos by Disney chief creative officer John Lasseter and Frozen director Chris Buck. Groff even grabs co-director Jennifer Lee for a dance.
"At first I thought, how will they make a song about 'the making of Frozen'? Now I cannot get it out of my head," says Groff. "Kristen and Bobby are on fire right now with their composing. They are in a creative moment."
Bobby Lopez has a dancing moment as well, next to his exuberant wife, who admits she is "a ham."
The duo are mum on further collaborations, saying only that a stage version of Frozen is in the planning stages. Disney officials, however, are considering a sequel to the movie, which has earned more than $914 million worldwide since its Nov. 27 release.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1aOqq0eGALVESTON, Texas - A lifeguard supervisor with the Galveston Island Beach Patrol, Mary Stewart, says she was patrolling the beach Saturday. Waves were choppy, winds were strong and five people were swimming too deep.
"They were out too far and weren't strong swimmers and they panicked," Stewart said.
Stewart says the area between the Pleasure Pier and the jetty is typically a dangerous place to swim, but she says Saturday it was almost hopeless as she tried to rescue a group of drowning visitors and they were beginning to overpower her.
"I would just go under to regain my breath and strength and grab back onto them," Stewart said.
Fighting to stay in control, she says she experienced a wave of strength.
"I kept telling them not to give up. They kept saying no, you could just see it in their eyes, and I just kept saying to not give up because nothing's worth giving up on a life, especially yours. So I wasn't going to fail," she said.
She didn't fail one person that day, including herself. Balancing a few people at a time on a buoy, she managed to swim each person back on shore to first responders.
"I couldn't have done it or be a hero without them and I'm thankful I can be here to share my story," Stewart said.
Posted by KPRC2 Haley Hernandez on Tuesday, March 29, 2016
It's a true story with a valuable lesson!
"Don't give up on yourself and don't give up on anybody else because in the end it's worth it," she said.
Stewart said through this she learned it's easiest to give up, but she found her strength in holding it together. It's a good skill to have since she's studying to be a nurse.
After 11 years working with Galveston Island Beach Patrol, yesterday changed my life forever, and put into perspective... Posted by Galveston Island Beach Patrol on Monday, March 28, 2016
Copyright 2016 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.Preheat the oven to 400F
In separate sauce pans, boil the lentils and the potatoes
When potatoes are soft, drain the water and mash the potatoes with salt and earth balance (vegan butter). Set aside
Heat olive oil in a sauce pan on medium high heat and add onions and garlic. Cook until the onions start turning translucent.
Add all all the chopped vegetables with spices and salt. Stir and cook for about a minute.
Add the water (or the vegetable stock) and the bay leaf and cook for about five minutes.
Add the boiled and drained lentils. Stir and cook for another minute to finish the filling.
Transfer the filling to a baking pan of about 10"x7" dimensions. Alternatively, you can use 4 single serve oven safe containers.
Spread the mashed potato over the filling
In an oven preheat to 400F, cook for about 15 minutes.
If you have one, you can use a torch before serving.Despite the fact that it looks like a malformed male reproductive member and the guy cashiers always crack up when one comes through the check stand, daikon radishes are splendulescent in their potato-like qualities, and for only 1 net carb per ounce.
I’ll say that again: Only 1 net carb per ounce.
Add some squashes, spinach and onion, and your taste buds will roll around on the floor like little schoolgirls who just hear Justin Bieber will be at the mall.
Add cheese and we’re talking off the chain, shut the front door, a dish so sexy, you'[re not only presenting an amazing looking side dish, it’s one you’re going to enjoy time and again for the various, complex flavors and textures. This is an impressive looking dish, it tastes like a little Heaven in your mouth, and what better way to feature your summer veggie haul?
Things to keep in mind:
I sliced my veggies using a meat slicer for thin slices, but you can use a sharp knife.
Slice the veggies into rounds, not lengthwise.
You can lower fat content in this dish by using half and half instead of heavy white cream, along with lower fat cheeses.
This dish is vegetarian friendly, low carb, gluten free, and sugar free.
Daikon radishes stay a wee bit crunchy, so know that you’re not going to get a mooshy, smooshy potato. I like the texture, so if you don’t think of it as a potato (and slice it super thin), you’re going to be very happy.
I have not run the numbers yet because I am a naughty naughty monkey, but it’s low carb and a little goes a long way thanks to the decadence of the dish.
Summer Vegetable au Gratin
1/4-1/2 large daikon radish sliced thin (about 2 cups)
1 small summer squash, sliced thin (about 2 cups)
1 small zucchini, sliced thin (about 2 cups)
1 cup thin-sliced onions
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped (or 2 Tbsp dried)
4 Tbsp butter
1 cup heavy white cream
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of mozzarella, sharp white cheddar and Parmesan cheese)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp chives
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp pepper
Soak sliced daikon radish in cold, salted water for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Arrange all sliced daikon and squashes in an ungreased 10” casserole dish.
Over medium heat, in a medium-large saucepan, cook onion in butter until transparent, stirring occasionally (just a few minutes). Add parsley, chives, garlic powder and pepper and stir, just until bubbling. Add cream and stir occasionally until heated through (about 5 minutes). Add spinach and cook until heated, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and add cheese. Stir until cheese is melted and worked into the sauce.Pour the thickened liquid over the vegetables.
Bake, covered, for 45 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Sprinkle with ¼ cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-20 minutes uncovered to crust up the cheese slightly.
Makes 8 servings.
Nutritional Information For the Entire Recipe: 1551 Cals.; 49 g Carbs.; 13 g Fiber; 36 g Net Carbs.; 111 g Protein; 115 gFat
Nutritional Information Per Serving: 194 Cals.; 6 g Carbs.; 2 g Fiber; 4 g Net Carbs.; 14 g Protein; 14 g FatThe Syrian government suspended evacuations from eastern Aleppo just hours after they resumed on Friday, saying that rebels had opened fire on a convoy of evacuees at a crossing point with the enclave, state TV reported.
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It wasn’t immediately clear how long the suspension would last or whether it would delay the cease-fire deal under which tens of thousands of residents and rebel fighters are being evacuated to opposition-controlled areas in the surrounding countryside, a process likely to take several days.
Watch what else is in the news
Earlier on Friday, as the evacuations resumed for a second day, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a major new Syria peace initiative, saying he and his Turkish counterpart are working to set up peace talks between Damascus and the opposition in Kazakhstan.
The evacuations seal the end of the Syrian rebels’ most important stronghold — the eastern part of the city of Aleppo — and mark a watershed moment in the country’s civil war, now in its sixth year.
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In announcing the suspensions, the Syrian TV also claimed that the rebels had tried to take with them captives they had seized and were holding in the rebel enclave during bitter battles to defend their territory from a ferocious, weeks-long onslaught by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s troops.
Lebanon’s Al-Manar Hezbollah TV said the Syrian army stopped the evacuation process because the rebels had violated the cease-fire deal. Hezbollah militiamen are fighting in the Syrian conflict alongside Assad’s forces.
The Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV said buses that were parked at the Ramouseh crossing point had left the area after it was targeted by gunmen.
Speaking on a visit to Japan, Putin said that the negotiations would take place in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, and that he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are also working for an overall truce in Syria. Putin said Ankara had helped broker the rebel exit from Aleppo that is currently underway.
However, the Western-backed Syrian opposition is unlikely to accept the location Putting had proposed for e negotiations.
On Friday morning, dozens of green public buses and ambulances were parked in the southern Aleppo neighborhood of Ramouseh to evacuate more people from eastern Aleppo. Syrian state TV showed a truck with dozens of men, driving through the corridor leading the rebel-held parts of the surrounding provinces.
The TV said that since the early hours of the day, four convoys have left Aleppo. It said some of the evacuees were using their own vehicles to leave.
There have been contradicting numbers of how many people have been evacuated from Aleppo on Thursday. Syrian state TV reported than more than 9,000 people were evacuated on Thursday alone in Aleppo. The TV said the evacuees included 3,475 men, 3,137 women, 2,359 children and 108 wounded people.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said about 4,000 civilians were taken out on Thursday. Syrian state news agency says 2,300 opposition fighters and their families left Aleppo the previous night.
Russia, a key Assad ally, says that more than 6,462 people, including more than 3,000 rebels and 301 wounded, have been taken out.
For the opposition, the evacuation was a humiliating defeat. A smiling Assad called it a historic event comparable to the birth of Christ and the revelation of the Quran.
The Lebanon-based pan-Arab TV stations Al-Mayadeen interviewed an official with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the central province of Hama who said that buses and ambulances are waiting to evacuate thousands of people two Shiite villages besieged by rebels — a last-minute condition that became part of the cease-fire deal for Aleppo.
The SARC official said they will likely begin the evacuation of 15,000 people from Foua and Kefraya adding that the priority will be for the wounded, elderly people, women, children and those with chronic illnesses.
State TV said 110 buses and 19 medical teams were being ready to take those being evacuated from the two Shiite villages. Iran had demanded to tie the evacuations from Foua and Kefraya with Aleppo’s.
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Separately, Hezbollah’s media arm said Syrian government supporters closed the road used by evacuees form Aleppo, demanding the wounded from the two villages be allowed to leave.CTVNews.ca Staff
A woman who left her seven-month-old baby in a car outside a Montreal shopping centre received a $60 ticket, police said Friday.
Police said the baby boy was apparently crying and sweating when someone noticed him in the backseat of a white SUV Thursday.
Since June, Montreal police say they’ve received 37 reports of children left unattended in vehicles.
In the latest case, police officers broke the car window to get the baby out and he was taken to hospital as a precaution.
According to |
among the creepiest.
Durst has never been convicted of murder, but he is a killer.
He copped to killing a guy named Morris Black in Galveston, Texas, and, in fact, chopped the body into bits and fed the pieces of bloody flesh to the fishes in the Gulf of Mexico, but a gullible jury bought the idea it was in self-defense. And so Durst walked.
We'll never forget the sheer, unadulterated creepiness of that episode. That's the one where Durst dressed up in a wig and a dress, used a stolen name and was arrested in Pennsylvania after shoplifting a sandwich.
One way or another, Durst, 71, has been connected with the deaths or presumed deaths of at least six people — including his wife, Kathie, who disappeared in 1982. That's six people and counting. Detectives in every state have been urged to re-examine their cold case files because who knows, maybe Bobby Durst had something to do with it. He is a usual suspect.
Robert Durst demonstrates how Morris Black handled a gun during testimony at his trial Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003, in Galveston, Texas. (Photo: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
This is an old truth: Getting away with murder is quite possible in America if you're a multimillionaire with the means to hire whip-smart lawyers who know how to enlarge any shadow of doubt. When it comes to evading justice, Durst has O.J. beat by far.
But now, at long last, it looks like they finally got him — thanks to the HBO documentary series, "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," which turned up some pretty damning handwriting evidence linking Durst to the execution-style murder of his close friend, Susan Berman. This came up in the final episode of the series, which wouldn't have happened without Durst's cooperation.
And then there was the dramatic piece de resistance.
Not realizing that his microphone was still on after an interview, Durst started talking to himself in the bathroom. By the way, Durst was infamous for mumbling, growling and saying weird stuff out loud when no one was around. It was part of his oddball repertoire.
"There it is," he said. "You're caught. What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." You know what? The little creep should've given himself a Miranda warning.
Durst was arrested in New Orleans on March 14, and ever since it's been all Durst, all the time.
Ellen Strauss, who was a friend of Robert Durst's wife Kathleen, is interviewed at The Associated Press in New York, Tuesday, March 17, 2015. Strauss believes Durst is responsible for his wife's 1982 disappearance. (Photo: AP)
Earlier this week I talked to Ellen Strauss, a Connecticut attorney, a friend and confidante of Kathie Durst who was convinced Bobby killed her and pressed investigators to keep after him. She was an on-camera source in "The Jinx" and was portrayed as a heroic voice in the wilderness in Matt Birkbeck's captivating 2002 book, "A Deadly Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst."
Strauss said that since the HBO series aired, she's gotten 300 media inquiries, both for TV and print.
"I'm just trying to catch my breath," she said. "I think I did 21 shows in three days. In one day, I was at CNN three times."
For all her work, Strauss could've been a detective. The stack of notes and documents she's collected over the years on Durst is more than five feet high, she figures.
She knew Susan Berman, but not well. "I thought she was very high-maintenance, arrogant, very gossipy," Strauss said.
Berman and Bobby were very close, like soul mates, except there was no romance between them.
Susan Berman with Robert Durst (Photo: Sareb Kaufman/Courtesy of HBO)
Nobody knows for sure, but it's possible that Berman knew the fate of Kathie Durst. In any event, she acted as an unofficial spokesperson for Bobby after Kathie disappeared, telling the press how heartbroken he was.
When the case went cold, Berman dropped out of the news.
Almost 20 years passed before the case was reopened, thanks to the dogged detective work of state police Investigator Joseph Becerra, who concentrated his search for evidence at the Durst home in South Salem.
In November 2000, Strauss had collected information on Berman's whereabouts in California, urging then-Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro to find and question her.
"I knew she had information," Strauss said. "If they really wanted to open up the Kathie Durst case, that's who they had to talk to."
Only they didn't.
Strauss lays the blame on Pirro, who is now a Fox TV personality. "She basically said that the general public, meaning me, didn't know how the police work."
Less than a month later, Berman was found dead in her Beverly Hills home. She was shot in the head.
When she heard the news, Strauss said, "my knees buckled."
Strauss believes Bobby murdered Berman just to "mop up loose ends. I think he just wanted to be sure that she wouldn't say anything.
"You know two people can keep a secret if one is dead, as my grandmother used to say."
Email: preisman@lohud.com Twitter: @philreisman
Read or Share this story: http://lohud.us/1buIZYNPrime Minister Justin Trudeau has reaffirmed Canada's commitment to welcoming refugees amid U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.
"To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith," Trudeau wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "Diversity is our strength."
Canada resettled about 39,000 refugees from Syria between December 2015 and December 2016.
To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 28, 2017
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday to bar entry to the U.S. to anyone from seven Muslim-majority countries: Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan. The order indefinitely bans Syrian refugees from resettling in the U.S. and shuts down the country's entire refugee program for 120 days.
Refugees and immigrants were turned away or detained on Friday night, as American airports scrambled to adjust to the new policy.
Late on Saturday a federal judge reversed parts of Trump's order and allowed those that were being detained to enter the country.
“I am establishing new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America," Trump said. "We don’t want them here.”
Not a single American has been killed by a terrorist from those countries since 1975.
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Argentina have arrived in Ecuador ahead of their crunch World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, with the country in real danger of missing out on qualification.
Jorge Sampaoli's side need to win to guarantee at least at play-off spot, while anything else would almost certainly see them miss out on a place in Russia.
Lionel Messi and his team-mates arrived at their team hotel in Guayaquil on Sunday, under heavy protection from armed police, as they take one last throw of the dice in their bid to avoid the unthinkable.
Lionel Messi arrives in Guayaquil in Ecuador as he checks into the Argentina team hotel along with his team-mates
The Barcelona forward will be charged with leading his nation to victory in their crunch qualifier with Ecuador on Tuesday
There was a heavy police presence as the Argentina team arrived, with armed guards escorting the players from the bus
REMAINING FIXTURES All fixtures kick off at 12.30am, on Wednesday, October 11 Brazil vs Chile Ecuador vs Argentina Paraguay vs Venezuela Peru vs Colombia Uruguay vs Bolivia
That outcome could spell the end for Messi's own hopes of lifting the World Cup, as they visit a country where they have failed to win since 2001.
Argentina currently sit sixth in the South American standings, behind Peru, who occupy the play-off spot, on goals scored.
With Peru set to face fourth-placed Colombia, who themselves are only a point ahead of their opponents, Sampaoli's men have the opportunity to leapfrog at least one of the sides above them with victory.
Messi will be key to any victory at the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in Quito which has proven a tricky venue for Argentina in the past. The ground sits at 2,782 metres (9,127 ft) above sea level and they have lost two of their last three visits.
While not quite at the same height as Bolivia's Estadio Hernando Siles, the ground that forced Neymar and Brazil to reach for the oxygen masks last week, the elevated stadium is certain to make their task even tougher.
It will be a tall ask for Messi and an Argentina side that have struggled for goals during the campaign, and Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez does not think failure to drag his side out of their current predicament should be held against the Barcelona star.
Javier Mascherano makes his way into the hotel past an armed policeman, ahead of Argentina's do-or-die fixture
Angel Di Maria waves to a set of supporters as he enters the complex alongside a couple of team-mates
'I don't see it as a stain and it shouldn't be like that,' Tabarez said when asked what effect missing the World Cup would have on Messi's career.
'There are a lot of great players in football's history that weren't world champions and they're not stained by that, at least for me. Besides that, Messi is still playing, you can't tell what will happen.
'Argentina are having problems to qualify but if they do, they'll be favourites to win the World Cup. He's a huge player but he can't do it all, this is a team sport.'
'He is usually heralded as the best when he plays, but while being held at fault when things don't go well, even when he's not responsible,' added Tabarez, whose Uruguay side are second in the table and are already guaranteed of at least a play-off place ahead of hosting Bolivia.
'Football is not easy and not always the best players can handle everything. The statistics are meant to be interpreted but if you take a look at Messi's statistics, during his whole career, they're impressive, you can't believe it.
'And that's enough to enter football's history. But sometimes it is not enough... In that history, it has either to be champion of the World Cup or he's not worthy and I don't agree with that.'
Paulo Dybala has been in fantastic form for his club side Juventus and will be hoping to re-channel that for his country
Jorge Sampaoli would be the first Argentina coach to fail in getting the nation to a World Cup finals since 1970This article is about the band. For other uses, see Pantera (disambiguation)
Not to be confused with Panthera
Pantera () was an American heavy metal band from Arlington, Texas. The group was formed in 1981 by the Abbott brothers – drummer Vinnie Paul and guitarist Dimebag Darrell – along with lead vocalist Terry Glaze. Bassist Rex Brown joined the band the following year, replacing Tommy D. Bradford, who was the unofficial original. Having started as a glam metal band, Pantera released four albums during the 1980s. Looking for a new and heavier sound, Pantera replaced Glaze with Phil Anselmo in late 1986 and released Power Metal in 1988. With its fifth album, 1990's Cowboys from Hell, Pantera introduced a groove metal sound. Pantera's sixth album, 1992's Vulgar Display of Power, exhibited an even heavier sound. Far Beyond Driven (1994) debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.[1]
Tensions began to surface among the band members when Anselmo became addicted to heroin in 1995; he almost died from an overdose in 1996. These tensions resulted in the recording sessions for The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) being held separately. The ongoing tension lasted for another seven years, during which only one studio album, Reinventing the Steel (2000), was recorded. Pantera went on hiatus in 2001 but was disbanded by the Abbott brothers in 2003 amid communication problems and their conclusion that Anselmo would not return to the band.
The Abbott brothers went on to form Damageplan, while Anselmo continued work on several side projects, including Down, which Rex Brown joined as well. Any hopes for a reunion were lost on December 8, 2004 when Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed on stage by a mentally unstable fan during a Damageplan concert in Columbus, Ohio. Vinnie Paul died of heart failure in 2018,[2] leaving Glaze and Brown as the only surviving members of the band's original line-up.
History [ edit ]
Formation and early glam years (1981–1985) [ edit ]
The band was originally named Gemini, then to Eternity before landing on Pantera[3] and consisted of Vinnie Paul Abbott on drums, Dimebag Darrell Abbott (called Diamond Darrell at the time) on lead guitar, and Terry Glaze on rhythm guitar; the line-up was completed with two more unofficial members, lead vocalist Donnie Hart and bassist Tommy D. Bradford. In 1982, Hart left the band and Glaze became the group's lead vocalist. Later, Glaze stopped playing rhythm guitar, leaving Darrell as the sole guitarist, doing both lead and rhythm duties. Later that year, Bradford also departed and was replaced by Rex Brown (then known as Rex Rocker) on bass. Pantera became an underground favorite, though its regional tours in this era never took them beyond Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. The band began supporting fellow heavy metal/glam metal acts such as Stryper, Dokken, and Quiet Riot, who in turn promoted Pantera's debut, Metal Magic. Metal Magic was released on the band's record label of the same name in 1983 and produced by the Abbott brothers' father, Jerry Abbott (referred to as "The Eldn"), at Pantego Studios.[4]
The following year, Pantera released its second studio album, Projects in the Jungle. Although still very much a glam metal album, the band members crafted songs that had less overbearing melodic influences than songs from Metal Magic.[5] Another change was Terry Glaze's name, as he was henceforth credited as "Terrence Lee". In addition, a music video for the album's lead track, "All Over Tonight", was eventually created. Projects in the Jungle was also released on the band's independent Metal Magic Records label and produced by Jerry Abbott. In 1985, Pantera again released a full-length album on Metal Magic Records, titled I Am the Night. As with Projects in the Jungle, this album saw Pantera's sound becoming heavier (though still rooted in glam metal),[5] and the heavy metal press took more notice of the band. Because of poor distribution, I Am the Night was a costly album to many fans. Around 25,000 copies of I Am the Night were sold. Pantera's second music video was produced for the track "Hot and Heavy".
Anselmo’s introduction (1986–1988) [ edit ]
1986 and 1987 saw the release of several landmark thrash metal albums that would prove influential to Pantera’s developing musical style. Among the most prominent of these were Metallica’s Master of Puppets, Slayer’s Reign in Blood, Anthrax’s Among the Living and Megadeth’s Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?[6][page needed] Terrence Lee’s glam approach did not fit the band's developing style and he and the other members parted ways,[7] beginning a search for his replacement.
Pantera initially turned to Matt L‘Amour, a David Coverdale lookalike. He sang a number of shows with Pantera in Los Angeles during the winter of 1986, but it became immediately apparent that L‘Amour could not hit the high notes Glaze (or Anselmo) was capable of. Together with his lack of stage presence, this meant Pantera could only play cover songs so L‘Amour departed.[8] Pantera next auditioned El Paso native Rick Mythiasin, later to sing for Steel Prophet and Agent Steel; however, cultural and image differences – Mythiasin failed to adapt to the Southern culture of the other members – meant his tenure was even shorter than that of L‘Amour.[9] A former schoolmate of the Abbott brothers, David Peacock of the band Forced Entry (who had supported Warlock),[10] joined the band as lead vocalist in the spring of 1986, but despite Pantera doing most of the work for their fourth album during the summer with Peacock, Rex and the Abbotts found Peacock’s voice to be unsuited to the musical direction Pantera wished for.[11] By the end of the year, Pantera even revisited original frontman Donny Hart, but Hart himself knew he was not the man Pantera were seeking and Jerry Abbott was to fire him.
During 1986, New Orleans native Phil Anselmo had always heard Pantera were looking for a singer.[12] At the end of the year, they invited him to audition, and the eighteen-year old Anselmo immediately became a member of the band.[13] Anselmo had previously been the vocalist for the bands Samhain[4] (not to be confused with Glenn Danzig's band of the same name) and Razor White.[14] Upon playing with Pantera, Anselmo immediately clicked with the other three members.[13]
More than just the band’s image was changing, however. In 1988, Pantera released its first album with Anselmo, titled Power Metal.[5] Power Metal, like Pantera’s previous three albums, was released on Metal Magic Records, but showcased a change in their sound.[13] By far the band’s heaviest album at this point, Power Metal was a mix of 1980s hard rock and thrash metal, sometimes blending both styles in a single song.[13] Complementing the band’s new sonic approach were Anselmo’s harder-edged vocals compared to those of Terrence Lee.[13] After the release of Power Metal, the band members decided to seriously reconsider their glam metal image and sound.[13] Referring to the band’s spandex appearance, Vinnie Paul remarked at a band meeting that “These magic clothes don’t play music; we do. Let’s just go out there and be comfortable — jeans, t-shirt, whatever—and see where it goes.”[6][15] The band members would later ignore their independent releases, including Power Metal, as they sculpted a new, heavier image to accompany their later groove metal sound. Their four independent albums are not listed on the band’s official website and have become hard-to-find collector’s items.
Cowboys from Hell (1989–1991) [ edit ]
Shortly after Power Metal was released, Megadeth needed a guitarist and phoned "Diamond Darrell", as he was then known, to join the band. Darrell insisted for his brother, bandmate Vinnie Paul, to be included, but because Nick Menza was already hired at the time, Darrell declined and Dave Mustaine instead decided on Marty Friedman. The Abbott brothers refocused their attention on Pantera, and in 1989 they were given their first shot at commercial success. 1989 was also when the band formed their relationship with Walter O'Brien at Concrete Management (the management arm of Concrete Marketing), who remained their manager until they disbanded in 2003.[16]
After being turned down "28 times by every major label on the face of the Earth",[17] Atco Records representatives Mark Ross and Stevenson Eugenio were asked by their boss Derek Shulman, who was interested in signing Pantera, to see the band perform after Hurricane Hugo stranded them in Texas. Ross was so impressed by the band's performance that he called his boss that night, suggesting that Pantera be signed to the label. Atco Records accepted, and at the close of 1989, the band recorded its major label debut at Pantego Studios.
Released on July 24, 1990, and produced by Terry Date and Pantera, Cowboys from Hell was another leap into heavier territory. Pantera showed a more extreme style on this outing, leaving behind its glam metal influences in favor of mid-tempo thrash metal dubbed "power groove" (groove metal) by the band. Although Anselmo still used Rob Halford-influenced vocals, he also adopted a more abrasive delivery. Darrell's more complex guitar solos and riffs, along with his brother's faster-paced drumwork were evidence of the band's extreme transformation. The album marked a critical juncture in the band's history. Many fans, as well as the band itself, consider it Pantera's "official" debut.[18] Cowboys included the tracks "Cemetery Gates", a brooding seven-minute piece that focuses on death and religion, and the thrashing title track, which gave the band members their nickname and asserted their raucous personality and style.
So began the Cowboys from Hell tour alongside thrash acts Exodus and Suicidal Tendencies. In 1991, Rob Halford performed with the band onstage, which led Pantera (along with Annihilator) to open for Judas Priest on its first show in Europe. They also opened for bands like Fates Warning, Prong, Mind over Four and Morbid Angel, and co-headlined a North American tour with Wrathchild America.[19] The band eventually landed a billing for "Monsters in Moscow" with AC/DC and Metallica in September 1991, where they played to a crowd of over 500,000 in celebration of the new freedom of performing Western music in the Soviet Union shortly before its collapse three months later. The band was often found at the Dallas club "the Basement", where the band shot the videos for "Cowboys from Hell" and "Psycho Holiday". Pantera's 2006 home video compilation 3 Vulgar Videos from Hell features performances of "Primal Concrete Sledge", "Cowboys from Hell", "Domination", and "Psycho Holiday" from the show in Moscow.
Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven (1992–1995) [ edit ]
"Walk" Vulgar Display of Power which showcases the band's later Walk is off the critically acclaimedwhich showcases the band's later groove metal style. Problems playing this file? See media help.
Pantera's unique "groove" style came to fruition in its breakthrough album Vulgar Display of Power, released on February 25, 1992. On this album, the power metal falsetto vocals were replaced with a hardcore-influenced shouted delivery and heavier guitar sound, which firmly cemented the band's popularity among mainstream and underground fans alike. Two other singles from the album became two of Pantera's most notable ballads: "This Love", a haunting piece about lust and abuse, and "Hollow", somewhat reminiscent of "Cemetery Gates" from Cowboys. The band would play the song "Domination" (from Cowboys) leading into the ending of "Hollow" (what is roughly the last 2:30 of the album version), forming a medley referred to as "Dom/Hollow", as can be heard on the band's 1997 live album. Singles from Vulgar also received significant airplay on radio as did the companion music videos on MTV. The album entered the American charts at No. 44.[1] Pantera hit the road again, visiting Japan for the first time in July 1992 and later performing at the "Monsters of Rock" festival co-headlined by Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath in Italy. It was around this time that Darrell Abbott dropped the nickname "Diamond Darrell" and assumed "Dimebag Darrell", and Rex Brown dropped the pseudonym "Rexx Rocker".
"I'm Broken" Far Beyond Driven that was nominated for a Best Metal Performance Grammy at the 1995 Awards. The fourth track from the commercially successfulthat was nominated for a Best Metal Performance Grammy at the 1995 Awards. Problems playing this file? See media help.
Far Beyond Driven, released on March 22, 1994, debuted at No. 1 in both United States[1] and Australian album charts. The album's first single, "I'm Broken", earned the band's first Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance" in 1995. Driven saw Pantera continue its groove metal approach, while taking an even more extreme direction with its musical style. The album's original artwork (a drill bit impaling an anus) was banned, so it was re-released with the now familiar skull impaled with a drill bit. A limited edition was released with a slip-cover case. Also, a boxed set called Driven Downunder Tour '94 Souvenir Collection was released in Australia and New Zealand to coincide with the tours there. It featured Far Beyond Driven (with its original banned artwork) with a bonus 13th track, "The Badge" (a Poison Idea cover), the 5-track aLIVE and hostile e.p., and the Japanese collector's edition Walk EP, all presented in a special cardboard box with an 8-page color biography.
Pantera hit the road again and toured South America, along with being accepted into another "Monsters of Rock" billing. At that festival on June 4, 1994, the Abbott brothers got into a scuffle with journalists from the music magazine Kerrang! over unflattering cartoon depictions of drummer Vinnie Paul. Then in late June, Anselmo was charged with assault for hitting a security guard after he prevented fans from getting on stage, Anselmo was released on $5,000 bail the next day.[20][21] The trial was delayed three times.[22] In May 1995, he apologized in court and pleaded guilty to attempted assault and was sentenced to 100 hours of community service.[23][24] Pantera continued their tour of the United Kingdom in 1994 and eventually ended it in the United States where the band was opened for by fellow groove metal band Prong.
Band tensions and The Great Southern Trendkill (1995–1996) [ edit ]
According to the Abbott brothers, Anselmo began behaving strangely and distanced himself from the band when they returned to the road in 1995. The rest of the band members first thought that Pantera's perception of his fame had gotten to Anselmo, but Anselmo cited back pain from years of intense performances as the reason for his erratic behavior. Anselmo attempted to subdue his pain through alcohol, but this, as he admits, was affecting his performances and "putting some worry into the band."[6] Doctors predicted that with surgery, Anselmo's back problem could be corrected, but that the recovery time could be a year or more. Not wanting to spend that much time away from the band, Anselmo refused, and began using heroin as a painkiller.
Anselmo's on-stage remarks became notorious during this time. After stating at a Montreal concert that "rap music advocates the killing of white people", Anselmo denied accusations of racism, and later issued an apology,[25] stating that he was drunk and that his remarks were a mistake.[4] In 1995, the supergroup Down, one of Anselmo's many side projects, took off. Their 1995 debut, NOLA, was a success, but shortly afterwards the group members returned to their respective bands, leaving Down inactive for several years.
Pantera's next album, The Great Southern Trendkill, was released on May 7, 1996,[26] and is often considered their "overlooked" album.[17] Anselmo recorded the vocals for this release in Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor's studio in New Orleans while the rest of the band recorded in Dallas, evidence of the continued distancing between Anselmo and the rest of the band. In comparison to the band's previous efforts, there was a heavier emphasis on vocal overdubbing in a somewhat "demonic" fashion. Drug abuse is a recurring theme in Trendkill, as exemplified by tracks such as "Suicide Note Pt. I", "Suicide Note Pt. II" and "Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)". "Drag the Waters" became the album's only music video, and likewise, the only track from the album to appear on the band's compilation album. Another Trendkill single, "Floods", achieved acclaim largely because of Darrell's complex guitar solo in the song, which ranked No. 15 on Guitar World magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" of all-time.[27]
Overdose, Official Live: 101 Proof, and side projects (1996–1999) [ edit ]
On July 13, 1996, Anselmo overdosed on heroin an hour after a Texas homecoming gig.[28][29] After his heart stopped beating for almost five minutes, paramedics gave Anselmo a shot of adrenaline (or possibly Narcan) and sent him to the hospital. After he woke up in the hospital, the nurse working in his room said "Welcome back to life, oh and you have overdosed on heroin." Anselmo apologized to his bandmates the next night, and said he would quit using drugs.[30] The revelation of heroin use came as a shock to Vinnie and Darrell, who were embarrassed by Anselmo's actions, according to Rita Haney, the guitarist's girlfriend. Anselmo said that he relapsed twice after this and was overcome with guilt.[6]
Some of the band's live performances were eventually compiled in its July 29, 1997 release, Official Live: 101 Proof, which included fourteen live tracks and two new studio recordings: "Where You Come From" and "I Can't Hide". Two weeks before the live album's release, Pantera received its first platinum album, for Cowboys from Hell. Just four months later, both Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven went platinum as well.[31] The band also received their second and third "Best Metal Performance" Grammy Nominations for Trendkill's "Suicide Note (Pt. I)" and Cowboys' "Cemetery Gates" in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The release of their video 3 Watch It Go earned them a 1997 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award, when it was voted Best Video Cassette.[32]
Also in 1997, Pantera played on the mainstage of Ozzfest alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Type O Negative, Fear Factory, Machine Head, and Powerman 5000. Additionally, the band played on the 1998 UK Ozzfest tour alongside Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Slayer, Soulfly, Fear Factory, and Therapy?, as well as touring with Clutch and Neurosis.[33]
Around this time, Anselmo ventured into more side projects, such as playing guitars on Necrophagia's 1999 release Holocausto de la Morte, where he went as the alias "Anton Crowley", which combines the names of Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey and occultist Aleister Crowley. He also temporarily joined the black metal supergroup Eibon and contributed to that band's 2000 release. Another one of Anselmo's "Anton Crowley" projects was black metal band Viking Crown. The Abbott brothers and Rex Brown began their own country metal crossover project, Rebel Meets Rebel with David Allan Coe, around the same time.
The band wrote a song for the NHL's Dallas Stars during the team’s 1999 Stanley Cup Championship run. Throughout the season, members of the team befriended members of Pantera. During a Stanley Cup party hosted by Vinnie Paul, the Stanley Cup was damaged when Guy Carbonneau attempted to throw the Cup from the balcony of Vinnie Paul's house into his pool. The Cup landed short on the concrete deck and had to be repaired by NHL commissioned silversmiths.
Reinventing the Steel and break-up (1999–2003) [ edit ]
"Revolution Is My Name" "Revolution Is My Name" is the lead single and fifth track from Pantera's last studio album, Reinventing the Steel, that garnered the band its fourth "Best Metal Performance" nomination at the 2001 Grammys. Problems playing this file? See media help.
Pantera returned to the recording studio with Anselmo in 1999 and cut its last album, Reinventing the Steel, which was released on March 21, 2000. Steel debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200[1] and included "Revolution Is My Name" and "Goddamn Electric", the latter of which featured a Kerry King outro solo recorded backstage in one take during Ozzfest in Dallas. "Revolution Is My Name" became the band's fourth nomination for Best Metal Performance in the 2001 Grammys. In 2000, Pantera played on the mainstage of Ozzfest alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Godsmack, Static-X, Methods of Mayhem, Incubus, P.O.D., Black Label Society, Queens of the Stone Age, and Apartment 26. In November the band cancelled their planned tour after Anselmo broke his ribs after falling during his eighth annual House of Shock event.[34]
In 2001, the band once again returned to touring, playing with fellow metal bands Morbid Angel, Skrape, Slayer and Static-X as part of the Extreme Steel tour of North America.[35] They were also guest musicians on the show SpongeBob SquarePants in the episode "Pre-Hibernation Week," performing the song "Death Rattle" from Reinventing the Steel. Following the Extreme Steel tour, a planned tour of Europe was cut short by the September 11, 2001 attacks, which left the band stranded in Dublin, Ireland for 6 days as a result of all flights being cancelled. Pantera played their last show in Yokohama, Japan at the 'Beast Feast' festival on August 28, 2001. This would be the last time the members of Pantera performed together. Back home, the band planned to release its fourth home video in Summer 2002 and record another studio album later that year, but neither came about.[36]
Anselmo again engaged in numerous side projects. In March 2002, Down released its second studio album, Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow, which featured Rex Brown on bass following Todd Strange's departure in 1999. Brown remained Down's full-time bassist until 2011, having appeared on their subsequent release in 2007. Also, in May of that year Anselmo's Superjoint Ritual released its debut, Use Once and Destroy. Vinnie Paul claims that Anselmo told him he would take a year off following the events of September 11, 2001, but Anselmo's touring and recording output for both Superjoint Ritual and Down contradicted this. The Abbott brothers were frustrated, and held out for a time, assuming Anselmo would return. However, according to Anselmo, taking a break from Pantera was a "mutual thing" between each of the band members.[37]
The Abbott brothers officially broke up Pantera in 2003, also the year when their "Best Of" compilation album was released, when the Abbott brothers concluded that Anselmo had abandoned them and would not return. The break-up of the band was not amicable and subsequently a war of words was waged between the former bandmates via the heavy metal and musical press. Anselmo's comment in a 2004 issue of Metal Hammer magazine saying that "Dimebag deserves to be beaten severely" typified Pantera's internal conflicts; Anselmo insists that this comment was tongue-in-cheek, and he was angered his comment ended up on the cover of the "god damn" magazine.[6] This explanation was soon dismissed by Vinnie Paul, who said shortly after the 2004 murder of his brother that he had personally listened to the audio files of the interview and that Anselmo had not been misquoted or misrepresented, but said the exact words which appeared in the article.[6] Caught up in the torrent was Rex Brown, who later said "It was a bunch of he said, she said nonsense that was going on, and I wasn't going to get in the middle of it."[6] In July 2004, Vulgar Display of Power went double-platinum, and The Great Southern Trendkill went platinum the next month.[31]
Damageplan and the murder of Dimebag Darrell (2003–2004) [ edit ]
After Pantera's breakup, Darrell and Vinnie formed a new band, Damageplan, with vocalist Pat Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla. The group released their first album, New Found Power, on February 10, 2004. The album was a commercial success; over 44,000 copies were sold in its first week alone and within a year over 100,000 copies were sold. However, some fans felt that Damageplan's material did not measure up to that of Pantera.[6]
On December 8, 2004, less than a minute into the first song of a Damageplan show at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio, 25-year-old Nathan Gale walked onstage with a gun, shooting and killing Darrell. Gale also killed fan Nathan Bray, 23, club employee Erin Halk, 29, and Pantera security official Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, 40, and injured longtime Pantera and Damageplan drum technician John "Kat" Brooks and Damageplan tour manager Chris Paluska before being shot dead by Columbus police officer James Niggemeyer.[38]
No motive has been given as to why Gale killed Dimebag Darrell and the other victims, but early theories, which were dismissed by police, suggested that Gale, who was reported to have suffered from schizophrenia, was angered over Pantera's breakup and resorted to violence. In a number of interviews, some of Gale's friends suggested that he claimed that he had written songs that were stolen by Pantera.[39]
Aftermath and Vinnie Paul's death (2004–present) [ edit ]
When Anselmo called in the aftermath of the murders, Rita Haney, Darrell's girlfriend, told him she would "blow Anselmo's head off" if he attended Darrell's funeral.[6] He was |
changed. Our job is to [help them] understand they have the same rights as men, and that women owning land contributes to the well-being of the family and assures that they are fed.
At the local level, some women have risen up and demanded that land be put in their names, and now they are land-owners. Women’s associations have acquired blocks of land of up to one or two hectares, but frankly, there’s not much they can produce on that. To develop agriculture we need to cultivate larger plots or install irrigation, but this isn’t permitted because women don’t have a say in land use. There is idle land available and not enough men to work it all, yet they don’t want to turn it over to women. So the effort of raising awareness and advocacy goes on.
Agroecology, Sacred Seeds, and Food Sovereignty
Women peasant organizations are leading the movement for seed and food sovereignty. We should eat what we produce and produce what we eat.
Agroecology protects all living things and treats nature as sacred. Our seeds are ancient, and each is tied to a certain place. The traditional practice of seed selection preserves the environment and sustains biodiversity, while using our resources which are affordable and accessible. These seeds don’t need any modification.
We are seeing new diseases due to the diet arising from everything that is imported, and as a result of underestimating the value of traditional dishes of grains and vegetables.
Though many have gone to chemical agriculture, our movement has identified several traditional practices that we’re sharing with our sisters and brothers. We are the Solution organizes workshops, forums, and community radio broadcasts to bring our message down to the popular, rural level and inform the grassroots about the advantages of traditional agroecological or peasant agriculture.
In Casamance [a region of Senegal], We Are the Solution has established a platform of 100 grassroots associations. We now have a model farm field and a store for marketing our family farm products from various kinds of production and hand-tool farming. The store is there to help us promote ecologically produced products produced by women. We are also trying to organize a forum on local consumption.
Overall, women are taking leadership roles in the countries in which We Are the Solution is active, promoting agroecology and seed and food sovereignty as the only viable system for the long-term. This way we can have healthy lives and protect the environment.
This is the first article in a 7-part series which features interviews with grassroots African leaders working for seed and food sovereignty, the decolonization of Africa’s food system, and the preservation of traditional farming practices. This series is made possible with support from New Field Foundation and Grassroots International. Many thank to Stephen Bartlett for translation of the interview.In an effort to bolster its position in the growing "Internet of Things" market and the exploding unmanned air vehicle market, Intel is acquiring German drone company Ascending Technology. The purchase was announced today in a blog post by Josh Walden, Intel's senior vice president and general manager of the company's New Technology Group.
Ascending had previously partnered with Intel to use Intel's RealSense real-time depth sensing technology as part of its "sense and avoid" software, which helps drones detect objects and navigate around them safely. That software development is a key reason for the acquisition, Walden wrote. "With Ascending Technologies, Intel gains expertise and technology to accelerate the deployment of Intel RealSense technology into the fast growing drone market segment," he said. "We plan for the Ascending Technologies team to continue supporting their current customers while also collaborating with Intel’s Perceptual Computing team to develop UAV technology that can help drones fly with more awareness of their environments."
Ascending is focused on "professional" drones. The company sells unmanned systems packages based on its Falcon 8 drone for tasks like surveying, professional photography, and "precision agriculture" (using optical and infrared sensors to monitor crop growth, soil properties, and the need for application of fertilizer and pesticides). Ascending also offers a number of research-oriented drones for universities and robotics development laboratories, and the company's research drones are all based on Intel processors.The Ultimate Cheater’s Guide To Hacking Your Goals
Roy Huff Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 10, 2017
“Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing.” — Sylvia Plath
Before I take you down the rabbit hole, first decide why you want that thing.
If your life is an episode of Gossip Girl, quit wasting your time. Instead, I’ll point you towards a few good authors on character building, starting with Jim Rohn.
But if you’ve found meaning in your life and want to deepen that meaning, keep reading.
Change your mindset
“Growth hacking is a mindset, and those who have it will reap incredible gains.” — Ryan Holiday
If you use word’s like can’t or but when referring to your goals, change your mindset.
Reframe your excuses. Transform them from impossible roadblocks into challenges that encourage growth.
In Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck explains how you either have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
People with fixed mindsets believe genetics and chance determine their fate.
Need help developing a growth mindset? Change what you feed your mind. Associate with people who share similar objectives. Guard the words you speak about yourself.
Change your self-talk.
Wouldn’t you prefer to control your life through learning and deliberate practice instead of chance?
The big picture
Seeing the big picture is more than just discovering your why.
Find what you want in all areas of your life and see where each of your goals fit into that framework.
Goals should complement each other. If your goal is to move to Hawaii, think about how your medium-term goals push you towards that aim. You may need to take one step back now so you can move two steps towards your larger goal.
If you’re in a relationship, work on your big picture together. The last thing you want is two conflicting primary goals.
When you see your daily actions building towards a common purpose, you also deepen your relationship.
Expand yourself
“If you ever find that you’re the most talented person in the room, you need to find another room.” — Austin Kleon
No matter how hard you try, you’re not perfect. You can’t see the future or every answer.
Release your ego. Ask for help. Find a unique perspective.
Use a coach, a mentor, or a support group. Seek out likeminded individuals, or at least someone who’s accomplished what you hope to.
Don’t rebuild the same building. Use someone else’s as the foundation for your own.
The secrets of knowledge
“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” — Mark Twain
Embrace lifelong learning.
Formal education ends, but your life doesn’t. If you want the wisdom and skills to reach and surpass your goals, keep learning.
Tackling Fear
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear — not absence of fear.” — Mark Twain
A coward is a person who avoids meaningful actions that create fear. A courageous person is one who finds meaning by tackling it head-on.
Face your fear. Don’t cower from it. It’s pointless to research and plan without implementing. Always strive for excellence, but don’t expect to be perfect.
As you publish and iterate, use deliberate practice and Deep Work to supercharge your growth.
Give yourself hard deadlines and follow them. Yes, things come up. Sometimes you have to make exceptions. But remember this:
No output = no feedback.
No feedback = no growth.
This doesn’t mean you should make crap. It means don’t let fear keep you from meeting your personal deadlines. When you follow through, you get better at seeing the big picture. You find patterns. You adjust. You learn. You grow.
Keep it simple. Humble yourself. You deprive yourself and others of value when you procrastinate through perfection.
Find your focus
If you’re an over-achiever, it’s tempting to tackle many goals at once. But researchers found top performers focused their daily actions on one thing at a time. They waited to complete each task before moving on to the next item.
Decide your number one goal for the month, the week, and the day. Create a daily action plan with specific actions to get there. Do your priority task (singular) first before moving on to your less urgent goals.
Don’t waste your day with constant task switching. Use a timer to focus only on that action for 40 to 55-minute time blocks. Shut out all other activities and notifications. Allow no distractions.
Once complete, you can spend 5 to 20 minutes putting out fires or rewarding yourself until your next focused time block.
Back to basics
Don’t just have goals. Write them.
If you write your goals, you’re more likely to succeed. It puts your goal in your face. It allows you to reflect. It keeps you from lying to yourself and from forgetting what’s important.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking you don’t need to write them. Your subconscious mind takes written goals more seriously. It searches for solutions and actions that support that goal while you work on other things.
Do you really want a basket of ideas with forgotten dreams that outnumber your positive achievements?
Embrace clarity
Precision is everything. Your goal must be measurable. If it’s vague, you won’t know what to measure. You’ll lie to yourself about whether you achieved it.
Give yourself a specific time to complete your daily and weekly goals.
Write more = bad
Write with no distractions for 25 minutes a day six days a week = good
Actions over outcome
Make psychology work in your favor. Specific numbers and outcomes are great. But for your daily and weekly milestones, focus on the process.
Once you make the switch, you’ll find it’s easier to sit down and get started.
I used to set daily word count goals for myself. Now I set focused time goals instead.
With process, I don’t get hung up on whether I met the word count or some other metric that’s out of my control. I’m also less tempted to spend three times as much time if I’m stuck instead of moving on to my next task.
You can apply this approach to anything. Even weight goals.
If your goal is to lose fifteen pounds, a better approach would be to make your goals the actions themselves needed to get there.
Lose 2 pounds this week = not so good
Reduce meal size 10% & exercise five minutes daily = great.
If you find your actions aren’t moving you towards your larger goals, it will be easier to see where you need to increase or change those actions.
Be consistent
It’s the small things compounded daily that create meaningful results. Jeff Olson calls it The Slight Edge.
The simplest way to be consistent is to start small. Schedule those actions daily in your calendar. You will only achieve your goals if you have the required tools. Your habits are those tools.
Once your actions become a habit, build on them.
The ultimate routine
Your goals should be part of a daily routine.
Locate things you already do. Your existing habits are sticky. Glue your new actions to your existing ones until you’ve supercharged your routine.
Repeat the process. Stack your habits.
Track your numbers
Even with process goals, record your data. Write your word count. Record your weight, your time, or whatever metric you use for your specific goals.
If you don’t have any baseline, you can’t see your progress.
Tracking also keeps your goal in front of you. If you see the numbers, you change your behavior. Behavior is everything.
When you track, you’re more likely to take other positive actions. You’ll make better choices that move you towards your ultimate goal.
The power of reflection
Reflect daily. Reflect weekly. List the obstacles that challenged you and the strategies you used to overcome them.
Reflect on whether your smaller goals and milestones are working towards your larger aim, your why.
Embrace what worked. Change what didn’t.
Do more research when required. But you can’t do that unless you reflect often on your progress.
Benefits of a partner
Hold yourself accountable. Use a supportive accountability partner.
Research shows accountability partners increase the chance you’ll meet your goal.
Define what you want to complete during the week, and make them hold you to it.
Check in with them at least weekly, and have them ask you what you did and didn’t do for each task.
Leverage your energy
High energy requires a balanced diet and moderate exercise. Keep your body healthy. Your mind needs it.
Get seven to eight hours of sleep nightly. If you can’t do that, change your priorities.
There will always be more you can do, but you won’t get there if you’re in a hospital from a heart attack or stroke.
You only have one life, so don’t shut out everything else important including your health. Leverage your energy so you can focus on your task with mental clarity, and give it the effort it deserves.
Leverage your time
Use the Pareto Principle to focus on the 20% of things that give you the greatest results.
Outsource, delegate, and work with a team. Don’t be afraid to visit Upwork or outsourcing agencies for help.
Complete tasks that develop several areas of your action plan. Exercise with a friend. Listen to audiobooks or podcasts during your commute at double speed.
Take advantage of opportunities that create more effective results when done together.
The power of no
You will always give the same number of no’s. The only difference is whether those no’s come before or after your yes.
Each time you give your first yes, you say no to everything that follows. Save your yes’s for things that catapult your towards to your highest purpose.
If you’re not sure, say no. It should be a heck yes or a no. If people respect you, they’ll respect your time.
If you divide your time among less meaningful tasks, you’ll deprive the world of your highest value.
Don’t crush your ability to do your goals. Embrace the power of no, and supercharge your life.
Erase the finish line
Focus on permanent behaviors that create lasting change and constant growth.
How many times have you achieved your goal but lost those gains later? That’s because you reverted back to your “normal” behavior.
Your highest goal should be something that doesn’t end. Your smaller goals should be milestones that push you in that direction. As you approach the end of your milestone, create the framework for the next one.
Your actions and habits are that framework. If you build on it, nothing can stop you.
Show gratitude
“Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” — John Lennon
As you progress along your path and achieve your impossible goals, show gratitude. Choose happiness. Appreciate the small things.
Your life isn’t one goalpost. It’s the journey along the way.
What do you want for your journey?
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The parents of a month-old baby who died after they went on a 24-hour Christmas drinking binge and didn't know where he was have escaped prosecution.
Tragic Freddie Neil was found lying on the floor wedged between a wall and bed in his older brother's room and pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
His parents Matthew Neil and Kim Smart-Neil were arrested and charged with neglect and manslaughter.
But the CPS later decided to drop charges after deciding there was not enough evidence.
It is understood the couple are no longer together and Ms Smart-Neil has moved away.
Details of the baby's shocking death have been revealed after a serious case review.
It found his mother and alcoholic father spent the 24 hours before his death drinking 'a large quantity of alcohol' in a pub and with friends at their home in Blackpool, Lancashire.
The mother, aged 32, last remembered attending to Freddie at around 5am and her husband, a local DJ, stayed up with the baby until around 6am when their friends left.
An inquest heard that Neil, 34, who was 'extremely tired and intoxicated', remembered taking Freddie to bed but could not say how he came to be in their other son's room.
He was woken around noon the following day - Boxing Day 2014 - by their other son crying at the stair-gate with his nappy off and excrement on the floor.
Mr Neil - who had turned down help for his alcoholism weeks earlier - changed the boy's nappy before noticing Freddie wasn't in his basket.
After searching the house, he then found him unresponsive and partially wrapped in blankets on the floor between a wall and bed in the other son's room, but neither parent could say how he got there.
The father tried CPR but the baby was pronounced dead after being taken to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
Coroner Alan Wilson, who recorded an open verdict, heard that Freddie had bronchitis and it was impossible to say what exactly caused his death.
A pathologist said she believed his death was caused largely by unsafe sleeping arrangements.
Parents Matthew Neil and Kim Smart-Neil, pictured in 2009, were drinking in the 24 hours before his death
A review found it was unclear which parent had attended the baby last. Pictured: Pub worker Ms Smart-Neil
Mr Neil denied being drunk and said he remembered putting Freddie to bed in his Moses basket, but admitted he did not know how he ended up in a different room.
Speaking after the report findings, he said: 'It was Christmas and we both had more than we should've, but neither of us was inebriated.
'I believe I had an [epileptic] fit. There's no way a four-week-old baby can make it from our room into [our other son]'s room on his own. It's a sheer impossibility.
'One of us had to have moved him but when I have a fit I can't remember half an hour before or after.
'I can't remember taking him in there, so that's the most viable explanation. It's the most sensible one.'
Neil, who was found to be twice the legal drink drive limit, and his partner were arrested on suspicion of neglect and manslaughter, but were released without charge in June.
An inquest heard Mr Neil (left), who was 'extremely tired and intoxicated', remembered taking Freddie to bed but could not say how he came to be in their other son's room. Freddie's mother Ms Smart-Neil is pictured right
Neil, who was found to be twice the legal drink drive limit, and his partner (pictured) were arrested on suspicion of neglect and manslaughter, but were released without charge in June
Mr Neil (left) was an 'admitted alcoholic' who told hospital staff he was drinking'seven plus pints per day'
The report by the Blackpool Safeguarding Children Board also found there was nothing authorities involved with Freddie's family could have done to prevent or predict his death.
Mr Neil was an 'admitted alcoholic' who told hospital staff he was drinking'seven plus pints per day'.
It found alcohol was a feature of Freddie's short life but said there was no evidence it posed a problem until that night, with his parents providing a'relatively safe environment'.
Mr Neil twice turned up at his other son's nursery smelling of alcohol during Freddie's short life, although staff did not believe him to be 'under the influence', the report said.
He did not seek help from drug and alcohol services until after Freddie's death despite advice from his GP, it added.
The CPS said: 'We considered the criminal charge of wilful neglect and the file was carefully reviewed according to the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
'The CPS concluded, following consultation with the investigating police officers, that there was insufficient evidence to charge either person with this offence.'
Police at the scene of Freddie's Boxing Day death. His parents were arrested but charges were later dropped
Details of the death emerged after officials in Blackpool (pictured in file photo) ordered a serious case review
The serious case review was carried out by specialist Amanda Clarke, who probed the services involved with Freddie's family, including their GP and nursery, the ambulance and midwifery service, and health visitors.
She made a number of recommendations on how to prevent further deaths of this nature.NBC has cast the plumb role of Michael J. Fox's wife.
Breaking Bad's Betsy Brandt has been tapped to star opposite Fox in NBC's upcoming semi-autobiographical comedy series, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Inspired by the former Family Ties actor's life, NBC ordered 22 episodes of the untitled single-camera comedy starring Fox as a husband and father of three from New York City dealing with family, career and challenges -- including Parkinson's disease.
STORY: NBC Gives Series Order to Michael J. Fox Comedy
Fox will play Mike Burnaby, a former lead anchor at a local station in New York City who decides to go back to work after Parkinson's forced him to take time off.
Brandt, who has played Marie Schrader in the AMC drama from Vince Gilligan since the pilot, will play Mike's wife, Annie. She's described as being tough yet loyal with a goofy side, and works at the school of the couple's middle child, Eve (who has yet to be cast).
Brandt joins a cast that includes Wonderfalls' Katie Finneran as Leigh, Mike's younger sister; Conor Romero (American Gangster) as Ian, Mike's teenage son; and newcomer Jack Gore, who will play Graham, Mike's youngest son. Treme's Wendell Pierce will play Harris Green, Mike's close friend and old boss at WNBC's 5 O'Clock News.
The comedy, which was ordered straight to series, now needs to cast Mike's middle child/daughter, and his sweet executive producer.
PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of THR's Emmy Icons Photo Shoot
Arrested Development and Cougar Town scribe Sam Laybourne is onboard as a writer. Easy A director Will Gluck will executive produce and direct the project, from Gluck's Olive Bridge Entertainment. Olive Bridge's Richard Schwartz will co-exec produce, with Gluck directing the pilot.
Speaking to reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour, NBC entertainment president Bob Greenblatt said he hoped the Fox comedy would land on the network's fall schedule, noting that the first table-read would come this month.
The second half of Breaking Bad's fifth and final season will premiere in the summer. Repped by Talent Works and Patty Woo Management, Brandt's credits also include Parenthood, Private Practice and Boston Legal.
Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @SnooditDocuments published Thursday purport to show how the Central Intelligence Agency has used USB drives to infiltrate computers so sensitive they are severed from the Internet to prevent them from being infected.
More than 150 pages of materials published by WikiLeaks describe a platform code-named Brutal Kangaroo that includes a sprawling collection of components to target computers and networks that aren't connected to the Internet. Drifting Deadline was a tool that was installed on computers of interest. It, in turn, would infect any USB drive that was connected. When the drive was later plugged into air-gapped machines, the drive would infect them with one or more pieces of malware suited to the mission at hand. A Microsoft representative said none of the exploits described work on supported versions of Windows.
The infected USB drives were at least sometimes able to infect computers even when users didn't open any files. The so-called EZCheese exploit, which was neutralized by a patch Microsoft appears to have released in 2015, worked any time a malicious file icon was displayed by the Windows explorer. A later exploit known as Lachesis used the Windows autorun feature to infect computers running Windows 7. Lachesis didn't require Explorer to display any icons, but the drive letter the thrumbdrive was mounted on had to be included in a malicious link. The RiverJack exploit, meanwhile, used the Windows library-ms function to infect computers running Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Riverjack worked only when a library junction was viewed in Explorer.
In a statement, a Microsoft official wrote: "Our investigation confirmed that customers on supported versions of Windows are not impacted. For the best defense against modern security threats, we recommend Windows 10, which is updated automatically by default."
Microsoft didn't say when it patched the vulnerabilities exploited by Lachesis and RiverJack. Interestingly, Microsoft earlier this month patched a critical vulnerability that allowed so-called.LNK files stored on removable drives and remote shares to execute malicious code. Microsoft said in its advisory that the vulnerability was being actively exploited but didn't elaborate.
From simians to kangaroos
The documents appear to suggest that the "primary host" that gets compromised by Drifting Deadline or earlier versions, known as Shattered Assurance and Emotional Simian, must be manually infected. If that's the case, Brutal Kangaroo isn't nearly as effective as the pure USB exploits used in the Stuxnet and Flame attacks, which are both widely attributed to the National Security Agency. The CIA manuals, however, provide extremely limited context. There seems to be no reason Drifting Deadline can't be transmitted by a USB. If that's the case, it means a booby-trapped USB would be all that's needed to infect the air-gapped networks of interest.
The Brutal Kangaroo documents are the latest installment in the Vault7 series, which WikiLeaks says are the result of the CIA losing control of the majority of its hacking arsenal. Agency officials have never confirmed or refuted the authenticity of the documents, but both the volume and details of the leaks to date leave little doubt they are real. Virtually all of the exploits revealed so far are standard for spy agencies.Authored by Alex Thomas via The Daily Sheeple,
A former Republican Congressman from Colorado has warned that a foreign country could bribe or “incentivize” the FCC to regulate and “rein in” popular conservative news outlets, including The Drudge Report.
Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, in an opinion piece for The Hill, started out his shocking warning by downplaying the so-called Russian actors who may have spent a measly $100,000 with social media giant Facebook in exchange for ads that hurt Hillary Clinton.
Tancredo not only correctly noted that such a small amount of money could not have actually altered the election, he also destroyed the notion that the American establishment is “surprised” by the idea of a foreign government trying to influence an election.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said this month that his company sold over $100,000 in social media advertising to a Russian government-controlled front group during the 2016 election cycle. While that amount is a relative pittance and critics are saying the ads were poorly produced — where is Bill Maher when you really need him? — the discovery has raised alarms. It’s ironic, of course, that America’s media elites are suddenly alarmed, considering that the CIA and intelligence agencies abroad have engaged in similar activity for decades. But putting that aside, what if the bigger danger comes not from amateurish foreign advertisers, but from foreign governments seeking to influence the American regulatory agencies meant to act as the citizens’ watchdogs?
The former congressman then gets to the crux of his warning, asking a very pointed question to the reader that unfortunately sounds all too plausible in this day and age.
Could a foreign government — such as Russia, Ukraine, or Mexico, for example — bribe or “incentivize” a federal agency such as the Federal Election Commission to regulate (or “rein in”) conservative news websites? The truth could be stranger than fiction if you examine the habits of the federal commissioners who run our regulatory agencies.
Tancredo then reveals a fact that news outlets like The Daily Sheeple have long reported – there are absolutely elements within the federal government who have expressed support for censoring The Drudge Report in the past while at the same time taking dozens of trips overseas, sometimes even bashing the American way of life while doing so.
For years, Democrats on the FEC have been vocal in their desire to regulate speech on websites such as Facebook and Twitter, to say nothing of Drudge and Fox News. Will they use the news of foreign government purchasing social media advertising as an excuse to enter that regulatory minefield more boldly? But what’s even more worrisome is that third-party groups, some connected to foreign governments, have spent tens of thousands of dollars helping regulators travel around the world. Who’s to say that quid pro quo, spoken or unspoken, isn’t part of the equation? It’s far more likely than the idea that foreign governments might be using a website like Drudge to spread propaganda. Buying one regulator would be more cost-effective than spending millions trying to sway millions through advertising. After all, “I can get it for you wholesale” is still the American way.
Consider this. As the establishment media continues to push their 24/7 anti-Trump echo chamber, real dangers posed by other countries are going unchecked, with many in the media most likely on board with the idea that top conservative news outlets need to be censored.
At this point one can’t help but wonder (and worry) that some form of political censorship of the internet is on the horizon which will most likely be attempted by connecting the amazing success of someone like Matt Drudge to supposed Russian propaganda operations – all in the name of censoring non leftist voices.What's in a name?
Apparently lots of money, if you get it on eBay.
A Tennessee mother of five decided to do just that. Her offer to sell her identity on the eBay Web site brought a final bid of just over $15,000.
Terri Iligan says, "I was driving one day and I told my husband, I don't think anyone's tried to sell their name on eBay yet. So I put it up for auction and I got all kind of responses within 24 hours of it being listed."
Illigan put her identity up for auction on eBay with the person or company
who agreed to pay the most getting the right to legally change her name
for the rest of her life.
It's an interesting way to make money, but here's the catch: Her new name will be "golden-palace-dot-com." That's the gambling Internet site that made the winning bid.
The Early Show's Dave Price suggests that perhaps friends can call her Goldie.Click to enlarge, and debate the strip below the line.
Keith Hackett's verdict
1) Depending on the severity of the hacking offence, caution or send off the defender. It is not a straight red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity though, because the ball was not in play – it had not left the penalty area. So, having dealt with the defender, restart with a retaken goal-kick. Thanks to Jim Potter.
2) One of the players has committed a deliberate offence, one has not. So show the defender a red card for deliberately spitting at an opponent. The striker's act might not have been pleasant, but it was not deliberate, so there is no action to take against him. Restart play with a penalty to the attacking team. Peter Madson wins the shirt.
3) You are still within your rights to change your decision because play has not restarted. So disallow the goal, and, if the crossbar cannot be repaired or replaced, abandon the game – unless there is an alternative pitch available. Report what happened to the relevant authorities – this could have been a very serious incident. Thanks to Raphael KH
Competition: win an official club shirt of your choice
View the Kitbag range
For a chance to win a club shirt of your choice from the range at Kitbag.com send us your questions for You are the Ref to you.are.the.ref@observer.co.uk. The best scenario used in the new YATR strip each Sunday wins a shirt to the value of £50 from Kitbag. Terms & conditions apply.
For more on the fifty year history of You Are The Ref, click here.via press release:
TNT
Propelled by the 2012 NBA Playoffs, TNT ranked as basic cable’s #1 network for the month of May in primetime delivery of viewers and all key adult demos. The network also topped key adult demos in total day in May.
The 2012 NBA Playoffs on TNT accounted for three of basic cable’s most-watched programs in May. The May 21 matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder led the way with more than 8.1 million viewers, followed by the May 27 Oklahoma City Thunder/San Antonio Spurs contest with 7.8 million viewers and the May 16 game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder with 7.4 million.
Sunday night’s Game 1 of the 2012 Western Conference Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs delivered a 4.8 U.S. household rating, with 5,542,000 households and 7,764,000 viewers to become the most-viewed and highest-rated Western Conference Finals Game 1 ever. Compared with Game 1 of the 2011 WCF (Thunder vs. Mavs), the 2012 WCF opener was up +12% in rating (vs. 4.3) and +11% in households (vs. 4,981,000) and viewers (vs. 6,982,000). Compared to the 2010 WCF Game 1 (Lakers vs. Suns), the 2012 WCF Game 1 was up +9% in rating (vs. 4.4), +11% in households (vs. 5,012,000) and +9% in viewers.
Since the beginning of the 2012 NBA Playoffs, TNT has topped the charts 19 times as ad-supported cable’s top network for the night adults 18-34, adults 18-49, adults 25-54, men 18-49 and men 25-54.
Source: Nielsen Media Research. Based on Live+SD. All Ad-Supported Cable Telecasts, Total Day; (4/28/2012- 5/3/2012, 5/5/2012-5/10/2012, 5/12/2012, 5/14/2012-5/16/2012, 5/19/2012-5/22/2012, 5/27/2012).
Adult Swim
Across May 2012, Adult Swim ranked as television’s #1 network for Total Day Delivery of young adults 18-34 & 18-24, as well as men 18-34 & 18-24. In Prime Time, Adult Swim also ranked #3 among basic cable networks for delivery of adults 18-34. In a month dominated by NBA basketball, Adult Swim programming still accounted for 5 of the top 50 telecasts of the month on basic cable among adults 18-34.
Among Adult Swim original programming, Eagleheart (Thursdays, 12 a.m.) and Metalocalypse (Sundays, 12:15 a.m.) ranked #1 in their respective time periods among all adults 18-34, 18-49 & 18-24, and men 18-34 & 18-24. Similarly, American Dad (Fridays, 10 p.m.), Loiter Squad (Sundays, 11:30 p.m.) and Bleach (Saturdays, 12 a.m.) each ranked #1 in their respective time periods among adults 18-34 & 18-24, and men 18-34 & 18-24.
The series premiere of Deadman Wonderland (Saturday, May 26, 12:30 a.m.) was #1 in its time period among adults 18-24 (up 14% vs. the 2011 time period), men 18-34 and men 18-24 (up 2%). Immediately following, the series premiere of Casshern Sins (1 a.m.) ranked #1 in the time period among men 18-34 & 18-24.
TBS
TBS scored basic cable’s #1 original sitcom and #1 acquired sitcom for the month of May. The network’s new original sitcom Men at Work, which premiered last Thursday with back-to-back episodes, ranked as basic cable’s top original sitcom in May, averaging 2.5 million viewers and 1.5 million adults 18-49. Meanwhile, The Big Bang Theory on TBS led the pack of acquired sitcoms on basic cable in May, averaging 2.5 million viewers and 1.4 million adults 18-49.
Last week, TBS’s late-night series CONAN brought in 1 million viewers in Live + Same Day, up +20% over the same week last year. The show also delivered 352,000 adults 18-34 (+8% over last year) and 654,000 adults 18-49 (+16%). Last week’s episodes also outranked the prior week of premieres by 3% among viewers and 4% among key adult demos. Overall for May 2012, CONAN‘s Live + Same Day audience was up +5% compared to May 2011.
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network in May 2012 ranked as television’s #1 network for early prime (7-9 p.m.) delivery of boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14. Monthly average growth among targeted kid demos vs. May 2011 include kids 6-11 (up 1%, 652,000) and kids 9-14 (up 8%, 505,000). Total Day delivery in May 2012 also grew among kids 6-11 (up 3%, 357,000) and kids 9-14 (up 13%, 290,000).
Also across May, Cartoon Network ranked as the #1 television network (broadcast & cable) among kids (2-11, 6-11, 9-14) and boys on Monday night. Cartoon Network again ranked #1 among all boys on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday nights; and #1 among boys 2-11 & 6-11 on Saturday and Sunday nights (7-9 p.m.). Both Wednesday and Friday nights posted double-digit delivery gains among all kids demos, ranging between 19% and 42% vs. May averages in 2011.
Among its original animated comedy series, Regular Show (all telecasts factored) scored as the #1 program of the month among boys 6-11. Additionally, Adventure Time ranked as the #1 program on Mondays among kids 6-11 & 9-14 and all boy demos. MAD on Mondays (8:30 p.m.) was #1 in its time period among kids 6-11 & 2-11 and all boy demos. Moreover, the April |
easy dunks. The best of luck to both of these players as they both continue to further their NBA careers.
While I've spent the last two paragraphs on three players who have no possible way of joining the Celtics roster this season (per CBA rules), I'd say it's about time to talk about the four players on this summer league team who at least could be playing for the 2012-2013 Boston Celtics. I'll list each of them and tell you what they taught me during the past two weeks after the jump.
Dionte Christmas SG/PG 13.2 PPG, 3.1 APG, 1.8 SPG, 5.3 RPG, 47% FG, 70% FT, 35% 3FG
Your Summer League surprise has signed to go to camp with the Celtics this fall already. He earned this offer based on his play over the past couple of weeks. Shucks, he wasn't even supposed to play in Vegas with the Celtics until he opened some eyes in Orlando. With Moore now having been traded, Christmas now has a serious chance of legitimately earning a spot on the Celtics' roster this coming season. It's crazy what two weeks can do.
Christmas isn't your proto-typical guard. More of a two, but with the ability to play the point as we've seen since Moore's departure, Christmas is a power guard who does many things well as his stat line shown above helps explain.. He's listed at 6'5 weighing 205 lbs, but those 205 lbs go a long way. He almost looks like a running back as he enters the lane while his surprisingly good handle allows him to do so. It isn't always pretty, but the man somehow finds a way to finish around the basket despite a lack of elite athleticism. While he was decent from three in Orlando shooting 28.6 %, Christmas lit it up from deep in Vegas shooting 47.6%. What intrigued me most about Christmas was his fight to clog passing lanes. It seemed as if he'd intercept a pass to lead a fast break almost every quarter during the past two weeks.
While the Celtics have backcourt rotation presumably set for the season with Rondo, Bradley, Lee, and Terry in the mix-- remember that Bradley will probably miss the first few weeks of the season due to his two shoulder surgeries. That being said, another guard will need to step into the rotation. While a veteran such as Keyon Dooling who may come back for another season will look to grab that role, Christmas could be that man if he continues to impress in camp.
Jared Sullinger PF 12.3 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 0.9 BPG, 35% FG, 77% FT
Less than a month has passed since the NBA Draft and whenever Jared Sullinger's name is brought up between Celtic fans, eyes just light up. People love the fact that this superbly skilled power forward somehow, someway fell to the 21st pick. Although this was a very deep draft, it looks like the Celtics found themselves a steal.
Jared Sullinger has the ability to make a number of all star appearances by the end of his career. The kid is talented, really talented. You just do not see players with a frame like his that can handle the ball like he can both around the perimeter and in the post. Only 6'9, but currently weighing 280 lbs (drop 10 please Jared?), Jared will already be the second best rebounder on the team behind KG while his post touch may be second to none. The Celtics have not had a back to the basket type of player like this for a long time. He can really pass the ball too whether he's in the post or playing face up. Big Baby Glen Davis has been a comparison for Sullinger, but Jared's skill set blows Baby's out of the water. Sullinger has a knack to get to the line and use his body in a way Davis can only dream of. There is one part of his game that can be compared to Davis' and it may be his biggest fault.
Sullinger has a hard time scoring against bigger and more athletics players like Davis has throughout his career. This was a major reason for his slide on draft day and was apparent throughout this summer league. He only shot 35% from the field. Shooting 35% from the field will not be tolerated in the NBA. This was only summer league. While having more talented players around him and seeing less double and triple teams as he backs down his man, hopefully Sullinger can be more efficient. If not, he'll need to learn how to beat his man in other ways and develop a more consistent jumper. The sky is the limit for Jared Sullinger-but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves as he may have some serious work to do.
Sullinger is going to see time right away. While Chris Wilcox looks to be the first big man off the bench, Sullinger could challenge him for this role. At the very least, you're going to see Jared playing 10 minutes per night. If all goes well, he may even end up starting. I think you're going to see him average about 20 minutes per game and jump ahead of Wilcox as the first big off the bench early in the season. His role and success, or lack of it, will be a huge story line throughout this coming season.
Fab Melo C 2.9 PPG, 4 RPG, 1.1 BPG, 41% FG, 5/8 FT
Fab Melo is a project-- a 7 foot athletic freak with the talent to be an all-NBA defender, but still a project at that. He's been playing basketball for only six years and it has shown thus far, but the jump he made from Freshman to Sophomore year at Syracuse shows that he really can improve. The summer league was ugly at times for Fab Melo. There were also glimpses of a starting center in this league for many years to come.
The ugly times weren't that bad for a player who only played zone in college. You could see that he was getting used to playing man to man as he will have to do in the NBA. He'd be a step late on help defense more often than not because he was worrying about his own man. Learning man-to-man defense should come with time, but offensively he did not show much. Melo's only real chance of scoring points was on put backs or wide open dunks. He showed absolutely no post game and made some bad decisions taking and bricking jumpers (he made a couple open ones) with a man on him.
Melo is not ready to make much of an impact this season. The D-League could come in handy for Fab as the Celtics' rotation of bigs can wait for him. When he is ready, Fab Melo may turn out great. How many 7 ft centers are there in this league that can d-up the likes of a Dwight Howard? Fab Melo just may be one of them-- someday.
Kris Joseph SF/SG 8.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 0.9 SPG, 37% FG, 2/20 3FG, 73% FT
While starting the summer league sizzling in Orlando, Joseph really turned it down a notch in Las Vegas. Joseph surprised many with a superb handle for a small forward and a knack for finding his own shot along with a quick release at that. You really can't teach what Joseph can do with the ball offensively creating his own mid-range shots. He has great hands even on the offensive boards where put backs were aplenty for Kris as he uses his body (6'7, 215 lbs) and athleticism to create space for himself. The name Paul Pierce came up many times, but as he cooled down in Vegas, that comparison cooled as well. He struggled from three point land badly throughout the past two weeks connecting on only two of twenty from deep. I thought this would be strength of Kris' as he has an extremely smooth release. He shot about 35% from three during his last two years at Syracuse so the 10% we've seen in the summer just may be an aberration. It seems as if he may have lost his legs playing day after day as summer league wore on.
Again because of the Courtney Lee trade, Joseph has a good chance to claim one of the last couple spots on the roster. Training camp will be big for Kris Joseph. Again, with Bradley out to start the season, playing time will be available as a backup two. Will the Danny decide to bring in a veteran to fill this vacant time or use a younger player looking for a chance in the league. If he elects to do the latter, you may see Joseph and/or Christmas seeing minutes very early in their respective NBA careers. Then again, chances are just as good that only one of which makes the team.We spent a bunch of time earlier this week covering the Webley-Fosbery “automatic revolver”, and I would like to close out the week with another pistol of that type, but one that’s even weirder than the Fosbery. I don’t have much information on this piece, but did find some surprisingly good photos that were originally in a Norwegian magazine. Pretty much everything I know about it comes from the captions in the pictures, which you’ll see if you read Norwegian or translate them.
Anyway, this is a design patented in 1899 by a fellow named Halvard Landstad, who lived in Kristiana (now called Oslo) at the time. He designed the gun on his own dime, and presented it to military trials in 1901, which it failed miserably.
What makes this design really unusual is that it uses both a revolving cylinder and a box magazine (a bit like a Dardick, actually). The magazine – which doubled as the left grip panel – held six rounds of 7.5mm Nagant ammunition (a common caliber in that time and place). The top rear of the action contains a slide that comes back with each shot:
More unusually, the cylinder was actually flat, with only two chambers:
The firing cycle went like this: a round from the magazine would be loaded into the bottom chamber of the cylinder. Pulling the trigger would rotate the cylinder (like a DA revolver), moving the round up to the top, in line with the barrel. The hammer would fall, fire the round, and the recoil energy would cycle the slide assembly at the top rear, extracting and ejecting the empty case.
I’m unsure on a few points, like whether it could be fired single-action as well, and how the mechanism controlled loading of cartridges from the mag into the cylinder. Here are some photos of the Landstad disassembled:
And here’s the one patent drawing I found:
The gun never went into production, because of its dismal performance in trials. But it appears that the inventor kept the prototype gun, and brought it with him when he emigrated to the UK, living in Middlesex until his death in 1955. It was donated to the British NRA and kept in their museum at Bisley until 1977, when it was sold at auction.
The Landstad 1900 differs fundamentally from the more commonly known auto-revolvers like the Webley-Fosbery and Mateba in that it actually ejects cases when empty. The other guns are more accurately described as “self-cocking revolvers”, since they must be loaded and unloaded just like typical revolvers. Not a tremendously important distinction, but a valid one all the same.
Patents
Norgwegian Patent #8564 (Halvard Folkestad Landstad, “Automatisk revolver”, April 11, 1899)
German Patent 114,184 (Halvard Folkestad Landstad, “Selbstthatiger revolver”, August 1, 1899)
British Patent 22,479 (Halvard Folkestad Landstad, “Improvements in automatic revolvers”, January 13, 1900)If elected in March 2018, a Marshall Liberal Government will firstly ensure the maximum penalties for cannabis possession are increased from $500 to $2,000, which is in line with maximum penalties for other drug possession offences.
The Problem
Our drug laws under the Controlled Substances Act have been in operation since 1984.
Since this legislation was enacted more than 30 years ago, many penalties for possession, trafficking and manufacture of drugs have remained unchanged.
However, within this time, drug crimes have changed.
Ice and other chemical drugs are increasingly a scourge on our communities, both metropolitan and regional.
The community expectations for punishing drug offenders has also changed over the last thirty years, and the legislation should reflect that shift.
The maximum penalties for possession and use of cannabis is one example where community expectations for penalties do not match the outdated legislation.
Cannabis is the illicit drug most commonly used by secondary school students, yet it has a maximum penalty of just $500, a penalty which has not increased since 1984.
Further, in actual practice, fines under regulation for cannabis possession are only $150 for an amount less than 25 grams – this is a similar penalty to the one imposed for jaywalking.
Drug use and sales have changed, therefore penalties need to change as well.
The State Liberals' Plan
If elected in March 2018, a Marshall Liberal Government will firstly ensure the maximum penalties for cannabis possession are increased from $500 to $2,000, which is in line with maximum penalties for other drug possession offences.
This change is also in line with both community expectations and recommendations of the South Australian Coroner who sees the deleterious effects of cannabis use regularly.
Further, a Marshall Liberal Government sees the importance of ensuring our laws are kept up to date, and community expectations for all controlled substance offences are considered.
To this end, a review of all penalties under the Controlled Substances Act will be undertaken to ensure they match our current community expectations.
This legislative review will be undertaken in consultation with key community and legal stakeholders and will ensure our courts are given sufficient scope to impose appropriate penalties, reducing reoffending and reducing harm.Cape Town - Suppressed information about a top secret operation, involving senior police officers who allegedly plotted to have a sniper kill former president Nelson Mandela at his inauguration in 1994, is expected to surface in a court case soon.
Details about massive amounts of counterfeit money apartheid-era police officers allegedly produced are expected to be revealed in the same case.
The matter involves Major-General André Lincoln, and will start being heard in the Western Cape High Court on Monday.
Highly-placed sources, who declined to be named, told News24 the case is set to lift the lid on sensational information about apparently stagnant investigations.
READ: The mafioso, the ex-Mandela cop and the'malicious' police: Case heads to court
Lincoln and senior Western Cape police officer Major-General Jeremy Vearey, are set to testify in the matter.
Both have been involved in mammoth, high-level investigations, for years.
Lincoln is claiming R15m in damages from the minister of safety and security (now the minister of police) in the long-running matter which is now to be in the High Court.
He also wants judgment passed on what his legal team has termed a "malicious investigation and instigation of prosecution" against him.
Lincoln was discharged from the police in October 2003 and reinstated in June 2010, after being acquitted of charges he effectively believes were fabricated because of his access to Mandela.
READ: Top Western Cape cop says police are 'framing' him for murder
Mandela, according to a court document detailing the claims in the matter, appointed Lincoln as the head of the presidential investigation task unit in June 1996.
This was "to investigate allegations of police corruption in the Western Cape and the alleged activities of Mr Roberto [Vito] Palazzolo, who was a suspected member of the Sicilian Mafia [Cosa Nostra]".
Lincoln was later arrested.
Transcript of court proceedings, in News24's possession and date back to 2002, detail a Mandela assassination plot.
This transcript is from a previous court appeal by Lincoln.
Covert operation
At the time, Peter Viljoen, better known by the first name Piet, then a former member of the presidential task unit, had testified that information surfaced about a covert operation, Project Donna, being run by the police's organised crime fighting headquarters in Pretoria.
He said Project Donna had to do with, among other things, printing counterfeit money.
"The information we got was that there was corruption involving leaders of the SA Police Service in the project itself, that the police themselves printed the money, or leaders of the police, and that there was co-operation between the police and Vlakplaas leaders," Viljoen had testified.
Vlakplaas was the farm outside Pretoria, known as apartheid's death squad headquarters, where activists were taken to be tortured and killed.
Viljoen testified this information was passed on to Lincoln, to then minister of safety and security Sydney Mufamadi, and then deputy president Thabo Mbeki.
At that stage he had wanted documents to see if the allegations made against senior police officers were true.
Viljoen had testified the allegations included officers being involved in printing counterfeit money and in corruption, and that they were using Project Donna for their personal gain.
Murder plot
He said there was other information about the officers and that they tried to destabilise the first democratic elections in 1994.
"It looked as if information was obtained that someone, a sharp shooter, would shoot President Mandela at his inauguration.
"With the information we got, we established that the firearm to be used, was in a certain office of [the] organised crime [unit]."
Viljoen had testified that information about the firearm was correct as the rifle was seized in a secret office of the unit in Pretoria.
Counterfeit dollars
He said that early in 1990s, a person was arrested with counterfeit US dollars. Viljoen however testified that this person was not taken into custody, but instead taken to a Holiday Inn hotel.
"This, what I'm saying now, is confirmed in statements from his side, Eugene de Kock's side."
De Kock was an apartheid-era death squad leader.
Viljoen testified that the person taken to the hotel was then used to pay sources in other countries, including Switzerland and Angola, with dollars. These dollars were apparently exchanged with counterfeit ones.
The US Secret Service had for years been searching for the person who was producing counterfeit money and who was taken to the hotel. A team from the US was sent to SA to probe the matter.
Viljoen testified that $35m in counterfeit dollars was found in SA.
He said information surfaced that those linked to Vlakplaas had their own printer, which they used to produce documents including matric certificates.
Viljoen had testified that access to Operation Donna ledgers was made difficult for him. He was eventually handed the ledgers and testified in court that he hoped "we can one day investigate further".
Mafia link
After Lincoln's arrest, Viljoen was ordered to probe Palazzolo. Palazzolo, who at one point lived in SA, is now jailed in Italy.
In 2009, he was sentenced in absentia to nine years' imprisonment by an Italian court for having an association with the Mafia.
He was arrested in Thailand in 2012, on an Interpol notice as he was travelling back to SA.By Mnar Muhawesh, executive director and editor at large for MintPress News
Statement:
Thank you for reaching out to me in regards to statements made by Dale Gavlak alleging MintPress for incorrectly attributing our exclusive report titled: “Syrians in Goutha claim Saudi-supplied rebels behind chemical attacks.”
Gavlak pitched this story to MintPress on August 28th and informed her editors and myself that her colleague Yahya Ababneh was on the ground in Syria. She said Ababneh conducted interviews with rebels, their family members, Ghouta residents and doctors that informed him through various interviews that the Saudis had supplied the rebels with chemical weapons and that rebel fighters handled the weapons improperly setting off the explosions.
When Yahya had returned and shared the information with her, she stated that she confirmed with several colleagues and Jordanian government officials that the Saudis have been supplying rebels with chemical weapons, but as her email states, she says they refused to go on the record.
Gavlak wrote the article in it’s entirety as well as conducted the research. She filed her article on August 29th and was published on the same day.
Dale is under mounting pressure for writing this article by third parties. She notified MintPress editors and myself on August 30th and 31st via email and phone call, that third parties were placing immense amounts of pressure on her over the article and were threatening to end her career over it. She went on to tell us that she believes this third party was under pressure from the head of the Saudi Intelligence Prince Bandar himself, who is alleged in the article of supplying the rebels with chemical weapons.
On August 30th, Dale asked MintPress to remove her name completely from the byline because she stated that her career and reputation was at risk. She continued to say that these third parties were demanding her to disassociate herself from the article or these parties would end her career.
On August 31st, I notified Dale through email that I would add a clarification that she was the writer and researcher for the article and that Yahya was the reporter on the ground, but did let Gavlak know that we would not remove her name as this would violate the ethics of journalism.
We are aware of the tremendous pressure that Dale and some of our other journalists are facing as a result of this story, and we are under the same pressure as a result to discredit the story. We are unwilling to succumb to those pressures for MintPress holds itself to the highest journalistic ethics and reporting standards.
Yahya has recently notified me that the Saudi embassy contacted him and threatened to end his career if he did a follow up story on who carried out the most recent chemical weapons attack and demanded that he stop doing media interviews in regards to the subject.
We hold Dale Gavlak in the highest esteem and sympathize with her for the pressure she is receiving, but removing her name from the story would not be honest journalism and therefore, as stated before, we are not willing to remove her name from the article.
We are prepared and may release all emails and communications made between MintPress and Dale Gavlak, and even Yahya to provide further evidence of what was provided to you in this statement.To the casual observer, the investment returns recently announced by the California pension system might seem like cause for celebration. The state's investments in firms that buy private companies generated a 20 percent return in 2014.
California's $30 billion worth of private equity investments did not come cheap, incurring almost $440 million worth of annual management fees paid to financial firms. But the double-digit gains helped the system generate some of the best overall pension returns in the nation -- positive news for taxpayers and for state workers who rely on the system in retirement.
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Across the United States, similarly robust returns have proven key elements in the Wall Street sales pitch that has persuaded state and city pension overseers to entrust vast sums of money to private equity managers. The private equity industry has successfully portrayed itself as no less than a savior for underfunded pension systems. By one estimate, $260 billion of public money is now under the management of these firms.
But as Congress now considers reducing regulatory scrutiny of private equity firms, one problem complicates the narrative: A lot of the gains the private equity industry purports to have achieved are of the on-paper-only variety. Far from cash in the bank, they are instead estimates of the value of assets that have yet to be sold. Not only that, the estimates are largely self-reported by the private equity firms themselves -- and new research suggests that the firms may be embellishing those estimates.
That is the conclusion of a paper by investment banker Jeffrey Hooke and George Washington University researchers. They essentially created a portfolio of publicly traded companies that they say closely resembles the kinds of privately owned companies that private equity investors buy. They then weighted their portfolio's returns to reflect the same level of debt that private equity firms typically impose on their portfolio companies.
The researchers argue that their portfolio should show roughly the same returns as the private equity industry. Yet the private equity industry's stated returns were noticeably less volatile than the publicly traded companies' returns. The researchers assert that this suggests the private equity industry uses its latitude to self-value its own portfolios in order to make its returns look "smoother" than they actually are.
"Investors may have been unfairly induced into placing monies into these investment vehicles," they conclude.
None of this should be particularly surprising. After all, allowing Wall Street firms to self-value their investments is akin to a homeowner being invited to make up her home value estimate when applying for credit. And unlike a professional home appraisal, private equity firms' estimates are difficult to verify -- as the California Public Employees Retirement System notes on its website: "There are no generally accepted standards, practices or policies for reporting private equity valuations."
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Considering the new research, the situation would seem to warrant more objective scrutiny of the investment industry. Yet, that's not the direction of today's legislative debate. House Republicans have criticized increased government oversight of private equity firms and lately have been pushing legislation to exempt those firms from SEC oversight that could more seriously scrutinize self-reported valuations.
Of course, if this were just an issue affecting rich investors, then perhaps it would be an example of the wealthy bilking the wealthy. But this is about billions of dollars worth of public money. If the books are indeed being cooked, then untold numbers of public employees could see their retirement savings evaporate, and taxpayers could be on the hook for some of the losses.
As the Enron debacle and the 2008 financial crisis proved, failing to strengthen oversight in the present could set the stage for a disaster in the not-so-distant future.Best Buy Chairman To Step Down After Investigation Finds Former CEO Had Relationship With Employee
Richard Shulze, the founder of Best Buy is leaving his role as company chairman, after an independent investigation found he had failed to report allegations of personal misconduct by former CEO Brian Dunn to the board’s audit committee.
Best Buy also said the investigation found that Dunn violated company policy by “engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment,” reports Reuters. However, there appears to have been no misuse of company resources.
Dunn already made his exit on April 10, amidst the probe of his actions, which, at the time, were categorized as “personal misconduct.”
The new chairman will be Hatim Tyabji, chairman of mobile network software company Bytemobile and chairman of Best Buy’s audit committee, starting on June 21 at the company’s annual meeting.
Best Buy founder leaving chairman role after CEO probe [Reuters]Russell Street Report Filmstudy Defense Pitches Another Shutout
Defensive Notes vs. Miami 10/26/17
It doesn’t seem right that any NFL team would have the sort of ups and downs the Ravens have had in 2017.
The Ravens are just the 9th team since the merger to both win a game by 40+ and lose a game by 37+ in the same season. The others:
— 2009 Titans (8-8, failed to make playoffs)
— 2009 Seahawks (5-11, failed to make playoffs)
— 2006 Chiefs (9-7, lost WC round to Colts)
— 2005 Packers (4-12, failed to make playoffs)
— 2003 49ers (7-9, failed to make playoffs)
— 2002 Jets (9-7, won AFC East, won WC vs. Colts 41-0, lost in divisional round)
— 1988 Saints (10-6, failed to make playoffs)
— 1970 Cowboys (10-4, lost Super Bowl V)
Several Baltimore connections exist:
— The 1970 Cowboys were thrashed at Minnesota in Week 5 by a score of 54-13 and again destroyed 38-0 by the Cardinals on MNF in Week 9. They nonetheless recovered to win the NFC championship and lose to the Baltimore Colts in SB V.
— The 2003 49ers were blasted by the Ravens in Baltimore 44-6 at their nadir.
— And the 2005 Packers lost to the Ravens 48-3 on MNF in the game that included the first significant playing time for Mr. Greenroom, Aaron Rodgers.
Of the teams who produced these extreme results, 3 of the previous 8 made the playoffs.
Don’t worry. Be happy.
Run Defense Rebounds
After Jay Ajayi ripped off a 21-yard gain on his first carry (Q1, 14:55), the Dolphins RB was held to just 2 yards on 12 carries the rest of the way. Ajayi was tackled for loss 5 times on just 13 carries.
The return of the run defense featured performances on all 3 levels. Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce were outstanding on the DL. The edge setters did a much better job shedding blocks from eligible receivers to force runs inside after Ajayi’s first run. And finally, the secondary made some nice run tackles, most notably Webb and Jefferson.
The Ravens have never allowed 4 yards per carry in a season and face an uphill battle to extend that record. One way to look at their progress towards that goal is in required yards below 4 to attain their goal. This is best illustrated by example.
— The Ravens have allowed 1062 yards on 251 carries through 8 weeks.
— For their current number of carries, 1004 yards would be 4 YPC.
— Since they would need to have allowed 1003 to date to avoid the 4.0 mark, they have allowed 59 (1062-1003) too many yards to meet their goal. We’ll refer to this total as “surplus yards”.
— Versus the Dolphins, the Ravens had a dominant defensive game (19 carries, 45 yards), which was 31 yards below the 4.0 standard (dropping their season surplus yards from 90 to 59).
— It should be obvious that if the Ravens are successful stopping the run, other teams will be less likely to run against them, so the Ravens will encounter an additional practical friction in lowering their YPC number.
As well as they played against Miami, the Ravens will need 2 more such games (without further regression) to get below 4.0 YPC.
Defensive Line
The Ravens averaged just 1.8 defensive linemen per play with the continued use of just 1 down lineman on every dime snap. No defensive lineman was taxed individually (see below) or played more than 58% of snaps.
Snap counts by player:
Willie Henry had another solid game rushing the passer. He was on for 28 pass snaps and delivered 3 pressures and 1 QH as I scored it. If you’re looking for hope, he’s one of the players who could emerge as a star in the 2nd half. Because he plays many more of the high-leverage downs, his play could have magnified value.
Michael Pierce played less than he has for most of the season. He’s still played 68% of the defensive snaps for the season, but that figure was just 36% versus the Dolphins. Part of that is the return of Brandon Williams, but I believe the solidification of Henry’s role and the additional passing/dime snaps were factors as well. He had just 2 tackles, but when he was in, the Dolphins ran the ball 9 times for 17 yards (1.9 YPC).
Brandon Williams continued to play at a high level with 4 tackles, 3 of which were for losses. Neither fully reflects how he dominated the line of scrimmage.
Linebacker
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Tyus Bowser had another solid game rushing the passer including his 2nd career sack and a PD on just 10 pass snaps.
Za’Darius Smith rushed effectively with 4 pressures and a half sack in 37 pass snaps as I scored it. Those figures would be just OK for an edge rusher, but many of Smith’s pass snaps came from the inside.
CJ Mosley had his best game in some time, despite only 4 tackles. As a pass rusher he had a sack shared with Za’Darius Smith (Q2, 0:26), delivered a QH when he rushed unblocked to flatten Moore (Q2, 1:22), and collected his first career pick-6 on a leaping interception at the LoS (Q4, 14:29).
Secondary
Reviewing first by number of DBs, the simplest way to describe the Ravens results by package is “everything worked”:
It’s when you look at the personnel by package that there was some intriguing complexity.
The standard (4 DB package) included Carr, Weddle, Jefferson, and either Smith or Humphrey.
To that standard package, Lardarius Webb was added to form the bulk of nickel (5 DB) alignments. However, the Ravens also used a nickel consisting of Humphrey, Carr, Smith, Jefferson, and Weddle on 4 snaps, with Carr in the SCB role.
For the dime (6 DBs), the Ravens removed Webb and used primarily Carr, Smith, Humphrey, Jefferson, Weddle, and Levine (16 snaps). Webb was on for 5 dime snaps also, but this is the first time I can recall Webb being removed from dime snaps regularly.
In terms of positioning, Webb also played several snaps as a deep safety, which allowed Weddle, Jefferson, or both to move up.
Brandon Carr was targeted frequently. He had a hand in Ajayi’s 21-yard run when he chased from the inside (Q1, 14:55). He was close on receptions of 11, 14, 14, 14, and 28 yards. The last of these was also a declined pass interference penalty (Q2, 5:52) where he never looked for the ball. He led the team in tackles with 7, which is not a good thing for a CB.
After a flashy debut at Minnesota, Jaylen Hill did not enter until the final series at SCB. He played just 7 snaps and did not make my notes.
Marlon Humphrey garnered extensive playing time from the combination of the dime and some relief of Jimmy Smith. He impressively stayed in the hip pocket of intended receivers for most of the night and no catch was easy, including the 20-yard reception by Stills by the right sideline which Marlon tried to strip. He had Landry beaten for an overthrown ball down the left sideline (Q1, 8:19) on which it appeared the Dolphins receiver took him down from behind. I appreciated the physicality he showed to beat the hold of Thomas and drop Landry for a gain of 3 on 3rd and 18 (Q3, 6:35).
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Tony Jefferson stepped up with the sort of effort for which he was signed. He had drive-ending plays on 2 of the first 3 drives, including a takedown of Thomas in the open field for a loss of 1 (Q1, 13:04) and a hard QH when he rushed unblocked to flatten Moore (Q1, 7:36). His diving undercut of Ajayi (Q3, 11:34) also appeared to shut down a big play.
Anthony Levine was on the field for 16 snaps, on which the Dolphins gained 13 yards (0.8 YPPA). He crept up to rush through the left A gap and ran over RB Williams for an 8-yard sack (Q1, 1:54). Anthony was on the field for all 3 sacks and the Dolphins converted just 2 of 11 3rd and 4th-down opportunities with him in the game.
Jimmy Smith delivered 3 PDs in just 7 times targeted, including the 50-yard pick-6. He had a second interception in the end zone knocked away by Weddle (Q2, 5:34). Barring further missed time due to injury, he should be headed to his first Pro Bowl. Per PFF, Jimmy now leads the NFL in QBR against at 24.5 with Davon House (GB), Jalen Ramsey (Jax), and AJ Bouye (Jax) all between 40.2 and 41.4. The best year I can recall for a Ravens CB since 2006 was turned in by Webb in 2011 with a QBR against of approximately 42, which included 0 TDs allowed and 8 INTs (playoffs included) to edge out Revis. Hopefully that adds some historical perspective to Jimmy’s outstanding season.
Lardarius Webb finished with 4 tackles; included in his highlights were:
— (Q1, 14:18): He penetrated unblocked through the left B gap to drop Ajayi for a loss of 2.
— (Q1, 2:36) He tripped up Ajayi just as he was breaking into the open field for a gain of 5 that appeared to prevent a big play.
— (Q3, 1:40): Webb took down Thomas for a gain of 3 (Q3, 1:40) to deny 3rd and 18
Defensive Stars of the GameA General Reminder For Policymakers: Don't Muck Up The Public's Ability To Use The Internet
from the a-reminder dept
In the debate between the Beltway vs. the Valley, my money is on the Valley. Remember in 2012 when a clueless Congress lumbered into Internet regulation by coming up with SOPA and a companion bill in the Senate (the Protect I.P. Act)? The entertainment companies that backed the legislation thought it was no big deal, but then a group of Silicon Valley players — many of the same ones who are now coalescing to oppose new Internet regulations — unleashed their user base and a huge wave of protest erupted. Both bills went down hard.
In the weeks after the SOPA debacle, I was at the Sundance Film Festival and then in Hollywood, talking with entertainment executives. They looked like extras from “The Walking Dead,” with bite marks all over them. They didn’t know what hit them because they did not understand the intimate relationship that the Valley has with its customers.
We don’t want two Internets — a good one and a bad. We want the money and investment to flow toward a single infrastructure that works rapidly and efficiently, as it does in so many other countries. It should be a medium in which videos of your niece dancing to Beyonce, streaming coverage of Occupy Wall Street and “House of Cards” all play smoothly when you hit a button.
Given the mounting opposition, the F.C.C. commissioners would be well advised to delay any changes this Thursday. And if they don’t, they may |
addressed the media from the White House podium—thereby collapsing, literally and symbolically, any semblance of separation between the DOJ and Trump—was a jaw-dropping violation of norms.
One person who seems to take those norms very seriously is the DOJ’s new second-in-command. Rod Rosenstein—who joined the DOJ in 1990 as a trial attorney in the public-integrity section of the criminal division and most recently spent 12 years as the U.S. attorney for Maryland—is known in legal circles as a consummate professional who has never allowed politics to interfere with his decision-making. The new deputy attorney general was, famously, the only U.S. attorney appointed by George W. Bush who was asked to stay on by Barack Obama—a merit badge that suggests he has been consistently even-handed in dealing with people from both sides of the aisle. It’s a reputation that has attached itself to Rosenstein like a very flattering glue. Practically every profile of him includes words like apolitical, principled, and independent. At his confirmation hearing in March, Maryland Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin called him, respectively, a “fair and focused administrator of justice” and a prosecutor who has conducted himself in “a totally nonpartisan, professional manner.”
In his new job overseeing the DOJ’s day-to-day operations, the 52-year-old Rosenstein is expected to bring a degree of normalcy and structure to an agency that, three months into Trump’s presidency, remains severely understaffed at its top levels. The extent to which he is allowed to assert his principles in running the department—and the extent to which he’s able to exert influence over the attorney general—will be a huge factor in determining what kinds of actions the DOJ takes under Trump and Sessions.
The differences between how Rosenstein and Sessions think about the Justice Department’s role in the federal government are manifest. Where the former seems to buy into an idealized vision of the agency as a nonpartisan instrument of pure law enforcement, Sessions has already demonstrated a gleeful willingness to align himself and his agency with the Trump administration. On April 23, Sessions said, in reference to Trump’s Mexican border wall, “We’re going to get it paid for one way or the other”—a remark that prompted some to wonder who we was supposed to refer to, and what exactly the DOJ had to do with funding anything. Earlier, during a speech to border-patrol agents in Arizona, Sessions declared that the country had arrived in “a new era … the Trump era”—a factually accurate statement, no doubt, but not the kind of thing you want the attorney general saying given that the “Trump era” has already been marked by a pile-up of scandals that the DOJ could play a central role in investigating.
Sessions is, of course, a key member of Trump’s cabinet. He was also an enthusiastic adviser to the Trump campaign back when he was a senator and was the first member of Congress to endorse him during the Republican primaries. On account of that history, and his well-established ideological kinship with Trump, Sessions’ continuing closeness to the president makes sense. And yet there are good reasons to be concerned about a sitting attorney general who is unapologetically loyal to the president.
“There is an inherent tension in the role of attorney general,” said Michael Vatis, who served in the office of the deputy attorney general from 1994 to 1998. “Just like every other cabinet member, he is a political appointee who is supposed to be working the president’s agenda, but at the same time, it’s important for him to maintain a sense of independence from the White House, because inevitably, the Justice Department and the people who work under the AG are going to have to conduct investigations … that have some political element to them.” For those investigations to have credibility, Vatis continued, “you can’t have people in the country thinking … the investigation is not going to be conducted fairly, because the AG is just going to look out for the president’s political interests.”
This is the reasoning that—eventually—led Sessions to recuse himself from overseeing the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian efforts to disrupt the 2016 election. As a result of that recusal, the work of leading the Russia investigation has fallen to Rosenstein, who has promised repeatedly to conduct it without regard for any political consequences that may come.
Though some critics of the administration have balked at Rosenstein’s refusal to preemptively appoint a special prosecutor to oversee the Russia probe, his promise to conduct the investigation with integrity should hold some weight. Throughout his career, Rosenstein has spoken forcefully about the importance of keeping the DOJ independent from partisan influence. Asked in 2007 about the Bush administration’s politically motivated firing of seven U.S. attorneys, he suggested to a reporter that protecting the DOJ’s integrity—and maintaining its reputation for being free of partisan influence—is something “employees of the Justice Department should be thinking about in everything that we do.” He continued:
The American public is not able to judge our motives. They don’t know what we’re thinking. They can only observe what we say and do and draw inferences from that. So when information comes to light that gives people reason to be suspicious about the motives of the Justice Department … It casts a shadow on all of our work. That is damaging.
For many career lawyers at the DOJ, as well as alumni who have been watching the Trump administration’s manhandling of their beloved agency with increasing horror, Rosenstein’s hiring is a reason to feel cautiously optimistic about the agency’s future.
“He’s a career DOJ guy,” said one agency staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The career people and the long-termers view him as a known quantity. If they don’t know him personally, they know people who do. If I had to surmise what the rest of the department thinks, I would guess they’re thinking, ‘OK, this is someone we can work with.’ ”
How much power will Rosenstein have as deputy attorney general? Potentially a great deal. “Obviously the attorney general is the final decision-maker and the visionary for the department. He’s in charge. … But the DAG’s office is essentially the nucleus of the department. It’s where major litigation is overseen, and it’s where policy initiatives are led,” said Mónica Ramírez Almadani, who served in the DAG’s office during the Obama administration.
The precise division of labor between the AG and his deputy does vary from administration to administration. One thing that’s been consistently true, though, is that the DOJ’s No. 1 and No. 2 work together very closely. “The DAG and the AG are likely meeting together multiple times a day,” said Thomas Perrelli, who served as the associate attorney general—the department’s No. 3—from 2009 until 2012. “They’re likely doing a national-security briefing early in the day, as well as a morning meeting on any ongoing major issues. And they may meet multiple other times too, either on a particular case or a particular investigation or a particular policy issue. So they’re interacting a whole lot.”
The fact that Rosenstein himself seems to take great pride in his professionalism and independence raises the question of how he will respond when his boss engages in the kind of actions the administration’s critics see as inappropriately political. How far will he be willing to go, for instance, to defend the scores of police chiefs around the country who have argued that the immigration crackdown Sessions is demanding will impede their ability to effectively fight crime? This is what current and former DOJ alumni are waiting to find out: Will Rosenstein serve as any kind of check on the new regime—someone who will tame Sessions’ most aggressive political instincts and push for greater distance between the DOJ and the White House—or will he fall in line and tolerate Sessions’ unabashed cheerleading for Trump?
“It’s going to really depend on the interpersonal relationship that they develop,” said Vatis, now a partner at the law firm Steptoe & Johnson. “That’s a pretty sensitive thing to try to exert influence on, since you’re potentially telling someone that what they’re doing is unethical, or is going to appear unethical.” Advising your supervisor on policy is one thing, he added, “telling him that maybe it’s not a good idea to speak from the White House podium is another.”
Perhaps the best modern-day comparison for the Sessions–Rosenstein relationship is the partnership between Ronald Reagan’s fervently ideological Attorney General Edwin Meese and his relatively mild-mannered deputy, a Democrat named D. Lowell Jensen. In a 1986 article in the New York Times, Jensen was praised for serving as “a buffer between the department’s critics and the outspoken and staunchly conservative Attorney General,” and was credited with consistently stopping Meese from “going too far” in waging “public combat with ideological enemies, particularly on civil rights policies and the Supreme Court’s proper role.” From the Times:
“Lowell Jensen is no ideologue,” said a senior department official who asked not to be named. “He understands the repercussions of our acts in the press and on Capitol Hill.”
Another official said: “You need someone like Lowell, who is essentially nonpolitical, to restrain us when we need restraining. Thanks to him, I think ultimately we get more of what we want.”
It’s hard to say with any confidence that Trump’s AG will be open to absorbing that kind of guidance from Rosenstein. “I don’t know how much influence he’ll have on Sessions,” said Richard Jerome, who worked in the associate attorney general’s office from 1997 to 2001. “[Sessions is] a pretty strong personality, he’s certainly not new to Washington, and he has his own views. There’s not much that’s going to change his approach.”
One important factor to consider is that Sessions probably doesn’t believe that “politicization” of the DOJ is the unforgivable sin that many liberals make it out to be. Indeed, it’s fair to argue that the agency is by definition political and has always been in alignment with the administration it exists to serve. Pretending otherwise, according to this line of thinking, is a form of naïveté: While most people agree that the DOJ should be “nonpartisan” in the sense that a Republican-led agency shouldn’t make it its mission to go after Democrats, the notion that someone like Sessions should try to suppress or hide his ideological priors is a nonstarter. It’s not clear that it’s even possible for the Sessions DOJ to create distance between itself and the White House, considering that the ideas Sessions believes in most fervently—deporting illegal immigrants, reducing drug use through incarceration, and reducing federal scrutiny of local police departments—are the same ones Trump ran on as a candidate, and has embraced as president.
“There’s a mind meld there,” said Leon Fresco, the former head of the DOJ’s Office of Immigration Litigation. “This AG doesn’t have to be asked to get on board with the White House’s policies, since he’s the one who championed those policies [even before Trump was president].”
Still, the AG and the president can be on the same page ideologically without becoming so closely aligned that doing right by the administration becomes more important than doing what’s right. This is the true meaning of “independence”—and in Rosenstein, Sessions has a deputy whose career has been defined by a belief in its importance. Let’s see if he continues to uphold that belief while working in Sessions’ shadow.When I was growing up, I fervently disliked my first name. I can’t quite explain why. Perhaps it had to do with the numerous times that people mispronounced it, or the fact that I honestly thought that “Sophia Lorenzi” would be a much more poetic and dramatic moniker. As I got older, however, I learned to embrace my name as a wonderful gift that my mother had given me. Lucia is from the Latin word for “light,” and I can’t think of a more apt description for myself, as someone who is curious, creative, and stubbornly optimistic.
During the process of learning to accept my name and to enjoy hearing it spoken by others, especially by those who I loved the most, I also learned that there was another process of naming that I had started to face: the ways in which I was spoken to and addressed by people who saw me not as a person, not as Lucia, but as a sexual object.
“Hey, sexy.” “Hey, baby.” “Hey, gorgeous.”
These names—adjectives or nouns turned into imposed identities—have been hurled at me from across the street, whispered into my ear by abusive individuals, or spoken to me by men who were little more than acquaintances and wanted only to sleep with me or objectify me. I was no longer myself, but was being claimed, written on, territorialized by the naming practices of street harassment and male entitlement. And it didn’t just stop there. The re-naming of women is often followed by attempts to solicit sexual favours, to imply sexual availability, to taunt, terrify, and to try and tell women that they are nameless, faceless, and powerless.
“Hey, sexy….wanna fuck?” “Hey, baby….why don’t you smile for me?” “Hey, gorgeous….nice ass.”
I became very confused. It had always seemed to me that pet names (honey, sweetie, darling, dear, baby, sexy, beautiful, lover, depending on one’s relationship to a person) ought to be an indication of familiarity and affection, trust and mutual respect. It seemed that to call someone something other than their given name ought to be an indication of an pre-existing relationship, and of intimacy. It seemed to me that it ought to denote shared vulnerability. And yet, it wasn’t. I felt dehumanized. I felt ashamed.
This troubling re-naming practice doesn’t just manifest itself in the ways in which street harassment and catcalling dehumanizes women by suggesting that their identities and personal lives don’t matter, because they are objects to be targeted, identified, and (potentially) consumed or used. It also extends to the ways in which individuals in relationships only use these names when they want or are engaging in sexual acts with a person, when you’re only “baby” in the bedroom, “sexy” in the sack. I’ve been there once before. I’ve been the girl who is kept a secret, the girl who is good enough to sleep with but not good enough to acknowledge or hold hands with in public. It’s humiliating.
It’s this incongruity, the strange melding of affection and violence (or affection and cruelty, affection and coldness, affection and indifference, etc) that can be so difficult to reconcile. It’s unsettling. It feels unsafe. At times, it has made me question whether or not I will ever be seen for any more than my body. It makes me start to question myself, and wonder if because I dress a certain way, or look a certain way, that that’s all I’m seen for, in spite of the creativity and intellect that I nourish and cultivate. It makes me wonder if people see ME at all. While I may embody sexiness at times or a particular heteronormative aesthetic of femininity at times—especially considering my love of fashion, modeling, and photography—those things are not who I am, and nobody has the right to make those things my identity, or to reduce my value to my presumed sexual availability. I, Lucia, may feel or be or look sexy, but “sexy” is not an outright replacement for my legal name.
Naming practices and acts of address are powerful, and they are deeply political. One need only look to histories of colonization, in which names are and were either “Westernized” or erased entirely. For instance, consider the recent incident involving Academy Award nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, who stood up to an AP reporter who refused to learn to pronounce her name and call her “Annie” (Wallis’ upcoming role) instead. Think about the how the term “slut” is part of a deep history of the sexualization of racialized women, and the precarious politics of the attempted reclamation of that term. Think about how women who suffer sexual assaults are referred to only as “Jane Doe,” or, in the case of victim-blaming, as “that whore, that walking mattress, that skank.”
I want to be very clear: I am absolutely not suggesting that there ought to be a radical policing of language, nor do I want to assert that “sexy” or “beautiful” as adjectives should be completely erased from conversations with and about women. Given how often women are shamed for confident, assertive displays or articulations of their sexuality, I think that it is important to recognize sexiness and beauty of all kinds. I think it’s important for women to be able to use those words in order to describe themselves without being shamed or seen as objects. I consider myself to be sexy. I consider myself to be someone who embraces her sexuality. I enjoy it when people recognize it in a positive and kind way, whether they are acquaintances on Facebook or friends or otherwise. There isn’t anything inherently wrong with exchanging a knowing glance or a smile with a stranger. Flirting isn’t off-limits.
But I also think that an awareness, especially in interpersonal relationships that take place in private (whether online or offline), in dating, and in flirting, of the histories of oppression that many women have faced with regards to certain naming practices, is equally important. I believe that it is important to recognize that women all have different experiences with street harassment and sexual assault, and that treading lightly at first, finding different phrases to express a thought, or being up front in asking if it’s okay to use certain language is thoughtful, valuable, welcomed, and necessary. I can’t be the only one who thinks that asking for consent and having discussions about things is a super-mega-turn-on. I’ve had male friends and acquaintances who have asked me. It’s wonderful.
Having read through the various stories featured on the @EverydaySexism Twitter account, having followed the #streetharassment hashtag, and doing the research that I do regarding sexual violence and sexuality, I know that while many women have different experiences of naming practices, there are a large number whose experiences have been similar to mine. Sometimes, you never know when that “hey sexy!” hollered at you from across the street is going to turn into someone grabbing you, following you, or assaulting you. I was stalked on my old university’s campus several years ago, and I can tell you first-hand that what seem like “compliments” that women should just “take lightly” from strangers can quickly escalate into terror.
While Shakespeare suggested that “rose by any other name” may still be a rose, a woman by any other name is often made to feel that she is not still a woman. She’s made to feel like an object. And that’s not okay, because as we know, such practices of harassment and dehumanization often lead to other forms of violence. It reinforces an environment where it’s seemingly okay for those things to happen. It’s really fucking not okay.
I still struggle all of this myself, and I certainly don’t pretend to speak for any woman other than myself. However, I wish so badly that those words I’ve called, those names I’ve been assigned, could become precious again, saved for the mouths of people I feel safe around, and loved by. But they’re not. And I can’t pretend that “words can never hurt me,” because sometimes they still do. I can’t pretend that it sometimes feels strange to hear those words from a partner or a lover. I can’t erase their history, and I won’t, because as so many of us know all too well, the line between terms of endearment and terms of endangerment is a very fine one.
For more information and stories about street harassment, visit:
Hollaback! A Non-Profit and Movement to End Street Harassment
Michael Laxer’s Rabble.ca article: “Sexual harassment on the street: taking misogynist hate speech seriously.”
The SFTUCatcallers TumblrGeographical Index > United States > Texas >
Cass County > Report # 45818 Report # 45818 (Class A)
Submitted by witness on Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Father and son have a close daylight encounter while driving to Wright Patman Lake (Show Printer-friendly Version) YEAR: 2014 SEASON: Summer MONTH: July STATE: Texas COUNTY: Cass County LOCATION DETAILS: I DO NOT want the exact location listed in the report because I believe it WOULD cause me problems I don't want or need nor does my son. Not only that I am unsure of these things and this is VERY IMPORTANT to me. It would cause me GREAT HARM! If a curious reader of your site went to the area looking for the thing and something happened to them because I told you about this and where it happened. Not only that but the area is a regularly used fishing, camping, picnic area and boat ramp and it would break my heart if people stayed away from it because of me. I also did not include the date because people knew we where going out there and if they put two and two together we would be revealed. Date and road number will be available on request from you professionals ONLY. NEAREST TOWN: Atlanta OBSERVED: Father: I was driving to go fishing with my son, at a local fishing spot. The place is on the Cass county side of Lake Wright Patman. We were around a mile or so from the lake I would say. As I topped a hill and a slight bend I spotted a big black bear in the road. I stopped because bear in the area are rare. I had never seen one in the area but heard stories of them. I was excited because not only I was getting to see it but my son as well. Then very quickly the bear stood and turned toward us and to my shock it was not a bear at all. It was a huge thing not a bear. The thing was I would say between eight to ten feet tall, three and a half to four feet wide at the chest and shoulders. It had a large head with dark eyes either dark brown or black, a big flat nose and the face was a little lighter brown than the body. It was not black as I first thought but a dark brown almost black and its fur or hair was around four inches long. It looked like a guy who spends all his time in the gym. It had fists around the size of a canned ham, I say this because one hand was closed in to a fist and had something in it. I think it may have been male, because it had no breasts and might have had a bulge in the crotch area, but I wasn't focused on that. I am a religious man and have the light of God in my heart and Jesus is my lord. I immediately believed I was looking at a demon. I question that now, after talking to people who seem to know a lot about these things, and reading a lot over it since I saw it. Think me mad if you will but I slammed the vehicle in park, jumped out and started preaching gospel at the thing. I don't know if it is a demon for sure or not but either it is and the word of God hurt it or it just didn't know what to make of me, because it roared at me so loud and deep I could feel its vibration, like a teen's car radio. It threw what it had in its hand, it flew a few feet above us and a good long way back up the road, then it turned and ran with otherworldly speed. This all happened very fast, I could not say how fast but from the time I stopped till it was up and gone was not long at all. I stood there a moment longer thinking I just saw a demon. I got back in the vehicle to drive back and see what it threw at me. It was part of a cotton mouth with its head and who knows how much of it missing. I chunked it in the back and went home. During all of this my son had been screaming at me to get back in and let's go and he was freaked. He did not want me to stop when I turned around and was pushing me to go as fast as I could. I was not scared because a demon not dare confront a man of God. Yet now I'm not so sure that it was a demon.
Son: I don't scare very easy and my dad seems to have no fear but spiders and he is a big guy and I am like him, big. He is around 300 and even though I'm only 14 I'm as tall as him and almost as heavy. He is a little fat but not too much. I'm all muscle and you can call us corn fed. My dads a hell of a fighter and I think me and dad together could take just about anything you can throw at us. But I wont lie, my dad would be disappointed in me if I did. I was scared as hell when we came up on bigfoot. He wants me to talk to someone because he is scared that I might be messed up for life lol. I was freaked and scared he was going to get his crazy butt killed and me too and i was screaming at him the whole time and then when we did go he stopped to get that stupid snake with it nearby and wouldn't even break the speed limit and that thing could have caught us at that speed and I just knew it would. But dad says there are demons and says that's why no one can kill one or find one and they don't leave bodies. I will never talk to anyone about this and am just doing this to make him happy. I don't even like doing this he stopped and started yelling at the bigfoot. It yelled back and took off thank god but I guess they must not be mean or it would have killed us. I know my dad can be very scary when he is mad and he was mad as hell when he got out preaching at the bigfoot. I am not crazy, my dad may be and now I think so even more than before. I don't know what it was, don't want to and pray I never see one again. ALSO NOTICED: I returned to the spot to try to find anything. All I found was some smashed down grass, brush and a few small broken trees where I guess it went in to the woods, no tracks. I will note that a large hog will do the same thing, and they are in the area. OTHER WITNESSES: yes there were two of us and both in a vehicle OTHER STORIES: Yes I have heard several over the years, but haven't lent them much credence before now, it is not my place to repeat them. TIME AND CONDITIONS: It was between 630 to 700 pm. It was a bright clear day, it was around 90 degrees. ENVIRONMENT: Thick pine/hardwood forest with swampy areas nearby, about a mile or so from large fresh water lake. Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Brad Bacon: My initial conversation with the witness was a little slow in getting started. The witness was naturally apprehensive in speaking about his encounter as he was concerned about being ridiculed for his beliefs. I assured the witness of my respect of his beliefs and opinions and advised him that no one is ever prepared for an encounter and anyone who has an encounter will react based on a preconceived notion, belief, action or a prepared training. Additionally, some have a non-action. They are a little frozen by what just happened to them and in most cases witnesses have post encounter reactions. Some occur in days, others occur in weeks, months or even years later, and almost all who have an encounter with the unknown get their definition of reality challenged. The witness said he felt comfortable with our conversation and agreed to meet me and show me the exact location. I encouraged the witness to share our conversation with his son for the very same reasons he and I discussed and encouraged him to see if he would be willing to come along.
I was able to meet with the witness and he took me to the exact location. I have included pictures of the area that have been closely cropped with markers removed. The witness has a genuine concern for public safety and does not want unethical researchers visiting the area:
Where the "bear" was first spotted:
Reenactment of where it was and its stance before it stood and turned:
This is where it ran into:
The witness bestowed me a gift of the remains of the snake that the creature threw toward him. I am including a picture of the snake. Unfortunately it was preserved in pickle juice & alcohol.
It appeared to have been ripped or chewed into.
Unfortunately, his son decided not to join us. The witness said his son was concerned about possible ridicule and just really wanted to put the incident behind him. I went back to our conversation of possible effects due to an encounter and the witness said that during the encounter, his son had been pleading with him to get back in the car. The witness then explained a little about his professional background in law enforcement and corrections and said he guessed his training is what led him to get out of the car in the first place. The witness is a large man and can cast an imposing presence himself. We discussed that I was not surprised that he responded the way he did. His training, study and physical ability all contributed to his response and now after having some time to think and talk with someone he has come to the conclusion that they are physical beings. I advised that his son may have to go thru some more time and if so, myself or anyone in the BFRO would be available to talk with him.
The area of the encounter is sparsely populated. There is an abundance of forest, creeks, streams and wildlife. The area is known for its watermelon production. Food sources are in abundance. The area is in proximity to areas of OK and AR; both rich in sighting reports. I found the witness to be credible and did not sense any attempt at deception. About BFRO Investigator Brad Bacon: Brad is a native Texan from McKinney. He grew up working with all forms of livestock and spent countless hours in the outdoors and this is where his interest in this subject began. Employment opportunities took him to Ohio where he actively investigated this subject in and around surrounding states. Brad holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M Commerce and a Associate of Science from Grayson College. Brad has also been a Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor for over 20 years. He attended the Pennsylvania 2009, 2011 and Tennessee 2010 expeditions. He has also Attended Texas 2012, 2014 and Kentucky 2013 as well as numerous private expeditions. He currently resides in a rural area northeast of McKinney, Texas. Explanation of the report classification system
Submit a report for the sightings database
Please send any comments or inquiries to Contact@BFRO.netStockman thought he had taken care of embarrassing questions about future deficits with a device he referred to as the "magic asterisk." (Senator Howard Baker had dubbed it that in strategy sessions, Stockman said.) The "magic asterisk" would blithely denote all of the future deficit problems that were to be taken care of with additional budget reductions, to be announced by the President at a later date. Thus, everyone could finesse the hard questions, for now.
But, somehow or other, the Senate Budget Committee staff insisted upon putting the honest numbers in its resolution—the projected deficits of $60 billion—plus running through 1984. That left the Republican senators staring directly at the same scary numbers that Stockman and the Wall Street analysts had already seen. The budget director blamed this brief flare-up on the frantic nature of his schedule. When he should have been holding hands with the Senate Budget Committee, he was at the other end of the Capitol, soothing Representative Delbert Latta, of Ohio, the ranking Republican in budget matters, who was pouting. Latta thought that since he was a Republican, his name should go ahead of that of Phil Gramm, a Democrat, on the budget resolution: that it should be Latta-Gramm instead of Gramm-Latta. After a few days of reassurances, Stockman persuaded the Republican senators to relax about the future and two weeks later they passed the resolution—without being given any concrete answers as to where he would find future cuts of such magnitude. In effect, the "magic asterisk" sufficed.
But the real problem, as Stockman conceded, was still unsolved. Indeed, pondering the reactions of financial markets, the budget director made an extraordinary confession in private: the original agenda of budget reductions, which had seemed so radical in February, was exposed by May as inadequate. The "magic asterisk" might suffice for the political debate in Congress, but it would not answer the fundamental question asked by Wall Street: How, in fact, did Ronald Reagan expect to balance the federal budget? "It's a tentative judgment on the part of the markets and of spokesmen like Kaufman that is reversible because they haven't seen all our cards. From the cards they've seen, I suppose that you can see how they draw that conclusion."
"It means," Stockman said, "that you have to have some recalibration in the policy. The thing was put together so fast that it probably should have been put together differently." With mild regret, Stockman looked back at what had gone wrong:
"The defense numbers got out of control and we were doing that whole budget-cutting exercise so frenetically. In other words, you were juggling details, pushing people, and going from one session to another, trying to cut housing programs here and rural electric there, and we were doing it so fast, we didn't know where we were ending up for sure... In other words, we should have designed those pieces to be more compatible. But the pieces were moving on independent tracks—the tax program, where we were going on spending, and the defense program, which was just a bunch of numbers written on a piece of paper. And it didn't quite mesh. That's what happened. But, you see, for about a month and a half we got away with that because of the novelty of all these budget reductions."
Reagan's policy-makers knew that their plan was wrong, or at least inadequate to its promised effects, but the President went ahead and conveyed the opposite impression to the American public. With the cool sincerity of an experienced television actor, Reagan appeared on network TV to rally the nation in support of the Gramm-Latta resolution, promising a new era of fiscal control and balanced budgets, when Stockman knew they still had not found the solution. This practice of offering the public eloquent reassurances despite privately held doubts was not new, of course. Every contemporary President—starting with Lyndon Johnson, in his attempt to cover up the true cost of the war in Vietnam—had been caught, sooner or later, in contradictions between promises and economic realities. The legacy was a deep popular skepticism about anything a President promised about the economy. Barely four months in office, Ronald Reagan was already adding to the legacy.
Indeed, Stockman began in May to plot what he called the "recalibration" of Reagan policy, which he hoped could be executed discreetly over the coming months to eliminate the out-year deficits for 1983 and 1984 that alarmed Wall Street—without alarming political Washington and losing control in the congressional arena. "It's very tough, because you don't want to end up like Carter, where you put a plan out there and then, a month into it, you visibly and unmistakably change postures. So what you have to do is solve this problem incrementally, without the appearance of reversal, and there are some ways to do that."
Stockman saw three main areas of opportunity for closing the gap: defense, Social Security, and health costs, meaning Medicare and Medicaid. And there was a fourth: the Reagan tax cut; if it could be modified in the course of the congressional negotiations already under way, this would make for additional savings on the revenue side. The public alarm over the deficits was, to some extent, "fortuitous," from Stockman's viewpoint, because the Wall Street message supported the sermon that he was delivering to his fellow policy-makers at the White House: the agonies of budget reduction were only beginning, and, more to the point, the Reagan Administration could not keep its promise of balanced budgets unless it was willing to back away from its promised defense spending, its 10-10-10 tax-cut plan, and the President's pledge to exempt from cutbacks the so-called "safety-net" programs. Stockman would deliver this speech, in different forms, all through the summer ahead, trying to create the leverage for action on those fronts, particularly on defense. He later explained his strategy:
"I put together a list of twenty social programs that have to be zeroed out completely, like Job Corps, Head Start, women and children's feeding programs, on and on. And another twenty-five that have to be cut by 50 percent: general revenue sharing, CETA manpower training, etcetera, etcetera. And then huge bites that would have to be taken out of Social Security. I mean really fierce, blood-and-guts stuff—widows' benefits and orphans' benefits, things like that. And still it didn't add up to $40 billion. So that sort of created a new awareness of the defense budget...
"Once you set aside defense and Social Security, the Medicare complex, and a few other sacred cows of minor dimension, like the VA and the FBI, you have less than $200 billion worth of discretionary room—only $144 billion after you cut all the easy discretionary programs this year."
In short, the fundamental arithmetic of the federal budget, which Stockman and others had brushed aside in the heady days of January, was now back to haunt them. If the new administration would not cut defense or Social Security or major "safety-net" programs that Reagan had put off limits, then it must savage the smaller slice remaining. Otherwise, balancing the budget in 1984 became an empty promise. The political pain of taking virtually all of the budget savings from government grants and operations would be too great, Stockman believed; Congress would never stand for it. Therefore, he had to begin educating "the West Wing guys" on the necessity for major revisions in their basic plan. He was surprisingly optimistic. "They are now understanding all those things," Stockman said. "A month ago, they didn't. They really thought you could find $144 billion worth of waste, fraud, and abuse. So at least I've made a lot of headway internally."
Revisions of the original tax-cut plan would probably be the easiest compromise. A modest delay in the effective date would save billions and, besides, many conservatives in Congress were never enthusiastic about the supply-side tax-cutting formula. In order to win its passage, the administration was "prepared to give a little bit on the tax bill," Stockman said, which would help cure his problem of deficits.
Social Security was much more volatile, but Stockman noted that the Senate had already expressed a willingness in test votes to reconsider such basic components as annual cost-of-living increases for retirees. In the House, the Democrats, led by J. J. Pickle, of Texas, were preparing their own set of reforms to keep the system from bankruptcy |
home, and I don’t pile anything time-sensitive or must-do in that calendar slot. When I hear the car in the driveway, I quit Slack, I close my laptop, and that’s it.
It’s very freeing. If you’re working remotely and have not yet built yourself some type of end-of-day signal or ritual, I totally recommend it.
It could take any format – maybe you have your computer set to play a particular song at a particular time. Maybe you have a certain last task every day, and you follow it up with a walk around the neighborhood. Maybe you use IFTTT to flash your office lights at 5PM.
Signals are important. When we work remotely we are lucky enough to build our own.Cisco locks customers out of their own routers, only lets them back in if they agree to being spied upon and monetized
Owners of Cisco/Linksys home routers got a nasty shock this week, when their devices automatically downloaded a new operating system, which locked out device owners. After the update, the only way to reconfigure your router was to create an account on Cisco's "cloud" service, signing up to a service agreement that gives Cisco the right to spy on your Internet use and sell its findings, and also gives them the right to disconnect you (and lock you out of your router) whenever they feel like it.
They say that "if you're not paying for the product, you are the product." But increasingly, even if you do pay for the product, you're still the product, and you aren't allowed to own anything. Ownership is a right reserved to synthetic corporate persons, and off-limits to us poor meat-humans.
Joel Hruska from ExtremeTech reports:
This is nothing but a shameless attempt to cash in on the popularity of cloud computing, and it comes at a price. The Terms and Conditions of using the Cisco Connect Cloud state that Cisco may unilaterally shut down your account if finds that you have used the service for “obscene, pornographic, or offensive purposes, to infringe another’s rights, including but not limited to any intellectual property rights, or… to violate, or encourage any conduct that would violate any applicable law or regulation or give rise to civil or criminal liability.” It then continues “we reserve the right to take such action as we (i) deem necessary or (ii) are otherwise required to take by a third party or court of competent jurisdiction, in each case in relation to your access or use or misuse of such content or data. Such action may include, without limitation, discontinuing your use of the Service immediately without prior notice to you, and without refund or compensation to you.” Since the Service is the only way to access your router, killing one would effectively kill the other.
Oh, and Cisco reserves the right to continue to update your router, even if you set it not to allow automatic updates.
Cisco’s cloud vision: Mandatory, monetized, and killed at their discretion
Update: A Cisco rep comments below, pointing out that Cisco has since changed its privacy policy.
However, the current policy reserves the right to change it back.
The current policy also allows Cisco to discontinue your access to your router if you download pornography, or if someone complains about you, without a court order, evidence or a chance to state your case and face your accuser.
They have also provided users with a way to back out of the "cloud management" "feature."
But, as noted, Cisco still reserves the right to change how your router works, even if you set it not to accept automatic updates.Former Sen. John Danforth (Photo: DON EMMERT, DON EMMERT, AFP)
WASHINGTON — Former Missouri GOP senator John Danforth called President Trump "the most divisive president in our history" and warned Republicans not to let him tarnish the GOP's image.
"Trump is always eager to tell people that they don’t belong here, whether it’s Mexicans, Muslims, transgender people or another group. His message is, “You are not one of us',” Danforth wrote in a Washington Post op-ed posted online Thursday evening. "And when he has the opportunity to unite Americans, to inspire us, to call out the most hateful among us, the KKK and the neo-Nazis, he refuses."
Danforth's op-ed is a harshly worded rebuke from a GOP elder statesman, coming at a time when Trump is already under fire for his response to the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, where white supremacists rallied earlier this month.
Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest and three-term senator, called on Republicans to "disassociate ourselves from Trump" and tell voters that "he does not represent what it means to be a Republican." He suggested Republicans were at risk of losing their historical connection to Abraham Lincoln and the crusade to end slavery during the Civil War.
"We are the party of the Union, and (Trump) is the most divisive president in our history," Danforth wrote. "There hasn’t been a more divisive person in national politics since George Wallace."
Danforth's Washington Post op-ed: Trump is exactly what Republicans are not
More: Trump: Both sides to blame for Charlottesville violence
CLOSE A leading Republican senator says Donald Trump has not yet shown the stability or competence required for an American president to succeed. (Aug. 17) AP
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2wCQkEqThomas Sowell wrote that Marx and Engels were “two bright and articulate young men without responsibility even for their own livelihoods—much less for the social consequences of their vision” and have consequently “had a special appeal for successive generations of the same kinds of people”.
With respect to septuagenarian socialist Bernie Sanders, the bit about lacking responsibility for his own livelihood certainly rings true – Sanders was all-but unemployed until middle-age, and has lived off the taxpayer dime ever since – but the rest often seems questionable.
A meme that appeared on my Facebook feed seems to sum up the Bernie Sanders approach to economics in a nutshell.
The “Bernie Sanders Democrats” claim that “Just 10% of what we spend annually on the military could finance free public tuition, as well as provide housing for every homeless person in the U.S.”
Now, this is a bold claim, and the Sandernistas on Facebook were lapping it up without question. But, call me cynical, it just didn’t smell right. And, yes, a five-minute web search and a bit of calculator work was all it took to expose the gaping hole in the argument.
The annual U.S. military budget is $580 billion (Wikipedia). 10% of that is $58 billion per year.
The cost of free public tuition is estimated by Sanders himself at $75 billion per year.
The cost of housing every homeless person in the U.S. has been estimated by one charity at at least $8 billion per. Given that the charity was spruiking it as a low-cost option, one has to assume that’s a low-ball figure.
So, the math is: $58 billion – $75 billion – $8 billion = a shortfall of at least $25 billion per year.
But the Sanders fans were undeterred by mere arithmetic. Oh, no.
Instead, they went on, making even more grandiose claims. One excitable fellow commented that, “If we cut the military in half, we could provide not only free tuition and house all of the homeless, we could also provide universal healthcare for all and pay off the national debt in 4 years (and still have a pretty awesome military). After 4 years, we would have a surplus and can cut taxes.”
Boy, that one got a lot of “likes”. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t add up any better.
The U.S. national debt currently stands at $20.5 trillion dollars.
Cutting the military budget in half yields just over a quarter of a trillion dollars a year. So, in four years, there would be just over a trillion dollars.
In other words, one-twentieth of the national debt. And that’s without spending a cent on free tuition, housing for the homeless, or universal healthcare.
This is the sort of magical thinking and cavalier disregard for basic arithmetic that at least partly explains why the likes of Bernie Sanders remain convinced that socialism will absolutely work, “next time”.
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Who is Lushington D. Brady? Well, a pseudonym. Obviously. But the name Lushington Dalrymple Brady has been chosen carefully. Not only for the sum of its overall mien of seedy gentility, reminiscent perhaps of a slightly disreputable gentlemen of letters, but also for its parts, each of which borrows from the name of a Vandemonian of more-or-less fame (or notoriety) who represents some admirable quality which will hopefully animate the persona of Lushington D. Brady. To read my previous articles click on my name in blue. https://adevilscurmudgeon.wordpress.com/My day-time job as VP Engineering for Mobile at Mozilla is to manage an engineering organization of some 130 engineers. Most of my time is spent working with people and helping them to be effective at building software. That means a lot of meetings, a lot of planning, and a lot of HR-type busy work.
My job description today is very different from when I joined Mozilla a little bit more than 5 years ago to build the first available, commercial grade JavaScript compiler at that time (TraceMonkey). After 18 months in that job I became one of the top 3 overall committers to the Mozilla project. My job was to design and build stuff, and I enjoyed that quite a bit.
As much as I miss putting my PhD in Computer Science to use these days, having such a large engineering organization behind me has its perks. The amount of stuff “I” can get done by finding so many engineers the right things to work on and removing any roadblocks they face is really amazing, and it makes up for the lost hacking time.
Plane hacks
Still, to avoid feeling like a useless paper pusher, I usually have a hacking project going on on the side. I can’t really justify spending time hacking at work. There are simply too many meetings to attend, emails to reply to, and problems to solve. However, whenever I sit on a plane without WiFi, I can’t really effectively do my VP job since that job is all about communication. Time on the plane is hacking time, and as it happens, I travel a lot–I obtained Global Services status with United 2 years in a row, almost exclusively flying Economy (that must be some sort of World Record).
When I pick a project to hack on, I tend to pick the hardest problems I come across. Its usually a problem an engineering team is stuck on, and there is no easy fix. Some of my favorite projects last year were PhoneNumber.js, a library to format international phone numbers, and predict.js, a predictive text engine for the FirefoxOS keyboard. Both projects have long graduated into production. JavaScript hacks aside, the other area I am very interested in right now its Graphics and our layers system. Layers are used in browsers to accelerate animations and scrolling using the GPU. Not a lot of people work on this particular code, and its fairly hairy and complex. The perfect playground for a closet-engineer.
Whats a layer anyway?
In Gecko, our rendering engine, we try to detect when frames (a “div” is a frame, for example) are animated, and if so, we put those frames into their own layer. Each layer can be rendered to an independent texture, forming a tree of layers representing the visible part of the document, and we use a compositor to draw those layers into the frame buffer (frame buffer is the technical term used by OpenGL, “window” is what this means on most systems in practice).
Gecko has a couple different kinds of layers. Color layers consist of a single color. The body element of a document is usually white, and we use a color layer to draw that opaque, white rectangle. Image layers can hold one single image and are a special case of content layers (internally called Thebes, for historical reasons). Content layers is where we render arbitrary content into (text, etc).
When rendering the visible part of a document we already try to skip invisible frames, but when frames are animated (are moving around), we often end up having a layer tree where multiple layers are painted on top of each other, partially hiding each other. The compositor draws these layers in Z order, so the result is correct, but we sometimes composite pixels that are guaranteed to be occluded by layers that are pasted right on top of them. On desktop this is wasteful from a power consumption perspective, but in practice usually not a big deal. On mobile, on the other hand, this can actually cause significant performance problems. Mobile systems often have unified memory (texture data and the frame buffer share memory with the CPU) with fairly low memory bandwidth. Overcompositing (drawing pixels that aren’t visible in the end) wastes precious memory bandwidth. In extreme cases this can cause the frame rate to drop below our target frame rate of 60 frames per second for animations.
Flatfish
Flatfish is a tablet we have ported FirefoxOS onto. It has a high resolution screen and a comparatively weak GPU. As a result, over-compositing can cause the frame rate to drop. In case of the home screen for example we were compositing a color layer (blue in the image below) that was completely hidden by a content layer (yellow star). Setting each pixel in the frame buffer to black before copying the actual content over it caused us to miss the 60 FPS target for homescreen animations.
To solve this problem, I wrote a little patch (bug 911471) for the layers system that walks the children of a container layer in reverse Z order and accumulates a region of pixels that are guaranteed to be covered by opaque pixels (some layers might be transparent, those are not added to this region). As we make our way through the list of layers, any pixel that is covered by layers we paint later (remember, we are walking in reverse Z order) we don’t have to actually composite. It would be overwritten by an opaque pixel anyway. We use this information to shrink the scissor rectangle the compositor uses to composite each layer. The scissor rectangle describes the bounds of the OpenGL draw operation we use to composite.
Not a perfect solution, yet
This approach is not optimal, because the scissor rectangle is just a rectangle, and the layer might be partially occluded. Such partial occlusion is properly described by the region we are accumulating (regions can consist of multiple rectangles), but when setting the scissor rectangle I have to take the bounds of the region to paint (since GL doesn’t support a scissor region). This can still cause over-composition. However, in essentially every test case I have seen this doesn’t matter. Layers tend to be occluded by exactly one other layer, not by a set of layers partially occluding the layer.
It is possible to precisely solve this problem by splitting the actual draw operation into multiple draws with different scissor rects. This might be slow, however, since it writes to the GPU pipeline multiple times. A faster approach is probably to split the draw into multiple quads and draw all of them with one GPU call. Since this is a rare case to begin with, I am not sure we will need this additional optimization. We can always add it later.The number of women in the United States who are childless is at an all-time high. New research from Kansas State University suggests it may be due to the country's economic downturn.
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey found that nearly half of women between the ages of 15 and 44 are childless, the highest percentage since the Census Bureau started measuring it in 1976. Previous research has found that an individual's early environment is critical to defining their fertility intentions, but there is little research on how changes in the country's current environment affects those fertility intentions.
"There's a life history theory that suggests where you grew up plays a key role in defining your fertility intentions," said Lora Adair, 2015 doctoral graduate in psychological sciences, Crestview, Florida. "Individuals who grow up in a relatively resource-poor, high-mortality environment tend to have more kids at an earlier age -- and women in those environments even menstruate sooner. People who grow up in a relatively resource-rich, low-mortality environment tend to have fewer kids and at a later age so they can pursue other things like going to college and building an economic, career-based legacy before they have kids."
Adair's dissertation, "Family Planning in Context: Sensitivity of Fertility Desires and Intentions to Ecological Cues," sought to find out how these individuals respond to new information about their environment, and if women's changing economic status gives them more decision-making power when it comes to having children.
In her research, Adair exposed individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds to information suggesting a change in their current environment. These changes included an increase in mortality rates -- seemingly unmotivated homicides -- and an increase in economic instability, or an economic downturn. What she found was somewhat surprising.
"People raised in different environments tend to respond differently to that kind of information," Adair said. "People raised in relatively resource-poor environments indicated they would have more children and have them sooner when presented with information about an increase in mortality rates. Contrary to predictions, people raised in resource-poor environments indicated they would have fewer children and delay having children when presented with information that economic conditions have changed for the worse. Those raised in resource-rich environments didn't change their fertility intentions when provided new information."
Adair believes these different decision-making strategies may be based on different world perceptions, with those in a lower socioeconomic environment thinking bad conditions are unpredictable and persistent, whereas people in higher socioeconomic conditions recognize the new information as predictable and temporary.
Her research also found no gender difference in fertility decision-making power. She evaluated 60 couples as they discussed their family planning intentions. She found both men and women equally use concessions, compromise, persuasion, agreement or disagreement when deciding to have children.
"There is a sociological perspective that suggests women's social, economic and political power changes in Western society are leading toward a more egalitarian society and as women gain in this power, the fertility decision moves from being male-dominated to female-dominated," Adair said. "However, my study shows the power is not shifting hands, but becoming more equal. Men and women were weighing in equally to this big life decision."
As America's dynamics and social structures continue to change, Adair believes these environmental factors contribute to changing fertility desires, and could be contributing to the low fertility rates.
"The information you expose people to matters," she said. "Our fertility intentions aren't necessarily just something you're born with; it's a highly malleable thing that changes in response to whether you grow up in an environment seeing resources as something you can rely on, or in one that sees them as something that's highly variable. When you're confronted with new information suggesting your current environment is unreliable, that can completely change the way you see your future in terms of having children."Connecting the term “REMS” and women’s health is not just about getting the seven to nine hours of sound sleep at night recommended by health authorities. REMS also refers to the drug safety restrictions called “Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies” (REMS) that make it possible for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve valuable medicines that would otherwise not be on the market.
Certainly, there is no argument about the value of REMS sleep, but this is not the case with REMS safety protections. A decade has passed since Congress established the nation’s REMS program and now, some lawmakers question whether these safety mechanisms are still necessary. Therefore, it is incumbent on the women’s health community to highlight the unique drug safety challenges facing women and why REMS controls are needed to enhance women’s health.
Prior to 2007 – the year Congress passed the law authorizing REMS – it was not uncommon for the FDA to remove widely used drugs from the market for safety reasons. The problem was many women were left with few or no treatment alternatives for diseases that affect them at significantly higher rates than men.
This is what happened to women with severe irritable bowel syndrome, a disabling gastrointestinal disorder where two in three sufferers are women. The only IBS treatment at the time was withdrawn and women had no recourse at all. Similarly, two months after approving a new therapy for multiple sclerosis, the FDA was forced to remove the drug due to safety challenges with significant consequences for women who are twice as likely to live with this often unpredictable and disabling inflammatory disease.
Congress solved this problem by giving the FDA the authority to mandate REMS controls and now, many women with serious diseases are being treated effectively with therapies that require REMS for safe use. This includes valuable treatments for diseases and conditions that significantly impact women’s lives – from asthma, Crohn’s disease, and IBS to MS, obesity and a number of mental health disorders. Additionally, REMS gave the FDA the pathway to approve the first drug for female sexual dysfunction, a problem that may occur in up to a third of adult women in the U.S.
Beyond access to new treatments, REMS programs protect women and families from the harm that can result when certain potentially lifesaving drugs come with serious risks. By “serious,” the FDA means placing a patient in danger of death, hospitalization, incapacitation or severe injury. In these limited situations, the FDA can require stringent safety precautions called “Elements to Assure Safe Use” that control how a medication is administered by health professionals and taken by patients. To put this into perspective, only 42 medicines are now on the market with these restrictions, representing about 3 percent of the drugs used in the U.S.
It is true that REMS with “Elements to Assure Safe USE” can add extra steps for health professionals and make it more difficult for generic companies to obtain samples for testing purposes. However, these systems ensure patient safety and prevent dangerous complications, such as the terrible birth defects that can result when certain drugs now used in treating cancer and conditions like pulmonary hypertension are not prescribed, administered, and dispensed and taken with utmost care.
I am old enough to remember thalidomide. Today, it is an effective multiple myeloma therapy, but it was also the drug responsible in the 1950s and early 1960s for the birth of more than 10,000 babies worldwide with severely shortened arms or legs and flipper-like hands or feet. At that time, no one knew that thalidomide would cause these malformations when taken during pregnancy. Now, we do and yet, even today, babies in Africa, Brazil and India are born with birth defects from the unsafe use of thalidomide.
REMS also safeguards women’s health by requiring rigorous precautions to stop drug diversion, which is especially significant now that the nation is in the grips of an opioid addiction crisis. According to the American Society of Addictive Medicine, women are at higher risk for addiction to opioids because they are more likely to have chronic pain, be prescribed prescription pain relievers, be given higher doses, and use them for longer time periods than men.
Along the same lines, the FDA uses REMS safety measures to prevent the distribution of drugs involved in sexual assault. Consider sodium oxybate, also known as GHB or gamma-hydroxybutyrate, which treats the most dangerous form of narcolepsy but in the wrong hands is a potent date rape drug. Sadly, rapes assisted by diverted drugs like GHB are all too common – it is estimated that one in six American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape, which is why strict REMS protocols are needed so women will remain safe.
Because patient safety is at stake, policymakers need to know that the REMS program is working for women and families. Even as concerns about the costs of health care continue to drive public policy, we should never lose sight of the important protections now in place to ensure drugs that carry very high risks are handled, manufactured, dispensed and taken appropriately.Donald Trump’s former ghostwriter Tony Schwartz has dissected the president’s attack on the father of a college basketball player.
On Wednesday, the co-author of Trump’s 1987 book The Art of The Deal told CNN’s John Berman that POTUS’ feud with LaVar Ball stemmed from his perception of black people and his standard reaction to being under threat.
Trump recently traded insults with Ball, whose son LiAngelo Ball was one of the three UCLA basketball players detained in China earlier this month on shoplifting charges. Trump took credit for the trio’s release, but Ball dismissed his involvement.
Berman asked whether Trump’s attack was down to “what LaVar Ball said or, as some are alleging, how he looks.”
“Both,” replied Schwartz. “So first of all, [LaVar Ball] is a tall black man, and I think Trump is half awed and half frightened by black people, and his only way of dealing with them is to attack them.”
“On the other hand, I think he has a zero tolerance for any criticism of any kind, that’s why he goes after anybody who says virtually anything about him that’s negative,” he added.
Biographer Michael D’Antonio, who wrote The Truth About Trump, agreed with Schwartz’s analysis.
“I think what Tony said was correct, that there are these dual motivations on his part,” he said. “On the one hand, it is racial; on the other hand, he has very thin skin.”Respected developer Hamza Sood, who earlier this month helped us discover hints at an upcoming more powerful iPad mini, today has shared his latest tweak: the ability to use custom watch faces on Apple Watch. Sood posted a video to Twitter, which can be seen below, showing two custom watch faces running on his stainless steel Apple Watch.
Sylvania HomeKit Light Strip
[tweet https://twitter.com/hamzasood/status/633752345856229376 align=’center’]
Sood has shared the source code that he used to create the custom watch faces to GitHub. For those curious, Sood’s Apple Watch is running the watchOS 2.0 beta. The developer was able to completely integrate his custom watch faces into watchOS, allowing them to be seamlessly chosen from the first-party interface. Sood’s tweak also takes advantage of the Digital Crown, allowing him to change the color of the watch face by moving the crown, similar to how many of Apple’s own watch faces work.
The lack of support for custom watch faces on Apple Watch has been one of the long running complaints regarding the device since its launch earlier this year. It’s unclear at this point if Apple has any plans to support such a feature down the line. watchOS 2 adds several new first-party watch faces, but still lacks support for faces developed by third-parties. Earlier this year, developers also hacked Apple Watch to run UIKit apps on watchOS 1.0.Every once in a while, an article gets posted somewhere in the blogosphere about how Microsoft needs to release a complete Windows rewrite, something along the lines of what Apple did with Mac OS X. Most people realize that Microsoft is in no position to pull a stunt like that at the moment; it's hard to see Microsoft phasing out support for a billion-Windows-PC-strong user base, but that day may one day come, perhaps thanks to robust virtualization technology.
But in the meantime, Microsoft has settled on rewriting bits and parts of the Windows operating system as it sees fit, with Vista being one of the biggest rewrites (a fact which partially explains the many hardware and software compatibility issues XP's successor experienced at launch). Speculation around a non-Windows operating system in the works at Microsoft has been present for years, but recent trustworthy tidbits of information have found their way into the hands of Microsoft ZDNet bloggers Mary Jo Foley and Ed Bott.
First, let's look at similar projects. MinWin, the slimmed-down Windows core was first shown at a demo last year that briefly discussed how Microsoft was optimizing the aging NT kernel. Singularity, on the other hand, is an experimental microkernel and operating system project started in 2003 for which Microsoft posted the source code back in March. Unfortunately for those interested in a complete rewrite, Singularity was developed exclusively for research purposes and is not intended for practical use.
Codename Midori (I wish Microsoft named it "Doors" instead) is a derivative of Singularity that is meant to supersede Windows, and it is more than just a research project. Still, it is not ready to be previewed and it definitely has not got anything to do with Windows 7. Microsoft has put aside substantial resources and has put many bright people behind the project, which is headed by Eric Rudder, but other than that, very little is known. If it ever does debut, it will probably become available some time before CEO Steve Ballmer retires, nine or so years from now.
According to Foley, one theory is that Midori is another "Cairo" attempt, Microsoft's object-oriented operating system that never saw the light of day. Foley expects Midori to look more like Windows than anything else, and that really isn't much of a surprise: if application compatibility goes out the door, Microsoft needs to at least maintain some sort of user interface familiarity.
Bott, on the other hand, believes that Midori won't be replacing Windows at all, and instead will exist alongside the world's most popular operating system. Bott looks at some Windows history to conclude that Midori will likely debut as something along the lines of Windows NT back in 1993: a complete rewrite that took years to adopt because Microsoft made sure that new versions of both Windows and Windows NT were released.
Bott gives three possibilities for where Midori might be used: special-purpose computers such as those that currently run Windows Media Center or Windows Home Server, virtual server machines, and high-performance workstations. Either way, the Windows platform as we know it today should remain untouched; Windows 7's successor is not going to be Midori.
What's your take: If Midori does indeed arrive one day, what approach makes the most sense for Microsoft?
Further reading:Palin Attuned More to Public Will, Less to Job's Details
By Amy Goldstein, Kimberly Kindy and Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 19, 2008
It was three days before the legislature was to go home, and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was frustrated. The state Senate was thwarting a reduction she wanted in the fee for business licenses. So the governor's aides culled records at the state Department of Commerce for the e-mail addresses of nearly 23,000 Alaskan business owners.
Using the addresses, Palin sent a mass "special message" with her official portrait, the state seal and a backdrop of snow-rimmed mountains. "I urge you to contact your senator TODAY," she wrote, enclosing the phone number of every member of the state Senate.
Lawmakers and other critics were livid. The governor, they complained, had misused state records, violating people's privacy and flouting an ethics rule that forbids Alaska's state employees to use information to which they have access for personal or political benefit. Palin insisted she had done nothing wrong. And the legislature reduced the fee.
The episode in April over the license fee, which went from $100 to $50, illustrates central aspects of Palin's style of governing during her 21 months as Alaska's chief executive. According to lawmakers, senior gubernatorial aides and others who have watched her closely, the woman chosen by Republican Sen. John McCain as his vice presidential running mate has little interest in political give-and-take, or in sustained working relationships with legislators or other important figures around the state. Nor has she proven particularly attentive to the details of public policy. "She's not known for burning the midnight oil on in-depth policy issues," said Larry Persily, a former journalist who was associate director of the governor's Washington office until the spring.
But those who know her say Palin, 44, is uncommonly deft at something else: sensing the mood of her constituents, shaping her public messages and harnessing a remarkable personal popularity to accomplish what she wants. "She has an incredible pulse on the public will," said Bruce Botelho, a Democrat who is mayor of Juneau, the state capital.
"She tends to... create a situation where legislators are cornered -- going against her would be political suicide," said John Bitney, who grew up with Palin, was her campaign policy director and became her first legislative liaison.
Her ear for the job insecurities of Alaskans has blended with her pro-business conservatism, making the state's economic development her main priority.
To that end, she has taken on environmental restrictions and members of her own party -- even a co-chairman of her campaign who is a gray eminence of Alaska politics. She has instituted tax breaks that could prove lucrative to small oil and gas exploration firms; sued the Bush administration over listing polar bears as a threatened species because the listing could stop oil drilling; spoken out against a state referendum that could have impeded a giant copper and gold mine proposed near the world's largest salmon run; and sought bids for a geothermal project near a volcano. She favors oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, something McCain has opposed.
Yet Palin has been less ideologically pure than the public image she has cultivated. An avowed fiscal conservative, she has increased state spending by about one-fifth since taking office. An ardent opponent of abortion, she did not fight for measures requiring parental consent and banning the procedure opponents call "partial birth" abortion -- bills the legislature ultimately defeated. A proponent of public safety, she has drawn criticism for devoting too little money to the state police and public safety projects.
Her admirers view her as gutsy and sure-footed; her detractors see her as reckless and insular. She relies heavily on a small coterie of senior advisers, and her husband, Todd, an oilfield worker and commercial fisherman, is present in the statehouse to a degree unusual for a first spouse, sitting in on news conferences, occasional Cabinet meetings and private sessions with lawmakers.
With her independent streak and her method of governing by leveraging her popular appeal, some who know Palin wonder privately how she would adapt as second-in-command in a McCain administration. Others can envision a natural role she might play. "She is going to be the deliverer of the message," said Bitney, who is now chief of staff to the state House speaker, "as opposed to sitting down and hashing out the war strategy for the Mideast."
Palin rose to power at a singular moment in the history of a state whose political culture and economy are unlike those anywhere else in the United States. More than four-fifths of Alaska's revenue comes from oil, and the money is so abundant that, instead of taxing its residents, the state mails every man, woman and child a dividend check each year.
But in 2006, the year the Palin ran for governor, Alaskans also regarded oil as a corrupting influence that had gained too much power. The FBI had been investigating a bribery scandal involving oil lobbyists, and Palin's predecessor, Frank H. Murkowski (R), was the least popular governor in the nation, widely regarded as imperious and secretive for buying a state jet for his use and negotiating privately with the three major oil companies on Alaska's North Slope over plans for an enormous natural gas pipeline that had been discussed for years.
As mayor for six years of her small home town, Wasilla, Palin had defined herself as a social conservative. When she challenged Murkowski in the Republican primary for governor, she campaigned as a reformer who would bring transparency back to government.
"She hears the mood of the electorate very, very well," said Stephen Haycox, a historian at the University of Alaska at Anchorage. "She realized this was a grand opportunity because the voters of the state were now ready for someone to give them an alternative to business as usual."
She vowed to stand up to Big Oil, get a better deal for the state and its people from Alaska's energy resources, and improve political ethics -- stances now cited by the McCain campaign as evidence that Palin is an independent-minded advocate of reform. Unmentioned, Alaska political insiders say, is that the year Palin ran for governor, politicians of both parties were portraying themselves as reformers, too.
"It was just this message of change.... Every single candidate," recalled Bill Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat elected to the state Senate that year. "So there was going to be change regardless of who was in office, as long as it wasn't Frank Murkowski."
Once in the governor's office, Palin swiftly established that she would be different from her predecessor. Murkowski had fired his natural resource commissioner for speaking out against his pipeline plan as too favorable to Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco Phillips. "It truly became a huge giveaway," recalled Marty Rutherford, one of six other senior members of the department who resigned in protest. The group was nicknamed the "Magnificent Seven."
Two months after she took office, Palin hired back the commissioner and made Rutherford a key deputy. They brought with them a framework for a pipeline deal they favored: To protect the state's interest, they would specify requirements that any oil company would have to meet if it decided to build the pipeline. Palin took the idea further, Rutherford said, proposing that the state open the project to competitive bids and create financial incentives for gas exploration. She agreed to her staff's suggestion that the state offer a $500 million inducement.
The move to open competition to anyone willing to build the pipeline was popular, Haycox said. "It appeared to put the state in a position of equality with the oil industry. We don't need to go hat in hand, begging," he said. "Nobody in the state has ever said we should just forget about the oil and gas industry.... She found a middle ground... to say, we do have some leverage."
Still, Palin struck some lawmakers as curiously detached from the process. In early March 2007, she invited the state Senate's leaders to her office for a preview of the pipeline legislation. To the astonishment of the five senators and their aides, she barely said a word for the hour. As staff members explained her signature plan, the governor was preoccupied with her two BlackBerries.
"It was so bizarre. We all talked about it afterwards," said a legislative source, one of three participants in the meeting who recounted the governor's silence. "We all said, 'What was that? Was she even paying attention?' "
Haycox summed up a common criticism of Palin: "She seems as if she is incurious about the mechanism of government."
In the spring of 2007, the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act "was not going well. It was going to be a touchy |
this ever-expanding, politically correct asylum we are imprisoned in? To women and children and men and farm animals who not only love what we do, but who cherish the fact that we CAN do it? Yes, we can. Fuck you if you can't take a joke. I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - "FUCK YOU IF YOU CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!" Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad! You've got to say, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to put up with these overly sensitive morons who can't take a joke anymore". Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the assholes who look at you funny. But first get up out of your chairs, stand up in your cubicles, put down your bongs, zip up your pants and yell, '"FUCK YOU IF YOU CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!" T-Shirt Hell is not going out of business. In fact, we wouldn't leave even if we had to resort to selling dead babies for food when this economy truly hits the fan. Consider Feb, 2009 a fresh start for us. We're going to be bigger, better and more fucked up than before. Worse Than Hell is back. The black lady who writes the most intellectually (anally) stimulating newsletter on the net is back. We're fucking back. But oh...wait...we never actually left. And just so I make this clear. I haven't decided to keep T-Shirt Hell going because of the tens of thousands of supportive emails we received or because of the press and sales we generated over the last 3 weeks (nearly 100,000 shirts sold). We were never...ever...leaving in the first place. Let's just call it tough love. Sometimes you need to kick your loved ones in the assholes to get them to satisfy their need for awesome t-shirts (and to fill my bank account). I know a lot of our fans are stingy motherfuckers and need to be "inspired" to get off their fat asses to spend money in ways that truly enhance lives and bring joy to the world. Well, that's what I did. Let's call it my own personal stimulus package (besides my normal, daily "personal stimulus" if you know what I'm sayin). In 3 weeks, I've done EXACTLY what is needed to stimulate any economy..and that is to get people to open their wallets. Not only did the last 3 weeks save jobs at T-Shirt Hell, they've opened up a whole new world to the people who had never bought our shirts until now. Did you know that 9 out of 10 people who wear T-Shirt Hell shirts actually increase their job security, with 6 of those people getting substantial raises? Did you realize that owning one or more T-Shirt Hell products actually raises the value of your 401k by a minimum of 25%? Were you aware that buying 3 or more T-Shirt Hell shirts at once will actually secure for you the most important seat in the White House? (Member id: barackoutwmcockout44, Name: Barack Obama, Address: Chicago, IL, 3 shirts purchased, November 1st, 2008) Thanks B, we "hope" you're enjoying your "I'd Rather Be Snorting Cocaine Off A Hooker's Ass" tee, your "I Shaved My Balls For This?" hoodie, and quite fittingly, your "Sorry About What Happens Later" ringer. Oh, the irony. What I'm trying to say is this...our shirts are the key to fixing this economy and to getting people back on track. You don't need to thank me because I can feel the gratitude emanating from around the world at this very moment. It's a warm, fuzzy feeling. You're welcome. Now that you know we're not going anywhere, I'd like to take a moment to address something. My feelings on what we do and why we do it are best summarized in this excellent piece by Jacob, one of the writers here at TSH. But the main point I wanted to reiterate is that there is no hatred/intention behind what we do. None. Zero. Zilch. We make stupid jokes for the sake of comedy, nothing more. We enjoy it, our customers enjoy it and my mom enjoys it. No one else matters. There will always be extremists who think we're doing something to tarnish the world and who will fight passionately against us because they misinterpret our actions. I just don't care anymore...and am willing to risk my life (and you can even try to win $50,000 by guessing when and how I get murdered) for the cause. What's the cause again, exactly? Oh, I don't fucking know....to be allowed to make retarded jokes without people taking them so seriously? To have the right to take something that has been a source of pain for so many and to turn it upside down and into a preposterous joke on a t-shirt? Something like that. Since, I'm taking a moment to be genuine (yup, I actually just wrote that out), I want to thank all the people who sent us positive emails over the last 3 weeks. It would take months to answer them all, so, right now I'll just send out a collective "YOU KICK FUCKING ASS AND I WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU ALL" and say thank you for your support and your loyalty. I would NEVER take something away from you that you seem to enjoy so much. Times are tough enough right now and the least we can do is try to make you laugh and help you get through it...seriously. Since I have you here and you've made it this far, allow me to touch on a few other items: 1. I'd like to thank all the feminist bloggers whose articles about how misogynistic we are helped generate tons of sales from their readers who actually enjoy what we do. 2. My legal name is Sunshine Megatron, not Aaron Schwarz...and I'm not Jewish (not saying I wouldn't like to be, I'm just not). Schwarz is not even my father's last name, it's my mom's husband before my father...and it's German. For all those who would like to know my actual background, in order to make jokes at my expense, I will say that I am 4 out of 6 of these possibilities; Black, Irish, Polish, Italian, Yugoslavian, Gay Robot. Have at it. 3. For those who think I've done something like this before, you're wrong. When I originally took down Worse Then Hell back in 2005, it was because someone tried to kill me in response to some of our shirts and we took the section down to protect employees. It legitimately happened and was not a publicity stunt. My current employees are not worried about this kind of thing (thank the economy?), so this is why we're bringing it back. 4. To the entrepreneurs who thought we were actually going out of business and that they would be able to fill the void by starting their own offensive t-shirt companies and to all the existing companies who got their panties wet because it suddenly was going to be their chance to shine. Hahahaha! Sorry, guys. Feel free to bring it on, but remember..the cream always rises to the top...of my dick. 5. The 10% off sale is still on for one more week. Welcome back to everyone and I hope you enjoy the final 9 shirts I'm bringing back from the vault and a new blog entry from Jesus himself. We've gotten so many email comments over the last 3 weeks that we will never be able to get to them, so if you want to say something, just do it in the comments right below this message. Hold on to your seats, the ride to hell is bumpy. Sunshine Megatron Comments (811) - View Comments
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LAKEWOOD, Ohio — It started out as a day of fun in the sun at the Charles A. Foster pool in Lakewood, Ohio last Thursday – but things quickly turned dangerous.
Lifeguard Jack Viglianco, 15, told WJW, "I heard like a 'Help, ah,' kind of thing. And I looked over and I saw a guy who's probably like 3 feet 6 inches, in the 4-foot water and gasping for air."
The victim was a 4-year-old boy at the pool for a summer camp field trip.
Viglianco said the young boy was bobbing up and down, screaming for help.
Not only was it Jack's first day on the job, it was only 20 minutes into his shift, when he had to put the lifesaving skills he had just learned to the test.
"Active drowners can still breathe, and they're still above water, but they are still in the act of drowning,” said Viglianco.
Lakewood aquatics manager Matt Demaline said, "Jack activated our emergency response plan. He got down off the chair and jumped in and helped the kid to safety. He had just completed... a five-hour orientation the day before for all of our new and returning staff and we were ready to go, day one."
Lakewood’s aquatics department says the scary scene proved to be the perfect reminder to parents and caregivers about safety at the pool … knowing things can drastically take a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye.
"Never let them out of your sight," said grandmother Eileen McCray. "That's what I do with her, no matter where we're at or where we go, she can't go where I can't see her.”
As for Jack Viglianco, he says being a lifeguard is a passion and dream come true. His first day on the job, he says, is one he’ll never forget.
"I was realizing that I just saved a kid's life. And that is something not many other people can say. Nothing my friends have ever said."
Between Lakewood’s two public pools, WJW reports there were 42 lifesaving efforts in just the last two summers. All victims were saved, thanks to the well-trained lifeguards on duty.
Below: MORE STORIES FROM THE HEART
Hunter College honors student in viral subway graduation with private ceremony
Ballet dancer leaps onto subway tracks, rescues unconscious man who was pushed onto tracks
NYC commuters unite to remove swastikas inside subway car
Service dog reunited with Army veteran month after being stolen in the BronxAs was predicted in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the Elite have a vested interest in keeping their subjugated populace drugged to the maximum extent possible so that they do not ever wake from their stupor in order to challenge their soft (and sometimes overt) tyranny over them.
Brave New World is a novel written in 1931 by Aldous Huxley, and published in 1932. Set in London in the year AD 2540 (632 A.F.—”After Ford”—in the book), the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, sleep-learning, psychological manipulation, and classical conditioning that combine profoundly to change society.
The “World State” was built upon the principles of Henry Ford’s assembly line: mass production, homogeneity, predictability, and consumption of disposable consumer goods. While the World State lacks any supernatural-based religions, Ford himself is revered as the creator of their society but not as a deity, and characters celebrate Ford Day and swear oaths by his name (e.g., “By Ford!”). In this sense, some fragments of traditional religion are present, such as Christian crosses, which had their tops cut off to be changed to a “T”.
From birth, members of every class are indoctrinated by recorded voices repeating slogans while they sleep (called “hypnopædia” in the book) to believe their own class is superior, but that the other classes perform needed functions. Any residual unhappiness is resolved by an antidepressant and hallucinogenic drug called “soma.”
This is why the Oligarchy/Plutocracy supports a vibrant pharmaceutical industry, consisting predominantly of anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, and anti-human emotion drugs.
As was explained in ZeroHedge’s article by Michael Snyder in “The Drugging Of America Summarized In 19 Mind-Altering Facts,” the author makes the points that:
“The American people are the most drugged people in the history of the planet…Illegal drugs get most of the headlines, but the truth is that the number of Americans that are addicted to legal drugs is far greater than the number of Americans that are addicted to illegal drugs…close to 70 percent of all Americans are currently on at least one prescription drug…In addition, there are 60 million Americans that ‘abuse alcohol’ and 22 million Americans that use illegal drugs…What that means is that almost everyone that you meet is going to be on something. That sounds absolutely crazy but it is true…We are literally being drugged out of our minds…there are 70 million Americans that are taking ‘mind-altering drugs’ right now…If it seems like most people cannot think clearly these days, it is because they can’t…We love our legal drugs and it is getting worse with each passing year…And considering the fact that big corporations are making tens of billions of dollars peddling their drugs to the rest of us, don’t expect things to change any time soon…”
The pharmaceutical industry funds with billions of dollars medical doctor and scientific whores who have categorically declared that the vast majority of Americans are bona fide, “mentally ill,” and thus require immediate, consistent, and long-term medication.
As was recited in the article “Psychiatrists: the drug pushers” published by The Guardian, “They say failed doctors become psychiatrists, and that failed psychiatrists specialize in drugs.” The article asks the seminal question: “Is the current epidemic of depression and hyperactivity the result of disease-mongering by the psychiatric profession and big pharma? Does psychiatry have any credibility left at all?”
Unfortunately the long-term effects on the population are that the best and brightest, the ones who can easily gauge and determine just what exactly is wrong with the way the planet is being run, are often times the most depressed, and therefore deemed to be “mentally ill.”
The Psychiatric Times issued an obviously well-hidden article by the Oligarchs/Plutocrats entitled “The Association Between Major Mental Disorders and Geniuses” wherein it was shown that:
“There exists an association between creativity and major mental disorders known since antiquity. The ancient Greeks considered both as “having been touched by the gods.” Aristoteles, in his perspicacity, stated, “There is no genius without having a touch of madness.” This phenomenon has been verified repeatedly in studies in the past. Does one phenomenon cause the other or do both share a common underlying factor or mechanism? How are geniuses able to accomplish “creative fits”? Although the proposed origin and mechanism of the brain function of creative geniuses is novel, empirical evidence is available to support this theory. Empirical evidence demonstrates that creativity and major mental disorders share a common pool made up of individuals with an extreme temperamental variant who, if endowed with other qualities (eg, high intelligence, tenacity, curiosity, energy) and live in a nurturing and complementary zeitgeist, can be creative geniuses. On the other hand, persons with a similar temperament but who do not have the additional qualities form a common pool of individuals who are at increased risk for a major mental disorder.”
The early-on “diagnosis” and forced drug administration immediately silences and stifles creativity and problem-solving abilities, not to mention the motivation to undo the wrongs of the world, and renders the world’s people leaderless.
The Oligarch/Plutocrat’s favorite and most highly funded publications, such as the Huffington Post, eschew mercilessly and repeatedly that “Early Detection for Mental Illness Is a Must,” while preaching on and on about today’s young geniuses needing to be clipped right from the beginning, before they do any real or meaningful damage to the existing status quo, which is often pretty evil.
These articles go on ad nauseam about how it is absolutely essential to “take out” these geniuses of society, as early as possible, for the ultimate benefit of the ruling class.
And this is exactly what the Oligarchs/Plutocrats want.Better Relations Day
Better Relations Day started in 1948 by the Presidents of both Auburn University and the University of Alabama, it was founded to build and promote the best possible athletic relationship between the two schools in hopes of leaving our spirited rivalry on the field.
Student representatives of Auburn and Alabama began arranging joint meetings to plan for friendly cooperation between the two student bodies. Expanding this unique tradition to the University of Georgia, Better Relations Day has grown to encompass the exchange of not only leadership ideas and policies, but also to increase the quality of our peer institutions.
This year, the universities of Alabama and Georgia will host Better Relations Days.
The University of Alabama’s BRD will be held Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016.
The University of Georgia’s BRD will be held Friday, Nov. 11, 2016.
ContactEMBED >More News Videos Drive-by shooting ends in man shot in driveway.
A father of two was gunned down in his own driveway early this morning in southwest Houston.Now police are searching for the killer. It happened on Windswept Lane at Unity Drive. Tomas Gonzalez, 35, may have been followed home last night. He was shot and killed before he could get inside his town home.Isabel Zapeta, Gonzalez's mother-in-law, heard three gun shots outside her family's town home just before midnight.Zapeta said, "When I heard the gunshots I quickly started looking for my keys and thought, 'Oh Lord, what happened?' He just left.")When the family went outside they found Gonzalez's body.The father of two died in the drive way after returning from a restaurant with food for his family.Zapeta said, "When I saw him, he was right there laying down and my daughter was crying over him."Family members say Gonzalez may have been followed as he made his way home. Police say Gonzalez was not robbed.Gonzalez owned small clothing shop, he was a native of Guatemala but had been living in the United States for 16 years. His family is devastated by the loss.Francisco Santiso, Gonzalez's father-in-law, said, "We want Tomas to rest in peace and my condolences to the family. We cannot do anymore, we know that God is in charge."People love to talk about the growth of soccer in this country— the growth of MLS, player development, visibility, etc… but there is often one very important aspect of US soccer’s growth that is often overlooked—officiating.
On June 14th, 2014, just 3 days into a World Cup, Colombia took on Greece, and Mark Geiger, a former high school math teacher, became the first US referee to officiate a World Cup match in 12 years.
According to Steve Davidson, a former MLS and FIFA assistant referee, and Soccer Referee USA contributor, American referees have historically had a tough time being selected from the CONCACAF region.“For a very long time, American referees were assumed to be less knowledgeable and inexperienced… and therefore not qualified to perform in the World Cup.” This should sound familiar to US soccer fans as it is exactly the prevailing perception of US Soccer as a whole which the team worked so hard to shed throughout the 90’s.
It was a perception that US Soccer was able to break, first by slowly chipping away at it throughout the 90’s and eventually by achieving that breakthrough moment in 2002 when the US announced itself to the world by nearly besting Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals.
According to Steve Davidson, the perception of US refereeing followed a similar trajectory. “That freeze started to thaw in 1990 with Vincent Mauro and in 1998 with Esse Baharmast. In 2002, Brian Hall broke the glass ceiling by performing extremely well in South Korea/Japan — that was probably the biggest break-through moment for American officials.”
Of course, in the eyes of the world, the USMNT’s success in 2002 did little more than elevate US Soccer from being viewed as a minnow, to being viewed as a slightly bigger fish in a tank of sharks. US players still have a tough time breaking into mid to lower table European sides. US coaches are only now breaking into Europe, albeit in small second tier European leagues, and American referees have been absent from the World Cup for 12 years.
This brings us back to the June 14th matchup between Colombia and Greece during which American referee Mark Geiger put this streak to an end. When Mark stepped onto that field, there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders, as his performance would reflect on both MLS and US Soccer. To make matters worse, the first two days of the tournament had seen some truly poor refereeing, putting all match officials under extra scrutiny. It was a lot of pressure, but Mark Geiger did not disappoint.
According to World Soccer Talk, “Geiger and his AR’s put on a masterclass of officiating. There were no controversies to speak of… He issued 3 cautions in a manner that was prompt and effective. When the players were falling to the ground and asking for a foul to be given, Geiger had none of it and told them to get back up.”
His crew’s performance impressed FIFA so much that they were awarded a second assignment before many of the world’s most respected refs had received their first. The second assignment was also much larger in scale— a winner take all game between Chile and Spain, and once again, Mark did not disappoint.
“Our North American hybrid team of Mark Geiger, Sean Hurd and Joe Fletcher has had two very strong performances,” Steve tells me. As a contributor at Soccer Referee USA, Steve regularly reviews referee performances and gave glowing praise to Geiger and his team. “In addition to making consistently accurate decisions, they have displayed tremendous self-confidence, and when the situation demanded it, grace under pressure. They have earned very high marks for their work on both games.”
For a complete and more technical assessment of Geiger’s performance, you can read Steve Davidson’s assessment here— but needless to say, his performance led many to speculate that he had earned a spot in the final 16, and on Saturday, FIFA made it official by awarding him the round of 16 match between France and Nigeria.
For Mark, this is an outstanding achievement, and one that is well deserved, as he has consistently been one of the best refs in CONCACAF for quite some time. “Mark has an excellent feel for the game,” Steve tells me. “I think he expresses his feelings (empathy, concern, disappointment, even anger) effectively to players — his whistle tone, his body language and mechanics and his selective and timely verbal communication (transcending language barriers) have all been excellent.”
And for Steve, the performance of Mark Geiger is about more than Mark Geiger. It’s a matter of pride— a new benchmark to show the rest of the world just how far referee development has come in this country. “There’s no question that, through the first two games, Mark has elevated the stature and perception of our officials to an even higher level.”
Of course, fans will never cheer on Mark Geiger with the same zeal they have embraced our national team this World Cup, but in many ways, his performance reflects equally as much on US soccer. “It speaks volumes about soccer’s development here in the United States,” Steve points out, “and about the rapid growth of Major League Soccer where our referees are tested week in and week out.”
I believe Steve is spot on with this assessment. When we talk about the growth of US soccer over the years, we are not talking about a single entity. We are talking about a giant machine composed of many parts, and in order for this machine to succeed, these parts must succeed in tandem. It is no mere coincidence that Brian Hall was successful enough to be given a second game in the very tournament that the US team made it to the quarter-finals in 2002. The USMNT that year was anchored by MLS players, and Brian Hall was proof that the growth of the league had provided a springboard for both players and referees.
Every aspect of soccer development in this country, from the players, to the coaches, to the referees, is intertwined, and it is also not a coincidence that Mark Geiger, an MLS referee, has had so much success in a tournament that an MLS heavy USMNT fought their way out of the hardest World Cup group we have ever been drawn into. And now we find our self in a situation where Mark Geiger will make history on Monday when he takes the field to officiate the round of 16 match between France and Nigeria, becoming the first US ref to ever receive a 3rd assignment (4th if you count his assignment as the fourth official in the now infamous Uruguay v Italy game) in a World Cup. If Mark Geiger and crew continue their stellar form, there is no telling how far they can go in this tournament.
The very next day, the USMNT will also to attempt to make history when they face off against a very beatable team in Belgium in the round of 16. If they manage to pull off a win, they will advance to the quarter-finals for only the third time in our nation’s history. Here they would face off against either Argentina or Switzerland— tough opponents, but also very beatable. If they survive this round, the US will make the semi-finals for the first time since 1930. Could US Soccer be on the precipice of another watershed moment? Who knows? Regardless of the outcome, US Soccer is definitely making a statement to the world—US Soccer is on the rise.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @SeanSteffen. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
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Main Photo:Starting from the end of November, Queen Mary's Particle Physics Research Centre is the sole recipient of the T2K experiment data. The T2K Collaboration is a 500-strong alliance of scientists in 12 countries, who have come together to investigate the ghostly neutrino.
Physicist Dr Francesca Di Lodovico said: "Trillions of neutrinos pass through our bodies every second, but you don't notice; they pass through space and the Earth with almost no effect. This makes neutrinos very difficult to study and yet they are thought to play a fundamental role in the formation of the Universe and understanding where we came from."
Neutrinos come from outer space, either shot out from the Sun, or left over from the Big Bang. But despite their abundance, techniques to understand their nature have only been developed in the last few decades, giving surprising results.
"Theories predict there should be three types of neutrinos," Dr Di Lodovico explained. "Unexpectedly, early data seems to suggest that they can change type from one to another, an observation which has profound implications on our understanding of the Universe."
By firing the most intense neutrino beam ever designed, underground from Tokai on the east coast of Japan to a detector on the country's west coast, it is now possible to observe what happens to the particles as they travel through our planet. Do they change type? And if so, why?
Scientists hope that neutrinos could be the key to understanding how the Universe has evolved over time and teach us more about deep-space events like supernovas, active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts. They could even explain one of the biggest mysteries of the universe; why we have lots of'matter', but only tiny amounts of 'anti-matter'.
Dr Di Lodovico says: "T2K will quickly advance our understanding of the strange properties of the enigmatic neutrino to unprecedented precision. Within a year, we will be able explore neutrino properties beyond the reach of the current experiments and shed light on the unknown."Pakistan outreach could aid Afghan settlement
Positive progress?
Pakistani authorities have reportedly begun making contact with some of the country’s historical adversaries in Afghanistan, including primarily non-Pashtun political leaders who have criticized Pakistan for supporting the Pashtun-dominated Taliban (AP). The new diplomatic outreach could bode well for a successful political settlement in Afghanistan.
Last week, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Amb. Marc Grossman, sparked furor in Afghanistan with an off-hand comment endorsing the Durand Line that separates Afghanistan from Pakistan (NYT). The border was drawn by the British in the late 19th century and remains a contentious issue in Afghanistan, but the disproportionate response to Amb. Grossman’s comment is a sign of deeper distrust and worry on the part of Afghans today as NATO begins withdrawing and the nation’s myriad challenges remain.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday released the contracting firm DynCorp International from its responsibility constructing an Afghan Army base in Kunduz Province, citing a recent audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction that found "structural failures, improper grading and new sinkholes" at the site (Post). Also on Friday, Taliban militants pulled five Afghan civilians off of a bus in Ghazni Province and shot them dead (AP).
Brave words
The father of 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants earlier this month, arrived with the rest of his family in Birmingham on Friday, where they saw Malala for the first time since the attack (AP, Reuters, NYT, LAT). Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai called her recovery "a miracle," and vowed, "she will rise again."
Pakistani politician Imran Khan, who is a fierce critic of U.S. drone strikes, said Saturday that U.S. officials pulled him off a New-York-bound plane in Toronto for questioning (CNN, Tel, Reuters, Guardian, BBC, The News). Khan said the immigration officers questioned him about using "violence against drones," which he called "ridiculous." Khan missed his flight because of the questioning.
A remote-controlled bomb exploded on Sunday outside the shrine of a Sunni saint in Nowshera City in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least four and wounding 25 (AP, Dawn, ET/AFP).
First for everyone
Pakistani thrill-seeker Namira Salim is set to become the first Pakistani in space when she boards a flight with the Virgin Galactic space tourism project next year (The News). Salim is no stranger to headlines; in 2007 she became the first Pakistani to go to the north pole, and in 2008 became the first Pakistani to visit the south pole.
— Jennifer RowlandThe Great Gabbo (1929) is an American Pre-Code early sound musical drama film directed by James Cruze, based on a story ("The Rival Dummy") by Ben Hecht and starring Erich von Stroheim and Betty Compson.[1]
As originally released by Sono Art-World Wide Pictures, the film featured sequences in Multicolor. The current prints, restored by the Library of Congress and released by Kino International on DVD, now exist only in black and white.
Footage from the film was used on Fractured Flickers in the segment "Hymie und Me" (Episode 14), in which the dummy is presented as a real living comedian with von Stroheim as his straight man.
Plot [ edit ]
The movie follows brilliant ventriloquist "The Great Gabbo" (Stroheim), who increasingly uses his dummy "Otto" as his only means of self-expression—an artist driven insane by his work.
Gabbo's gimmick is his astonishing ability to make Otto talk—and even sing—while Gabbo himself smokes, drinks and eats. Gabbo's girlfriend and assistant Mary (Betty Compson) loves him, but is driven to leave him by his megalomania, superstitions, irritability, and inability to express any human emotion without using Otto as an intermediary. In Otto's voice Gabbo accepts the blame for Mary's leaving and recounts all the things she did for him, but as Gabbo he denies his feelings and tells the dummy to shut up.
Two years later, Gabbo has become a nationally renowned ventriloquist. He is revered for his talent even as he is ridiculed for his eccentricity: he takes Otto with him everywhere he goes, even dining out with him, providing much entertainment to the restaurant patrons. Despite his success he continues to pine for Mary, who is now romantically involved with another singer/dancer, Frank (Donald Douglas). With both Mary and Frank performing in a show in which Gabbo is the headliner, he attempts to win her back. Mary is charmed by Gabbo's new romantic behavior, driving Frank to angry fits of jealousy. As his courtship meets with continued success, Gabbo increasingly expresses his emotions to Mary directly, without using Otto.
One day Gabbo finds that in his absence, Mary has straightened up his dressing room the way she always used to. Convinced that she wants to come back to him, he confronts her with his feelings, admitting his loneliness without her and in the process revealing that he has grown past many of his old failings, such as his superstitions and obsession with his personal success. However, Mary tells him that she loves Frank, and has been married to him since before Gabbo came back into her life. She says that she missed Otto but not Gabbo, and in a last farewell she says "I love you" to Otto.
In profound frustration at this, after Mary is gone Gabbo punches Otto in the face, but immediately apologizes and embraces the dummy, weeping. He then storms onto the stage during the finale and loudly rants at the performers. He is forced off the stage and fired from the show. Mary tries to confront Gabbo afterwards, but he only looks at her sadly and walks away. The film ends with workers taking down the letters of "The Great Gabbo" from the marquee as Gabbo looks on.
Cast [ edit ]
Production [ edit ]
Touted in advertising as an "all-dialog singing, dancing and dramatic spectacle", this early sound film oddly interleaves stark drama with gratuitous full-length, large-scale, on-stage musical production numbers such as "Every Now and Then", "I'm in Love with You", "The New Step", "The Web of Love", and the now-missing "The Ga Ga Bird", which was filmed in color. The "Web of Love" number, in which the performers wear stylized spider and fly costumes, is occasionally shown on Classic Arts Showcase. Footage from the dance sequences was re-used with different music in The Girl from Calgary (1932).
The public domain version available on Internet Archive runs 68 minutes, while the original film ran 96 minutes, including the exit music. The opening credits mention "Color sequences by Multicolor", but those sequences are now either lost or have survived only in black-and-white form. Multicolor, based on the earlier Prizma color process, went out of business in 1932; its assets were bought by Cinecolor.
The quality and clarity of the film sound is notable.
A 94 minute public domain version is now available.[2]
Response [ edit ]
The Great Gabbo opened to lukewarm reviews. Stroheim received good notices, but the film did nothing to further his career.[3] Photoplay called the film "a bitter disappointment... Cruze seems to have lost his sense of humor, and the lighting and scenario are terrible."[4] The New York Times review commented unfavorably on the technical quality of the color sequences. Historian Arthur Lennig wrote that The Great Gabbo "betrays little inventiveness and shows few of its actors to advantage." He notes that, due to obvious budget constraints, several line-flubs by cast members made it into the final cut.[5]
Soundtrack [ edit ]
"Every Now and Then"
Sung by Marjorie Kane and Donald Douglas
"I'm In Love With You"
Sung by Betty Compson and Donald Douglas Written by Lynn Cowan and Paul Titsworth
"The New Step"
Sung by Marjorie Kane and chorus Written by Lynn Cowan and Paul Titsworth
"I'm Laughing"
Sung by Otto the dummy, with Erich von Stroheim Written by King Zany and Donald McNamee
"Icky" (the lollipop song)
Sung by Otto the dummy, with Erich von Stroheim
"The Web Of Love"
Sung by Betty Compson and Donald Douglas Written by Lynn Cowan and Paul Titsworth
"The Ga Ga Bird"
(missing from known prints but major production number glimpsed among Gabbo's hallucinations)
See also [ edit ]With climate change at the forefront of many voters’ minds this election season, this Earth Day (mark your calendar for Friday, April 22!) is the perfect time to brush up on your knowledge of the environmental movement, its current goals and the challenges it faces, and — most importantly — how your vote this November will influence the future of our natural world. One great way to do that: by diving into some books on the environment, in honor of Earth Day. And I've put together this list to get you started.
2016 marks the 46th anniversary of Earth Day, a national holiday that began in April of 1970, and was established to raise both national and global awareness of issues concerning the environment, and the role we humans must play in preserving the planet. On that first Earth Day, over 20 million Americans participated in public demonstrations — fighting against issues like oil spills, pesticides, the loss of the wilderness, and the subsequent extinction of wildlife. The Earth Day Movement is still rallying against these, and many more, challenges to the environment today.
Here are 11 books to read in honor of Earth Day. And, you know, since this year’s Earth Day theme is “Trees For Earth” — with a goal of planting 7.8 billion new trees worldwide — consider saving a little paper by reading all these titles on your favorite e-reader.
1. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein
If you don’t already know Naomi Klein is a force to be reckoned with, then her latest book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate will definitely have you convinced. This books takes everything the mainstream media has ever told you about climate change and turns it inside out — exploring the reality of who profits from ignoring climate change, and who suffers. But among these grave truths is a message of hope, as Klein also gives voice to places around the world where the fight to protect our planet has already seen notable successes. This one is a mind-blow |
But it isn't, and she is left to wonder whether she will ever be happy, as we, her friends, question the extent to which we should be monitoring her and maybe even controlling who she sees.
A few months ago, I grew so enraged with my friend's plight and so tired of asking myself over and over what I could do to break the vicious cycle and improve my relationship with my mother, that I decided to use the medium I'm most familiar with to go in search of answers.
Beyond my own personal story, I wanted to learn about how readily accessible treatment is for those suffering from mental illnesses in different parts of the world. The figures did not look good.
It is estimated that only one third of people affected by mental disorders get help. In the developing world, more than 75 percent of people affected receive no care at all.
According to Professor Graham Thornicroft, a professor of Community Psychiatry at King's College, London, in the majority of countries, less than two percent of health funding goes toward mental healthcare.
Worldwide, more than 800,000 people commit suicide every year. That is one suicide almost every 40 seconds.
And the economic cost of mental illness is high – in many Western countries, it is the leading cause of disability and costs some three percent of GDP.
Filming the strong in Paris
My journey started in Paris, with my mother.
Although she was the starting point for this film and crucial to making it, I dreaded asking her and secretly hoped she'd decline when I did. But she immediately said yes.
For the first time, she was being what I'd always expected her to be – stronger than me.
Other people I spoke to for the film made me realise how important it is to talk about mental illness, beginning within the family.
Compared to other industrialised countries, France hasn't been able to create a very inclusive environment for the mentally ill. Medication is often the only form of treatment offered to those with severe psychological illnesses in France.
But a well-known French psychiatrist, Dr Christian Gay, who specialises in treating bipolar disorders, explained to me that medication could only treat the "biological" component of an illness. Other forms of therapy and having a good social life were vital to a full recovery, he said.
Feature: Disease, discrimination and dignity
The Club House is an organisation that started in the US. It supports the mentally ill whose professional lives have been disrupted by their disorder, via local community centres where they can gather and participate in a wide range of activities. This kind of initiative isn't widespread in France but it's starting to exist. There is now one Clubhouse in Paris, run by people – doctors, academics and professionals from different backgrounds - who I choose to call "mental health activists".
"People think that if you have a mental illness, you can't work," Claire Hatala, one of the founders, told me. She has dedicated her work as a sociologist to improving working conditions for the mentally ill, while also ensuring that companies benefit from those improvements.
"I met people who struck me a lot. They told me about their illness and how it was for them at work. I was very touched by them," she explained. "The way they saw their work life pushed me to ask how the professional world could become more inclusive …. What can we do so people take these issues seriously, even though they are not ergonomic or technology related? That's how I joined a charity where big CEOs were discussing special needs at work, and how companies could use this as a strategic lever."
I spoke to at least three people for this film that had suffered a severe mental illness but still worked. Among them was Florent Babillote, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was 20 years old. His story finally gave me a little bit of hope.
On the day he found out that he had schizophrenia - after violently attacking his father, as he had convinced himself that he had another family in Brazil – he thought his life was over.
But, after years of concealing his illness, he eventually wrote a book about it: winning his battle against the disease and the stigma surrounding it. He had turned schizophrenia into a creative strength.
I left France feeling reassured that, even if there was still a lot to do, especially in rural areas, the country was moving in the right direction; embracing new forms of therapy and treatments, like mindfulness, which Dr Gay now practices in his office.
A slap in the face in Cote d'Ivoire
On the flight to Abidjan, I felt a mixture of stress and excitement. I hadn't been back since 2008, when the country was still entangled in a 10 year long political crisis. The election of a new president after years of dictatorship had transformed the country for the better.
At the Deux Plateaux district, Abidjan's little Manhattan, we met Professeur Delafosse, the man in charge of the National Mental Health Programme. He elaborated on the different cultural approaches to mental health in Europe and Africa, and assured us that Cote d’Ivoire was on the right track.
But what we found on the ground wasn't what he had described.
We drove a few hours inland, to Bouaké. We had arranged to spend the week with Grégoire Ahongbonon, a man from Benin who launched a small NGO, the Association Saint Camille, to help those who had been rejected by their families and society in general. He calls them "the Forgotten" – most of them suffer from the most severe forms of mental disorders, but there are also some with epilepsy.
Grégoire is a devout man who suffered depression after losing his business in the early 1980s. He was, he says, saved by a priest who took him on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Religion plays an important role in the Association, which doesn't get any funding from the Ivorian government or public organisations. It relies on donations and charities. Grégoire's recruits and helpers are all Christian believers and the small clinic we visited, a few hours’ drive from Bouaké, is run by nuns.
Grégoire has made himself known through parts of Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Togo for rescuing mentally ill people who've been put in chains by their families. He is the only recourse for hundreds of people with mental disabilities.
We followed him on two rescue missions. One woman, Amenan, was sleeping on the dusty ground, her right ankle tied to a tree. When we took her with us, after Grégoire summoned the whole village and explained that her illness could be cured, she expressed no feelings at all. No joy, gratitude or relief. She was with us physically, but not mentally.
The other woman, Loukou, displayed the same emptiness in her eyes when Grégoire freed her. Her brother told us that he hadn't known what option he had other than tying her to a rock, after she'd become violent and even burned down the house he'd built for her.
Putting a sick person in chains is unforgiveable, but I felt compassion for this poor man all the same.
In Cote d'Ivoire, many people turn to sects to solve their problems – it can be a lucrative business.
Some run prayer camps; places where overwhelmed families send their mentally ill relative to be prayed upon while tied to a tree.
This can go on for weeks, months, years even. I met many people who'd been through one before they were eventually rescued by Grégoire. It seemed to be the norm.
My last striking memory from our stay in Africa was the children of mentally ill women who lived inside the St Camille's shelter.
The crew and I were the best entertainment they'd had in a long time. They kept asking us to take pictures of them and I felt we were their only window on the world.
They were happy and bubbly but I wonder how they will be dealing with their mothers' disorder and their own lives as adults.
The beginning of another journey
I met again with my mother in her cosy Parisian apartment. The contrast with Africa was incredible and my guilt star was shining bright and strong right above my head. It was no great revelation that my problems were insignificant compared to the difficulties faced by the people I'd met, but still, when I showed my mother the pictures I took in Bouaké, something clicked in my mind. It had taken a while, but I had finally started to feel empathy for her and shame at myself. It had taken all this time ….
I realise that, for somebody who has never witnessed a parent falling into depression, it must be difficult to understand how I could resent her in the first place – she was sick and just needed help. But my own suffering had blinded me.
And now the story had grown much bigger. It was no longer about me and my mother, but about me and mental illness in general.
After Paris we travelled to London, where we met Graham Thornicroft, a professor of Community Psychiatry at King's College, London. He confirmed what Grégoire had hinted at – mental health is not given a high enough priority globally and people die unnecessarily because of this.
He called it a "scandal" and stressed that it should be included in the UN's sustainable development goals, which would, he believes, encourage governments and well-funded international organisations to invest in mental health, as they did with Aids and Tuberculosis in Africa. Since our meeting, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank have announced that they will be co-hosting a meeting on global mental health, which will look, in particular, into depression and anxiety.
This film is just a small contribution to, hopefully, changing attitudes towards mental illness. We found out while making it that one in four people in the world will suffer a mental illness in their lifetime. It is a reality we can no longer ignore, a public health matter that needs to be addressed urgently, worldwide.
Source: Al JazeeraThe second group of Russian sappers with Uran-6 robotic systems and armored vehicles has arrived at the Hmeimim air base in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry’s press service said on Friday."The second group of specialists of the Russian Armed Forces’ international anti-mine center, Uran-6 robotic demining systems and armored vehicles equipped with suppressors of radio-controlled fuses and radio-controlled explosive devices have arrived at the Hmeimim aerodrome in the Syrian Arab Republic. The convoy of military engineers will soon march to the target area of demining infrastructure facilities and historical part of the city of Palmyra," the ministry said.The Syrian army said at the end of March that it liberated the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site, with support from the Russian air group. Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria’s Homs province, was seized by gunmen of the Islamic State (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) in early summer 2015.Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that first servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces’ international anti-mine center had arrived in Syria. A military-diplomatic source told TASS that around 100 specialists will take part in the operation. The demining will be completed in several months at the very least, the source added.The head of the main operations directorate of the Russian General Staff, Sergey Rudskoy, told reporters on Thursday that over 180 hectares of architectural-historical and residential areas of Palmyra will have to be demined."Demining works are complicated by the fact that apart from standard industrially manufactured mines, terrorist groups left in Palmyra many hand-made explosive devices," he added reminding that special Uran-6 robotic systems will be used in the most difficult areas.Syrian sappers say 1230 mines rendered harmless in PalmyraThe second video: footage emerged on Wednesday showing the last preparations of Russian sappers on a training field in Nakhabino, Moscow region, before their departure to Palmyra where they will take part in mine clearance.btw where are USA/GB/Saudi teams of sappers? I though they want to help Syria or am I wrong?In this Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016, photo, participants from Taiwan watch their robots playing a soccer match during the World Robot Olympiad in New Delhi, India. The weekend games brought more than 450 teams of students from 50 countries to the Indian capital. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) The Associated Press
By RISHABH R. JAIN, Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — Whizzing around a green felt table chasing a soccer ball beaming infrared light, the boxy robot shoots — and scores — and wins its Taiwanese teenage creators first prize at this year's student robot games.
The two breadbox-sized scooters, playing goalie and kicker, from the team called "Wings of Storm" were up against another Taiwanese team's robots in the "Football" category of the World Robot Olympiad held over the weekend in the Indian capital of New Delhi.
"We have been practicing since primary school," said Liaw Jia-wun, 15, thrilled to have won with his teammate. "We never in our lives could think that we would win the world championship."
Other categories at the robotics championships — attended by more than 450 teams from 50 countries — asked participants to create robotics solutions to reduce or recycle waste, leading teams to build robots that emptied trash bins or scooped up building debris for future use.
Some participants were as young as 6 years old, while others were approaching university graduation.
In the more advanced robotics category, robots had to be preprogrammed for the automated challenge of picking up mini bowling balls and knocking down pins. That meant the robots had to sense where the target was and hit it without any intervention from their creators.
The idea is to teach students computer programming as robotics moves beyond factory applications to everyday functions, said engineer Dominic Bruneau, the head coach for the Canadian teams.
"More and more, we will be interacting with robots" in our daily lives, Bruneau said. The student engineers are not just working on theory but are "doing practical work of building real stuff and trying to solve problems."
South African teacher and coach Nicky Du Plessis said the games helped kids develop key skills.
"We start with the fundamentals. We believe that if kids can start from a very young age... it teaches them how to build," she said. "Then it teaches them logical thinking. How to change something quickly."Introduction
When your character takes an action in play, hopefully it makes sense to you. You can imagine it with some clarity, and you have an instinctive sense of how things work that allows you to have fun without overthinking it. Consider the number of calculations that go into punching someone: are your hands free? Can you move them? Are you close enough? Have you balled your hands into fists in preparation?
We don’t stop and talk through those steps in play because we understand them implicitly to be part of the act of punching. This clarity thins as we move into areas outside common experience, but by and large, you can grasp the chain of action that goes into things.
Sufficiently misunderstood action is indistinguishable from magic.
Magic upends this. We don’t have the same foundation of experience to reference when we start throwing around thunder and lighting. So we try to find rules and logic that make the magical more familiar to us, and that’s something of a paradox. Magic is, by its nature, a creation of fiction, and writers and creators are more interested in how it helps them tell stories than any kind of internal rules.
Games, on the other hand, need rules. The consistency of rules makes behavior—without rhyme or reason, it’s just madness.
The good news is that there’s a sweet spot that you can aim for. While it’s true that magic is a convenience of authors, those who use it willy-nilly produce tepid, mushy fantasy. Giving magic rules is not just good gaming, it’s good fiction. If you can find the spot where those two priorities overlap, then you’ve got the workings of a great magic system.
The Basics
The simple test for this is whether or not your magic system makes sense without the game.
This is backwards from the way a lot of games feel. Coming up with the mechanical basis for a magic system is a lot of fun, and it is often the first thing we do with a new system, but this largely ends up perpetuating magic systems we already know from games where ideas and rules don’t mesh.
The greatest example of a magic system is “Vancian” magic, called such because it’s based off the books of the late, great Jack Vance, where wizards memorize spells, then forget them after casting. This should be familiar as the basis for magic in D&D, and whatever one thinks of its implementation in D&D and related games, it definitely instituted a number of rules—spellbooks, spells per level, and so on—to capture that idea. If you want to base your magic on Vance, then you’re picking some great source material. The trap to avoid is not to base your magic on someone else’s interpretation of Vance.
To put it another way, magic is not just an excuse to add spells to your game. Magic says incredibly important things about your game and your setting, and if you don’t think those things through, you are going to end up with a thinly painted-on layer of magic that will quickly chip and fade.
What Is Magic?
So what is magic and how does it work?
There’s no single answer to that, and while that’s rather the point, it’s also intensely frustrating. You could say magic is a way to do things that are otherwise impossible, or an alternate means of doing things that are possible, but that falls short. You could bust out some Arthur C. Clarke and just treat it as a different kind of science. You could treat it as a system of prices, risks, and rewards. You could consider it something that comes from someone else—someone horrible or wonderful, depending.
You’d still be missing things, but for ease of application we’re going to seize upon a few key threads and boil it down to these five factors:
Tone : Is magic a neutral force, a flavored force, or something with opinions?
: Is magic a neutral force, a flavored force, or something with opinions? Cost : Does magic demand a price, a risk, or neither?
: Does magic demand a price, a risk, or neither? Limits : Does magic follow strict rules? Is it flexible and open-ended? What are the limits on magic?
: Does magic follow strict rules? Is it flexible and open-ended? What are the limits on magic? Availability : Is magic universally available, so everyone in a setting might have it? Is it rare enough that only some people have it, possibly including all the PCs? Or is it rare enough that only one or two PCs might have access to it?
: Is magic universally available, so everyone in a setting might have it? Is it rare enough that only some people have it, possibly including all the PCs? Or is it rare enough that only one or two PCs might have access to it? Source: Where does magic come from?
Tone
The first factor speaks to the nature of magic itself. Neutral magic is a force, like electricity or gravity, which is simply implemented like a tool, while a flavored force either responds to or is inclined towards certain outcomes. The most common example of this is a magic that tends towards the dark and the light, and which perhaps operates differently at each end of the spectrum. In this case, the magic is not necessarily an intelligent force, but it has tendencies. For example, fire tends to burn, earth tends to be stable. Opinionated magic comes from someone. Maybe it’s a god or angel, maybe it’s a horrible monstrosity outside of time and space. Whoever they are, they have agendas, and magic is a tool for them to drive those agendas. There’s a lot of room for nuance here—the magic might be neutral in its use, but the source might be opinionated. On the other hand, if magic actually summons or channels these beings, then the actual manifestation of magic may be shaped by their opinions.
Cost
The second factor is one that speaks to the cost of magic use. For some, it is essential that magic have a cost, that there be tradeoffs made for power. They might be literal or symbolic, but when they’re present then the subtext is usually that power has a price. Contrast that with magic having some risk associated with it. As with price, this puts a natural limiter on the use of magic, but it speaks to a very different set of priorities, especially if magic is easy to come by. It might be blatant—such as spells having a risk of blowing up in your face—or it might be subtle—a steadily accruing toxicity—but it makes each choice to use magic a conscious one. As an aside, costs work well with flavored or opinionated magic, risks work better with neutral or opinionated magic—where the risk is “attention from the beings with opinions”.
No cost is a curious option, and one to not take too literally. There’s usually some cost, even if it’s the price of a pointy hat and the opportunity cost of studying magic rather than getting that MBA. These are familiar, mundane costs. That’s why this approach works best with highly regimented neutral magic. It lines up well with “magic as science” thinking or very concrete lists of spells or effects—or rules for things like cyberware, which are basically differently skinned magic systems. Whatever the case, if there is neither cost nor risk, there is usually some other limiting factor at work, even if magic is fairly ubiquitous—such as limits to the types of magic a given person may use.
Limits
The third factor is a little bit of a cheat because it also speaks to the tolerances of your table. Strict magic systems, with spell lists and direct effects, appeal to some players, while more loose interpretive systems appeal to others. There’s also lots of room in the middle for systems that are open-ended in effect, but constrained by something like elements or spheres.
Whatever the answer, this should help you think about is what magic can’t do. It is mechanically easy to make a system where magic can do anything—create a magic skill then let players roll it for everything that they can describe magically—but that tends to be very boring. Limits are a big part of what makes magic feel magical, and in turn are a big part of how they can be flavorfully implemented in play.
Availability
The fourth factor tells you something about the setting, sure, but it also answers a critical question about game balance and spotlight time. A magic system that is available to all players can be designed very differently from one that only one player is going to use. If only one character has access to magic, then it’s important that magic not be so potent that the character overshadows other players and steals all the spotlight, but also not so useless that the player feels like she made the dumb choice. If, on the other hand, everyone has magic, you have a lot more leeway. When everyone gets to be awesome, “balance” is less of a bogeyman.
Source
The final factor is the most and least important—it doesn’t matter much what the answer is, but it matters that you have one. The better you understand where magic comes from, the better you can understand what it can do and—sometimes more importantly—what it can’t do.
You’re under no obligation to share this explanation with your players, and in fact this is an area where we actually encourage a little discretion. Not because you can’t trust players with this information, but because your magic system is going to feel a hell of a lot less magical after you’ve explained it all. A little bit of mystery is essential to the magical feel.
Notice that none of these factors ask “What does magic do?” since the answer to that is another question: What does it need to do? Hopefully you have a grasp on that, because if you don’t know that, nothing else is going to work. “Because I need to have a magic system” is not a good enough answer.
Magic and Fate
The purpose of rules is to give you the tools to translate your speaking and imagining into a structure that lets them be shared. That presupposes that you have something you want to share.
Fate is a representational game. That is, if you have an idea in your head, it provides you the tools needed to express that in play. Need characters to be able to do something? Make sure there’s a skill for that. Have a trick you want them to do? Create a stunt. Want to drive home a thematic element? Put an aspect on it.
These same tools are available to you when you want to add magic into your game. But just like the rest of play, there is no one single right tool. Depending upon what magic looks like in your game, different mechanics may be the right way to capture it.
The magic systems that follow serve two purposes. First, each one is a functional magic system that you can drop into your game or hack to serve your own purposes. That’s important, but it’s almost secondary to the other purpose. Each of these systems is also an illustration of how to apply mechanics to deliver a certain kind of effect.
And that’s how we end up back at punching. If you know Fate’s rules well, then it’s easy to adjudicate a punching scenario, and only slightly more complicated to come up with your own system for fisticuffs. By the time you get to the end of this, the goal is that you will feel equally comfortable taking a magical idea that you’re carrying around and be able to translate it into mechanics with the same ease that you do more mundane challenges.
Skills as Magic
The skills are an easy avenue into magic, whatever skills you use. The main question to ask is whether it repurposes existing skills or demands the creation of a new magic skill. Each approach has specific strengths, and it’s worth thinking about them when designing a system. If you’re going to soup-up existing skills, then you end up with a bit of a challenge in covering all skills. You can, of course, opt to only make certain skills magical, but you need to be careful not to create super-skills this way.
Creating a new skill can solve a lot of problems, especially since you can create multiple skills if you want to differentiate between magical disciplines. There’s also a subtle cost to it, since buying up that skill is going to mean some “real” skill gets neglected.
While there’s no right answer, when in doubt, go with a new skill. Converting existing skills to magic is more labor intensive, and it’s something you should only do when you already have a clear vision you’re acting to serve.
Aspects as Magic
Aspects have two important roles in most magic systems, both as a gateway and as an expression.
As a gateway, almost any magic system will demand that the character have at least one aspect that reflects their magical tradition or power source. While there are exceptions—such as those where “magic” is just a different coat of paint on technology—magic is usually important enough to the character to merit reflection as an aspect.
Aspects are also a great way to represent the effects of magic. At the simplest level, it’s easy to do a magic system where magic simply expands the range of aspects that you can create through advantages and boosts.
Stunts as Magic
Stunts can absolutely serve as the basis of a magic system, especially if stunts simply do explicit things. More often, however, this is a good model for a powers system. This is a pointed difference, but powers are better suited to monsters and superheroes. Still, stunts can be a useful way to jazz up a magic system, but cost must be carefully considered. Often, a magic system has an intrinsic refresh cost, which makes picking up stunts dangerous. Either the cost should be adjusted or the stunts should really be worth it.
Extras as Magic
Extras are basically their own magic system as written. A magic system may provide explanations and justifications for specific extras, but the system itself is robust and easily used for any number of effects.Skip to comments.
SEAN HANNITY: EVERY REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN MUST RECONSIDER BOEHNERS CRED AFTER SCALISE SCANDAL
Breitbart ^ | December 30, 2014 | by MATTHEW BOYLE
Posted on by Jim Robinson
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, also a nationally syndicated radio host, is tripling down on his calls to demand new blood in House GOP leadership.
In the wake of Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) rebuffing his call to run against Speaker John Boehner after the white supremacy scandal that has rocked Boehners ally, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Hannity is calling on every Republican member of the House of Representatives to reconsider whether Boehner is in fact an effective leader.
Every Republican member needs to ask themselves if John Boehner is really the best person to lead the conservative movement at this important time in history, Hannity said in an email to Breitbart News. Are they voting for him as a leader or for the Committee assignments they have been promised? The American people expect and deserve bold and dynamic and inspiring leaders. The next 2 years are critical for the country.
Hannity said that if Republicans return to conservative principles by rejecting Boehner and installing a replacement, they will be rewarded with political victories in 2016s crucial presidential election.
~~snip~~
Hannity also called on House Financial Services Committee chairman Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) to present himself as a challenger to Boehner. Hensarling, a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee and a Texas conservative with establishment credentials, has long been talked about as a potential Boehner opponent...
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com...
TOPICS:
Front Page News
Government
News/Current Events
Politics/Elections
US: Louisiana
US: Ohio
US: South Carolina
US: Texas
KEYWORDS:
113th
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dumpboehner
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jebhensarling
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seanhannity
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treygowdy
To: kristinn; Clinton's a liar; Lurker; onyx; JustAmy; trisham; DJ MacWoW; RedMDer; musicman;...
To: Jim Robinson
BTTT
To: Jim Robinson
Sean Hannity is sticking his neck out here... and let’s not forget who owns a somewhat controlling interest/piece of FOX news... somebody from the UAE’s... a certain king or excellency...???
by 4 posted onby freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
To: Jim Robinson
Sean Hannity is sticking his neck out here... and let’s not forget who owns a somewhat controlling interest/piece of FOX news... somebody from the UAE’s... a certain king or excellency...???
by 5 posted onby freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
To: Jim Robinson
Using all caps could get you kicked off this cite... oh, wait, this is your site. Sorry.
To: Jim Robinson
We like Marsha Blackburn!
by 7 posted onby onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
To: freepersup
I guess I am sticking my neck out here... double posting. Blaspheme!
by 8 posted onby freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
To: Jim Robinson
by 9 posted onby hosepipe (" This propaganda has been edited (specifically) to include some fully orbed hyperbole.. ")
To: freepersup
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on whether he is sure that no matter how much he calls for Boehner to be ousted, it ain’t gonna happen.
by 10 posted onby uncitizen (our government is treasonous)
To: Jim Robinson
boner has never wanted to lead the conservative movement. he’s wanted to destroy it much more than any democrat he’s ever met. until the rino’s and gop-e are out of leadership we will not get anything substantial we as conservatives want done.
To: Jim Robinson
I’m afraid that the honey traps are far and wide with the members of congress and more than likely have been for some years. Count me very surprised if Boehner quits.
To: uncitizen
I quit a job regarding safety at a nuclear power plant over principles... the union business representative was at my house the same day. I capitulated (meaning their man was spared the indignation of an investigation, although he was later put out to pasture) and I left the union goons and their umbrella of benefits... never to return. I get a 20 year pension instead of a 40 year pension. I CAN SLEEP AT NIGHT WITH MY DECISION.
by 13 posted onby freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
To: onyx; Jim Robinson
Ditto!!!...and Happy New Year dear Onyx! (You too Jim!)
To: freepersup
Good for Sean for sticking out the neck. Rush is, as always this time the year, on vacation and won’t be back behind his microphone until after the key vote. We really could use Palin to jump in here. She could swing enough votes to prevent GOP only votes from putting Boner over the top. And, in her inimitable way, she might manage to scare a peck of Rinos out of voting for Boner if/when Rats try jumping to his rescue.
by 15 posted onby JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Change)
To: smoothsailing
Thank you so much, dearest smoothsailing!! Happy New Year to you! I’ll be so glad to see the end of 2014. God bless you.
by 16 posted onby onyx (Please Support Free Republic - Donate Monthly! If you want on Sarah Palin's Ping List, Let Me know!)
To: Jim Robinson
Can there be a doubt that Hannity is either retarded or insane. Who on this planet thinks Jonbon is a leader of conservatives. Really. Who? What drugs get you to that mindstate because I want some. It must be good sXit.
To: doc1019
That’s pretty damn balls’ey if you ask me... did you ask me? I didn’t think so... just the same- get with the program and make your opinions known old boy... the boss is wearing some hard bark as I see it.
by 18 posted onby freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
To: Jim Robinson
Works for me, Jim!
To: Jim Robinson
Boehner is the corporatist lobby’s yes man. We’ll need a crow bar to pry his ass out of the seat. Perhaps a scandal such as this could dislodge him but it’s a dangerous game because of possible wider collateral damage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John RobinsonWhen cities redesign traffic-clogged highways, they often make them wider–despite the fact that tends to make traffic even worse. In Shenzhen, China, a team of designers thinks the best way to modernize a 12-lane highway is to shrink it instead, and rethink how highways work.
“We believe, in the future, cars won’t be operating the way they are now,” says Vicky Chan, director of Avoid Obvious Architects, which partnered with Tetra Architects and Planners and BCCI on the proposed design. “With drones and driverless cars, we think that we’ll be able to drive faster, and have fewer cars if we share. I think the concept of having a 12-lane highway is just irrelevant.”
[Rendering: Avoid Obvious Architects + Tetra Architecture & Planners]
In the design, two four-lane roads are enclosed in tubes to control pollution. By elevating the road, the eastern and western sides of the city can be reconnected; right now, the G107 highway stretches longer than the length of Manhattan, splitting the city’s Bao’an District in two parts.
Under the proposed elevated highway, the designers envision green spaces and pod-like coworking offices. With the road enclosed, the theory is that the spaces will be clean enough that people want to use them again. The design also includes channels that can collect water, helping solve the city’s water management problem.
[Rendering: Avoid Obvious Architects + Tetra Architecture & Planners]
“They built the city very quickly,” says Chan. “If you look at aerial photos from the 1990s, it’s all farms–it took just 30 years to do it. After all this crazy construction, they realized, oops, we built too many buildings, and they don’t have enough water treatment plants.”
The current water treatment plants are 40% overloaded, leading to pollution in the city’s canals. The highway design separates industrial, residential, and commercial wastewater, and filters some of it back into groundwater. “We think since they’re doing this massive construction, they can tackle these two things together,” he says.
The highway is designed to wind back and forth around buildings, making room for green spaces and giving pedestrians access to new bus and subway stations. Above the road, the designers propose creating the first drone highway.Some statistics, like Bradman's average and the number of centuries Tendulkar has made are known to pretty much every cricket buff. But The List will bring you facts and figures that aren't so obvious, adding fuel to those fiery debates about the most valuable middle-order bat, and the most useless tailender. If there's a particular List that you would like to see, e-mail us with your comments and suggestions.
Glenn McGrath celebrates his hat-trick against West Indies at Perth © Getty Images
Only 36 hat-tricks have occurred in 1783 Tests and a mere 20 in 2321 ODIs. They are rare events that trigger supreme adrenalin rushes, and apart from the wild excitement a hat-trick provides, it is of immense value to a team. But how do you measure a hat-trick's `value'? The List looks at heavyweight hat-tricks, measured in terms of the sum of the averages of the batsmen dismissed.
Irfan Pathan's hat-trick in the ongoing Test against Pakistan at Karachi was not just the first in the first over of a Test, it was also the highest in terms of total averages of the batsmen dismissed (130.18 |
thing wasn’t?
Of course, modern-day prophets have talked about some of those things. Like gay people and feminists and stuff. Sure, it hasn’t been very helpful and they continually disavow what they said before because it was too offensive and off-brand now, and sure, they’ve opposed basically every civil rights movement for the last 100 years, but they still tell us some good things. Like… food storage. (#Doomsday) And spending one night a week as a family. Those are good things!
The Book of Mormon makes you a better person, I get it. You can’t find any other books that tell you to love and serve people. There are no other books that do it as well as this one, which also gives you a free dose of racism, sexism, and historical lies. You need the promise of a divine reward in order to care enough about your fellow human beings to feed them and clothe them and give them medicine. Except… you don’t exactly do those things, you just donate money to a church that you hope does those things. For the most part. I know that some of you contribute more to the human race than tithing, of your own accord, and to you guys—I sincerely thank and applaud you. I imagine you don’t need a fraudulent book to be wonderful people.
You see, Mormons, you’ve been taught how to interpret the world, probably from birth. You’ve been taught to equate belief with knowledge, regardless of the evidence that utterly disproves your so-called knowledge. The evidence you’re told to avoid reading because Satan might deceive you. You’ve been told from a young age that you must come to “know” that The Book of Mormon is true, despite the unreliability of your method, which is used in many religions, even those with completely contrasting doctrines, to achieve the same results.
Let’s be real here, guys. I’ve read The Book of Mormon, multiple times. I know how it feels to have a verse strike you. (“Encircled about eternally in the arms of his love”? That’s beautiful.) I also know how it feels to slog through a war chapter or two because you know that daily scripture study will bless you, and duh—those guys in the book worked really hard to get this record to us! I know how easy it is to equate old-fashioned language (that Mark Twain saw right through) with the divine. But unless you’ve never read another book in your life, I highly doubt that you think The Book of Mormon is THE best out there, at least from a literary or even inspiration standpoint. Ever read The Alchemist? You should. 🙂
Sure, you can cherry pick the good stuff in The Book of Mormon and tough out the tedious stuff and the part where it condemns polygamy (a good part, but one that you apparently misunderstood with your weak human brain because it was obviously fine that JOSEPH did it). Did you know Joseph constantly denied that he practiced polygamy and had a printing press destroyed for exposing him? That’s why he was killed. Of course, if Thomas S. Monson declared infant baptism to be necessary starting tomorrow, you’d do it. Or would you?
The Book of Mormon doesn’t teach us “eternal truth”. It teaches us Joseph’s (or Oliver or Sidney or whoever else was involved) ideas about how Christianity issues of his time could be solved. It’s the story of a theocracy and huge, violent wars that archeologists have found absolutely no evidence for despite them being the largest in human history and us being able to excavate tiny bones from 80 million years ago. (BYU doesn’t even bother trying to find Book of Mormon archeology anymore.) It’s a book of pseudo-biblical language saturated with phrases like “And it came to pass” that are the written equivalent of modern verbal fillers such as “like” and “um”, or you trying to bulk up your English paper to meet the word count. The Book of Mormon plays almost entirely to the common rhetoric of the 1800s. Even its witnesses were completely immersed in folk magic and the occult. (You should read some of the crazy stuff Martin Harris testified of other than The Book of Mormon!) Did you know that people in Joseph’s time were worried about Masons infiltrating the government? Gadianton robbers. Did you know that the LDS temple ceremony is almost completely identical to the Masonic one Joseph was initiated into just seven weeks before instituting the endowment? That’s not mentioned in The Book of Mormon, but it’s all part of the same fraud.
I can gladly show you archeological evidence, historical accounts, and scientific findings that back up my knowledge. You can offer me your testimony of how you felt. I’ve felt that too. I’ve also felt the joy of “Santa” delivering me presents in the middle of the night as a child, before I had any legitimate reason to believe he wasn’t.
It’s hard to swallow the red pill. Especially when you’ve been taught to believe it’s from Satan. Or that there isn’t one. Believe me, I’ve been there. And what I found was that it’s ok to be humble and admit that you don’t know things.
Suggested Reading
CES LetterShanghai has set about establishing the first boys' school in China, in an effort to cultivate resilient young men and address a perceived crisis of masculinity, reports Beijing News. The Shanghai Number 8 senior high school will build the first boys' senior high school as part of an innovative educational framework signed by the government of Shanghai Huangpu district and East China Normal University. Both parties will provide sources of expertise and supervise the ongoing project. The school has also submitted an application to the education department. The establishment of China's first boys' school aims to solve a perceived crisis of masculinity and curb the growing tendency for boys to embrace their feminine side, said Lu Qisheng, president of the Number 8 School. He went on to say that, "Boys' needs and emotional changes are often overlooked in ordinary classrooms." To enhance the masculine character of its students, the school will focus on character cultivation as part of the daily curriculum. Teaching will focus upon improving the boys' ability to learn, using techniques gathered from previous research and pinpointing known weaknesses within male study patterns. The school hopes to cultivate particular qualities within the students, especially in regards to logical thinking, management skills and craftsmanship, while addressing negative qualities associated with men, such as impatience, and poor planning skills. In the first phase, the Number 8 School will set up two experimental classes with roughly 60 students in total. Classes in martial arts, Chinese chess, and music will be included within the curriculum to teach students about competition, cooperation, responsibility and resilience. Netizens are split over whether a single sex school is a good idea. Some believe that it is a worthy experiment, citing a number of famous examples abroad. But others are opposed to the idea and doubt that the school will achieve the desired results, arguing that adolescents will be negatively affected by only being exposed to people of the same sex on a daily basis.
President of the school, Lu Qisheng explained that spending three years in a boys' senior high school, without the presence of females, will not have a negative effect on the students' disposition. The lack of contact with females can be complemented by communicating with family and friends after school.From cycletracks to helmet laws, 2014 has been a big year for bikes. No longer the domain of the hemp-wearing Portlandia set, bike lanes have been crowd-funded, sponsored by businesses and rolled out across the conservative Midwest. Meanwhile, bike-shares are proving great data sources to track who is riding where — raising questions of equity and safety — and helping to shape policy along the way. In the New Year’s Eve spirit of looking back, here’s a roundup of trends, studies, and controversies that have made headlines over the last 12 months.
January: The year’s first crowdfunded project emerged
As shares across the country struggled to stay in the black, Kansas City took to the Internet, hoping to fund parts of its bike-share with civic platform Neighbor.ly. We reported on the move in January, but it would be only the first in a slew of civic crowdfunding projects this year, from protected bike lanes to new parks.
February: Business owners were encouraged to support protected bike lanes
This conclusion probably came as a surprise to bike advocates, used to “battling ‘the business community’ for every inch of road space,” wrote Michael Andersen of People for Bikes in a February Guardian article. But, echoing an earlier report, Andersen quoted VPs and investors, arguing that between increased productivity among heart-healthy workers and repeat customers to downtown shops, the private sector had plenty of reasons — and numbers — to support good bike infrastructure.
March: New Yorkers turned to bike-share when the trains didn’t run
On March 31, Citi Bike released data about everything from trip time to user demographics. In a Streetsblog NYC post, Stephen Miller pointed to several patterns that emerged from this so-called “treasure trove,” including a correlation between surprise MTA service disruptions and ridership spikes. According to Sarah Kaufman of the Rudin Center, quoted in the piece, this substitution showed “the potential of Citi Bike to become really intricately interwoven into the New York City transportation landscape.”
April: More cyclists were shown to equal safer streets
From the vantage point of December, this safety-in-crowds logic might seem like a no-brainer: More bikers create better visibility for all bikers, encouraging motorists to be more careful. But a report released in April confirmed this theory with numbers. The Alliance for Biking & Walking report was covered by Emily Badger in the Washington Post, who wrote that the “cities with the largest share of cyclists have the fewest cycling injuries.”
May: Bikers were proved to be the happiest commuters
This may also seem like a no-brainer, but a study published in Transportation applied the scientific method to the simple fact many of us realized when the training wheels first came off. The report was published earlier, but headlines seemed to catch up in May; According to the survey of 13,000 randomly selected people, “cycling elecited the most positive emotions” Streetsblog reported.
June: Everyone argued about head injuries in cities with bike-shares
Despite a Washington Post headline claiming otherwise, a study published by the American Journal of Public Health showed head injuries dropping in cities with bike-shares. The paper’s confusion came from the study itself, which highlighted head injuries as a proportion of all injuries. However, as Streetsblog pointed out in June, the way headlines framed this data was somewhat misleading — because head injuries, and all injuries, dropped 14 and 28 percent respectively after bike-share systems were implemented.
July: Bike-shares were shown to bolster the transit network overall
According to a July CityLab story, past research had shown the potential of bike-share to decrease car ownership. But a study in the Journal of Transport Geography took those findings further, examining patterns in Washington D.C. and Minneapolis. Basically, it found that in dense urban environments, bike-share acted as a substitute for shorter transit trips, while in more sprawling cities, it became a connector between far-apart stops.
August: Bike-shares were shown to have no recorded fatalities
Although bike-shares had sprung up in 36 cities since 2007, not a single fatality had been recorded. That (rather shocking) statistic was reported by Reuters in August, and verified by three alternative transportation experts. In New York, experts guessed that Citi Bikes’ tank-like shape might have something to do with the optimistic numbers.
September: Still, bike-ped crash injuries rose over a two-year period in NYC
Citing Department of Transportation statistics, the New York Post called attention to this uptick in September — from 244 in 2012 to 316 in 2013 (2014 numbers weren’t available). Injuries were concentrated in Central Park, with 29 and 20 pedestrians injured by cyclists in 2012 and 2013 respectively. To compare, wrote Laura Italiano and Andrea Hay, “21 pedestrians were injured by bicycles in all of Queens” in 2012.
October: And cyclist fatalities also increased over a brief period nationwide
An alarming report released by the Governors Highway Safety Association in October called attention to an increase in cyclist fatalities from 2010 to 2012. As Governing reported, the research did not make clear whether this 16 percent uptick was the result of more people cycling over the same period.
November: But cyclist fatalities were way down overall
Bike advocates were quick to critique the GHSA report, with backlash lasting into November. Using data from the US Department of Transportation, the League of American Bicyclists called the report’s two-year focus “misleading,” outlining a long downward trend in cyclist fatalities (even as ridership rose) from 1977 to 2009. An Urbanful post from November 3 highlighted one reason cyclists were up in arms, noting the report’s focus on helmet use and alcohol impairment as causes of death — instead of, say, speed limits and car-centric design.
December: Meanwhile, children’s helmet laws were shown to work…but possibly only because they decreased ridership
A Health Economics paper covered by Aaron Carroll of The Incidental Economist in December sported the intriguing title “Bicycle helmet laws reduce injuries for kids, but maybe not in the way you think.” Basically, the paper found that children’s head injuries decreased in areas with helmet laws, but so did non-head bicycle-related injuries. Meanwhile, helmet laws were also associated with upticks in “head injuries from other wheeled sports,” like skateboarding. Sadly, Carroll wrote, this likely meant that “bike helmet laws worked by getting fewer kids to ride bikes.”Like The Goonies, Beetlejuice is one of those rare 80s movies that never got a sequel. Though it has been threatened for years. And like The Goonies, those deeply involved with the original all claim that a sequel will happen sometime soon. In the case of Beetlejuice 2, things look a little darker than they did earlier in the year. Though original star Michael Keaton is supposedly 'confirmed' to return in the title role, he claims he was unaware that this long-awaited follow-up was even happening. And he doubts it ever will.
That's not for a lack of trying, though. According to Keaton, he was an early proponent of making a sequel, and has always welcomed the idea. Over the past year, the idea that Beetlejuice 2 is actually happening has only escalated, with Tim Burton confirming it was moving forward, and Stranger Things star Winona Ryder claiming she would be back as Lydia. Then Seth Grahame-Smith admitted in January that he was deep into writing the sequel script.
Seth Grahame-Smith claims he's been in contact with Michael Keaton, but to hear the Spider-Man: Homecoming actor tell it, that's not necessarily true. Keaton wants the movie to happen. But he fears it's an idea who's time has come and gone, and that the opportunity is a missed one. He says these enthusiastic, yet doomed words about a possible Beetlejuice 2, as reported by Your Daily Dish.
"I f**king loved doing that movie. If I never did another thing, you could point to it and say, 'There was never anything like that,'. So I always said, man let's do that again. Whoever is in charge has had the opportunity to make it for many, many years. They should have just pulled the trigger and done it. But they didn't, and it had nothing to do with me or Tim."
Keaton goes onto claims that his continual denial that Beetlejuice 2 is happening keeps the idea alive, at least in the minds of fans. He says that a sequel should have happened no more than twenty years ago. 2018 will see the movie's 30th Anniversary. He explains.
Related: Beetlejuice 2 Won't Happen Until It's Right Says Tim Burton
"I can go back 20 years, maybe longer, maybe I was the one who even brought it up. I maybe said, 'If there's one thing I'd like to remake it's Beetlejuice' - and that might be 20 years ago that I said it. Nobody paid attention, but all of a sudden people tell me, 'I hear you're doing it', and I'm like 'I have no idea what you're talking about'. Wait a minute, am I crazy? Why are people still talking about this?"
Michael Keaton will next be seen on the big screen starring as fast food entrepreneur Ray Kroc, who helped establish McDonald's as one of the largest restaurant chains in the world. It hits theaters in January. He will then appear as villain The Vulture in Sony and Marvel Studio's summer 2017 release Spider-Man: Homecoming. Would he like to return as The Ghost with the Most in the near future? Sure. But according to him, it probably will never happen.Elsewhere on this site, ethnic diversity’s negative impact on social cohesion and economic progress has been discussed and documented. This article takes a look at how diversity impacts the quality of experience children have at school.
School Performance and Cognitive Ability
There are several lines of evidence which suggest that ethnic diversity has a negative impact on cognitive ability.
First, research from the University of Dartmouth found that Whites did better on intelligence tests when their interviewer was White rather than Black.
Secondly, an analysis of roughly 3 million students over a 7 year period found that students had higher test scores when their teacher was a member of their own race. This was true even after controlling for poverty, past grades, and other potentially confounding variables.
Thirdly, a 2015 analysis released by the US Department of Education indicates that the racial composition of a school’s population has a significant impact on grades. The study examined 4th, 8th, and 12th graders and looked at how variation in the proportion of a school’s population which was Black predicted how well Black and White students did on standardized tests.The analysis found a negative relationship between student performance and the proportion of the school population which was Black.
This negative impact on test scores was seen for both Black and White students. Given these three lines of evidence, it is more likely than not that racial diversity worsens school performance.
Bullying
White students who attend ethnically diverse schools are also at an elevated risk for experiencing aggressive, violent, and even criminal behavior.
Consider, for instance, the results of a study which examined over 5,000 kids from grades 6-8 from three neighboring counties along the East Coast of the United States. The following are a list of the study’s key findings.
Students in diverse schools are two times more likely to be bullied by someone of another race, than they are to make friends of a different race
Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to be bullies (a finding that has also been replicated in other studies).
Whites are more likely to be victimized by bullies than either Blacks or Hispanics
Blacks are more likely to bully Whites, than Whites are to bully Blacks (and the same basic pattern is true for Whites and Hispanics).
When it comes to interracial bullying, Blacks are the worst offenders against Whites (followed by Hispanics).
Controlling for socioeconomic status, family conflict, neighborhood disorder, low school achievement, depression, and regard for conventional authority, does virtually nothing to reduce the bullying offense gaps between Hispanics, Blacks, and Whites.
Bullying makes Blacks and Hispanics far more popular in school relative to the effect bully-status has on the popularity of Whites.
School diversity increases the overall risk that any student will be bullied (regardless of their racial background).
All “Culture only” theories put forward to explain racial differences in rates of bullying, fail to explain group differences between Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics.
Another study examined students within fourteen primary schools in the Midwest. It found that White children who attended racially diverse schools were at a much higher risk of being victimized by bullies than children who attended predominantly White schools.[28]
On the other hand, the same study found that Black children were actually more likely to be victims of bullying in predominantly Black schools than they were to be similarly victimized in White schools. These findings persisted even after controlling for differences in poverty.
Lastly, studies of bullying carried out in Britain have replicated the finding that non-Whites (with the exception of East Asians) are more likely than Whites to be bullies. This research also found that the disproportionate rates of Black on White bullying in Britain were highly similar to those of the United States.[29]
Class Room Behavior
A similar pattern of data exists with respect to class room behavior. Data from the US Department of Education reveals that Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than Whites to be suspended from school, and that both groups are far more likely to be involved in fights either on-campus or off-campus. Department of Education data also shows that as a school becomes more racially diverse: racial tensions increase, verbal abuse of teachers increases, classroom disorder increases, student disrespect for teacher increases, gang activity increases, the frequency of cult or extremist groups on campus increases, as does the number of serious violent incidents recorded on campus.
Adolescent Crime
This evidence is also consistent with what we know about racial differences in adolescent criminality. For instance, data from the US Department of Justice shows that, as of 2014, Blacks ages 10-17 were twelve times more likely than Whites of the same age to be arrested for robbery, seven times more likely to be arrested for murder, four times more likely to be arrested for aggravated assault, three times more likely to be arrested for weapons violations, property crime, and theft, 2.4 times more likely to be arrested for rape, 1.6 times more likely for vandalism, and 1.4 times more likely to be arrested for abusing drugs.
Unfortunately, the US Department of Justice considers Hispanics to be White. As such, the DOJ lumps Hispanics into the White category when it calculates its youth arrest statistics. As a result, the true crime differential between young Whites and Blacks is probably far higher than these statistics indicate.
Fortunately, the National Crime Victimization survey, a survey that precludes bias in the criminal justice system from influencing the validity of the results, does not suffer from this same defect. This data shows that there are staggering group differences when it comes to the issue of interracial crime. According to the NCVS, with respect to violent crime in 2013, Blacks were the attackers in 85% of violent crimes involving Blacks and Whites (Whites were only 15%). The NCVS also found that Blacks were 27 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a White person, than vice versa. Hispanics, (on the other hand) were about 8 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a White person than the other way around.
Thus, White students will be more likely to experience bullying, disruptive classroom behavior, violence, and crime, the more Black and Hispanic students attend their school.
Diversity and Social Cohesion in General
It is a well-established fact that ethnic diversity impairs people’s ability to get along with one another. This has been shown using correlational, longitudinal, and experimental research designs.
The Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam divided the United States into 40 separate regions and found that the more diverse a region was the less likely people were to trust one another, the fewer friends people had, and the less satisfied people reported being with there lives. These relationships persisted, even when Putnam controlled for: age, gender, race,, poverty, residential mobility, citizenship, language, commute time, education, homeownership, financial satisfaction, work hours, population density, income inequality, and crime rates.
More recently, this data has been backed up by a study that looked at changes in diversity in areas of England over an 18 year period. This research found that residents of areas which became more diverse over time ended up liking their neighborhoods less when compared to residents whose neighborhoods did not become more diverse over time.
Moreover, Putnam’s data is consistent with experimental evidence measuring trust between people by allowing them to give each other sums of money which are then doubled in the hopes that the person they gave their money to will give them back a fair share of the profit.
That diversity inhibits social cohesion is also evidenced by who people voluntarily choose to associate with. Several lines of research show that members of every race are far more likely to make friends among members of their own group than they are to make friends with a different racial background. People are also more likely to form close social networks with people of their own race than with people of other races.
Furthermore, when people do succeed at forming friendships across racial lines, those friendships are far more likely to fail. One study analyzed the results of a nationally representative sample, of over 5,400 high school students from 80 communities within the US. They found that after controlling for sex, race, age, parental SES, family structure, immigration status, shared extracurricular activities, grade point averages, school attendance, drug abuse, friendship reciprocity, and friendship closeness, that interracial friendships were far more likely to fail relative to monoracial friendships. What’s more, across the various analyses the authors used to predict friendship stability, racial dissimilarity was usually biggest predictor of friendship instability (one that also remained robust in spite of a wide variety of controls).
Diversity and Social Cohesion in Schools
Given this, we should not be surprised that research on ethnic diversity in schools finds that diversity damages student’s social lives. For instance, a group of researchers led by Stanley Rothman carefully looked at the effects of diversity on school satisfaction and discrimination and concluded:
“As the proportion of Black students [in a school] rose, student satisfaction with their university experience dropped, as did their assessments of the quality of the educational environment and the work ethic of their peers. In addition, the higher the enrollment diversity, the more likely students were to say they personally experienced discrimination… The same pattern of negative correlations between educational benefits and increased Black enrollment also appeared in the responses of faculty and administrators.”
Proponents of school diversity often assert that diversity helps black students feel more comfortable with their school environment, yet researchers found “diversity appears to increase complaints of unfair treatment among White students without reducing them among Black students.”
It’s also worth noting that forced integration has a terrible track record of encouraging school children to form interracial friendships. A lengthy study that looked at the effects of desegregation on interracial friendships in Riverside California concluded:
“after five years of desegregation, and, after most of the fourth to sixth-graders had been desegregated from the beginning of their schooling, minority children were less likely to be chosen as friends by Whites than at the beginning of desegregation.”
Finally, one study found that (regardless of race), attending a school with high concentrations of minorities increases a student’s suicide risk significantly. Since Whites are already at risk for suicide relative to other groups, this suggests that sending White kids to diverse schools will dramatically increase their relative risk for suicide.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the relevant empirical evidence indicates that ethnic diversity in schools has negative effects on cognitive ability and social cohesion, and, especially for White students, elevates children’s risk of being bullied, having a chaotic school environment, and experiencing violent crime.A day ago, the New York Times dropped its latest embarrassing, but ultimately meaningless, leak from Senate investigators, who told the Grey Lady (under the cover of anonymity, of course) that Donald Trump Jr. had testified that he was trying to determine Hillary Clinton’s “fitness” for office when he took the infamous “Russia meeting” at Trump Tower in June 2016, shortly after his father had cemented his grip on the Republican nomination.
Already, the White House – or perhaps a sympathetic lawmaker – is helping Trump Jr. fight back. According to a Politico report citing unnamed government officials, notes taken by former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort during the Russia meeting show nothing damaging to the Trump family or campaign officials.
“The notes from the meeting do not contain any damaging information about Clinton or references to promises of damaging information about her, nor do they indicate that officials on the campaign were promising favors or seeking them in return for money, the people who’ve seen them said. According to these people, the notes have been with Senate officials for weeks and have been reviewed by a number of people on Capitol Hill. Also in attendance at the June 2016 meeting in New York were a Russian lawyer, a Russian businessman and other Trump campaign officials, including Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.”
Manafort is believed to be the primary target in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Earlier this month, Mueller reportedly enlisted the help of an “elite” IRS investigative unit to scrutinize Manafort’s tax returns, a sign, one expert said, that the prosecutor could be looking for a “check the box” violation – or literally anything he could use against Manafort, regardless of its relevancy to the Trump campaign. He first turned over his notes to the Senate back in June when he met with investigators for closed-door testimony.
Those who’ve seen the notes say they are “not likely to be independently vital in any case.”
“Officials who have reviewed the notes say they are not likely to be independently vital to any case, if at all, because they are difficult to follow, particularly one year later. To be sure, the notes are not an exhaustive account of the meeting, and other things could have been discussed that are not included in the notes.”
In an interesting twist, the people said the notes reference financier Bill Browder, a supporter of the Magnitsky Act and enemy of the Russian government. As Politico reminds us, the act sanctioned Russian officials for human rights abuses. In retaliation for those sanctions, Russia banned US citizens from adopting Russian children. Browder is the same Russian official who revealed to lawmakers that the opposition-research firm Fusion GPS, which commissioned former UK spy Christopher Steele to assemble the now debunked “Trump dossier,” was funded in part by money from Russian entities – complicating the investigation’s narrative of Russian interference to benefit Trump.
In accordance with the version events given by everyone in attendance who has spoken with Congressional investigators of the special counsel – a group that includes a Russian lobbyist – the notes include a spirited case on why
Trump officials should overturn the Magnitsky act, and why Republicans could support it. It indicates that the Russian officials made critical comments about Browder, but that Trump officials seemed to know little about the legislation.
There you have it, folks. The grand Russian conspiracy – to convince the Trumps to overturn a minor law that had sparked outrage back home. We wonder: when will investigators leak something that amounts to, you know, actual evidence that a crime was committed? Or will this patter of inconsequential details, sanctimoniously reported by the mainstream press, continue for the next four to eight years?THE PLAN FELL OFF
9FRONT “MARITIME ENGINEERING STANDARDS” RELEASED
http://9front.org/iso/9front-5966.df2c352ae695.iso.gz.torrent
http://9front.org/iso/9front-5966.df2c352ae695.iso.gz
dash 1 manual
http://fqa.9front.org/dash1.maritimeengineeringstandards.pdf
KERNEL AND DRIVERS
kernel: avoid waserror() botch in devwalk (from drawterm, thanks aiju)
kernel: fix memory leak in checkpagerefs() debug function (thanks aiju)
kernel: fix rewinding in directories with pread() offset
kernel: fix twakeup()/timerdel() race condition
pc: handle PCMP and RSD being in low (kaddr) or reserved (vmap) memory
pc: fix memory leak and add clog() function
pc64: state mp.h dependency for archacpi.$O
devdraw: ignore drawdebug command
devsd: handle case where theres no ifc->enable() function
devsd: check return value of ifc->enable(), don’t leak unit name/user strings
devvga: include hwgc in vgactl file
devvga: remove unused copy of checkport() function
sdvirtio: return 1 for success in vioenable()/viodisable()
sdnvme: NVMe controller driver (work in progress)
sdnvme: don’t write completion queue doorbell register when nothing has been processed
sdnvme: enable in pcf, pccpuf, pc64 kernel configuration
LIBRARIES
lib9p: allow rewinding in 9pfile directories
libavl: fix documentation
libavl: lookup can return the closest match
libdraw: get rid of _drawdebug variable
libmemdraw/libmemlayer: get rid of drawdebug prints
libmemdraw: get rid of kernel iprint() emulation
libregexp: miscellaneous little cleanups
libsec: sha256 support for thumbprint files, use it in ssh as well
libsec/tlshand: fix ECDHE and DHE for SSLv3
libsec/tlshand: fix mpint to bytes conversion, reorganize send/recv buffer, check for overflow in msgSend()
libsec/tlshand: simplify tlsReadN()
COMPILERS AND DEBUGGERS
5e: fix special bitshift and rotations
[012568kqv]a: correctly lex full range of integers in the assemblers (thanks Ori_B)
fix yacc bug (found by dan cross)
PROGRAMS
aux/wpa: go to background when not prompting, handle open networks
chgrp: remove unused function declaration (thanks archeus)
cwfs: allow “none” user to rename files
factotum: append public rsa encyption exponent after the modulus
file: recognise Xilinx bitstreams
fortune: avoid buffer overflow for lines >= 2K, make sure index has at least one entry, use nrand()/ntruerand() for uniform distribution
games/blit: mkfile: install into /bin/games
games/blit: always show top-left corner; add tony kaku’s -m flag
games/blit: remove strange debugging line
games/galaxy: fix exit race condition by pausing the galaxy before threadexitsall
games/galaxy: parallelize gravitational force calculations
games/md: copy updated cpu.c from blit
hjfs: Add comment to change the OFF size to 8 when given the chance
hjfs: Clear all refs to zero when reaming.
hjfs: Fix bugs in ref count scan check. Enable as a console command (caveat: command arguments will change as I implement more functionality)
hjfs: add simple scan check of directory entry blocks
hjfs: avoid 8c “non-interruptable temporary” warning
hjfs: check: check a block if its ref count is not zero. Also check all the ref counts of blocks of a directory and clean up messages
hjfs: disable hjfs check until more functionality is complete
hjfs: fix broken dprint
hjfs: improve error messaging around blocks that are not found
hjfs: merge start of hjfs check implementation
hjfs: simplify dprinting
hjfs: start implementation of checking a directory
ip/torrent: avoid requesting same chunks
ip/torrent: avoid peerid collision using truerand() instead of time(0)
ip/torrent: exit immidiately when file is complete after verification and not being in seed mode
ndb/dns: double Maxretries for long cname redirection chains
nusb/lib: make usbcmd() return value symmetic; returning size of data phase (if any) (thanks aiju)
nusb/ptp: treat any assocation as a directory
nusb/serial: pl2303: better error handling
replica: use libavl for avl tree implementation
rsa2ssh: drop support for version 1 key format
ssh: weekend project
ssh: actually handle flow control and channel id’s
ssh: add “none” method to find out list of acceptable methods
ssh: add support for subsystems
ssh: cleanup debug messages
ssh: close the channel when vt hangs up
ssh: do not try authentication methods that we know are not possible
ssh: document thumbfile options
ssh: fix locking, and key reexchange handling
ssh: fix typo
ssh: implement password and keyboard-interactive authentication methods
ssh: implement primitive hostkey verification
ssh: increase initial window size for better throughput
ssh: loop keyboard-interactive on failure
ssh: make number of retries configurable
ssh: print the whole ssh-rsa hostkey in base64 when thumb check fails
sshfs: add -r and -M options
sshfs: check correctly for directory bits; calculate parent directory correctly
sshfs: don’t cache directory contents
sshfs: don’t crash when no /etc/password file could be read on the remote side
sshfs: fix -r / retulting in “//foo” paths, memory leaks, use estrdup9p()
sshfs: look up uid/gid from /etc/^(passwd group)
sshfs: remove debug print
sshfs: reset SReq->reqid field to fix double-free of request ids
upas/common: deliver mail to mdir as.tmp file and rename after it has been fully written
upas/fs: don’t abort on malformed unix header
upas/fs: fix dir comparsion and skip directories in mdir, avoid stat
upas/fs: fix sync condition
upas/fs: fix warning about unused Err: label
upas/fs: make use of Maxmsg consistent
upas/fs: remove imap lastread debounding
upas/fs: simplify imap4read()
upas/send: use openfolder() to deliver mail to avoid code duplication
upas/smtp: Revert smtp dial string behavior to match that of old upas (thanks sam-d)
upas/smtp: fix cram-md5 auth, simplify doauth(), check varargs for dBprint()
upas/smtp: generate 128-bit random message id (was 32 bit), use dBprint(), cleanup unused variables
vt: convert from event to threads
vt: cursoron, don’t resize winow when replying history
vt: fix background drawing
vt: fix xterm cursor keys
vt: handle application/normal mode (really fixes cursor keys)
vt: handle insert/delete/home/end keys for vt220/xterm
vt: handle nocolor flag and reversed background colors
vt: handle underline attribute
vt: implement snarf support
vt: increase history buffer to 64K runes
vt: send interrupt on exit, open logfile OCEXEC, run host after environment got exported, send rest of arguments to host
OTHER
change cpurc to look for service folder in /cfg/$sysname and /cfg/default
disable all services except 17019, 17020 by default
dist/ndb: move sources auth server to ndb/common, list root dns servers in ndb/local as a fallback
inst/configether: in manual network configuration, ask for dns server
/lib/rob, /lib/theo: I don’t think so.
DOCUMENTATION |
the NCAA in receiving yards per game--an absurd 132.2 YPG, which was about 12 yards more than Tulsa's Keyarris Garrett, who was second in the country. Corey Coleman, who won the Biletnikoff--awarded to the Nation's top receiver--was third in the country with 113.6 ypg.
Personally, I would love a recount on the vote, but Josh is a much better man than I am and was one of the first to congratulate Coleman via Twitter on his award. This was TCU's first offensive 1st team AP All-American since LT in 2000.A nearly 1,200-kilometre fibre optic line stretching across the Northwest Territories is set to come online, making everything from video streaming to data collection easier in the Mackenzie Valley.
Territorial and community leaders are in Inuvik, N.W.T., this weekend to celebrate the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Link becoming operational.
The $82-million fibre optic line has been undergoing performance testing since construction officially wrapped up in late March.
"We're very happy because it gives us a more secure communication line and much bigger potential for future endeavours," said Grant Hood, senior administrative officer with the Town of Inuvik.
"I think in the long run, it's going to be one of those 'if you build it they will come' for certain things that will expand our opportunities."
The fibre optic line runs 1,154 kilometres from McGill Lake, 80 kilometres south of Fort Simpson, to Inuvik. Wrigley, Tulita, Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope are also connected. Approximately 6,500 people live in those communities.
Equipment lays the fibre optic link through the Mackenzie Valley in the Northwest Territories. (David Thurton/CBC) Tsiigehtchic, Aklavik and Fort McPherson are not, but there's hope those communities will connect to a proposed fibre line up the Dempster Highway in Yukon.
Fibre lines are much more reliable than microwave relay towers — the current option — because they have more carrying capacity for telecommunications and internet services.
Internet speeds tripled in some communities when the southern part of the fibre optic line came online last December.
The N.W.T. government says the project will provide state-of-the-art telecommunications for communities in the Mackenzie Valley and Beaufort Delta to help them "modernize their economies."
Hood says faster internet speeds will also make things like online shopping and video streaming easier. Staff at the Inuvik Satellite Station Facility are also excited.
"They are absolutely ecstatic that the line's now been completed," Hood said. "It will allow them to do a lot of real-time data acquisition from the satellites."
'Opportunity to better utilize technology'
Faster internet also benefits youth in the Mackenzie Valley, explained Jordan Peterson, the vice-president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council
With offices in four N.W.T. communities, the Gwich'in Tribal Council relies on digital archiving and web-based exhibits to preserve traditional languages and culture.. Jordan Peterson, vice-president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council, says faster internet could help youth in the Mackenzie Valley access language and cultural apps more easily. (Gwich'in Tribal Council )
Access to faster internet could encourage young people to look at using language revitalization and cultural orientation applications, Peterson said.
"We live in a new world and our young people are so used to using iPads and computers and this only brings more opportunities for them to be able to learn," he said.
"Better connectivity and bandwidth not only helps us with being able to upload information — it also allows us to create new opportunities that are possibly out there.
"It's an opportunity for us to better utilize technology."
Fibre line will also present challenges
But a communications professor at the University of Alberta warns there may be some side effects to faster internet.
"I think there's a lot of challenges," said Rob McMahon, an assistant professor with the school's faculty of extension. "You hear about cyberbullying or inappropriate content.
"As these new tools become available or resources become available, I think there's concerns about how to best manage it," McMahan said. "[Communities] are already thinking about it and they're already talking about it."
McMahon said he's worried a "flood" of English content could present challenges for Indigenous languages.
Those challenges are balanced out by a number of opportunities, however.
McMahon says innovation can happen anywhere, which is why he'll be looking to see if communities create their own internet service providers or community networks.
McMahon will host a digital literacy workshop at the Gwich'in Tribal Council's office in Inuvik on Monday.
Meanwhile, Sunday's ceremony marking the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Line will take place at the Aurora Research Institute starting at 4 p.m.Would you rather eat bugs or plants?
If you picked the latter, you're in luck: Researchers are developing better vegetable-based alternatives to cochineal, a commonly used red food coloring made from crushed insects. One of the most promising candidates is the purple sweet potato.
Purple sweet potatoes can be used to produce a range of colors, from light pink to deep purple, says Stephen Talcott, an associate professor of food chemistry at Texas A&M University.
Demand for natural food colorings has risen in recent years, as consumers are shying away from artificial food dyes, which have been linked to allergies and behavioral problems such as hyperactivity in children.
The pigments in purple sweet potato, called anthocyanins, are "among the most desirable for their superior color and stability," says Talcott, who presented his work at the American Chemical Society's annual meeting in Indianapolis earlier this month.Remember when vitamin C was hailed as the best, and maybe only, cold remedy? Then it became the Rodney Dangerfield of vitamins: It didn't get any respect.
Citrus and other sources of Vitamin C can help fend off cancer, strokes and Alzheimer's disease.
The nutrient's glory days of curing scurvy-riddled sailors via juicy citrus fruit seemed to be the only thing keeping its reputation afloat, particularly after a massive research review found C to be virtually useless for fighting colds. But don't believe it.
The truth is that scientists have taken a fresh look at C -- and have found lots of new ways it can help you stay healthy and look and feel younger. Here's the latest on what C can really do for you.
Prevent wrinkles
You can't pick up a beauty product these days without the label touting its antioxidants. There's a good reason: Antioxidants -- like vitamin C -- help turn back the clock.
An October 2007 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who ate foods rich in vitamin C had fewer wrinkles and less age-related dry skin than those whose diets contained only small amounts of the vitamin. C helps form collagen, which smooths fine lines and wrinkles, according to Patricia Farris, MD, clinical assistant professor of dermatology at Tulane University in New Orleans.
The key seems to be C's ability to fight free radicals, a by-product of cell metabolism in your body. Free radicals are thought to attack proteins, fats, and DNA and break down collagen. C also seems to guard against ultraviolet rays from the sun, which can lead to freckles and a mottled complexion. "Vitamin C does some repair and firming on the skin," Farris says.
Health.com: Can you guess her age?
What to do now: Use a topical vitamin C treatment daily after you wash your face and before you slather on moisturizer or sunscreen so it penetrates the skin. Farris recommends La Roche-Posay Active C facial moisturizer or SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic topical antioxidant treatment.
Protect your heart
Experts continue to argue about whether antioxidants like vitamin C can prevent heart disease. But some of the evidence is highly persuasive. When Finnish researchers looked at studies involving nearly 300,000 people over 10 years, they found that taking more than 700 milligrams of C supplements daily reduced the risk of cardiovascular disease by 25 percent. And a recent study from Harvard University researchers hints that women who take a combo of 500 milligrams of vitamin C daily and 600 IU of vitamin E (another antioxidant) can cut their risk of stroke by 30 percent.
It's possible that people who take vitamin supplements simply have healthier lifestyles than those who don't, which could explain this finding. It's also possible, experts say, that C enhances the functioning of endothelial cells (which line the inside of all blood vessels), slowing artery clogging and lowering blood pressure.
What to do now: Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, which are full of vitamin C as well as other healthy nutrients, and consider taking C and E supplements. Experts say there are essentially no risks, but first check with your doctor. Health.com: Get your C's here
Keep cancer at bay
A diet full of vitamin C--rich fruits and vegetables isn't just good for your heart, it may also lower your risks of bladder, esophagus, stomach, and lung cancers. Even though more research is needed to find out which compounds in fruits and veggies do the trick, researchers say the association is strong.
Someday, C may also be used to treat cancer. High levels of C given intravenously seem to be toxic to cancer cells (studies on vitamin C taken orally showed no effect on cancerous cells). Intravenous C appears to trigger the formation of hydrogen peroxide, which kills some cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed, says lead study author Mark Levine, MD, chief of the molecular and clinical nutrition section and senior staff physician at the National Institutes of Health.
Levine says doctors at the University of Kansas Medical School and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia are trying this therapy on cancer patients.
What to do now: "Strive for five or more fruits and vegetables daily, in a rainbow of colors," Levine says. "It's where the most benefit is.
Health.com: CAn C fight off a cold?
Boost brain power
Pairing vitamins C and E is smart for another reason: It may lessen your Alzheimer's risks by as much as 64 percent, according to research in the Archives of Neurology. Just 500 milligrams of C and 400 IU of E appear to be enough.
The brain's high fat content makes it especially vulnerable to free radicals, but these antioxidants may act as shields, says study author Peter Zandi, PhD, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. "Some studies suggest that vitamin E does its job reducing free radicals in the body, but then its capacity is depleted," Zandi says. "Vitamin C may recharge E."
Health.com: The best multivitamin for you
What to do now: Try taking C and E supplements, and talk to your doc about your risks for Alzheimer's and dementia.
Save your eyesight
Vitamin C can't prevent the need for reading glasses around age 45. But anti-oxidants, including C, help prevent one of the leading causes of blindness: age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
More than 3.5 million Americans are thought to be in the early stages, and the disease strikes more women than men. A major clinical trial sponsored by the National Eye Institute showed that a daily supplement of 500 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 IU of vitamin E, 15 milligrams of beta-carotene, 80 milligrams of zinc, and 2 milligrams of copper reduced the risk of moderate or severe AMD-related vision loss by up to 25 percent. The antioxidants neutralize damage to the retina caused by, you guessed it, free radicals.
What to do now: If you're at high risk for AMD (you're overweight or have a family history), check to see if your multi-vitamin contains the study's amounts of C, E, beta-carotene/vitamin A, zinc, and copper. Chances are, its C and E levels fall short, but additional supplements will do the job. (Caveat: Don't follow this advice if you smoke; this level of beta-carotene may up your lung-cancer risks.)
Help you live longer
Health Library MayoClinic.com: Health Library
You've probably heard that green tea boosts the body's defenses against toxins. That's important because toxins are thought to contribute to cancer, heart attack, stroke, and lots of other maladies. In fact, one to two cups a day may reduce a woman's risk of dying by about 20 per-cent, Japanese researchers say.
What's the vitamin C connection? Citrus juices (lemon, lime, orange) may supercharge the immunity-boosting power of green tea. A new Purdue University study found that mixing citrus juice with green tea allowed 80 percent of the tea's anti-oxidants to stick around after simulated digestion, making the pairing healthier than thought, says study author Mario G. Ferruzzi, PhD, assistant professor in Purdue's department of food and nutrition.
What to do now: Add at least an ounce of citrus juice to your green tea -- or try Tazo Lemon Green iced tea or SoBe Green Tea 3G. Both drinks are stocked with vitamin C. E-mail to a friend
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Copyright Health Magazine 2009I am fairly convinced the Sabres want to retain Miller and bring him back in. However, I am more convinced Ryan Miller wants to go somewhere and win a Stanley Cup. That appears to be his driving force, so long-term extensions with a building team like Buffalo become difficult.The Sabres are going to try and sign him, but they are also going to listen closely and there are many who tell me the price for Miller pre February 8 (the date the Olympic freeze takes over) will be discounted when compared to the price post Olympics in what I am calling Trade Frenzy Week...(the week between the Olympics and the trade deadline.)By picking up Miller pre-Olympics the Sabres can save a lot of money by not having to pay him for the time he is in Russia.The third price is if the Sabres were to retain some of Miller's salary and turn him into a true playoff rental. By retaining salary the Sabres open up the market to almost any NHL team wanting to take a shot. This will be their best return. By far.There was a point a month ago where the Flyers couldn't give away Andrej Meszaros because his play had fallen off over the last few years due to injury. His confidence was shot. But the Flyers were listening to teams with interest all the same. Now, Meszaros is one of the hottest D-men in hockey and playing a major role. His game has returned in a major way. San Jose and Phoenix have interest and suddenly he could be the chip in a Byfuglien trade....or the Flyers could just be perfectly happy with him putting up multiple point games for them...there will be talk.If there is one team which likes to make bold moves and isn't afraid to take a chance it is Chicago. The Hawks aren't being shy about their desire to acquire another top 6 forward....preferably a center...They have always loved Evander Kane in Chicago, and I have been waiting for these rumors to start... Finally, a good source has informed me that talks have taken place. Prelim talks, but talks. I for one.. would NOT trade Evander Kane.more to come...I wanted to create a simple RSS reader for myself. All I wanted to see was some top headline from top news site (according to Google it’s BBC, CNN and Fox News). No images, no fluff, just a headline and a link. I settled on 7 headline, which provided me a good balance between too much and too little data.
You can check it out at https://www.alexkras.com/eznews/.
My first intent was to just use JavaScript, however, I run into an issue with RSS feeds preventing cross-origin HTTP request (CORS).
I then decided to use a back end technology of sorts.
Even though I love Python and Node, they are both not very easy to deploy. I wanted something quick that I can deploy on my own server. Since I am already running WordPress, it was VERY easy to create a simple PHP script.
All I had to do is:
Create a folder Add a simple PHP file. You can see my implementation here: https://github.com/akras14/eznews
It works great. Mobile Friendly. Blazing fast. No large JavaScript files to download.
Here is the core functionality:
function getFreshContent() { $html = ""; $newsSource = array( array( "title" => "BBC", "url" => "http://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/world/rss.xml" ), array( "title" => "CNN", "url" => "http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_latest.rss" ), array( "title" => "Fox News", "url" => "http://feeds.foxnews.com/foxnews/latest" ) ); function getFeed($url){ $rss = simplexml_load_file($url); $count = 0; $html.= '<ul>'; foreach($rss->channel->item as$item) { $count++; if($count > 7){ break; } $html.= '<li><a href="'.htmlspecialchars($item->link).'">'.htmlspecialchars($item->title).'</a></li>'; } $html.= '</ul>'; return $html; } foreach($newsSource as $source) { $html.= '<h2>'.$source["title"].'</h2>'; $html.= getFeed($source["url"]); } return $html; }
I’ve added Bootstrap via CDN to make it look prettier, and since it is coming from CDN, it has a minor performance hit.
The only issue with PHP, is that it did not offer an easy way to cache data between various requests. Forcing me to hit RSS feed every time I wanted to render the page. This would be fine, if I was the only one consuming that page, but since I was planning to host it live on the internet, I wanted to come up with a more robust solution.
Luckily, David Walsh came up with a simple solution allowing me to cache my RSS request in a file. I am caching my requests for 5 minutes, meaning I will hit RSS urls at most 12 times per hour.
So there you have it, a simple RSS reader in 85 lines of PHP.fullscreen continue view fullscreen close
A cyclist collided with a pedestrian near Washington Square Park this afternoon, sending him to the hospital with a serious head injury. A witness says the unidentified pedestrian was crossing Washington Square West when the cyclist turned left off of West 4th Street, pedaling against traffic. (Washington Square West is a one way street heading south.)
An FDNY spokesperson says first responders were alerted to the collision at 4:29 p.m. The pedestrian was rushed to Beth-Israel medical center with serious but non-life threatening injuries. The cyclist also sustained a minor injury.
One worker at an apartment building on the block told us, "The man was walking through the crosswalk and the biker turned left and hit him. He was laying on the floor for about 15 minutes with his head bleeding until they carried him off." The worker, who asked to remain anonymous, could not say whether the pedestrian had the light.
Another witness says a friend of the cyclist tried to leave the scene with the cyclist's bike, but NYPD officers confiscated it before he could get away. An NYPD spokesperson did not have any information on any potential charges against the cyclist.
Additional reporting by Christopher Robbins and Ricky Patricia Soberano.As a Victorian woman, I don’t consider my sexuality a large part of my identity. However, I know that is an important part of others’ identities, so I will address it in the interest of presenting myself completely to others.
I am sexually conservative, to say the least, although I am tired of being made to feel “prudish” for it. For a woman of my time period, my diminished, near-nonexistent sex drive is perfectly normal. I have, in past, used the term asexual to describe myself, but I have never felt fully comfortable in it. The problem is that I do not identify with the modern spectrum. When I come from, it’s pretty much expected that women don’t have a strong or compelling desire for sex. It is not that I identify as sexual or asexual, I just identify as a Victorian lady. I don’t want to usurp the terminology of other minorities to describe an aspect of my transtemporalism.
I am, naturally, a virgin. I do not personally believe in premarital sex, but I do intend to marry and carry on a lifelong sexual relationship…which (I believe) is not true of most asexuals. It is very frustrating to be a transtemporal, because so few Moderns share this view and I feel very isolated in it. The only Moderns I have met who don’t believe in premarital sex are devoutly religious and view it as a matter of morality.
While it would offend the personal standards I hold myself too, I don’t see it as a moral question for Moderns. If you are a twenty-first century soul and you want to have sex, or copious amounts sex, or any sort of queer sex, that is a personal choice not a “good” or “bad” action. Sex itself is amoral in this society, so if you are from this time period, I fully respect whatever relationship you choose to have with sex. That being said, I am not in the same position. Victorian social standards are impressed on my soul, and there really is no choice for me.
Victoriously yours,
ReginaAnimal lovers looking for a caffeine fix can now hop on over to Rabbitland, Hong Kong’s first rabbit cafe. Mashable reports that the new cafe, which opened on August 16, is home to a dozen adorable floppy-eared bunnies.
As they sip tea and snack on sandwiches, customers can wander the cafe, feeding and petting the 12 rescued rabbits. While the idea for Rabbitland was likely inspired in part by the rising popularity of cat cafes (of which Hong Kong has several), co-founder Teddy Chui claims its purpose is also to teach kids how much work it takes to care for a pet bunny. He wants parents to bring their children to Rabbitland where, in addition to cuddling the adorable bunnies, they can learn firsthand about rabbit care before buying a pet of their own.
Chui also encourages all customers to play with the rabbits—so long as they don’t pick them up or pull on their ears—making Rabbitland the perfect place for Hong Kong residents without pets to make a few new furry friends.
[h/t Mashable]
Know of something you think we should cover? Email us at tips@mentalfloss.com.CLOSE Donald Trump is reportedly telling Obama-appointed ambassadors they have to be out by Inauguration Day — no exceptions. Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Donald Trump during the final presidential debate at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo11: Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump's team has decided not to offer extensions to U.S. ambassadors who are political appointees, a departure from previous allowances during presidential transitions, the Statement Department said Friday.
In the past two presidential transitions — from the Bill Clinton administration to George W. Bush and from Bush to President Obama — a handful of ambassadors requested and were granted extensions for family reasons each time, State Department spokesman John Kirby told USA TODAY. Trump’s team decided not to offer extensions this time around, Kirby said.
The policy affects 30% of U.S. ambassadors who are political appointees stationed in countries around the world, Kirby said. Their roles will be filled by deputy chiefs of mission in each embassy who are career diplomats, until a new ambassador is appointed.
The remaining 70% of ambassadors who are career civil servants are not affected, but Trump’s incoming team will decide how to fill ambassador posts based on how they seek to implement their world view, Kirby said.
All political appointees at State, including Kirby, a former Pentagon spokesman who moved to the department when he retired as a Navy admiral, were required by the Obama White House to submit resignation letters by Dec. 7, with their last day to be Jan. 20, Inauguration Day for the new president, Kirby said.
As a political appointee, “you have no expectation to stay behind after the inauguration of the new president,” he said.
The directive, first reported by the New York Times, threatens to leave the United States without Senate-confirmed envoys for months in nations like Germany, Canada and Britain.
According to the Times:
"Mr. Trump, by contrast, has taken a hard line against leaving any of President Obama’s political appointees in place as he prepares to take office on Jan. 20 with a mission of dismantling many of his predecessor’s signature foreign and domestic policy achievements. 'Political' ambassadors, many of them major donors who are nominated by virtue of close ties with the president, almost always leave at the end of his term; ambassadors who are career diplomats often remain in their posts."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2i0BP4IBy Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, leader of the conservative crusade to defund the Affordable Care Act, said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday “the Senate needs to act” to avert a partial government shutdown.
“In my view, (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid should call the Senate back in today… There’s no reason the Senate should be home on vacation.”
The Senate is scheduled to meet Monday afternoon at 2 p.m.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas advocates for defunding the Affordable Care Act in the battle over government funding.
Cruz added, “If Harry Reid forces a government shutdown, that will be a mistake. I hope he backs away from that ledge that he’s pushing us towards.”
He also said “Harry Reid has to move off his absolutist position” and accused the Majority Leader of not being willing to compromise or even being willing to discuss possible changes in the health care law which President Barack Obama signed in 2010.
Cruz’s comments came after the House voted late Saturday night to delay the health care overhaul for a year.
This move to delay – rather than defund – Obamacare shows that the House is willing to compromise, Cruz argued. “That’s the essence of a compromise,” he told NBC’s David Gregory.
MORE: 7 Things to Know About Ted Cruz
The Texas Republican noted that the Obama administration announced in July it was delaying for a year the requirement under the health care law that employers pay penalties if they don’t offer health insurance to their workers or if they offer a plan which doesn’t meet the law’s standards. Why not also delay the law’s requirement for individual Americans, Cruz asked.
But with no indication that the House and Senate can find agreement on a spending bill to fund the federal government’s operations, a partial government shutdown is set to start at midnight Monday.
When the Senate takes up the House measure, it seems likely that Reid would offer a motion to table, or kill, it.
Under Senate rules, such a motion can’t be debated; therefore no filibuster or delaying tactic is possible.
Starting last Tuesday, Cruz held the Senate floor for 21 hours to dramatize his effort to block Obamacare.
Late Saturday night the House passed two amendments to the Senate spending bill, one to delay the implementation of Obamacare for a year, the other to repeal the tax on medical device manufacturers that was included in the Affordable Care Act to help offset the cost of expanded insurance coverage.
Two House Democrats voted for the delay on Obamacare, while two Republicans voted against it; otherwise the vote split along party lines.
On the medical device tax repeal, 17 Democrats voted for it, as did all Republican members.
The House also unanimously approved a separate bill which would pay troops, some defense contractors and civilian Pentagon workers, if there is a shutdown.
Reid said Saturday before the House voted that “the Senate will reject both the one-year delay of the Affordable Care Act and the repeal of the medical device tax.” He scoffed that the House votes were “pointless.”
House Speaker John Boehner said after the votes Saturday night, “The House has again passed a plan that reflects the American people's desire to keep the government running and stop the president's health care law.”
He added, “Now that the House has again acted, it's up to the Senate to pass this bill without delay to stop a government shutdown. Let's get this done."
The most recent partial shutdown lasted 21 days in late 1995 and early 1996 when President Bill Clinton and GOP congressional leaders couldn’t agree on the terms of a spending bill.
This story was originally published onWASHINGTON -- The Republicans are killing Keynesian economics with their attempt to cut spending as the economy rebounds from a recession, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a floor speech on Sunday.
"I would say... that symbolically, that agreement is moving us to the point where we are having the final interment of John Maynard Keynes," he said, referring to the British economist. "He nominally died in 1946 but it appears we are going to put him to his final rest with this agreement."
Keynes argued that aggregate demand was not always enough to spur full employment and that outside structures, such as governments, could influence the economy to create jobs and regulate business cycles. His thinking influenced later New Deal spending by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Durbin said the economy is too weak for major cuts in spending, a view that is shared by many economists.
Although details of a debt deal are still unclear, lawmakers are likely to make cuts totaling hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade, beginning in the 2012 fiscal year. Commissions set up to create a path for deficit reduction, such as the Bowles-Simpson commission, have advised against spending cuts for at least a year to protect the economic rebound.
"Their fear, and the fear that I share, is that if we make spending cuts at this point, it will not help economic recovery," he said.
Massive spending cuts as part of a spending deal, Durbin said, could cause the economy to sputter even if Congress can avoid economic turmoil by meeting an Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt limit.
"So here we are in the horns of a dilemma," Durbin said. "In order to avoid the disaster that would occur August 2 if the United States defaulted for the first time in its history, we are being told we have to cut back on government spending and by cutting back on spending, we may also have a negative impact on our economy."
The Chamber of Commerce has warned against major spending cuts as part of a debt limit deal, asking lawmakers on Friday to be careful.
"The recovery is clearly on a lower trajectory, and it will likely be some time before the economy rebounds to the point it will create much in terms of job growth," Martin Regalia, the group's chief economist, said in a statement.CLOSE Police have named the man they believe to be behind the D.C. area suburb shooting, and it turns out he was an ardent Bernie Sanders supporter. Nathan Rousseau Smith (@fantasticmrnate) explains. Buzz60
Republican congressman Steve Scalise from Louisiana is pictured speaking after House members elected him as the new House majority whip in the Longworth Building in Washington D.C. (Photo11: Jim Lo Scalzo, EPA Images)
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise remained in critical condition Thursday evening after undergoing a second surgery to deal with internal injuries and a broken bone in his leg following the shootout at an Alexandria, Va., baseball field, the hospital said.
"The Congressman will require additional operations, and will be in the hospital for some time." the Medstar Washington Hospital Center said in a statement, adding that Scalise has "improved in the last 24 hours."
June 15: Updated condition of Rep. Scalise: https://t.co/1mt8o5wp8u — MedStar Washington (@MedStarWHC) June 16, 2017
A gunman opened fire on the Republican baseball team's practice before Thursday's annual charity baseball game, critically wounding Scalise, R-La., and injuring three other people as horrified legislators and staffers scrambled for cover amid a barrage of bullets. Scalise, the third most powerful Republican in the House, was shot through the hip.
Just before the game Thursday night, members of the Democratic and Republican teams knelt together in prayer near second place, where Scalise would have been playing. The crowd chanted "USA! USA!"
Later, the crowd burst into applause as Capitol Police Officer David Bailey — who was injured as he pursued the shooter — hobbled to the mound on crutches and tossed the ceremonial first pitch.
CLOSE An officer who was injured in Wednesday's shooting at a congressional baseball team practice threw the ceremonial first pitch at Thursday's game. (June 15) AP
President Trump delivered a videotaped statement, saying, "we will not be intimidated... the game will go on."
Capitol Police, who provided security for the practice, killed the shooter, identified by authorities as James Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill. Two lawmakers who were leaving practice when they encountered Hodgkinson before the shooting believe he was targeting Republicans.
READ MORE:
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2svizSvDallas Mavericks reserve guard J.J. Barea is generously listed at six feet, which is a polite way to say that's a tall tale.
ESPN.com got the lowdown from Barea, who has carved out a successful 10-year NBA career despite being vertically challenged.
How tall are you?
Barea: 5-foot-10 1/2
Why are you listed at six feet tall?
Barea: I've got no idea. It was on my NBA pre-[draft] workouts or something. When I was coming out, they put me at six foot and it stayed. I don't know.
How many guys in the league are shorter than you right now?
Barea: Maybe one. Isaiah [Thomas]. Yeah, he's shorter.
Shane Larkin?
Barea: I think so. I don't really know. Maybe a little bit shorter.
What is the key to lasting a decade in the league as a sub-six-footer?
Barea: You've got to be super, super good at what you do best, and you've got to play your game no matter what situation you're in. I dribble and get to the lane, pick-and-roll, so you've got to do that every time you get on the floor.
How much of it is also a mentality to be able to play against dudes a foot or more taller than you?
Barea: Oh, no question. For me, I've been doing it all my life, so you get used to it at some point, but then you've also got to find a way to get better every year at something. Either reading the game or something. But I'm used to driving against big guys.
Is fearlessness something you learn or do you just have to have it?
Barea: I think you've got to have it. That's something you've got to have. You've got to lose that fear through your life growing up and get used to it.
Not exactly a traditional route to the NBA for you. Grow up in Puerto Rico, spend one year of high school in Miami, go to Northeastern for four years, go undrafted. At what point did you start thinking that you were an NBA player and then in the NBA to stay?
Barea: The first time, it was like junior year or senior year in college when the coach brought me into his office and he was like, 'Hey, if you keep getting better, you're going to have a chance to make it.' Then in the NBA, it was like my third year when I started getting consistent minutes off the bench and started helping the team out. That's when I thought I could be here for a while.
J.J. Barea isn't afraid to battle in the paint with the NBA's best big men. Scott Cunningham/NBAE/Getty Images
Did you ever think you'd play a critical role in an NBA Finals?
Barea: Nah, never 'til it happened. I just kept trying to get some minutes, trying to get consistent minutes and then it worked out.
What was your reaction when you were told before Game 4 of the 2011 Finals that you were going in the starting lineup?
Barea: It was on the phone with coach [Rick Carlisle]. He called me when I was at the house, and I think my brothers and my parents were there. They were going to go get some food or something. I was like, 'Before you guys leave, I'm going to start tomorrow.' They were like, 'Oh, okay.' They kind of stayed relaxed, like it wasn't nothing, so that made me stay loose. It was another game, so I tried to stay as relaxed as possible.The richest and poorest Americans differ in life expectancy by more than a decade. Glaring health inequalities across the socioeconomic spectrum are often attributed to access to medical care and differences in habits such as smoking, exercise and diet.
But a new study in rhesus monkeys shows that the chronic stress of life at the bottom can alter the immune system even in the absence of other risk factors.
The research confirms previous animal studies suggesting that social status affects the way genes turn on and off within immune cells. The new study, appearing in the journal Science, goes further by showing that the effects are reversible.
The team studied adult female rhesus monkeys housed at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of Emory University. They found that infection sends immune cells of low-ranking monkeys into overdrive, leading to unwanted inflammation, but improvements in social status or social support can turn things back around.
In the first part of the study, Yerkes scientists put 45 unrelated females that had never met each other one by one into new social groups. Then they watched how the monkeys treated each other to see, for every interaction, who did the bullying and who cowered.
Captive female rhesus macaques in these newly created groups formed a pecking order in order of seniority. The females that were introduced to their groups earlier tended to rank higher than those that came later.
To find out how rank affected their health, the researchers took immune cells from the monkeys and measured the activity of roughly 9,000 genes. More than 1,600 of them were expressed differently in lower-ranking than in higher-ranking females, particularly within a type of white blood cell called natural killer cells, the first line of defense against infection.
In the second part of the study, the researchers rearranged the females into nine new social groups. Once again, the females sorted themselves in order of arrival. The first females to join the newly-formed groups ranked higher than latecomers.
In the re-sorting, the researchers made females that were previously high on the dominance ladder move down one or more rungs, and those that were |
to keep the interstates paved. Vermont took its case for state control to the Supreme Court -- and lost.
It's quite simple. The United States has destroyed the 10th Amendment, which says that "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The present movement for secession has been gathering steam for a decade and a half. In preparation for Vermont's bicentennial in 1991, public debates -- moderated by then-Lt. Gov. Howard Dean -- were held in seven towns before crowds that averaged 230 citizens. At the end of each, Dean asked all those in favor of Vermont's seceding from the Union to stand and be counted. In town after town, solid majorities stood. The final count: 999 (62 percent) for secession and 608 opposed.
In early 2003, transplanted Southerner and retired Duke University economics professor Thomas Naylor gave a speech at Johnson State College opposing the Iraq war. When he pitched the idea of secession to the crowd, he saw many eyes "light up," he said. Later that year, he and several others started a loosely organized movement (now a think tank) called the Second Vermont Republic, which has an independent quarterly journal, Vermont Commons, and a Web site.
In October 2005, about 300 Vermonters attended a statewide convention on the question of secession. Six months later, the annual Vermont Poll of the University of Vermont's Center for Rural Studies found that about 8 percent of respondents replied "yes" to peaceful secession, arguably making Vermont foremost among the many states with secessionist movements (including Alaska, California, Hawaii, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas).
We secessionists believe that the 350-year swing of history's pendulum toward large, centralized imperial states is once again reversing itself.
Why? First, the cost of oil and gas. According to urban planner James Howard Kunstler, "Anything organized on a gigantic scale... will probably falter in the energy-scarce future." Second, third-wave technology is as inherently democratic and decentralist as second-wave technology was authoritarian and centralist. Gov. Jim Douglas wants Vermont to be the first "e-state," making broadband Internet access available to every household and business in the state by 2010. Vermont will soon be fully wired into the global social commons.
Against this backdrop, secessionists from all over the state will gather in June to plan a grass-roots campaign to get at least 200 towns to vote by 2012 on independence. We believe that one outcome of this meeting will be dialogues among different communities of Vermonters committed to achieving local economic vitality, be they farmers, entrepreneurs, bankers, merchants, lawyers, independent media providers, construction workers, manufacturers, artists, entertainers or anyone else with a stake in Vermont's future -- anyone for whom freedom is not just a slogan.
If Vermonters succeed in once again inventing vibrant local economies, these in turn may reinvigorate the small-scale democratic town meeting tradition, the true American Congress, and re-create the rudiments of a republic once again able to make its own way in the world. The once and future republic of Vermont.
ianb@sover.net
frank.bryan@uvm.edu
Ian Baldwin is publisher of Vermont Commons. Frank Bryan, a political science professor at the University of Vermont, is author
of "Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How
It Works."Robert Newhouse, responsible for one of the most iconic plays in Dallas Cowboys history, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 64.
Rodd Newhouse told Minneapolis TV station KMSP-TV that his father was surrounded by his wife and four children at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, when he died from the effects of heart disease.
Newhouse had been in declining health since suffering a stroke in 2010.
Former Cowboys fullback Robert Newhouse has died after a long illness, according to his son. Focus on Sport/Getty Images
Newhouse, a Longview, Texas, native, played fullback for the Cowboys from 1972 to '83.
He helped Tom Landry win his second Super Bowl with a memorable play against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl X.
With about seven minutes left, Newhouse took a handoff from Roger Staubach and headed left. Suddenly, he pulled up and lofted a pass to receiver Golden Richards just over the outstretched arm of a Denver defender to give the Cowboys their final points in a 27-10 victory.
"The thing I remember most is for that halfback option play we ran against Denver," former Cowboys player personnel director Gil Brandt said. "We ran it going left, and it's a lot harder to go left than right. During the week they must've practiced the play 10 times, and he never completed it. And that was going right. Here it is going left, and he completed it."
Before spending several seasons as Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett's lead blocker, Newhouse -- equipped with 44-inch thighs -- was one of the focal points of the Cowboys' offense.
He gained a career-high 930 yards with a 4.4 average and two touchdowns in 1975. Newhouse finished his career with 4,784 yards, a 4.1 average and 31 touchdowns. He is fifth on the Cowboys' all-time rushing list.
"He led our team in rushing in '75, and he would've been a great back in a one-back system because he was such a strong runner," Brandt said. "He would be that guy who could move the chains, running inside. He could run outside."
After his career, Newhouse spent several years with the Cowboys working in the player-relations department, where he worked closely with players in a variety of roles in their off-the-field lives.
"He had no airs about him at all -- just a genuine, wonderful, really top-flight man," Brandt said. "I don't know that he was ever late to anything. The guy was just a really model citizen."The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) is a nonprofit, non-governmental institution to inform the public about "science and policy issues affecting international security."[1] Founded in 1993, the group is led by founder and former United Nations IAEA nuclear inspector David Albright.[2] ISIS was founded on a belief that scientists have an obligation to participate actively in solving major problems of national and international security. ISIS focuses primarily on four parts: 1) prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and related technology to other nations and terrorists, 2) lead to greater transparency of nuclear activities worldwide, 3) reinforce the international non-proliferation regime, and 4) cut down nuclear arsenals. Furthermore, ISIS seeks to build stable foundations for various efforts to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons to U.S. and international security by integrating technical, scientific and policy research. As the effectiveness of ISIS was appreciated and recognized in the Global “Go-To Think Tanks” rankings, ISIS consistently places in the top 25 Science and Technology Think Tanks in the world and in 2015 placed as one of the top United States and foreign policy think tanks in the world.[3][promotional language]
Board and funding [ edit ]
ISIS's board consists of the following members:[4]
David Albright - Chairman/President
Michael Rietz - Treasurer, Lawyer, private practice
Houston Wood - University of Virginia
Steven Aftergood - Federation of American Scientists
Laura Rockwood - Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation
ISIS has been funded by:[5] Ploughshares Fund, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Colombe Foundation, New-Land Foundation, The Prospect Hill Foundation, United States Institute of Peace, The International Atomic Energy Agency, Ford Foundation, The Scherman Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Compton Foundation, The Stanley Foundation, The John Merck Fund, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, W. Alton Jones Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, United States Department of Energy
Staff [ edit ]
ISIS's staff consists of the following people:[6]
David Albright – President and Founder of ISIS
Andrea Stricker – Senior Policy Analyst
Serena Kelleher-Vergantini – Research Analyst
Research Fellows, Interning Research Associates, Technical Consultants
Focus and analysis [ edit ]
ISIS-DigitalGlobe satellite imagery analysis of the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Plant in Iran. February 25, 2006.
The institute regularly publishes technical analyses of nuclear proliferation programs by examining technical data and satellite imagery. ISIS is cited in non-proliferation circles and in international media regarding its analysis. The majority of the current material produced by ISIS is focused on the analysis and monitoring of the nuclear programs of North Korea, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and cases of worldwide illicit nuclear trade.[7]
Iraq [ edit ]
In August 1991, David Albright and Mark Hibbs, writing for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote that there were many technological challenges unsolved with Iraq's nuclear program. Albright and Hibbs wrote that Iraq's nuclear program "was so primitive that the international sanctions put in place after the August 2 invasion may have had more substantive effect than the tons of bombs dropped by U.S. and allied planes five months later".[8]
In an October 2002 posting ISIS published a report which said "One of the most significant accomplishments of the intrusive inspections mandated by UN Security Council in 1991 is that Iraq is not believed to have nuclear weapons now. This single accomplishment demonstrates both the power and value of intrusive nuclear inspections in Iraq." The report further argued that "the nuclear inspection process provided a powerful deterrent against Iraq reconstituting its nuclear weapons program until inspectors left in late 1998."[9]
Iran [ edit ]
ISIS has been following since the 1990s the circumstances surrounding the Iranian nuclear program and has created a website dedicated to informing readers about the history of Iran's nuclear program and facilities, providing IAEA reports, providing information about diplomatic efforts, and providing ISIS technical assessments.[10][promotional language]
A June 2009 posting on ISIS argued that "we do know that a lasting, military solution to Iran’s nuclear program is not realistic. This leaves diplomacy as the best route to bring about a suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment program, regardless of who holds Iran’s presidency."[11]
On October 2, 2009 ISIS posted a subject to revision working document by IAEA safeguards experts which it described as an "Internal IAEA Document on Alleged Iranian Nuclear Weaponization".[12] The document led media to report that Iran has tested a two-point implosion design.[13] Gordon Oehler, who ran the CIA’s nonproliferation center and served as deputy director of the presidential commission on weapons of mass destruction, wrote “if someone has a good idea for a missile program, and he has really good connections, he’ll get that program through.. But that doesn’t mean there is a master plan for a nuclear weapon.”[14] Outside experts noted that the parts of the report made public lack many dates associated with Iran's alleged activities.[15] The Washington Post reported that "nowhere are there construction orders, payment invoices, or more than a handful of names and locations possibly connected to the projects."[16] Former IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said the Agency didn't have any information that nuclear material has been used and didn't have any information that any components of nuclear weapons had been manufactured.[17] Iran asserted that the documents were a fabrication, while the IAEA urged Iran to be more cooperative and Member States to provide more information about the allegations to be shared with Iran.[18]
In December 2009, the conservative-leaning[19][20] The Times, working with ISIS analysis, claimed that a document from an unnamed Asian intelligence agency described the use of a neutron source which has no use other than in a nuclear weapon, and claimed the document appeared to be from an office in Iran's Defense Ministry and may have been from around 2007.[21][22] The Institute for Science and International Security, said that it “urges caution and further assessment” of the document and noted that "the document does not mention nuclear weapons.. and we have seen no evidence of an Iranian decision to build them.”[23] Western intelligence agencies did not give any authentication to the document,[23] while Russia noted that though the IAEA is in possession of these documents, the IAEA's findings "do not contain any conclusions about the presence of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran."[24] In response to allegations that the document was forged from Iran and some within the United States,[25][26] Albright said ISIS felt "that this document does need to be authenticated, and we welcome a debate and actually a collecting [of] information from people, people who've done linguistic analysis, inside information".[27]
Myanmar [ edit ]
In a January 28, 2010 report, ISIS found: "There remain sound reasons to suspect that the military regime in Burma might be pursuing a long-term strategy to make nuclear weapons. Despite the public reports to the contrary, the military junta does not appear to be close to establishing a significant nuclear capability. Information suggesting the construction of major nuclear facilities appears unreliable or inconclusive."[28] During an ASEAN meeting in Thailand in July 2009, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton highlighted concerns of the North Korean link. "We know there are also growing concerns about military cooperation between North Korea and Burma which we take very seriously," Clinton said.[29]
Reception to ISIS [ edit ]
A National Journal profile in 2004 called Albright a “go-to guy for media people seeking independent analysis on Iraq’s [weapons of mass destruction] programs.”[30]
In 2006, David Albright received the prestigious Joseph A. Burton Forum Award from the American Physical Society, a professional society of American physicists. He was cited for "his tireless and productive efforts to slow the transfer of nuclear weapons technology. He brings a unique combination of deep understanding, objectivity, and effectiveness to this vexed area.”[31][promotional language]I never thought the day would come when I would agree with anything Debbie Wasserman Schulz had to say, but a recent report in Politico has changed all that.
According to a story by Politico's Dylan Byers, Wasserman Schulz, who is Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, reportedly told a private group of Jewish Americans in South Florida that MSNBC, CNN and the broadcast media portray Palestinians as victims while ignoring the plight of Jews.
Now that's big news because Wasserman Schulz heads a political party whose president and members of the House and Senate have, for the most part, done everything possible to thumb their noses at Israel and to ignore the raw hatred that exists toward Israel and Jews all over the world.
This pattern starts at the top with the Obama White House and its obvious contempt for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There has been a handle-with-care approach to Israel's enemies and those who are anti-Semitic. At the same time, the White House has engaged in open battles in media and behind the scenes with Israel's leaders. All this goes on while Israel continues to face the constant threat of attack from nations such as Iran, with its tireless efforts to beef up nuclear capabilities that clearly are designed to threaten Israel's existence.
President Obama and his advisors were quick to let it be known that a possible address by Netanyahu to Congress would be met with hostility by the administration, even though the Speaker of the House has every right to extend such an invitation to speak.
Meanwhile, the president's plan to somehow negotiate a deal with the Iranians is a sure recipe for disaster. To have force or meaning, an agreement would require support from U.N. Security Council members, including Russia and China -- no friends to America's foreign policy.
The obvious hostility toward Israel that has seeped into many media outlets, particularly those that tend to "lean forward" in President Obama's direction, has started an apparent worldwide trend that is extremely concerning. Recent news reports suggest that a new wave of anti-Semitism is growing throughout Europe.
The recent slaughter of Jewish shoppers in a French deli was not a lone incident. Acts of violence and chants of hatred toward Jews have spread from France into all parts of Europe, including Germany. A recent poll of Jews living in Italy showed that a vast majority believe that anti-Semitism is on the rise in that country.
Why should we be shocked? President Obama, the supposed leader of the free world, bends over backward not to offend the vilest collection of murderous thugs since the Nazis of Hitler's Third Reich. These are people who kill by decapitation and now by burning a man alive. But the president will never utter a word that brands them for what they are -- radical Islamic terrorists.
Obama tiptoes around the subject of these ghastly murders, gingerly commenting on them. At the same time, he feels free to tell Israel and its leaders to butt out of his endless negotiations with Iran. Advisors to the president have been quick to make it known that Netanyahu would pay a heavy price for his speech. They have used profane descriptions of him for daring to go directly to Congress. Yet a group that cages a man and sets him ablaze must be condemned in the most carefully chosen words, lest the many non-violent followers of their religion take offense.
One could say that over time Obama's strategy has worked: A recent poll shows that those in Great Britain view Israel less favorably than they do Iran.
And make no mistake; this wave of one-sidedness is coming to a town or city near you in the future. As Israel continues to be portrayed by many media outlets as an obstinate bully; and while the world waits in fear for the next act of savagery by what President Obama has termed "the JV team" of terrorists, the seeping hatred toward those who suffered incalculable tragedy in World War II might seep right back into our own laps.Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras suggested in an interview on Thursday that Greece’s privatization program may go ahead and that state sell-off fund (TAIPED) might not be abolished, showing signs of a shift in the government stance from comments in previous weeks by ministers indicating that the sale of assets would be abandoned. Tsipras even described the price offered by German airport operator Fraport for the running of Greek regional airports as “fair.”
Speaking to German weekly magazine Stern, Tsipras insisted, however, that he is opposed to the way sell-offs have been conducted in recent years, saying this is “not privatisation but an unbridled buy-out of state property to friends of the system.”
He added that against an original estimate for revenues of 50 billion euros, less then 5 billion has been collected to date.
“You can’t rescue a country with 5 billion euros,” said Tsipras.
Asked whether TAIPED will be shut down, Tsipras did not rule out its continued operation, saying “we will see.” However, he added, it is his belief that the state should continue to have control of the economy’s drivers.
“We want the state to control key sectors of the Greek economy so that we can reap the benefits,” Tsipras said.
The prime minister added that the 1 billion euros being offered by German firm Fraport for the operation of 14 Greek regional airports is “fair.” But, he said, “airports are a part of our tourism industry. That’s how Greece earns its livelihood. It is something we also need to examine.”
Tsipras’s comments come as a significant departure from the positions expressed by the ministers of Economy Nikos Stathakis and Infrastructures Christos Spirtzis, who had suggested in the past that the sell-off of the 14 airports may be cancelled after they questioned the framework of the deal. Although the prime minister did not appear fully supportive of the agreement with the German firm, it is clear that he has examined the terms, suggesting that it may ultimately go ahead.Juan Agudelo's lengthy journey to find a new club has officially ended with the New England Revolution, with sources telling ESPN FC that the U.S. international has signed a contract with MLS.
A source added that Agudelo's deal will run through 2018, though the 22-year-old will not be a designated player.
Agudelo confirmed the move on Twitter later on Thursday:
I am extremely happy to officially sign minutes ago and be back with the best teammates and coaching staff #NERevs pic.twitter.com/1Lvw36hYbw - AGUDELO (@JuanAgudelo) January 29, 2015
The deal concludes a puzzling spell for Agudelo, who has been out of action since his loan stint with Dutch side FC Utrecht ended last May. Agudelo had been on the books of English Premier League side Stoke City, but after twice having applications for a work permit denied, his contract was terminated.
MLS attempted to secure Agudelo's services last summer, but was turned down due to the player's insistence on playing in Europe. Agudelo had been linked with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, but his desire to play in England saw him turn that deal down as well.
Agudelo also took part in a two-week training stint with English Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers back in October, but it didn't lead to a contract being offered.
The single biggest reason for Agudelo's hiatus was an ultimately failed attempt to acquire Cypriot citizenship, a process that started last summer. Had Agudelo proved successful in acquiring citizenship in Cyprus, which is a member of the European Union, that would have opened the door for signing with a club in England since he would have been able to bypass the work permit process that resulted in his contract with Stoke being terminated.
But as the process continued to drag on with no sign of a resolution in sight, and with Agudelo idle during the prime of his career, he made the decision to return to MLS.
Now Agudelo will return to New England, who retained his rights because the forward left the club when his contract expired at the end of the 2013 season.Former NSA Director Michael Hayden was overheard on the phone to reporters on an Amtrak train. It happens more often than you might think.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
On Amtrak, powerful people talk loudly and spill secrets.
This is my conclusion based on five years’ field research commuting on Amtrak’s Acela between cities along the East Coast.
By now, you’ve heard about former NSA director Michael Hayden, who on Thursday talked nonstop to a reporter—on background—as the train went north from Washington, D.C. toward New York City. A few seats behind Hayden was Tom Matzzie, former Washington director of political group MoveOn.org, who started live-tweeting his eavesdropping.
On Acela listening to former NSA spy boss Michael Hayden give "off record" interviews. I feel like I'm in the NSA. Except I'm in public. — Tom Matzzie (@tommatzzie) October 24, 2013
Michael Hayden on Acela giving reporters disparaging quotes about admin. "Remember, just refer as former senior admin" #exNSAneedsadayjob — Tom Matzzie (@tommatzzie) October 24, 2013
Hayden was bragging about rendition and black sites a minute ago. — Tom Matzzie (@tommatzzie) October 24, 2013
As someone who rides the Acela two to three times a week, I can tell you that what Hayden and Matzzie each did—talking loud and tweeting louder—isn’t unusual. In fact, private conversations are so often broadcast across the train car that it’s become fertile ground for competitive intelligence gathering, business development or, as in Matzzie’s case, gaining a whole bunch of new social media followers.
It’s astonishingly easy to become an Acela spy—even if you don’t really want to be a part of other riders’ business—as I have learned from years of experience. Until very recently, all Amtrak tickets were paper-based, and the tickets looked a lot like airline boarding passes. In addition to the train and destination information, they included the passenger’s full name in the upper left-hand corner. Also until recently, those tickets were wedged between the top of the cushion and the hard back of each seat, with the name showing for anyone who desired to look. (E-tickets on mobile phones are starting to replace paper tickets for some riders.)
It has been my practice to board the train, and then walk up and down the aisle to glance at the names on those tickets. I’ve also taken note of who’s sitting in what seat. I’ve avoided some people (Chelsea Handler), and I’ve purposely sat down next to others whom I wanted to meet (a C-suite executive at an investment bank).
Shortly after we leave the station and I’ve done my rounds, the mobile phones invariably come out. When they do, I take note of who’s talking, what’s being said, and the name I saw on the ticket.
Amtrak trains don’t have the same whoosh of ambient noise as an airplane in flight. The cars are pretty quiet. If anything, sound reverberates and amplifies inside that confined space. Once, Sheryl Crow was sitting across from me with her headphones on, rehearsing for a performance at the White House. I’m sure she thought she was barely whispering, but those of us in the back of the car were treated to a sweet, soulful tiny train concert.
A few months ago, two men joined me at a four-top and placed their tickets on the table. I briefly looked at their names and their faces, and found them instantly on LinkedIn and Twitter. Within minutes, I knew that one was the global head of human resources at a very large bank. I knew where he went to university, who he was meeting with in Washington, and what he intended to discuss. While I listened—though is it eavesdropping when a conversation takes place at normal volume in a seat next to you?—I pulled an aerial photo of his house off the Web. He and his co-worker—a head of sales at the bank—obviously weren’t close. As they small-talked their way from New York City to Newark, the sales guy talked glowingly of a college football career. He didn’t mention what I already knew about him, which is that he was a placekicker, and had spent most of the time off the field.
Soon, their conversation turned to a female co-worker who’d returned from maternity leave. Sales guy complained aggressively that while she’d been out of the office for so long, the software they used had upgraded. There was no way she’d ever get caught up, he argued. She had the audacity to put in for a promotion, after being gone for three months!
HR guy concurred. Women were a major distraction, holding back productivity and advancement at their bank. It was a shame they couldn’t legally fire a woman for getting—or even wanting to get—pregnant. It was a worse shame that they had to hire women in the first place.
I went on a Twitter rampage of my own:
And they're complaining about having to work with women, especially those who ask what they need to do to get promoted. — Amy Webb (@amywebb) March 19, 2013
In fewer than3 minutes, I was able to read the names on their tickets and I now know lots of personal details about each man. — Amy Webb (@amywebb) March 19, 2013
Also - they're positing that the recession has definitely led to women taking it easy and quitting work to start families. — Amy Webb (@amywebb) March 19, 2013
@ricktagious Yep, that's my concern. It's a 100% full train and there's no where else for them to sit. (Or me, but I'm not moving.) — Amy Webb (@amywebb) March 19, 2013
I’ve overheard assistants making private jet arrangements for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, a national news media personality complain about his network, a woman tell a Lands’ End call-center employee that her dad was dying and she hadn’t spoken to him in a decade. I listened to an RNC staffer say she was launching a conservative website, then drop a bunch of backer names.
Mobile phones aren’t the only problem, though. One of the regular riders on my route, a German man who dresses in very expensive suits, reminds me of Augustus Gloop, all grown up but just as childish and awful. Once, an Amtrak attendant dropped some sliced fruit on his pant leg. Augustus Gloop made her get down on her knees and wipe off the table, his shoes, and his thighs.
I was incensed, but not mad as the woman next to me that day, who immediately hate-Instagrammed him.
The Acela offers free Wi-Fi, it has comfy seats, and I’ve found it to be the best way to move around my part of the East Coast. It’s not like riding an airplane, where we’re strapped in and told how to brace ourselves should the plane start to crash. As passengers, our guards are down. We’re relaxed, we unwind with a drink, and we settle into the sorts of conversations better served for private spaces.
The problem is that trains—even in first class, where I’ve observed the worst offenders—aren’t private. They’re very public venues, just like Twitter. And just like on Twitter, sometimes we forget that we’re actually on stage as we reveal our own worst private selves to the outside world.
My hunch is that most of us don’t really want to hear those other conversations. We’re accidental spies, initially irritated by the noise and then enticed by the details of the conversation.Zombie Outbreak Scheduled for October 26
Zombies Will Congregate to Promote Premier of The Walking Dead
If while driving to work tomorrow, you are swarmed by hordes of the undead, put your gun away and relax. It's not the forthcoming zombie apocalypse; it's just a promotion for the premiere of The Walking Dead.
In one of the coolest promotions in recent memory AMC, along with Fox, who is distributing the show overseas, is sponsoring a zombie invasion of popular landmarks across the globe to garner attention for the first episode of the adaptation of Robert Kirkman's comic book series. It will all kick off in Taipei then spread across the globe to Hong Kong and London before making its way to the United States. Expect full-on attacks at the Brooklyn Bridge and Lincoln Memorial. It will all culminate on Halloween night in Los Angeles for the premiere episode on Sunday at 10pm eastern.
The Walking Dead is produced by Gale Anne Hurd and written, produced and directed by Frank Darabont.
Remember, if you see a zombie between now and Sunday. Do not shoot it. It's an actor. We can't stress this enough.Amazon may have let a bit of early information out-the-bag in case you were interested. Oh, it has to do with the LG Nexus 5X – the yet-to-be-announced LG Nexus 5X. Interested? I figured you were. Thanks to three early listings that have since been pulled, Amazon has given us a good list of specs for the phone, all of which match up quite nicely to previous leaks and also to what our sources have told us.
I think it’s safe to say that we all assume that this new LG Nexus will be the more affordable of the two, hopefully bringing back that sweet spot of size, aesthetics, performance, and price that we loved so much about the original Nexus 5, while the Huawei Nexus 6P will be the big boy. Amazon didn’t give us a pricing, but as you will see below, this could very well be the next ultra-affordable Nexus phone.
The Nexus 5X specs, according to Amazon, are the following:
Display 5.2-inch IPS LCD (1920x1080, 423ppi), Fingerprint and smudge-resistant oleophobic coating OS Android 6.0 Marshmallow Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 1.8 GHz hexa-core 64-bit, Adreno 418 GPU Camera 12.3MP rear camera (f/2.0), IR Laser assisted Auto focus, 4K video capture (30fps), CRI-90 dual-flash; 5MP front camera (f/2.2) Battery 2,700 mAh, Fast charging - up to 3.8 hours of use from only 10 minutes of charging RAM 2GB Storage 16GB or 32GB SIM Nano Dimensions 147.0 x 72.6 x 7.9 mm, 136g Model LG-H791, LG-H790 Colors Quartz White, Ice Blue, and Charcoal Black Ports Micro USB Type-C, 3.5mm audio jack Other Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 MIMO, dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5.0 GHz), LTE cat. 6, Fingerprint reader, Sensor Hub, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Barometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient Light sensor, Hall sensor, Android Context Hub Project Fi Ready Yes Included Phone, charger, earphones, quick start guide
Want to see the proof?
Give me now (but only with 32GB of storage).
Cheers Abhishek!Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in “Transformers; The Last Knight,” because this is the kind of thing Hollywood does and then complains when we don’t take it seriously. (All Rights Reserved. Credit: Paramount Pictures/Bay Films)
I was surprised to learn last week that the most powerful people in Hollywood were not named Weinstein, do not have the power to greenlight films, and don’t have Brad Pitt on speed dial. They’re not rich and famous; they don’t throw bashes at Cannes or host cocktail parties during Oscar season. No, the new Hollywood powerbrokers are a far simpler sort — you’ve probably never heard of most of them. They’re little more than data points, truth be told.
That’s right: the critics who make up Rotten Tomatoes are the biggest, baddest villains Hollywood has cooked up since Darth Vader (and I’m one of them). And just like Alderaan before it, “La La Land” may soon be so much space dust.
At least, that’s what the executives who talked to the New York Times’ Brooks Barnes would have you believe. Sure, some of the movies were bad, a few execs were willing to admit. “But most studio fingers point toward Rotten Tomatoes, which boils down hundreds of reviews to give films ‘fresh’ or ‘rotten’ scores on its Tomatometer,” Barnes reported.
Brett Ratner said at a festival last year that the review-aggregating site would be “the destruction of our business,” and the biz’s brightest lights seem to agree with the director of “Rush Hour 3” and producer of “Santa’s Slay.” “Mr. Ratner’s sentiment was echoed almost daily in studio dining rooms all summer, although not for attribution, for fear of giving Rotten Tomatoes more credibility,” Barnes wrote. “Over lunch last month, the chief executive of a major movie company looked me in the eye and declared flatly that his mission was to destroy the review-aggregation site.”
Moviemakers registering complaints about the power of the critical corps is nothing new, of course. In “Complete History of American Film Criticism,” Jerry Roberts highlighted the growing power of Rogert Ebert and Gene Siskel in the 1980s and the angst that caused with filmmakers. “Hand in hand with success was a power unprecedented in film criticism,” Roberts wrote. “‘Siskel and Ebert go, “Horrible picture,” and I’m telling you, [they] can definitely kill a movie,” Eddie Murphy said in 1987. Conversely, the duo is credited with “saving” small films that were lagging at the box office. Tom Sherak, a top executive at Twentieth Century-Fox, once called a thumbs-up from Siskel and Ebert “the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for movies.”
The Tomatometer is something like a hyperpowered version of Ebert and Siskel’s patented thumbs up/thumbs down rating system. The site arguably has an even greater reach than the duo from Chicago: Barnes notes that Rotten Tomatoes drew 13.6 million unique visitors in May, while Roberts wrote that Siskel and Ebert drew “between eight and eleven million viewers a week” at their peak. Certainly this fully operational film criticism station has the power to destroy the hopes and dreams of wide-eyed dreamers working studios who just want to provide audiences with a modicum of entertainment in the form of fivequels to “Transformers” and “Pirates of the Caribbean,” right?
Well, no.
In a study published on Medium, Yves Bergquist, the Director of the Data & Analytics Project at USC’s Entertainment Technology Center, rather thoroughly demolished the idea that negative scores from Rotten Tomatoes are having a deleterious effect on box office totals. Bergquist found virtually no correlation between overall grosses and RT scores and an even lower correlation between RT scores and opening weekend figures — arguably the time when critical opinion should have the greatest impact on box office totals, since potential audiences have little in the way of word of mouth from friends and coworkers to go on.
Indeed, contra complaints from executives, the median Rotten Tomatoes score is actually climbing, even spiking in recent years: “Overall, Rotten Tomatoes scores for all movies grossing more than $2 million worldwide have been pretty stable since 2000: the median score was 51 during the 2000s and 53 during the 2010s so far. It’s actually gone up quite significantly from 2015 (46.5) until 2017 (71).”
Bergquist notes that audience and critic scores are beginning to align, writing, “There’s virtually no difference between critics’ scores and audiences’ scores, and the more successful the film is at the box office, the smaller the difference.” He suggests this is because audiences are getting smarter about what they go see; it probably has more to do with RT expanding its ranks and bringing on a less-discerning quality of critic, one closer in tune with the taste of the masses. Whatever the reason for the spike in fresh scores, however, there’s no reason to believe that Rotten Tomatoes is dragging down box office because critics have amassed greater cultural clout.
The real reason for Hollywood’s woes seems much simpler: audiences are bored. Bergquist gets at this when he notes that CGI-heavy efforts are seeing diminishing returns at the box office. But it’s not just the influx of spectacle: it’s the reduction of ideas. This summer has been an endless river of sequels to franchises that should be dead (the aforementioned “Transformers” and “Pirates” movies; another “Fast and Furious” flick; another “Alien” movie) and the attempted birthing |
other as the Nimbus chases the Planet Express ship toward a wormhole, which the Professor warns could take them trillions of light years away. Everyone agrees to go for it. Fry and Leela kiss as the ship enters the wormhole.
Ending Edit
The ending refers to the uncertain future of the show. The makers were not sure if the show would return to TV, so if it did not, it is implied that the ship was in fact taken trillions of light years away. The show was picked up by Comedy Central, and it is revealed in the next episode "Rebirth" that the wormhole sent the ship directly back to Earth.My thinking about science has been very strongly affected by my experience with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Science has not served this illness well at all, and as a result, my perspective on the illness has been pushed from, “Okay, I’m going to use science to get better!” to “Wow—science is pretty shitty here.” I haven’t had have the luxury of saying, “Fine, I’m going to go work on something where the science is better.” I had to get better.
The experience has made me far less trusting of the institutions of science, and that has affected how I look at science more broadly. The CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], for example, has made some pretty big mistakes in handling CFS, mistakes that continue to hurt patients. For example, they created and pushed and continue to use a really broad definition of the disease that includes lots of patients whose primary problem is depression, or who may be just tired and stressed. Their definition doesn’t require the symptoms that are especially characteristic of the illness, particularly the way that too much exertion makes patients really, really sick (and for severely ill patients, by the way, “too much exertion” can mean brushing their teeth).
The CDC’s definition meant that ten times as many people qualified as having the disease—2.5 percent of the population! That has really confused the research, leading to findings that make it look like CFS is all in people’s heads. The CDC has also done a terrible job of educating physicians about the disease, recommending exercise and therapy prominently but pretty much nothing else. They even suggest that gradually increasing exercise can get bedbound patients back to daily functioning, though even the most optimistic studies show that to be unrealistic, and worse, exercise can permanently injure CFS patients unless done with extraordinary care.
And the problems go way beyond the CDC. In 2011, The Lancet published a study claiming that graded exercise therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are “effective treatments” for chronic fatigue syndrome and often lead to recovery, and the media trumpeted these findings around the world. Pretty much every mainstream scientific institution endorses this work. But when you dig down into the details, you find that the data doesn’t support the researchers’ claims. The most amazing problem (among many) is that “recovery” was defined so loosely that patients could get sicker over the course of the study and still be said to have recovered! But this study is considered top notch, gold standard work. The media has fallen down here too—no article in the mainstream media has ever seriously analyzed this study, even though patients are being injured by it regularly.
The whole thing has been really shocking for me. It’s had a huge impact on my perspective on science and the world as a whole, and there are a lot of controversial issues where my emotional stance has changed in a really big way. It doesn’t affect me so much on an intellectual level, on how I evaluate things; but I often find that my emotional standing is with the people who are perceived as anti-scientific.
Take something like GMOs. I’m pretty convinced that the direct health risks from GMOs are low; however, I get really, really pissed off at those articles that criticize people who oppose GMOs for being unscientific, the ones that say these anti-GMO people should just shut up and get on the band wagon, and that if they oppose GMOs, they’re as unscientific as climate deniers.
First of all, it’s a really complicated issue with a very different character from climate science. There’s no credible scientific position that climate change isn’t happening or isn’t caused by human activity. But with GMOs, there are so many different facets to deciding whether they’re a good thing and whether it’s a good idea to eat them. Scientists, and ordinary people, disagree on which of those factors matters most. My take on the science is that yes, it’s unlikely that genetic modification inherently makes food unsafe, but I do think people’s health concerns about the increased use of glyphosate on Roundup-ready crops are reasonable. And then there are environmental and social concerns that are very real and very complex.
On an emotional level, though, I think about a patient with CFS deciding about this. If you’re that person, what is your experience with the world? Your experience is that the scientific establishment has treated you badly. You’re sick and you don’t know why and you don’t know what to do about it. Having seen what the CDC has done with CFS, you don’t trust their advice or research. You’ve seen friends injured following the advice of respected doctors to do graded exercise therapy, and you’ve learned to keep yourself safe by relying extensively on the experiences of your fellow patients rather than purported experts. You seem to be more vulnerable than most people to all kinds of things—so something could be safe for 99.9 percent of people and not safe for you.
Is it unreasonable or irrational or unscientific for you to say you don’t want to eat GMOs? I don’t think so.
The place this gets a lot more tricky is with vaccines. All those arguments that I just made apply to vaccines. If you’ve got CFS and you’ve got two kids who are also getting sick, do you want to vaccinate them? You know you and your kids have got some kind of neuroimmune problem, and you’ve heard a lot about vaccines causing neuroimmune problems. Not only do you not trust the CDC, more generally, you’ve learned to mistrust science with an agenda. The forcefulness of the pro-vaccine side increases your suspicion, leaving little room for a rational discussion of the risks—risks that may apply disproportionately to your children. Giving your kids vaccines is actually a really frightening decision. It’s a hard thing to do.
But at the same time, who the hell do you believe? Maybe your kids are more likely to be hurt if they do get some nasty bug. Maybe they’re not more vulnerable to problems from vaccines—after all, it’s really hard to figure out who is vulnerable.
And of course, this is a circumstance where the ramifications of your decision go far beyond you and your children. Making a good decision about vaccines really matters, for all of us.
That’s all a preamble to the problem of knowledge that’s on my mind: How do we evaluate as individuals the significance of science? How do we do it in the context of incomplete knowledge and insufficient time—and with the Internet providing every opinion you might want to find?
We do it by relying on people that we trust, more or less. But how do you figure out who to trust? I’m curious about this partly on the individual level, thinking about how to make these decisions better, and also on the societal level, wanting to understand this process better in order to influence it more effectively.
I feel like scientifically minded people very often take the attitude of, “Well, you should do what the science says. That’s the answer. You should do what science says, because you know, scientists are smarter than you. They’ve looked into it more than you have, they’ve thought about it carefully.” When you’re a scientifically minded person who has been more or less in the mainstream of life—you haven’t been forced into a scientific swamp like CFS—that argument can feel compelling. But there are a lot of people who don’t fall into that category, and it’s clear that they don’t find that argument compelling at all. And really, they don’t have that luxury.
The perspective that I’m coming from with my experience of chronic fatigue syndrome is a fairly extreme one because CFS patients have been so mistreated and science has functioned so poorly for them. But there are a lot of people who have reasons—good reasons—for being suspicious of mainstream scientific opinions. And really, we should all have a degree of suspicion. Think of the results of John Ioannadis, who has found that nearly half of the highest-quality medical studies are likely to be wrong. It’s shocking and scary. Or think of nutrition research, and how the federal agencies strongly pushed a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for decades, even after research made it clear that that was lousy advice. Science is hugely valuable, but it’s also hugely difficult, and skepticism and humility are essential to its good functioning.
And frankly, even if people are skeptical of scientific findings to a degree that seems inappropriate, that attitude is probably not coming from stupidity or pig-headedness. It’s often coming from a different set of experiences, a different set of needs—participation in a culture with different attitudes. Those of us who value science need to understand their perspective better, and that understanding needs to grow out of a place of huge compassion. You’ve got to enter their world and figure out their decision-making processes, rather than saying “Okay, you people come over to my world, where it’s all really simple and clear.”It's time to meet a real-life Prince Charming.
Proposals go down all the time at Disneyland and Disney World (there's a reason it's called the Happiest Place on Earth), but this fairy tale engagement might take the cake as the best yet. Seriously, grab the tissues.
Ryan Macedo shared his and wife Carla's whirlwind love story with E! News, starting with a chance meeting on a flight and ending with a walk down the aisle. This isn't an average proposal, though. Ryan and his wife now have their very own piece of Disney history to cherish forever.
It all started in May 2016 when Ryan and Carla happened to find themselves flying from San Diego back home to Seattle after visiting friends on separate vacations. Both doctors, Macedo said the pair hit it off instantly and exchanged numbers. As it turns out, both Ryan and Carla phoned their moms right after landing to share they'd just met the person they would marry!This "bigfoot" Dewar is custom-designed to contain four full bodies and six brains immersed in liquid nitrogen at −196 degrees Celsius.
The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, most often referred to as Alcor, is an American nonprofit organization based in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. Alcor advocates for, researches, and performs cryonics, the preservation of human corpses and heads in liquid nitrogen after legal death, with hopes of restoring them to full health in the unlikely event some hypothetical new technology is developed in the future.
As of November 30, 2018, Alcor had 1,678 members, including 290 associate members and 164 who have died and whose bodies have been subject to cryopreservation[1][2], 96 of which have only their head preserved[3]. Alcor also cryopreserves pets. As of February 13, 2009, there were 33 animal bodies preserved[4].
Alcor accepts bodies as "anatomical donations" under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and Arizona Anatomical Gift Act for research purposes, reinforced by a court finding (Alcor, Merkle & Henson v. Mitchell) in its favor that affirmed a constitutional right to donate one's body for research into cryopreservation.
History [ edit ]
The organization was established as a nonprofit organization by Fred and Linda Chamberlain in California in 1972 as the Alcor Society for Solid State Hypothermia (ALCOR). Alcor was named after a faint star in the Big Dipper.[5] The name was changed to Alcor Life Extension Foundation in 1977. The organization was conceived as a rational, technology-oriented cryonics organization that would be managed on a fiscally conservative basis. Alcor advertised in direct mailings and offered seminars in order to attract members and bring attention to the cryonics movement. The first of these seminars attracted 30 people.
On July 16, 1976, Alcor performed its first human cryopreservation on Fred Chamberlain's father.[6] That same year, research in cryonics began with initial funding provided by the Manrise Corporation. At that time, Alcor’s office consisted of a mobile surgical unit in a large van. Trans Time, Inc., a cryonics organization in the San Francisco Bay area, provided initial preservation procedures and long-term storage until Alcor began doing its own storage in 1982.
In 1977, articles of incorporation were filed in Indianapolis by the Institute for Advanced Biological Studies (IABS) and Soma, Inc. IABS was a nonprofit research startup led by a young cryonics enthusiast named Steve Bridge, while Soma was intended as a for-profit organization to provide cryopreservation and human storage services. Its president, Mike Darwin, subsequently became a president of Alcor. Bridge filled the same position many years later.[7] IABS and Soma relocated to California in 1981.[8] Soma was disbanded, while IABS merged with Alcor in 1982.[7]
In 1978, Cryovita Laboratories was founded by Jerry Leaf, who had been teaching surgery at UCLA. Cryovita was a for-profit organization which provided cryopreservation and transport services for Alcor in the 1980s until Leaf's death, at which time Alcor began providing these services on its own. Leaf and Michael Darwin collaborated to bring the first cryonics patient, Dr. James Bedford, whose body was preserved in 1967, to Alcor's California facility in 1982.
During this time, Leaf also collaborated with Michael Darwin in a series of hypothermia experiments in which dogs were resuscitated with no measurable neurological deficit after hours in deep hypothermia, just a few degrees above zero Celsius. The blood substitute which was developed for these experiments became the basis for the washout solution used at Alcor. Together, Leaf and Darwin developed a standby-transport model for human cryonics cases with the goal of intervening immediately after cardiac arrest and minimizing ischemic injury. Leaf was cryopreserved by Alcor in 1991; since 1992, Alcor has provided its own cryopreservation as well as storage services. Today, Alcor is the only full-service cryonics organization that performs remote standbys.
Alcor grew slowly in its early years. In 1984, it merged with the Cryonics Society of South Florida. Alcor counted only 50 members in 1985, which was the year it cryopreserved its third patient. However, during this time researchers associated with Alcor contributed some of the most important techniques related to cryopreservation, eventually leading to today's method of vitrification.[9]
Increasing growth in membership during this period is partially attributed to the 1986 publication of Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation, which debuted the idea of nanotechnology and contained a chapter on cryonics.[6] In 1986, a group of Alcor members formed Symbex, a small investment company which funded a building in Riverside, California, for lease by Alcor. Alcor moved from Fullerton, California, to the new building in Riverside in 1987; Timothy Leary appeared at the grand opening. Alcor cryopreserved a member’s companion animal in 1986, and two people in 1987. Three human cases were handled in 1988, including the first whole body patient of Alcor's,[10] and one in 1989. At that time, Alcor owned 20% interest in Symbex, with a goal of 51% ownership. In September 1988, Leary announced that he had signed up with Alcor, becoming the first celebrity to become an Alcor member.[11] Leary later switched to a different cryonics organization, CryoCare, and then changed his mind altogether. Alcor's Vice-President, Director, head of suspension team and chief surgeon, Jerry Leaf, died suddenly of a heart attack in 1991.
By 1990, Alcor had grown to 300 members and outgrown its California headquarters, which was the largest cryonics facility in the world.[12] The organization wanted to remain in Riverside County,[12] but in response to concerns that the California facility was also vulnerable to earthquake risk, the organization purchased a building in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1993 and moved its stored bodies to it in 1994.[2]
Alcor has held seven conferences on life extension technologies, with participants such as Eric Drexler, Ralph Merkle, Ray Kurzweil, Aubrey de Grey, Timothy Leary, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Michael D. West.
Research funding [ edit ]
Canadian businessman, Robert Miller, founder of Future Electronics, has provided research funding to Alcor in the past.[13]
Policies and procedures [ edit ]
Alcor is governed by a self-perpetuating board of directors. Its Scientific Advisory Board currently consists of Antonei Csoka, Aubrey de Grey, Robert Freitas, Bart Kosko, James B. Lewis, Ralph Merkle, Martine Rothblatt, and Michael D. West.
Most Alcor members fund cryonic preservation through life insurance policies which name Alcor as the beneficiary.[2] Members who have signed up wear medical alert bracelets informing hospitals and doctors to notify Alcor in case of any emergency; in the case of a person who is known to be near death, Alcor can send a team for remote standby.
In some states, members can sign certificates stating that they wish to decline an autopsy. The cutting of the body organs (especially the brain) and blood vessels required for an autopsy makes it difficult to either preserve the body, especially the brain, without damage or perfuse the body with glycerol.[7] The optimum preservation procedure begins less than one hour after death.[7] Members can specify whether they wish Alcor to attempt to preserve even if an autopsy occurs, or whether they wish to be buried or cremated if an autopsy renders little hope for preservation.[7]
In cases with remote standby, cardiopulmonary support is begun as soon as a patient is declared legally dead. Some patients were not able to receive cardiopulmonary support immediately, but their bodies have been preserved as well as possible. Alcor has a network of paramedics nationwide and seven surgeons, located in different regions, who are on call 24 hours a day.[14] If an Alcor patient is met by a standby team (usually at a hospital, hospice, or home), the team will perform CPR to maintain blood flow to the brain and organs while simultaneously pumping an organ preservation solution through the veins.[15]
Patients are transported as quickly as possible to Alcor headquarters in Scottsdale, where they undergo final preparations in Alcor's cardiopulmonary bypass lab. In the Patient Care Bay they are monitored by computer sensors while kept in liquid nitrogen in dewars.[7] Liquid nitrogen is refilled on a weekly basis.[16][17] Riverside County, California deputy coroner Dan Cupido said that Alcor had better equipment than some medical facilities.[18]
Membership dues cover one-third of Alcor's yearly budget, with donations and case income from cryopreservations covering the rest.[19] Alcor receives $50,000 each year from television royalties donated by sitcom writer and producer Richard C. Jones who is in suspension.[17] In 1997, after a substantial effort led by then-president Steve Bridge, Alcor formed the Patient Care Trust as an entirely separate entity to manage and protect the funding for storage, including owning the building.[17] Alcor remains the only cryonics organization to segregate and protect funding in this way; the 2% annual growth of the Trust is enough for upkeep of the patients.[17] At least $115,000 of the money received for each full body goes into this trust for future storage, $25,000 for a brain. Some members have already taken steps to do this on their own.[20] Possessions can also be stored, via a third party.
Membership [ edit ]
Preserved individuals include Dick Clair, an Emmy Award-winning television sitcom writer and producer, Hall of Fame baseball legend Ted Williams and his son John Henry Williams, and futurist FM-2030.[5][21]
Notable current members include:[9][22][23][24][25] researcher Aubrey de Grey, nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler, engineer Keith Henson and his family, entrepreneur Saul Kent, inventor Ray Kurzweil,[26] casino owner Don Laughlin,[27][28] film director Charles Matthau, PayPal founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel,[29] Internet pioneer Ralph Merkle, Canadian businessman Robert Miller,[30] futurists Max More[31] and Natasha Vita-More, entrepreneur Luke Nosek, mathematician Edward O. Thorp, talk radio host Mark Edge, and computer security CEO Kenneth Weiss.[citation needed]
Magazine publisher Althea Flynt was signed up to Alcor, but her body was not able to be preserved after her death, which resulted in an autopsy.[32] One Alcor member died in the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks.[33]
Membership has grown at a rate of about eight percent a year since Alcor's inception,[17] tripling between 1987 and 1990.[34] The oldest stored body (by age at decease) is a 101-year-old woman, and the youngest is a 2-year-old girl. Alcor has had patients from as far as Australia.[35] One in four of its members resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.[24]
The membership receives Alcor's magazine, Cryonics[36], currently published 6 times a year, but it's also available online for free after a year from print publication.
Cases and Controversies [ edit ]
Dora Kent [ edit ]
Before the company moved to Arizona from Riverside, California in 1994, it became a center of controversy when a county coroner ruled that Alcor client Dora Kent (Alcor board member Saul Kent's mother) was murdered with barbiturates before her head was removed for preservation by the company's staff. Alcor contended that the drug was administered after her death. No charges were ever filed; former Riverside County deputy coroner Alan Kunzman later claimed that this was due to mistakes and poor decision-making by others in his office.[37]
A judge ruled that Kent was already deceased at the time of preservation, and no foul play was involved.[37][38] Alcor sued the county for false arrest and illegal seizure and won both suits.[6] The incident is credited with spurring a growth in membership for Alcor due to the resultant publicity.[6]
Ted Williams [ edit ]
In 2002, Alcor drew considerable attention when baseball star Ted Williams was placed in cryonic suspension; although Alcor maintains privacy of its patients if they wish and did not disclose that Williams was at the Scottsdale facility, the situation came to light in court documents that grew out of an extended family dispute over Williams' wishes for his remains.[39] While Williams' children Claudia and John Henry contended that Williams wished to be preserved at Alcor, their half-sister and oldest Williams child Bobby-Jo Ferrell contested that her father wished to be cremated.[39] Williams' attorney produced a note signed by Williams, John Henry, and Claudia saying: "JHW, Claudia and Dad all agree to be put into biostasis after we die. This is what we want, to be able to be together in the future, even if it is only a chance."[40] John Henry later said, "He was very into science and believed in new technology and human advancement and was a pioneer. Even though things seemed impossible at times, he always knew there was always a chance to catch a fish -- only if you had your fly in the water."[14]
In 2003, Sports Illustrated published allegations by former Alcor COO Larry Johnson that the company had mishandled Williams' head by drilling holes and accidentally cracking it. Johnson also claimed that some of Williams' DNA was missing; the article alleges that Williams' son, John Henry Williams, desired to sell some of his father's DNA, a charge John Henry denied. Williams' attorney called the DNA allegations an "absurd proposition" and accused Johnson of trying to grab headlines.[41] Alcor denied the allegations of missing DNA.[42]
John Henry Williams subsequently died of leukemia, and his remains are also stored at Alcor.[43] After John Henry's death, Ferrell again filed a lawsuit, but representatives of Williams' estate repeated that he wished to be at Alcor.[40]
1992 death [ edit ]
In addition to his Williams allegations, Johnson handed over to the police a taped conversation in which he claims Alcor facilities engineer Hugh Hixon stated that an Alcor employee deliberately hastened the imminent 1992 death of a terminally ill AIDS patient, with an injection of Metubine, a paralytic drug.[42] In 2009, Carlos Mondragon, Alcor's CEO at the time of the incident, told ABC News he had been made aware of the allegations at the time of the case, and as a result, had severed Alcor's ties with the employee who allegedly hastened the patient's death.[44]
Alcor Life Extension Foundation v. Richardson [ edit ]
In Alcor Life Extension Foundation v. Richardson, the Iowa Court of Appeals ordered the disinterment of Orville Richardson for cryopreservation after he had been buried against his wishes.[45][46]
See also [ edit ]And so the Liberals return to Montreal, as members of all political parties often do, for a national convention. Montreal is catnip for parties seeking to show their mettle. It is stylish, bilingual, and cheap. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives gathered there in 2005 to parade their electable moderation. Thomas Mulcair’s New Democrats were there last year: Quebec will be the base for the next national NDP breakthrough, if there is one. Michael Ignatieff held a Liberal thinkers’ conference in Montreal in 2010. Perhaps surprisingly, the Liberals did not then vow never again to meet in Montreal or pronounce its name. They’re back already. Toronto must content itself with money and power, Calgary with a future, Vancouver with the mountains and sea. Montreal has mystique.
It also has Justin Trudeau, whose party has led the others in national polls for 10 months. Since Trudeau has been the Liberal leader for the same length of time, he has become a figure of some fascination, not least among the members and supporters of other parties. They are convinced the coltish young man, who first set foot in 24 Sussex Drive at the same moment he first set foot anywhere at all, has been given a free ride by the press gallery. Not just a free ride: a leg up. Perhaps even a leg over. In my own case I’ve gone about it in odd fashion, by publishing a 400-page book about Stephen Harper whose thesis is that the Prime Minister is eternal, but you knew I was devious when you walked in.
The Liberals’ opponents have compensated for the gallery’s failure to give Trudeau proper scrutiny by scruting him as hard as they can. The Conservatives have spent millions of dollars on commercial radio ads—in Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin and English—warning parents that Trudeau will give their kids marijuana. The Liberals have spent large sums rebutting the Conservative ads with their own. This fight has been going on for four months and may now stand as the most sustained bout of pre-writ campaign advertising in your lifetime. Newspaper reporters, who do not listen to commercial radio and are not sure they believe it exists, have covered almost none of it.
But if the Conservatives attack Trudeau for four months on the radio—and every day in the Commons, and almost as often in email blasts to Conservative donors—and the Liberals still lead, are the Conservative attacks failing? Hard to know. Maybe the Liberals would be less popular if the Conservative back bench and Ezra Levant stopped talking about him. Or maybe they’d be riding even higher, carried aloft on the praise of complacent scribes. Politics rarely lets us test counterfactuals properly.
But if Trudeau’s big mouth reliably gets him into trouble—a proposition routinely argued by his opponents while they are on breaks from trying to get him into trouble—then the Liberals’ Montreal convention is a risky proposition for him. He has two big speeches scheduled there, one on Thursday and a second on Saturday. If his jaw is a shovel custom-built to dig his political grave, he will have two chances to dig deep.
The Conservatives I ask profess confidence that, over time, Trudeau will be his own worst enemy. By their count he makes a big gaffe every several weeks: seeking to understand the motives of terrorists after the Boston bombings; going on and on about legalizing pot; remarking, on the day of Jim Flaherty’s latest federal budget, that “the budget will balance itself.” More lie ahead. And the Conservatives expect to be joined by a powerful objective ally when the election campaign begins. Tom Mulcair takes a strip off Stephen Harper every day both men are in question period. But in a campaign the New Democrat will need to turn much of his wrath against Trudeau, in effect acting out the old joke whose punchline is, “I don’t need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you.”
It’s more and more likely the Conservative leader in that election will be named Stephen Harper. The Conservative national council met in mid-February to discuss election strategy. Every document they saw got leaked to the Toronto Star. All of it is based on the assumption Harper will lead the party in his fifth consecutive election. (As a for-instance, one suggestion in the memos is that the party “leverage” Laureen Harper’s charm in advertising.) Pierre Poilievre’s Fair Elections Act, introduced after the Conservative caucus forced an earlier minister to cancel the tabling of an earlier election-law reform, seems designed to address the sort of unfairness Conservatives are likely to perceive. Elections Canada keeps investigating Conservatives; the bill will make that harder. Calling back old donors is expensive; the bill will exempt that cost from election expenses.
What Harper wants to do is hard. Conservatives won the elections of 2006, 2008 and 2011. His goal is to win a fourth time. The last man to lead a party to four consecutive victories was Wilfrid Laurier. That’s a long time ago. Harper has advantages. Riding redistribution will put more seats where people usually vote Conservative. The Fair Elections Act will make the next campaign Conservative-fair. And millions think Stephen Harper has done great work. Millions who don’t will weigh Trudeau and Mulcair, and swing in great number toward whomever seems more convincing. No pressure.EXCLUSIVE: Over 3,600 photo radar tickets have been set for one courtroom on Monday at the exact same time, according to an internal memo sent out to Maricopa County employees Friday afternoon and obtained by CameraFRAUD. (Update: Join us on Monday for an impromptu sign wave / signature gathering… click for details).
The memo highlights concerns regarding security, and even suggests that people may be asked to wait outside if building capacity is reached:
This email is to notify you that West McDowell Justice Court at the Downtown Justice Court Building at 620 West Jackson is anticipating up to 3,600 individuals to appear Monday morning (July 27, 2009) in response to Photo Radar tickets. Court Security will have additional security staff on site to assist with getting individuals in the building and through security as quickly as possible as well as trying to keep the crowds under control. If the building reaches a capacity issue, individuals will be directed to wait outside in a uniform fashion or return closer to the court time. Currently, we are also looking to see if any space in the DTJC can be used as a staging area if necessary. Both the Sheriff’s Office and Protective Services have been notified of this matter. If you have any questions, please let me know. Your anticipated cooperation and support on Monday will be greatly appreciated.
A quick look on the County’s website reflects an unusual number of cases for WMJC on Monday. It’s unclear what happened to cause this, but our guess is that Occam’s Razor is finally taking its brutal toll on Redflex / American Traffic Solutions’ greedy scheme.
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedIt was a beautiful day in June 2008, and Michelle Pantoliano wanted to take her 10-month-old daughter to the pool. Pantoliano, a young mother living in a condo on Islington Avenue in Etobicoke, gave the baby a bath, dressed her in a swim diaper and bathing suit, and carried her down to the pool deck. But a few minutes after they slipped into the water, a lifeguard approached. Babies weren’t allowed in the pool, he said. Pantoliano wasn’t aware of such a rule, but she reluctantly agreed to leave. Shortly after, she called the property manager and left a voicemail. When she didn’t hear back, she assumed the lifeguard had been misinformed.
Over the next couple of weeks, Pantoliano tried to take her daughter to the pool twice more. Both times, the lifeguard shooed her away. On her final visit, another mom and baby were also in the pool. When the lifeguard tried to get them to leave, the other mom refused—and the lifeguard called the property manager to intervene. When he arrived on the pool deck, he pleaded with the women to get out. It was all turning into a scene: the powerless lifeguard, the supplicant manager, the defiant moms.
In the middle of the fracas, Pantoliano asked the property manager to explain what the regulations actually said. The condo corporation’s Rule R3.1–5, he replied, stipulated that “persons requiring diapers,” specifically kids two and under, were banned from the outdoor pool, indoor pool and whirlpool. If Pantoliano had a problem with it, she’d have to take it up with the condo board.
Instead, she filed a grievance with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, on the grounds that the condo’s rules discriminated against people with kids. In response, the board consulted a lawyer, who advised that the ban be suspended. The melee should have ended there, but logic took a back seat to territorialism. In a vote, the mostly elderly residents rejected the lawyer’s proposal.
Once word got out that it was Pantoliano who had started the mess, she started to feel unwelcome in her own building. She attended a condo barbecue that summer with her husband and baby—disregarding the memo that it was “ADULT RESIDENTS ONLY!”—and everyone ignored her. Another time, when Pantoliano was talking to her cousin on the pool deck, a man told her to shut up. “No, you shut up,” she shot back. In the condo newsletter, “Suite Talk,” board president Liesl Bandler attacked Pantoliano’s conduct. “Unfortunately, there are a very few residents who are inconsiderate of their neighbours and who consistently break the rules,” she wrote. “It is your Directors’ fervent hope that these people will realize their anti-social behaviour and will change their attitude.”
It took three years for the case to reach a human rights tribunal; by the time it did, Pantoliano and her family had moved out of the building. Several neighbours testified against her; one presented tidbits found on the Internet about the dangers of E.coli. The tribunal waded into information on urine counts and fecal pathogens, plunged into diarrheal conditions like Shigella sonnei and Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, and confirmed that chlorine kills pretty much everything gross in a pool.
Tribunal vice-chair Naomi Overend found in favour of Pantoliano, and the corporation was forced to repeal the ban. There was no medical, safety or other reason to keep kids out of pools. It was a clear-cut case of one generation holding on to its antiquated privilege. The condo was originally marketed as an adults-only complex, and many owners had bought their units because they were promised the quiet comforts of empty nesters. In the end, the board was forced to pay Pantoliano $10,000 in damages for emotional hardship.
Pools have long been condoland war zones. In 1990, a father filed a claim with the Human Rights Commission against his Scarborough building for restricting pool access for his school-aged daughter; eight years later, he won the claim. More recently, a father of two teenagers successfully argued at a tribunal that his condo discriminated against families because it had signage calling it an “adult lifestyle building” and also restricted kids from using the pool at certain times.
Lifestyle clashes are inevitable when people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds live on top of each other in a forced community. When different priorities collide, a siege mentality can set in. In the years since Pantoliano’s case, Toronto has sprouted tens of thousands of new condo units in every shape and size. Retired empty nesters live below boisterous hipsters. People who work night shifts are trying to sleep while parents are getting their toddlers off to daycare. Families with rowdy kids take up residence across the hall from quiet professional couples. And they all unrealistically expect the same degree of freedom and privacy as they’d have in a detached home. Instead, they’re keeping each other up at night, squabbling in hallways, sparring in elevators and petitioning condo boards. The shimmering vertical city has become a breeding ground for lawsuits, bullies and brawlers.
I’ve lived in a midtown condo for the past 17 years. My building went up in the mid-’80s, at the beginning of a 10-year period during which close to 60,000 high-rise units were built in Toronto. There’s nothing picturesque about the brown, brutalist façade, but inside is a surplus of space: the units range in size from 1,450 to 1,780 square feet, larger than many Leslieville semis, and roomy enough to comfortably raise my eight-year-old son and store all his Lego. I have two massive bedrooms, 12-foot ceilings, an eat-in kitchen, unobstructed views of the Rosedale ravine, two full bathrooms and a walk-in closet so spacious that I once considered turning it into a home office. The walls are poured concrete, and the windows are supported by steel framing and quality masonry. When my unit was built, the city was in its condo infancy, and the affluent downsizers who were moving into units expected those kinds of details.
The condo boom of the past decade was fuelled by a dearth of land downtown, historically low interest rates, and Torontonians’ growing desire to live near entertainment and work. In the 2000s, the city’s official plan designated the downtown core as a growth area, and the |
rey Dahmer I pull into the field, cut the engine. It’s simple: I just don’t know how to love a man gently. Tenderness a thing to be beaten into. Fireflies strung through sapphired dusk. You’re so quiet you’re almost tomorrow. The body made soft to keep us from loneliness. You said that as if the car was filling with river water. Don’t worry. There’s no water. Only your eyes closing. My tongue in the crux of your chest. Little black hairs like the legs of vanished insects. I never wanted the flesh. How it never fails to fail so accurately. But what if I broke through the skin’s thin page anyway & found the heart not the size of a fist but your mouth opening to the width of Jerusalem. What then? What hunger submits to no border. To love another man is to leave no one behind to forgive me. I want to leave no one behind. To keep & be kept. The way a field turns its secrets into peonies. The way light keeps its shadow by swallowing it.This article is about the genus. For the model organism, see Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), one of the model organisms used for studying plant biology and the first plant to have its entire genome sequenced. Changes in thale cress are easily observed, making it a very useful model.
Status [ edit ]
Currently, the genus Arabidopsis has nine species and a further eight subspecies recognised. This delimitation is quite recent and is based on morphological and molecular phylogenies by O'Kane and Al-Shehbaz (1997, 2003) and others.
Their findings confirm the species formerly included in Arabidopsis made it polyphyletic. The most recent reclassification moves two species previously placed in Cardaminopsis and Hylandra and three species of Arabis into Arabidopsis, but excludes 50 that have been moved into the new genera Beringia, Crucihimalaya, Ianhedgea, Olimarabidopsis, and Pseudoarabidopsis.
All of the species in Arabidopsis are indigenous to Europe, while two of the species have broad ranges also extending into North America and Asia.
In the last two decades, Arabidopsis thaliana has gained much interest from the scientific community as a model organism for research on numerous aspects of plant biology. The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) is a curated online information source for Arabidopsis thaliana genetic and molecular biology research, and The Arabidopsis Book is an online compilation of invited chapters on Arabidopsis thaliana biology. In Europe, the model organism resource centre for Arabidopsis thaliana germplasm, bioinformatics and molecular biology resources (including GeneChips) is the Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre – NASC whilst in North America germplasm services are provided by the Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center, (ABRC) based at the Ohio State University. The ordering system for ABRC was incorporated into The Arabidopsis Information Resource (TAIR) database in June 2001 whilst NASC has always (since 1991) hosted its own ordering system and genome browser.
In 1982, the crew of the Soviet Salyut 7 space station grew some Arabidopsis, thus becoming the first plants to flower and produce seeds in space. They had a life span of 40 days.[1] Arabidopsis thaliana seeds were taken to the Moon on the Chang'e 4 lander in 2019, as part of a student experiment.
List of species and subspecies [ edit ]
Arabidopsis arenicola (Richardson ex Hook.) Al-Shehbaz, Elven, D.F. Murray & S.I. Warwick
Distribution: Greenland, Labrador, Nunavut, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan
Arabidopsis arenosa (L.) Lawalrée,
A. arenosa subsp. arenosa Distribution: Europe: native in Austria, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, N Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and Ukraine; naturalized in Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia and W Siberia, and Sweden; absent in Albania, Greece, C and S Italy, and Turkey.
A. arenosa subsp. borbasii Distribution: E Belgium, Czech Republic, NE France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine. Doubtfully occurring in Denmark.
Distribution: SE France.
Distribution: Bosnia, Croatia.
A. halleri subsp. halleri Distribution: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, N and C Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and S Ukraine. Probably introduced in N France and extinct in Belgium.
A. halleri subsp. ovirensis (Wulfen) Distribution: Albania, Austria, NE Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, SW Ukraine, Yugoslavia.
A. halleri subsp. gemmifera (Matsumura) Distribution: Russian Far East, northeastern China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.
A. lyrata subsp. lyrata Distribution: NE European Russia, Alaska, Canada (Ontario west into British Columbia), and southeastern and central United States (Vermont south into northern Georgia and Mississippi northward into Missouri and Minnesota).
A. lyrata subsp. petraea (Linnaeus) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz Distribution: Austria, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, N. Italy, Norway, Russia (NW Russia, Siberia and Far East), Scotland, Sweden, Ukraine, boreal North America (Alaska and Yukon). Apparently extinct in Poland.
A. lyrata subsp. kamchatica (Fischer ex D.C.) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz Distribution: boreal Alaska, Canada (Yukon, Mackenzie District, British Columbia, northern Saskatchewan), Aleutian Islands, eastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Korea, northern China, Japan, and Taiwan.
Distribution: Carpathian Mountains (Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and adjacent Ukraine).
Distribution: northwestern Italy and, presumably extinct, in adjacent SW Switzerland.
Distribution: Fennoscandinavia and the Baltic region.
Distribution: native range almost all Europe to central Asia, now naturalized worldwide.
Cytogenetics [ edit ]
Cytogenetic analysis has shown the haploid chromosome number (n) is variable and varies across species in the genus:[2]
A. thaliana is n=5[3] and the DNA sequencing of this species was completed in 2001. A. lyrata has n=8 but some subspecies or populations are tetraploid.[4] Various subspecies A. arenosa have n=8 but can be either 2n (diploid) or 4n (tetraploid).[5] A. suecica is n=13 (5+8) and is an amphidiploid species originated through hybridization between A. thaliana and diploid A. arenosa.[6]
A. neglecta is n=8, as are the various subspecies of A. halleri.[5]
As of 2005, A. cebennensis, A. croatica and A. pedemontana have not been investigated cytologically.
Reclassified species [ edit ]
The following species previously placed in Arabidopsis are not currently considered part of the genus.
A. bactriana = Dielsiocharis bactriana
= A. brevicaulis = Crucihimalaya himalaica
= A. bursifolia = Beringia bursifolia
= A. campestris = Crucihimalaya wallichii
= A. dentata = Murbeckiella pinnatifida
= A. drassiana =
= A. erysimoides = Erysimum hedgeanum
= A. eseptata = Olimarabidopsis umbrosa
= A. gamosepala = Neotorularia gamosepala
= A. glauca = Thellungiella salsuginea
= A. griffithiana = Olimarabidopsis pumila
= A. himalaica = Crucihimalaya himalaica
= A. huetii = Murbeckiella huetii
= A. kneuckeri = Crucihimalaya kneuckeri
= A. korshinskyi = Olimarabidopsis cabulica
= A. lasiocarpa = Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa
= A. minutiflora = Ianhedgea minutiflora
= A. mollis = Beringia bursifolia
= A. mollissima = Crucihimalaya mollissima
= A. monachorum = Crucihimalaya lasiocarpa
= A. mongolica = Crucihimalaya mongolica
= A. multicaulis = Arabis tibetica
= A. novae-anglicae = Neotorularia humilis
= A. nuda = Drabopsis nuda
= A. ovczinnikovii = Crucihimalaya mollissima
= A. parvula = Thellungiella parvula
= A. pinnatifida = Murbeckiella pinnatifida
= A. pumila = Olimarabidopsis pumila
= A. qiranica = Sisymbriopsis mollipila
= A. richardsonii = Neotorularia humilis
= A. russeliana = Crucihimalaya wallichii
= A. salsugineum = Eutrema salsugineum
= A. sarbalica = Crucihimalaya wallichii
= A. schimperi = Robeschia schimperi
= A. stenocarpa = Beringia bursifolia
= A. stewartiana = Olimarabidopsis pumila
= A. stricta = Crucihimalaya stricta
= A. taraxacifolia = Crucihimalaya wallichii
= A. tenuisiliqua = Arabis tenuisiliqua
= A. tibetica = Crucihimalaya himalaica
= A. tibetica = Arabis tibetica
= A. toxophylla = Pseudoarabidopsis toxophylla
= A. trichocarpa = Neotorularia humilis
= A. trichopoda = Beringia bursifolia
= A. tschuktschorum = Beringia bursifolia
= A. tuemurnica = Neotorularia humilis
= A. verna = Drabopsis nuda
= A. virgata = Beringia bursifolia
= A. wallichii = Crucihimalaya wallichii
= A. yadungensis =
Sources [ edit ]
O'Kane Jr, S. L., & Al-Shehbaz, I. A. (1997). A synopsis of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae): Novon 7: 323–327.
7: 323–327. Al-Shehbaz, I. A., O'Kane, Steve L. (2002). Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae). The Arabidopsis Book : 1-22. online version permanent dead link ].
: 1-22. online version. Martin et al. (2002) Evolutionary analysis of Arabidopsis, cyanobacterial, and chloroplast genomes reveals plastid phylogeny and thousands of cyanobacterial genes in the nucleus. online version
(2002) Evolutionary analysis of Arabidopsis, cyanobacterial, and chloroplast genomes reveals plastid phylogeny and thousands of cyanobacterial genes in the nucleus. online version O'Kane Jr, S. L., & Al-Shehbaz, I. A. (2003). Phylogenetic position and generic limits of Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) based on sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 90 (4): 603-612This article is over 2 years old
Jack Marrian, grandson of sixth Earl Cawdor, appeared visibly distressed as 100kg of class A drug was displayed at Nairobi trial
British aristocrat shown cocaine haul he is accused of trafficking in Kenyan court
The British aristocrat accused of trafficking £4.7m worth of cocaine into Kenya has been confronted in court with the 100kg haul of class A drugs.
Jack Marrian, the grandson of the sixth Earl Cawdor, appeared visibly distressed as 90 packages of the drug were displayed at his trial in Nairobi.
Marrian, 31, was arrested in July after Kenyan police seized the huge shipment of cocaine inside a container of Brazilian sugar at Mombasa port.
The sugar trader, who attended a prestigious Kenyan school with the British cyclist Chris Froome, has maintained his innocence.
The sugar and cocaine were packed at Port of Santos in Brazil then shipped to Kenya via Valencia, Spain.
Spanish police and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which tipped off Kenyan authorities, believe the drugs were destined for the European market but they were not off-loaded in Spain as planned.
Marrian and his clearing agent, Roy Mwanthi, were arrested and charged after their names were seen on shipping documents.
On the second day of the trial, Marrian rocked back and forth and held his head in his hands as the 100kg shipment was opened by Nairobi’s top narcotics police officer, Hamisi Massa.
Wearing surgical gloves and using a carpet cutter knife, Massa cut open a series of the packages removing an outer layer of shrink-wrap to reveal a strip of coloured nylon and a Lacoste clothing brand sticker, complete with crocodile logo.
After the third brick was opened Mwanthi asked to leave the room because the fumes were making him feel “a bit funny” while Marrian was handed a dust mask.
Marrian’s defence lawyer, Andrew Wandabwa, attempted to pick holes in the prosecution’s allegation that Marrian was the owner of the cocaine, as well as the sugar.
While cross-examining Massa, the defence lawyer drew the court’s attention to the presence of a duplicate seal found inside the shipping container along with the cocaine.
Wandabwa said this was “the hallmark” of a style of smuggling known as “rip-on, rip-off”, whereby cartels place their illicit cargo inside a legal consignment shipped by an unwitting owner.
“Would you agree the smoking gun, as far as the owner of the drugs is concerned, is that unused seal?” Wandabwa asked.
“Probably, yes,” Massa replied. “People could be using the transactions of others to transact illegal business without the knowledge of the owner.”
Marrian, whose full name is Jack Alexander Wolf Marrian, was born into the famous line of Scottish nobility known as the Clan Campbell of Cawdor. His mother, Lady Emma Campbell of Cawdor, runs an upmarket interior design firm on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Campbell told the Guardian in August that the family were “baffled” by his arrest and that his innocence was “palpable and obvious”.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a conference on Tuesday designed to outline the state of the economy and to make a push for various forms of pro-business legislative action.
But its choice of venue may have sullied the event's underlying message.
Titled "Outlook 2010: The State of American Business," Chamber president Tom Donohue gave the keynote speech in the organization's "Hall of Flags" room -- a space that was constructed with funds from insurance giant, American International Group, Inc., among others.
AIG, of course, has come to symbolize some of the most glaring problems of ineffective regulation, exuberant executive compensation and risky insurance policies and market speculation. It sponsored the Hall of Flags during headier times for the company. Nevertheless, having AIG's emblem on the wall doesn't exactly help Donohue make the case (as he did on Tuesday) that businesses face serious uncertainty -- and possible calamity -- if proposed reforms of the financial sector are implemented.
Here is the advisory for today's event at the Chamber:
And here is a photo of the Hall of Flags (AIG's plaque is on the far left)What more can you say about this Barcelona side? European champions, La Liga champions and Copa Del Rey winners, all in the first season under the charge of Pep Guardiola. And they didn’t do it by merely winning games, they did it by winning in style, making them perhaps the most universally respected side of the decade.
The most astonishing thing about their La Liga performance was how utterly convincing they were in defeating the sides around them at the top of the table. Real Madrid (2nd) were beaten 6-2, Sevilla (3rd) were beaten 4-0, Atletico (4th) were beaten 6-1, Valencia (6th) were beaten 4-0, Deportivo (7th) were beaten 5-0, Malaga (8th) were beaten 6-0. That is dominance on an unprecedented fashion – only 5th-placed Villarreal were spared a thrashing. These high-scoring victories resulted in the front three of Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o netting 100 goals between them throughout the season.
Their run to the Champions League final was slightly less assured – in truth, Guardiola was outwitted by Guus Hiddink in the semi-final, and Chelsea really should have won the tie. But their performance against Manchester United in the final was superb – after withstanding ten minutes of pressure when United characteristically came out of the blocks quickly, they went ahead through Eto’o and then dominated the rest of the game.
Tactically, Barca generally stuck to a 4-3-3 shape throughout the season, playing high up the pitch and pressing from the front. Henry stayed wide on the left, with Messi having more license to come in off the right wing, knowing that the energetic Dani Alves would be providing width. In midfield, Iniesta played furthest forward, Xavi was the calm, methodical ‘link’, whilst Yaya Toure sat deep infront of the centre-backs.
Of course, there were further subtleties to the system, both in defence and attack. Upfront, it was not unusual for Guardiola to switch the positions of Eto’o and Messi, especially late in the season. But with Messi a tricky playmaker and Eto’o a natural striker, the formation altered significantly. Messi played in a false nine position, whilst Eto’o played high up the pitch on the flank, with he and Henry significantly more advanced than Messi, but troubling the full-backs rather than the centre-backs. What formation did this create? A version of Roma’s strikerless shape? A 4-3-1-2? Either way it caused problems for the opposition in a similar way to that Roma 4-6-0, although it focussed upon pressuring high up the pitch, rather than breaking from deep.
The alternative shape was tried against Chelsea in the semi-final to little effect, but caused Manchester United real problems – Eto’o opened the scoring from a wide right position, Messi sealed the victory from a centre-forward position, and Barcelona dominated possession.
At the back, the most notable feature was how willing the two centre-backs were to spread to the flank when Barcelona were in possession (particularly when Victor Valdes had the ball), making sure the pitch was as wide as possible. The gap in the centre of the defence was covered by Yaya Toure dropping into a centre-back role to create a temporary three-man defence, giving the full-backs license to go forward, in a similar fashion to the current Brazil side.
This meant that Barcelona were flexible both in defence and attack, whilst possessing perhaps the two best ball-playing midfielders around in Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. They won every competition they entered – and all this after an opening day defeat to Numancia.
The 2-6 win at the Bernabeu in early May was the season-defining victory – two for Henry, two for Messi, but Xavi was the star of the show, running the midfield and having a hand in almost every Barcelona goal:
Their Champions League final victory was also wonderful. Note the goals coming from Eto’o and Messi being in each other’s positions, which caused the United backline a lot of problems. How ironic that before the game, the “Best Player in the World” debate was Cristiano Ronaldo v Lionel Messi – with many pundits giving Ronaldo the edge because of his superior heading ability. And then, up pops Messi to settle that argument, and settle the game.
For the moment that will be remembered forever though, it was this Andres Iniesta goal in the semi-final.
Related articles on Zonal Marking:If you’re in a hurry/on speed, know this:
this procedure is slightly more difficult (so longer) than installing the charm on Amazon
you can skip directly to “Installing Juju”
if you already have juju installed, you can skip to the last 2 lines of the “Installing juju” section
if you already have juju-docean installed and configured, you can skip directly to “Provisioning VMs”
otherwise, just continue reading, it’s worth a few minutes…
This tutorial regroups a lot of advanced notions, so if you want to know more about one of the following elements, please follow these links:
Before anything else, please note that the following is highly experimental. There are still a series of issues that should be worked out in order to make this process failproof.
Basic setup
Before we start using commands and stuff, you’ll have to note the following:
We are using a Chamilo Charm developed by José Antonio Rey (kudos to him) as a voluntary contribution to the project
Charms are configurations to install applications (and stuff) inside the Juju framework
The Juju framework is developed by the Ubuntu team, so we’re using an Ubuntu (14.04) desktop (or in this case laptop) to launch all the following
Digital Ocean is one cloud hosting provider, which is particularly cheap and good for development purposes. The “default” environment for Juju is Amazon, so we’ll have a few additional steps because of this choice. The Digital Ocean plugin to Juju is developed by geekmush on Github, and as far as I know he is not related to either Ubuntu nor Digital Ocean, so he is also worth praising for his contribution
Chamilo requires a web server and a database server. In this Charm, it is assumed that we want both of these on separate virtual machines, so you will need two of them (unless you change the parameters a little)
Juju is written in Go but relies on several Python libraries. As such, you’ll have to have python installed on your system and maybe Juju will shout because it is missing a few dependencies. Notably, I installed python3-yaml to avoid a few warnings (it is required for the following, although the installer for Juju says it’s optional)
Installing Juju
On a default Ubuntu desktop installation, you’ll have to install Juju first. Because we are going to use Juju connected to Digital Ocean, we need a recent version of Juju, so let’s add it the unconventional way (with the ppa), launching the following on the command line:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:juju/devel sudo apt-get update && apt-get install juju juju version
For some reason, in my case, this created my home directory’s.juju/ folder with root permissions, which then prevented me to reconfigure my environment (requirement for the Digital Ocean Juju plugin), so I changed permissions (my user is “ywarnier”, so change that to your user):
sudo chown -R ywarnier:ywarnier.juju
Then we need to install the juju-docean plugin:
sudo apt-get install python3-yaml sudo pip install -U juju-docean
Setting up Digital Ocean access
Now we need to configure our Digital Ocean (D.O.) API so the system will be able to call D.O. in our place and create instances (and stuff).
You first need to grab your API key, client ID and SSH key ID from the Digital Ocean interface. You can do that from the Digital Ocean API page. Obviously, you need a Digital Ocean account to do this and a few bucks of credit (although you can get $10 free credit from several places). If your API key says “Hidden”, that’s because you must have it stored somewhere already (for other services?). If you don’t, you’ll have to re-generate one. Your SSH key ID is the name you gave to the SSH key you use from your computer to connect to your new instances. If you don’t have it, that’s probably because you haven’t configured any. Please do in the “SSH Keys” menu item on the left side of your D.O. panel.
export DO_CLIENT_ID=aseriesof21alphanumericalcharacters export DO_SSH_KEY="user@computer" export DO_API_KEY=aseriesof32characters
Setting up the Digital Ocean Juju environment
Now we need a bit of manual config to be able to use Digital Ocean (last bit, promised). Edit the ~/.juju/environments.yaml file and paste the following:
environments: digitalocean: type: manual bootstrap-host: null bootstrap-user: root
Just a note: the “type: manual” line implies it is a bit more complicated than on amazon later on, and we will have to launch a few more commands to provision new machines *before* we deploy Chamilo.
Generating the Juju environment
Now we’re going to create our Juju controller. The Juju controller can be an independent Virtual Machine (VM), or it can be the same as the one on which you will deploy Chamilo. It all depends on your budget and your requirements.
juju docean bootstrap --constraints="mem=1g, region=nyc1" 2014/06/22 11:50.24:INFO Launching bootstrap host 2014/06/22 11:51.29:INFO Bootstrapping environmen
Note that we took a decision to use a 1GB (RAM) VM here (mem=1g), in a datacenter in New York (region=nyc1). For the record, I tried creating them in nyc2, which is also a valid D.O. datacenter, but it failed miserably (sometimes not creating the VM, sometimes creating it without IP, sometimes creating it fully, but in the end never returning with a proper success response for my environment to be created), so sticking to nyc1 is probably a reasonable time-saver.
Provisioning VMs
To be able to deploy Chamilo, we’ll use two VMs: one for the web server and one for the database
juju docean add-machine -n 2 --constraints="mem=1g, region=nyc1" 2014/06/22 12:44.59:INFO Launching 2 instances 2014/06/22 12:46.42:INFO Registered id:1908893 name:digitalocean-8d14c9bc671555ff872d8d6731f84d68 ip:198.199.82.172 as juju machine 2014/06/22 12:49.08:INFO Registered id:1908894 name:digitalocean-a9ba29cfe55549f58e5f7e365199c5ed ip:208.68.39.19 as juju machine
Now, the “-n 2” above allows you to create these 2 instances, but you could also launch 2 different instances of different properties, doing it one by one. In our case, I suggest you use version Trusty of Ubuntu for the MySQL machine, to avoid a little bug in the Precise version of the charm:
juju docean add-machine --constraints="mem=2g, region=nyc1" juju docean add-machine --series=trusty --constraints="mem=1g, region=nyc1"
The important thing here being that you can later identify the machine itself by a simple ID, using juju status:
juju status environment: digitalocean machines: "0": agent-state: started agent-version: 1.19.3 dns-name: 192.241.142.154 instance-id:'manual:' series: precise hardware: arch=amd64 cpu-cores=1 mem=994M state-server-member-status: has-vote "1": agent-state: started agent-version: 1.19.3 dns-name: 198.199.82.172 instance-id: manual:198.199.82.172 series: precise hardware: arch=amd64 cpu-cores=1 mem=994M "2": agent-state: started agent-version: 1.19.3 dns-name: 208.68.39.19 instance-id: manual:208.68.39.19 series: trusty hardware: arch=amd64 cpu-cores=1 mem=994M
If you made a mistake at some point or just wanna try things out, you can destroy these instances with
juju docean terminate-machine 1
where “1” is the ID of the machine, as shown above before each of them.
Deploying Chamilo
Now we’ve got our machines, we just need to deploy the Chamilo Charm and the MySQL Charm (you need MySQL to run Chamilo):
juju deploy cs:~jose/chamilo --to 1 juju deploy mysql --to 2
Please note that the “–to n” option is to specify on which machine you want to deploy the selected service.
Now, we need to configure Chamilo a little. We’re going to give it a domain name (you’ll have to redirect this domain name to the IP of the first machine – the one with the Chamilo service – in order to use it when ready) and a password for the “admin” user (the user created by default):
juju set chamilo domain=test.chamilo.net pass=blabla
Now we still need to tell Juju to link the Chamilo service with the MySQL service:
juju add-relation chamilo mysql
And finally, apply all the above and expose the chamilo service to the public:
juju expose chamilo
If something goes wrong with a service, you can always remove it with:
juju destroy-service chamilo
You can replace “chamilo” by the service with which you are having the issue, of course. If that doesn’t work out, you can always remove (terminate) the machine itself (see above).
Useful tricks
You can connect at any time to any of your virtual machines through the command
juju ssh chamilo/0
where “chamilo/0” is the name appearing below “units” in your services.
You can check the status of all your instances with
juju status
Note that, sometimes, you might end up with dozens or hundreds of instances. In this case, it won’t be as practical to show the status of all instances (I have no solution for that now, but I’m sure there is a way to filter the results of a juju status).
You can launch a command on the virtual machines’ command line like this:
juju run --service chamilo "tail /var/log/juju/unit-chamilo-0.log"
This way, you are actually executing the command remotely and getting the results locally.
You can also see the error log locally, connecting in SSH (first) and then launching:
tail /var/log/juju/unit-chamilo-0.log
Obviously, that gives you a little more flexibility.
Notes about unexpected errors
One of the “silent” things is that Juju considers the default machine to be Ubuntu Precise. In the case of MySQL, the default Charm is configured for Trusty. This means that if you want to install this package, you need to install a virtual machine in Trusty. Otherwise, you might get some other issues. In my case, the Precise Charm didn’t really work (missing yaml), so I decided to go for Trusty.
You can choose the distribution of your machine with –series=trusty, for example:
juju docean add-machine --series=trusty --constraints="mem=2g, region=nyc1"
We tested the chamilo charm relatively extensively.
Unmounting the whole thing
If this was just a test, and you’re happy, maybe you want to remove everything. If so, the quickest way to do that is to launch a destroy-environment command, but you will first need to destroy each machine and, before that, each services that :
juju destroy service chamilo mysql juju destroy machine 1 2 juju destroy-environment digitalocean
This should reasonnably quickly remove the whole setup.
You should still check your Digital Ocean’s dashboard, though, as apparently it doesn’t always delete the nodes you created with Juju…
Quick commands list for the impatient
Assuming you’re running Ubuntu 14.04 and that you know which values to change in the commands below:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:juju/devel sudo apt-get update && apt-get install juju sudo chmod -R 0700.juju sudo apt-get install python3-yaml sudo pip install -U juju-docean export DO_CLIENT_ID=aseriesof21alphanumericalcharacters export DO_SSH_KEY="user@computer" export DO_API_KEY=aseriesof32characters juju docean bootstrap --constraints="mem=1g, region=nyc1" juju docean add-machine --constraints="mem=2g, region=nyc1" juju docean add-machine --series=trusty --constraints="mem=1g, region=nyc1" juju deploy cs:~jose/chamilo --to 1 juju deploy mysql --to 2 juju set chamilo domain=test.chamilo.net pass=blabla juju add-relation chamilo mysql juju expose chamilo
And connect your browser to test.chamilo.net (that you must have redirected to the corresponding IP first) and login with admin/blabla.What a difference just a few months makes. If you don’t recall, it was only last September when Apple’s (AAPL) share prices were blasting past $700 and bullish analysts were proclaiming that the company was well be on its way to having a $1 trillion valuation and dominating the tech industry for years to come. All that’s changed now as Apple has lost its spot as the world’s most valuable company and investors are panicking that the company’s growth rate may have peaked. This isn’t to say that Apple is doomed (and sorry, Apple haters, but it isn’t) or that it can’t return to the lofty heights it achieved last summer, but for the time being it no longer seems destined to mop the floor with its competitors for years to come.
This development is exciting in a sense because it’s been part of a fairly chaotic period for the mobile tech industry that has seen companies such as Samsung (005930) rise to become market leaders while longtime stalwarts such as RIM (RIMM) and Nokia (NOK) have seen their market shares plummet. Throughout the past several years, it seemed that the only constant in the mobile world was that Apple would continue to out-innovate its competitors by being the first to market with revolutionary smartphones and tablets that would turn the industry on its ear. Now that Apple’s incredible innovation machine shown signs of slowing, the question becomes, “What comes next?”
Those who look at the success of Samsung, Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) will naturally say that it’s Android’s time to pick up the slack. But even if you believe this, you have to ask yourself, “Whose version of Android?” While the open-source nature of Google’s mobile operating system has helped it spread quickly throughout the world, it’s also left Google with relatively little control over how manufacturers use its creation. Samsung, for instance, may have become enough of a powerhouse where it doesn’t need to rely on Android to sell smartphones and tablets anymore. If the company either ditches Android or creates its own heavily modified version of Android that doesn’t rely on Google apps such as Gmail, Maps and YouTube, where would that leave Google?
Google seems to know the danger that Samsung poses, which is why it’s reportedly working with its own Motorola division to create a so-called “X Phone” that it hopes will lessen Samsung’s dominance of the Android market, just as its own Nexus 7 tablet loosened the Amazon Kindle Fire’s grip of the low-cost Android tablet market. Google knows that Android is a massive money loser if people aren’t using it to get access to its web apps, and the company will do everything in its power to assure that Android remains Google-centric.
In the non-Android realm, we’ve seen some initial signs of life from Nokia after the company recently swung its first quarterly profit in a year and a half. While the company’s flagship Lumia 920 hasn’t exactly lit up the charts in the United States, it has produced some strong results in Europe and has at least bought the company some more time to improve on its recent gains. Similarly, there’s been a lot of positive buzz over the past couple of weeks for RIM (RIMM) and its upcoming BlackBerry 10 handsets. While RIM still faces a long, long road back from its 2012 near-death experience, the company is at least generating some hope among its diehard fans for the first time in many months.
Now, all of this exciting competition could be just a mirage if Apple blows the world away with the iPhone 5S, if Windows Phone 8 devices all bomb as Microsoft’s (MSFT) ill-fated Surface has, and if Samsung’s dominance forces rival Android vendors to quit the market. But for the first time in a while, I feel as though I don’t really know where the mobile industry is headed. And that is very exciting.Trainer Nacho Beristain |
iPhone online are more likely to be searching for Brad Pitt, skiing holidays and hot tubs than internet users looking up other mobile brands, according to digital media solutions company Exponential Interactive. Samsung fans are more likely to be looking up Rafael Nadal, Toyota Prius cars and wheelchairs, apparently.
11.33 While we're on iOS 8, here's how it compares with Android's KitKat.
10.51 As iOS 8 will become available for current iPhone and iPad users to download from Wednesday September 17, we round up how to install it, and 16 of the coolest features you may not have heard about.
10.10 One of the most exciting announcements from last night for iPhone owners was that both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will boast improved battery life, Apple has claimed. Read more here.
09.36 Our spies tell us the two lonely tents outside the Apple store on London's Regent Street have yet to be joined by any more keen fans. Here's a reminder of how they looked yesterday afternoon:
09.05 From his brief hands on with the Apple Watch, Matt Warman is left wondering if it should be slimmer:
In my limited time with it, I turned the ‘digital crown’ and it wheeled freely round in a way that will feel somehow more tangible once it is changing what is on screen. In principle, this is a genius way of getting over the fact that a watch’s screen is fundamentally too small for you to use your fingers to interact with it. Nonetheless, I still think watches should be slimmer than Apple’s, and that for $349 or more, you need to get quite a lot of technology for your money.
Read his hands-on with the Apple Watch here
08.50 In case you missed it, here's a reminder of when you can buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and from which networks.
07.20 James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester, the research company, is confident that the Apple Watch will kick start demand for smart watches, even if it takes Apple a few more tries to get its formula exactly right.
"Apple's Watch...has firmly established the smartwatch as a new category. Would-be competitors may take solace in how many months they have before the watches go on sale, but they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to compete with Apple on the more complete experience the Apple Watch offers. It's not just a device; it's a lifestyle."
07.05 And we're back. Apple shares are still down 0.3pc in after-hours trading, as investors worry that the Apple Watch will struggle to tempt mainstream customers. Our US Business Editor Katherine Rushton explains why the company is battling so hard to win over the fashion crowd, as well as tech "geeks".
Just look at what has happened with Google Glass. Apple’s near-neighbour has created a really clever gadget which lets users film what they can see, conjure up information in their peripheral vision and do all sorts of other things that were once the strict domain of sci-fi.More than a year on from its American launch, Google Glass is still a niche product used by a handul of technophiles and almost nobody else. It is not cool. It is seen as a bit embarrasing. You see, Google forgot to court the fashion crowd, and the hi-tech specs were left to flounder as something only devoted techies would wear.
The full article is here.
23.16 US Business Editor Katherine Rushton has filmed the following video in reaction to today's launch:
22.48 Apple has rather upstaged the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), which is currently underway in San Francisco:
<noframe>Twitter: Nicole and/or Susan - Guy from Barney's asked if the Apple Watch was too much at $350: "It would probably be the least expensive thing in the store." LOL <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23IDF2014" target="_blank">#IDF2014</a></noframe>
22.40 Tech industry commentator Benedict Evans expects to see strong interest in Apple Pay:
<noframe>Twitter: Benedict Evans - Note: Google wallet has had'10-50m' downloads. <a href="https://t.co/xCA4oPWrXX" target="_blank">https://t.co/xCA4oPWrXX</a> - maybe 5% of the base, with less active</noframe>
22.36 In his brief hands on with the new iPhone 6, Matt Warman says the crucial difference between this and previous models is in design:
Thinner, more powerful, gorgeously light but larger and infinitely more elegant, it is the phone that the iPhone 4 or 5 maybe should have been to stop the Android tide in its tracks.
Read his hands-on with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus here
22.05 The Telegraph's US Business Editor Katherine Rushton reports that investors are disappointed that the Apple Watch requires an iPhone to work, leaving shares in the company down more than 1.3 per cent in afternoon trading in New York.
However, the event was far from disastrous, with shareholders reserving their excitement for Apple Pay, a ground-breaking new payments system which Apple hopes will do away with old-fashioned wallets in favour of a ground-breaking new payments system.
The company has already signed up major banks and retailers in the US, ranging from JP Morgan Chase to McDonalds, and will launch the scheme next month. However, it has some work to do before it launches a full-scale operation in Britain. If it goes well, it could present a major threat to online payments systems like PayPal, and help to reinforce Apple’s already strong ecosystem.
Read her full comment here
21.45 The Telegraph's Technology editor Matt Warman has published his verdict on the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch launch:
With the announcement of two new iPhones, a smartwatch and a massively ambitious mobile payments system, Tim Cook showed that Apple has emerged from the shadow of its founder Steve Jobs
Read his full comment here
21.39 The Telegraph's Fashion Editor Lisa Armstrong got an exclusive early look at the much anticipated Apple Watch ahead of the launch - here's her verdict:
21.26 Looks like Stephen Fry is getting Twitter abuse for being an Apple fanboi:
<noframe>Twitter: Stephen Fry - Just adore apple-haters. Imagine if people talked about Mercs or BMWs with such spewing bile! Funny old world. Apparently legal not to buy 1</noframe>
21.22 PocketLint has produced this very handy size comparison table, showing the relative size of the Apple iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, HTC One (M8), Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 and Sony Xperia Z3:
<noframe>Twitter: Luke Edwards - Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus vs Android: The flagship showdown <a href="http://t.co/BXOlyvTmRq" target="_blank">http://t.co/BXOlyvTmRq</a> <a href="http://t.co/2AVfER8gsU" target="_blank">http://t.co/2AVfER8gsU</a></noframe>
21.12 Vodafone UK has confirmed that it will also be offering the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
21.06 Marc McLaren, editor of Stuff.tv said:
The iPhone 6 would almost certainly have been the best iPhone ever, if it weren't for the fact that the iPhone 6 Plus, with its higher-res display and bigger battery, looks even better. Alright so, a 5.5in phone won't be for everyone, but sales of Samsung's Note devices proves there's a massive market for them.
And the Apple Watch? Well, it'd be fair to say that office opinion is divided over its design, but feature-wise it looks pretty special. Apple has clearly built the Watch UI from the ground up rather than trying to shoehorn iOS into a watch format as rival devices have done. If it works as well in reality as it does in the demos, it'll be a game changer for wearables.
21.01 Apple has not announced UK pricing for its smartwatch.
20.58 Apple has confirmed UK pricing for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus:
Each will come in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB configurations, with the iPhone 6 starting from £539, £619 for the 64 GB version and £699 for the £128 model. The iPhone 6 Plus will retail from £619 for 16GB, £699 for the 64GB model and £789 for the new 128GB model.
20.46 Technology editor Matt Warman comments of the launch of the Apple Watch:
There are two lessons from this announcement: Cook is brave enough to enter a whole new category, because this is his Apple now. But the company is in fiercer competition than ever with its rivals, and some of them have watches on sale already. Apple leads the pack, and it knows it can’t afford to wait.
20.42 Apple has released official images of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus:
20.37 Analysts at IHS said:
Apple aims to reset the wearable market and make 2014 year zero for wearables, as 2007 became the start of the true smartphone market because of the iPhone. But moving into a new category is a bold, expensive and risky effort. This Apple Watch is a first generation device, whether it is successful or not, Apple will aim to iterate and make it a must have companion for every iPhone owner.
20.30 Apple's full list of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus specifications are available here.
20.27 Commenting on Apple's share price duing the event, Ken Odeluga, market analyst at Cityindex.co.uk, said:
It was the announcement at the event of an ‘Apple Watch’ that finally removed the moorings from the share price, sending it another 1.5% higher from its initial gain of about 1.8% to a total of 3.3%.
The stock is currently posting a significant gain of 4.7% higher on the day, and crucially it does not appear to have displayed any material resistance on a daily basis. The Apple Watch meets expectations and then some. This is a strong Apple product.
However, Bloomberg recorded quite a different reaction, as Matthew Sparkes notes:
<noframe>Twitter: Matthew Sparkes - Amazing Apple share price reaction: down on Tim Cook's appearance, up on Pay announcement, down on Watch.... <a href="http://t.co/iojFyHzOMY" target="_blank">http://t.co/iojFyHzOMY</a></noframe>
Above: graph from Bloomberg tracking Apple's share price during the event
20.21 Three has also confirmed it is ranging the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
20.16 Matt Navarra, social media director at The Next Web, has tweeted a list of UK prices, although this has not be verified by Apple:
<noframe>Twitter: #AppleLive Social - iPhone 6 UK Pricing: £539 for 16GB £699 for 128GB iPhone 6 Plus UK Pricing: £619 for 16GB £789 for 128GB <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleEvent" target="_blank">#AppleEvent</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleLive" target="_blank">#AppleLive</a></noframe>
20.13 Technology editor Matt Warman gives his verdict on the event:
<noframe>Twitter: Matt Warman - So that's it: iPhone 6: bigger. Credit cards: redundant. Watches: updated. My money's on a payments revolution. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleLive" target="_blank">#AppleLive</a></noframe>
20.12 The Telegraph's fashion editor got a sneek peak at the iWatch at the end of last week and has already done a full review of the device which you can trad here: Apple iWatch: the fashion verdict
20.09 EE has confirmed that it is Apple’s partner for Wi-Fi calling in the UK. Pre-orders will commence at 08:01am on 12th September ahead of launch at 08:00am on the 19th September.
EE gave The Telegraph an insight into its work on WiFi calling earlier in the year and it's cooler than it sounds. Read more about it here.
20.07 Will Jones, buyer for tablets and computing at John Lewis, comments on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus' larger, higher definition screens mirror a trend we're seeing in the tablet market, where sales of 8" and 10" devices are rapidly overtaking their smaller-screen counterparts. As smartphones continue to take hold in almost every aspect of daily life, a bigger screen can give greater flexibility and a better user experience. It means more immersive movies, more vivid and enjoyable games, more comfortable typing and a larger, clearer interface for work tasks like emailing or reviewing documents.
20.03 As if by magic, we have a review of U2's Songs of Innocence ready to go: U2, Songs of Innocence: first review. The album is free on iTunes now.
20.00 Tim Cook invites attendees to get a hands-on with the device (more to follow from Matt Warman soon) and leaves the stage.
19.59 Jason Jenkins, director of content for EMEA at CNET, comments on the Apple Watch:
Apple’s watch seems more about ease of use than fashion. Other smart watches can be hard to figure out, but the control system Apple has come up with seems more logical. It does many of the things rival smart watches do, but the interface could be the clincher.
But what surprised me most is that it looks more like a piece of consumer electronics than the premium watch I was expecting. My gut instinct tells me to wait for the inevitably sleeker follow-up model, but there’s no doubt that Apple has laid the building blocks for a product that could come to define what a smart watch is.
19.58 It's available free on iTunes now
19.54 Bono is asking Tim Cook to send U2's new Songs of Innocence album out to all iTunes users in 119 countries for free. And he just did!
19.52 On Apple Pay, David Blackwell, Deloitte telecoms partner, says:
In the UK, the 40 million contactless NFC payment cards currently in use already address the desire to make small in-store payments quickly. It may well be the case that a mobile device manufacturer could take a big slice of the NFC payment market, but gaining the trust of consumers to handle payments securely will be a critical factor. Notwithstanding the convenience of having a smartphone that can be used to buy your sandwich or pay for your tube fare, Deloitte’s research suggests that – in the short term at least - people will still be reticent about using their phone as a form of payment.
19.49 Rob Hodges, Mobile Expert at Mobiles.co.uk, comments on the Apple Watch:
Taking the mobile industry by storm, wearable tech will be a future focus for all major smartphone manufacturers and Apple is clearly staking their claim with the Apple Watch. With the iPhone 6 offering Touch ID, NFC payments and an improved Wi-Fi chip, this could be the next revolutionary area for the company.
The Apple Watch demonstrates that the firm is taking clear focus on wearables, which represent a whole new arena for Apple to shine - the new Apple Watch iOS shows that Apple is taking their same innovative and ergonomic design to rival the existing Smartwatches and the Android Wear OS. The innovative digital crown on the side of the Apple Watch harks back to the iPod Clickwheel and could prove a valuable feature to set it apart from competitor models.
19.48 People are starting to react to the new devices on Twitter:
<noframe>Twitter: Matt Galligan - Hey, you remember that time where everyone called the iPad a big iPhone and said no one would buy it and it was useless?</noframe>
19.46 U2 is going to perform on stage right now at the Flint Centre for the Performing Arts
19.45 He's talking about the iTunes festival. Sam Smith is perfoming tonight in London. But U2 is in Cupertino!
19.44 Cook is rounding up now, from larger screens to Apple Pay to the personal Watch
19.43 Tim Cook claims it's the most personal device Apple has ever made
19.42 It will cost $349 (ouch) and will be available from early 2015
19.41 Works with iPhone 5s and 5c as well as iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
19.37 There is a digital 'ring' which shows you how close you are to reaching your goals for the day. There is also a dedicated workout app.
19.35 From people who want to measure their activity casually to professional athletes, the Watch encourages you sit less, move more and get some exercise - it records everything above a brisk walk
19.34 Tim Cook is back and talking about health and fitness. Apple's smartwatch lets you monitor all your activity throughout the day.
19.33 These are just a few examples - it's up to developers to come up with other use cases
19.32 A partnership with Starwood hotels means you can unlock your hotel room door by waving your watch in front of it. (That means it must have an NFC chip in it as well)
19.31 You can have customer notifications from social networks such as Twitter, and retweet or 'favourite' posts from your wrist
19.29 Slightly weird feature - the watch can read your heartbeat, send it to someone else's watch, and it will replicate your heartbeat using haptic feedback
19.27 Looks like HTC is enjoying the presentation:
<noframe>Twitter: HTC UK - Happy To Congratulate <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Apple" target="_blank">#Apple</a> on joining the world of big screens! <a href="http://t.co/7nLUYAr4Nd" target="_blank">http://t.co/7nLUYAr4Nd</a></noframe>
19.26 Also Apple Maps - you can seach for locations using dictation, favourites or recent searches, and pan around using your finger.
19.25 There is a lot of Siri functionality integrated, so you can search for local film viewings for example using voice commands.
19.23 Reply to messages using dictation - you can either send a voice message or the iWatch will convert it to text, ot you can just send an emoji in response.
19.22 The watch has haptic feedback to notify you of events. It also 'pings'.
19.20 'Astronomy' watch face lets you make the moon your background, or the solar system.
19.18 Lynch shows that the device is touchscreen, so you can scroll through by swiping your finger. Alternatively, you can highlight bits of infomation by rotating the digital crown on the side of the device.
19.16 Tim Cook takes the stage once more, and introduces Kevin Lynch, vice president of technology at Apple, to give a live demo
19.14 It comes in two sizes and three distinct collections - including sport, standard and 'edition' (made from 18 carat gold)
19.13 A wide choice of watch interfaces and straps - some are very classy metal staps, others colourful plastic
19.11 We know you've been waiting for some pictures so here you go:
19.08 Smart replies and dictation let you respond quickly to messages. You can also share images, or something as subtle as your own heartbeat.
19.06 Now we have a video from Jony Ive. He's talking us through the dial, which Apple describes as a 'digital crown'. It can be used to scroll, zoom, and be pressed to return to the home screen.
19.05 "It's as much about technology as it is about style and taste," says Cook. "Apple thought not just about function but the way it looks."
19.04 It works using a dial on the side which allows you to scroll through content without blocking the screen
19.03 It has a brand new interface. Tim Cook says:
What we didn't do was take the iPhone and shrink the user interface and strap it on your wrist - that would be a terrible user interface
19.02 It also has health and fitness features
19.01 Accurate within +/- 50 milliseconds. Reflects your personal style and taste and works seamlessly with iPhone
19.00 The crowd is going wild
18.59 A video showing a smartwatch with a square screen and stainless steel. Lots of coloured straps - some look like they're stretchy with metal links and some rubber
18.58 It's the next chapter in Apple's story...
18.57 Tim Cook is back on stage now and he says he has "one more thing" to talk about. Can you guess what it is?
18.56 Eric Van der Kleij, Head of Level39, Canary Wharf Group, says:
The Apple Pay functionality of the iPhone6 is a powerful signal from a brand like Apple, and demonstrates that major hardware providers see huge potential in facilitating secure mobile payments. If the iPhone6 can entice more users to make payments using their mobile devices, this will help set standards and expectations for the industry, and should provide Apple with a healthy slice of the'secure mobile payments' market. However, what we need to think of next is interoperability between 'competing' mobile wallets, payment networks and retail banks. Proprietary markets may create market-places, but interoperability creates new, lucrative economies. This move, together with a new, healthier approach to innovative payment providers - such as allowing the BlockChain app back on the appstore - signals a major shift, and underscores Apple's genuine appetite for innovation.
18.53 Works in 220,000 retail locations in the US, including McDonalds, the Apple Store and Disney World.
18.51 Security at the core of Apple Pay - the credit card information isn't stored on the device. The transaction is between you, the merchant and the bank. "It's fast, secure and private," says Cue.
18.50 Apple's Eddie Cue is on stage now, explaining that Apple Pay integrates with Passbook
18.47 Tim Cook announces Apple Pay, which lets you pay by just touching your phone to a terminal in a shop, using NFC
18.46 People have dreamed of replacing their credit and debit cards for years, but mobile wallets have until now been a disappointment
18.45 Now onto payments: 200 million daily transactions in the US alone
18.44 Time to roll out some celebs (in a video at least) - Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon
18.43 Apparently they're going with the slogan 'bigger is bigger'... err ok
18.42 Tim Cook is back on stage now
18.41 Both phones start to ship on 19 September in US, pre-orders from 12 September. iOS 8 will launch on September 17
18.39 iPhone 6 comes in gold, silver and space grey and starts at $199 on a two-year contract, iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299
18.35 iOS 8 has lots of great features including a new messages application with audio messages, and a new keyboard with quick type
18.34 The iPhone has become "the world's most popular video camera", according to Schiller. The new model can now take up to 240 frames per second
18.33 The iPhone 6 Plus has added optical image stabilisation, which works particularly well in low-light scenarios
18.30 Here's a great gallery of pictures from the iPhone launch so far.
18.29 8 Megapixel iSight camera with 'focus pixels' which can tell whether or not your picture is in focus - similar to an SLR camera
18.27 Apple is working with mobile operators around the world to offer voice-over-LTE and voice-over-WiFi. That means you can make calls and send texts over 4G and/or WiFi. EE has been making a big deal about this recently, and will be one of the UK carriers of the iPhone 6
18.26 M8 motion chip and built-in barometer, which can be used in the new Health app, to measure how many stairs you climb each day, and also integrate with Nike's fitness app
18.24 Larger display, thinner design, incredible performance - and equal or better battery life than every metric of the iPhone 5s
18.23 The demo guy is really enjoying this game. He says he's thrilled about the performance possible on the iPhone 6
18.21 Stephan Sherman, co-founder of gaming company Super Evil Megacorp, is now on stage, talking about Vain Glory - emphasising the iPhone 6's graphics for multi-player gaming. They look amazing to be fair.
18.18 64-bit chip with 2 billion transistors (double the number in the iPhone 5s), up to 25 per cent faster CPU, up to 50 percent faster graphics performance
18.16 App store has 1.3 million applications - Schiller says they will just work, even if they haven't been updated for the larger screens
18.14 Multi-tasking on the screen thanks to iOS 8 - a lot of people have been waiting for that.
18.12 These phones are thinner than anything Apple has ever made: the iPhone 6 is just 6.9mm thick
18.11 New generation of Retina screen. Ion-strengthened glass, improved polariser, liquid crystal display and ultrathin backlight
18.10 They're called the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, says Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president
18.09 A video is showing off two very slim devices. They look exactly like the leaked pictures we've seen so far.
18.08 Today, he says, is the biggest launch in the history of iPhone, he couldn't be more proud
18.07 Last year we announced two iPhones for the very first time. They built on the vision of the original iPhone but went further
18.05 Tim Cook is on stage: "we've had some of the most important introductions in Apple's history on this stage". (They keynote is being translated into Chinese)
18.02 A video is playing in the auditorium, apparently Tim Cook is late. Perhaps he should get a watch!
17.59 The live stream from Cupertino seems to have crashed... good start
17.58 Just two minutes to go!
17.56 Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times tweets from inside the venue:
<noframe>Twitter: The Straits Times - We're in and just minutes away from what is likely the launch of new iPhones & wearables. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23Apple" target="_blank">#Apple</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleLive" target="_blank">#AppleLive</a> <a href="http://t.co/zbHB0VEG7W" target="_blank">http://t.co/zbHB0VEG7W</a></noframe>
17.55 Commenting on the rumoured inclusion of a mobile wallet with the iPhone 6, Mark Prior-Egerton, solutions marketing manager at The Logic Group, says:
While there has been the impetus within the industry to make wallets an everyday reality, consumer interest doesn’t seem to quite have been piqued just yet; even with the likes of Google, PayPal and Amazon bringing their products to the table. Apple, however, has the brand recognition, customer base and infrastructure to really push digital wallets to the next level. Coupled with its reputation as a technology kingmaker and the safe money would be on us seeing a real explosion in mobile wallet usage in the coming months.
17.47 Stephen Fry is reportedly in California for the big event, along with Rupert Murdoch, Gwen Stefani, Dick Costolo and Dr Dre:
<noframe>Twitter: Stephen Fry - We’ll, can’t deny it any more. I’m in Cupertino, CA. At the Flint where the iMac was launched and today …? We’ll soon see!</noframe>
<noframe>Twitter: Gwen Stefani - On my way to apple launch w dr dre âš¡ï¸ðŸ‰ðŸðŸ‘ðŸ‘👠gx <a href="http://t.co/V6YxjICBrS" target="_blank">http://t.co/V6YxjICBrS</a> <a href="http://t.co/PyKQgD7kD3" target="_blank">http://t.co/PyKQgD7kD3</a></noframe>
<noframe>Twitter: Rupert Murdoch - In Silicon Valley. What a different perspective one gets. Optimism, risk, brilliance, innovation at all ages. Success, failure, no fear.</noframe>
17.38 It is thought that Apple's launch of a smartwatch could transform the wearable technology market. A recent study by Acquity Group, part of Accenture Interactive, found that 5 per cent of consumers planning to purchase in the next year for a total of 8 per cent adoption by the end of 2015 and a total of 25 per cent planning to own in the next five years.
However, Apple will face stiff competition from the likes of the Samsung Gear S, Sony SmartWatch 3 and LG G Watch R. Matthew Sparkes rounds up the iWatch Rivals here.
Above: Samsung Gear S
17.33 Technology editor Matt Warman is queuing to get into the event in Cupertino:
<noframe>Twitter: Matt Warman - Toilet queues at apple launch: 19 men, 4 women. Just so you know.</noframe>
17.30 Just 30 minutes to go until Tim Cook takes to the stage
17.27 Should Apple reveal its much fabled iWatch at its'special event' this evening, the product will be the first launched under chief executive Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in August 2011. Read Rhiannon Williams' analysis of the man behind the brand.
17.23 A key focus for Apple in their latest iPhone models has been to address one of the biggest issues for smartphones – battery life. Mobiles.co.uk (owned by Carphone Warehouse) predicts that the new iPhones will offer either 1810 or 2915 mAh capacity batteries, combined with a low-power dual core processor, meaning that battery life will be greatly improved from previous models.
17.17 With so many hilarious iWatch parodies emerging on Twitter, The Telegraph team have put to a gallery of our favourites. Here are some highlights:
Above: @IDyball got his hands on an early model with prominent 3D and Apple's trademark 'bite missing' design
Above: @Ihnatko tweeted this Bono-centric image, though we think the design lacks a bit of Edge
17.11 Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry fans are probably feeling fairly non-plussed right now.
17.10 Apple fans around the world are starting to salivate...
17.05 With the start of the event less than an hour away, momentum is starting to build over in Cupertino:
<noframe>Twitter: Tim Cook - Looking forward to a great day in Cupertino! Join us at 10am Pacific. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleLive" target="_blank">#AppleLive</a></noframe>
<noframe>Twitter: Philip Schiller - Almost time!! :-> <a href="http://t.co/jNrtwjYQCS" target="_blank">http://t.co/jNrtwjYQCS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleLive" target="_blank">#AppleLive</a></noframe>
17.02 The HealthKit aspect of iOS 8 has piqued the interest of some GPs in the UK, who welcome the ability to track patients' data such as calorie intake and steps walked. However, some are sceptical about how it will work. Dr. Rakesh Kapila, practitioner at SKGP Clinic, said:
The key to its usefulness will lie in the accuracy of data collected through reliable medical grade sensors and interpretation by a doctor who can turn it into useful advice.
Lloyd Price, co-founder of health app Zesty added:
Even under the circumstances that a doctor is remotely monitoring a users data the service will require a robust infrastructure that simply does not currently exist. Furthermore Apple will need to integrate into doctors/healthcare professionals existing systems to be of benefit to most users in the UK. Apple's solution is undoubtedly a big step forwards in terms of health tracking, however a lot of work still needs to be done before we have a complete healthcare solution.
16.47 Over in Regent Street, it appears our Hungarian friend has woken up, and the TaskRabbit lady has switched places with a colleague:
16.32 A number of people are speculating about when the new devices will be available to buy and how much they will cost.
A September 19 release for the iPhone 6 seems likely. This follows the trend set by the previous model, the iPhone 5s, which was unveiled on 10 September 2013 and was available to buy just ten days later. It is thought the 4.7-inch version will cost roughly the same as the iPhone 5s, which starts at £549.
Rumours suggest that the 5.5-inch iPhone will begin shipping several months later, due to difficulties with producing in-cell touch panel technology for devices of that size. The price tag is also likely to be higher.
The iWatch is harder to predict. If it is announced today, it will probably be available either alongside the iPhone on September 19, or later in 2015. There has been a lot of debate about how much people will be willing to pay for a smartwatch that will effectively be dependent on the iPhone. What do you think?
16.27 According to CompareMyMobile, today has seen a 97.12 per cent spike in iPhone 4 16GB trade-ins, as owners rush to get the maximum money possible for the older model. Trade-ins of the iPhone 5 16GB model have risen by 57.14 per cent, compared with a 35.29 per cent spike in 4S 16GB trade-ins.
Above: Apple iPhone 4
16.22 An interesting aspect of today's event could be how much emphasis Apple puts on fashion. Earlier this week, Reuters reported that Apple has invited top fashion editors and bloggers in unprecedented numbers – further evidence that the iPhone maker is preparing to take the wraps off a smartwatch.
The wearable technology industry has been criticised in the past for failing to recognise the importance of fashion. Is Apple's senior vice president of design, Jony Ive, capable of turning this around?
16.10 If you're an Apple aficionado, you may also like to take a walk down memory lane with our gallery of previous iPhone launches.
16.02 And with just under two hours to go until the big event, here's a reminder of all the latest rumours around the iWatch and iPhone 6.
15.59 The Telegraph's Matthew Sparkes has been testing out The Verge's theory about iWatch and autocorrect and he's not convinced:
<noframe>Twitter: Matthew Sparkes - It seems that if you type "iwatch" in iOS it autocorrects style to "iWatch". A fact which I present without comment. <a href="http://t.co/ZQTkfEZFwG" target="_blank">http://t.co/ZQTkfEZFwG</a></noframe>
15.52 One of the more persistant iPhone 6 rumours is that its display will be made of sapphire glass – a synthetically grown crystal currently used in the iPhone 5s’ home button and camera lens cover. Apple recently opened several sapphire glass plants in partnership with GT Advanced Technologies, fuelling speculation they're planning to use the material in larger quantities for future products – which could include the iWatch.
Sven Boddington, vice president of global marketing and client solutions at Teleplan, said that while consumers are rejoicing in a new, tougher screen on the iPhone 6, the after sales market is preparing for new requirements for repairing this model:
Until now iPhone devices have relied on Gorilla Glass, a relatively inexpensive and easy-to-source material which is widely used in the after sales repair market. While the sapphire glass is harder wearing, it’s not human-proof, and it is both much more expensive and harder to source. We’re talking about something that is certainly much more scratch resistant, but not smash resistant. I don’' doubt for a moment that this phone will be tested to its limits within moments of launch – remember those who believe the iOS7 update made their phones waterproof?! – so those supplying the new device must be prepared for repairs.
15.43 A good spot here from The Verge's Ross Miller: if you try to type "iWatch" in iOS you're told it's a mistake. Maybe this will be fixed in iOS8, or maybe the smartwatch isn't called iWatch after all. Stay tuned.
<noframe>Twitter: Ross Miller - If it's actually "iWatch," no one has told iPhone autocorrect yet <a href="http://t.co/jw7gIxEFwD" target="_blank">http://t.co/jw7gIxEFwD</a></noframe>
15.41 Designer Nik Levantis has pointed out that the temporary structure that has popped up in front of the Flint Centre for the Performing Arts looks a bit like a watch from the air. Could it be a sign?
<noframe>Twitter: Nik Levantis - Doesn't it look like a watch? <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23apple" target="_blank">#apple</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleEvent" target="_blank">#AppleEvent</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=hash&q=%23AppleKeynote" target="_blank">#AppleKeynote</a> <a href="http://t.co/6O48l9M6fI" target="_blank">http://t.co/6O48l9M6fI</a></noframe>
15.36 Back at Regent Street in London, Bonnie Carr from Task |
to pursue.
Today, women veterans are also more likely to be in the sub-populations that have higher unemployment rates, such as veterans currently enrolled in school, those under 35 years old, and those who served post 9/11. Such challenges are further exacerbated by issues such as child care, unique health care issues and higher homelessness rates. As we are adjusting to a new dynamic brought about by a surge in the number of women who choose to serve our country in uniform—and to their needs as veterans—the VA is stepping-up its efforts in serving women veterans.
In 1994, Congress established the Center for Women Veterans to ensure that VA addresses the changing needs of women veterans. Headquartered in the Office of the Secretary, Elisa Basnight currently serves as the Center Director. One of the Center’s priority goals is to build and enhance partnerships that can enable women veterans to build economic stability and improve their well-being and that of their families.
A perfect example of the Center’s meeting that goal was the establishment of a strategic partnership with the United States Mint this past May. Agreed to by Ms. Basnight and Rhett Jeppson, the Principal Deputy Director of the Mint, the partnership could not have come at a better time.
The Mint’s circulating coin production levels over the past several months had increased dramatically due to an improved economy.
The Mint was receiving orders for circulating coins from the Federal Reserve (Fed) at levels approaching those not seen since before the recession in 2006. In fact, the orders were so significant that the Mint’s leadership realized that it needed to add another shift at its Denver and Philadelphia facilities to meet the demand from the Fed. Both Denver and Philadelphia had been operating with two shifts.
Going to three shifts, however, was going to require hiring additional people—quality, committed, disciplined and dedicated people. And what a better and more deserving force to offer employment opportunities to than our veterans? After all, the qualities the Mint was looking for are those that our veterans embody. So it was like a match made in heaven. Clearly, the Mint had a mission critical need to make coins in order to fulfill its orders from the Fed. Coins are an absolute necessity to sustain the economic fabric of our nation. At the same time, the partnership was providing some outstanding paths to sustainable careers to a very deserving cadre.
The Mint committed to holding two career fairs—one in Denver and the other in Philadelphia. Although open to the public, the fairs focused on veterans with a special outreach effort to women veterans. The positions that needed to be filled included metal forming machine operators; coin manufacturers; tool and parts attendants; and materials handlers.
The first career fair was conducted in late May in Philadelphia. Of the 41 people who attended, 20 were veterans. Seven were selected to be interviewed and all seven were offered positions. Four were women.
In early June, the second fair was held in Denver where 42 individuals attended—38 of which were veterans. Nine veterans were interviewed and eight were offered positions. Seven of the eight were women.
Prior to the career fairs, the Center for Women Veterans alerted VA’s Homeless Office to ensure that veterans who are homeless or at risk of being homeless were made aware of the events and able to participate.
We considered both career fairs extremely successful and couldn’t have been more pleased. The events said “thanks” to our veterans in a subtle but still very substantive way.
The partnership between the Center for Women Veterans and the Mint continues with the two agencies coming together at the upcoming Nationwide Women Veterans Campaign events in San Diego/Oceanside (July 10), Houston (August 7), Minneapolis (September 14), and Washington, DC (September 22). The Campaign events will raise awareness and celebrate the stories of women veterans and provide an overview of services and benefits available to them. Experts will be available to answer veterans’ questions, and exhibitors will share information on their many resources.
For more information on the Campaign events, visit: http://www.va.gov/WOMENVET/wvCampaign.asp.
Information about job opportunities at the U.S. Mint can be found at: www.usajobs.gov
Authors:
Elisa Basnight, Esq., was appointed Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Center for Women Veterans in October 2013. In this role, she is the primary advisor to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on programs and issues related to women Veterans. She is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy – West Point, and a former Army intelligence officer.
Rhett Jeppson is the Principal Deputy Director of the U.S. Mint. Prior to joining the Mint in January 2015, Jeppson served as the Acting Chief Operating Officer of the Small Business Administration. He also served as Associate Administrator for Veterans Business Development at the SBA. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps and was commissioned after graduating from the University of Florida. He has deployed to conflicts in Iraq (Operation Desert Storm) and Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom). He currently remains a member of the Marine Corps Reserve where he serves as a Lieutenant Colonel.Conor McGregor had his mind taken off his potential fight with Floyd Mayweather on Friday night as he welcomed his new born son into the world.
Conor Jack McGregor was born in the Coombe Maternity Hospital in Dublin.
McGregor Snr shared a picture of him and mother Dee Devlin last week as they prepared of the birth of their son.
Conor McGregor and Dee Devlin shared a picture of each other on Instagram last week
Conor Jnr's grandad, Tony, confirmed the news and spoke of his delight.
He said: 'There's great news for the McGregor's and the Devlins.
'Baby Conor Jack McGregor was delivered last night at 8pm in the Coombe Hospital.
'He came in at 8 pounds 14 ounces. The whole family are absolutely delighted.
McGregor's partner, Dee Devlin, gave birth to the couple's first child in Ireland on Friday night
'We've experienced this recently with our eldest daughter and there's no better feeling in the world than being a grandparent. The parents are absolutely over the moon and everyone is healthy.'
McGregor is expected to spend as much time with his son as possible before concentrating on his future in the Octagon.
Talks continue over a possible fight with former boxing world champion Mayweather.The Introduction
Back in late 2015 the game music publisher Sumthing Else Music Works announced that they would be releasing music from Assassin’s Creed on vinyl in 2016. A long time passed without further news, but in July 2016 Spacelab9 sent out a newsletter in which they announced the release of this – Assassin’s Creed: The Best Of Jesper Kyd on vinyl. And a year after first being hinted, the album was released in December 2016.
As the name implies this is a compilation album with picks from Jesper Kyd’s different scores to games in the Assassin’s Creed franchise from Ubisoft.
As usual I have a few disclaimers. First of all I must admit to not having played any Assassin’s Creed game myself, although I’ve watched my brother play through most of the second game in the series. So I’m familiar with the tracks from that game. Secondly, I should note that the copy I am reviewing was provided to me by Spacelab9.
The Packaging
There isn’t a whole lot to say for packaging for this release. If you’re familiar with Spacelab9’s previous picture disc releases for Mega Man and Fallout 3 & 4, then you know what to expect.
It’s a picture disc LP with game art on both sides with side B also showing the tracklist of the release.
It comes in a clear PVC* sleeve allowing you to see the artwork featured on the disc. And finally there’s a promotional sticker in the top right corner.
*A quick note should be added about PVC outer sleeves – if records are stored directly in these (as in with no inner sleeve or jacket between the record and the outer sleeve) they are very likely to be damaged through a chemical process known as outgassing. If you intend to listen to the record it’s advised to either ditch the outer sleeve or put the record in something so it’s not in direct contact with it.
The Music
And finally the most important part – how does all of this sound? At this point it’s not likely that Jesper Kyd’s music needs much of an introduction as his scores for games in both the Hitman, Borderlands, and of course, Assassin’s Creed series have received critical acclaim.
This release has a total of 10 tracks of which 6 are from Assassin’s Creed 2, 2 are from Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, while the first Assassin’s Creed and Revelations are represented once each. Furthermore, two of the tracks from Assassin’s Creed 2 were previously unreleased. Additionally, I have read comments suggesting that some of the tracks have been remastered for this release (and its digital counterpart), so some tracks might sound slightly different than on their initial soundtrack releases.
Kyd’s composition for these are still as good as ever and are mostly orchestral, although with some nods to electronic music here and there. And it’s great, epic music for grand adventures. Well-composed and engaging.
Unfortunately this leads up to one of the shortcomings of this release – it does feel a bit short. Granted, the playtime, which is just short of 37 minutes, is fairly standard for a vinyl release. But knowing that the Assassin’s Creed 2 soundtrack alone is almost 2 hours, then I can’t help but feel that something’s missing.
That doesn’t take anything away from the individual tracks, though, which despite being taken from different games in the series still go together very well.
In regards to the length of this, I should note that there is a digital counterpart to this, which features a total of 23 tracks spanning almost 2 hours. If that sounds interesting, then you can stream the entire thing (legally) on YouTube.
More importantly, though – how’s the quality of the pressing? The release being a picture disc had me worried initially, but I’m pleased to say that they did a pretty decent job with thisl. I had a few crackles on side A even after cleaning it, but for a picture disc it is surprisingly quiet. And to me this is especially important seeing as most of the tracks are orchestral – a type of music that really seems to suffer more to unintended noise.
To sum up, I find that it’s a worthwhile release if you are a fan of the series as a whole or a fan of Jesper Kyd’s work in general. As a fan of orchestral game music I would have loved a little… more. Overall I would love to see the Assassin’s Creed franchise getting a similar treatment to Fallout which received both single LP picture discs and box sets containing the full scores.
Does this sound like something for you? Then this is still available via Amazon and several other retailers.The capsule wardrobe movement continues to gain momentum.
Fast fashion deserves criticism. And our culture’s obsession with ever-changing fashion trends is an artificial pursuit manufactured by those who benefit from it.
The capsule wardrobe movement is far from mainstream. But, elevated in the social consciousness by some high-profile personalities, more and more people are applying minimalist principles to their fashion.
Many people outside the movement remain skeptical. They wonder why anybody would intentionally choose to wear the same outfit every day—especially when financial resources are not in question.
Evaluating my personal experience with a minimal wardrobe and studying recent profiles in various publications, I have created this list of reasons.
If you have ever wondered why some successful people choose to wear the same outfit everyday, or better yet, if you are considering adopting a more streamlined wardrobe yourself, here are 8 convincing reasons:
1. Fewer decisions. Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. For people who make significant decisions every day, the removal of even one—choosing clothes in the morning—leaves them with more mental space and better productivity throughout the day.
This forms the basis for President Barack Obama’s limited fashion options, “You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” Mark Zuckerberg cites similar rationale. One less frivolous decision in the morning leads to better decisions on things that really matter.
2. Less time wasted. We have no idea how much of a burden our possessions have become until we begin to remove them. But when we do, we immediately discover a new life of freedom and opportunity. It was almost five years ago that I first experimented with Project 333—a personal challenge of wearing only 33 articles of clothing for a period of 3 months. The project is simple, life-changing, and wildly beneficial. I quickly discovered one of the greatest benefits of limiting my wardrobe: the gift of time. Getting ready in the morning became easier, quicker, and more efficient.
3. Less stress. Matilda Kahl, an art director in New York cites both decision fatigue and less time getting ready as her reason for wearing the same outfit everyday. But she adds another: less stress—specifically, less stress during the day over the decision she originally made in the morning. “Is this too formal? Is that too out there? Is this dress too short? Almost always, I’d choose something to wear I regretted as soon as I hit the subway platform.” But now, in her trademark silk white shirt and black trousers, she has one less source of anxiety during the day.
4. Less wasted energy. Christopher Nolan has created several of the most critically and commercially successful films of the early 21st century. But, according to New York Times Magazine, he decided long ago it was “a waste of energy to choose anew what to wear each day.” Now, he settles instead for a dark, narrow-lapeled jacket over a blue dress shirt with black trousers over sensible shoes to wear each day.
Christopher offers an important distinction when he refers to “wasted energy.” Not only do large wardrobes require more decision-making, they also require more maintenance, more organization, and more shuffling around. Additionally, while a capsule wardrobe may not result in less laundry, it does result in both easier laundry and storage.
5. Feeling put together. Denaye Barahona is a young mother in Dallas, TX. This spring, she exchanged her full, disorganized closet for a minimal wardrobe of versatile pieces she loves to wear. She summarizes the difference like this, “Pre-capsule, my wardrobe was like the Cheesecake Factory menu. It went on for days and was overwhelming. Most of my options didn’t fit right, didn’t look right, or I just plain didn’t like. On the other hand, my capsule wardrobe is like a fine-dining restaurant. I have fewer choices but I can be sure all of the choices will be amazing. Not only do I look better, I feel better.”
Easy, versatile, and always put together. This is the promise and opportunity of a capsule wardrobe—and just one more reason the movement continues to grow.
6. Iconic. Alice Gregory is a writer living in New York City. Last year, her piece for J. Crew magazine brought a new word into my reasoning for wearing a uniform. She called it “Iconic. A cheap and easy way to feel famous.” She continues, “A uniform can be a way of performing maturity or, less charitably, impersonating it. A uniform insinuates the sort of sober priorities that ossify with age, as well as a deliberate past of editing and improving.”
Alice points out that wearing the same outfit everyday is a way of asserting your status as a protagonist. “This is the reason why characters in picture books never change their clothes: Children—like adults, if they’d only admit it—crave continuity. Adopting the habit of wearing a uniform is not unstylish—this is a classification that no longer applies.”
7. Less expense. Our closets are full of clothes and shoes purchased, but rarely worn. The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually. Which may not seem like a lot—until you consider that most clothing purchases are not based on need at all. In 1930, the average American woman owned nine outfits. Today, that figure is 30—one for every day of the month.
Living with a capsule wardrobe or adopting an iconic uniform removes most of the waste and expense from trial-and-error clothing purchases—not to mention all the time wasted shopping for items only to return later.
8. More peace. Last month, Drew Barrymore wrote an article for Refinery 29 highlighting her new stage of life and relationship with clothes. “For starters, I’m almost 40, and the 20s clothes don’t make sense anymore. And, after two babies, the 30s clothes don’t fit anymore. I am at a clothing crossroads, and it’s a painful one at times.” To counter these feelings, Drew put herself on a closet diet limiting her wardrobe and only buying items thoughtfully. Months later, her closet is “sane and happy.” Getting dressed is no longer a battle. And her fashion sense is “now calmer and more peaceful.”
We are a society drowning in our possessions. People are looking for freedom and rescue. They are searching for new solutions. No wonder the capsule wardrobe movement continues to grow.
Those who adopt minimalist principles in their wardrobe choices are discovering more productivity, less stress, less distraction, less expense, and more peace.
Maybe it is time you gave it a try.Abdifatah Sheikhey, 19, was blasted in the chest and stomach as he sat in the passenger seat of a stationary black Mercedes in Ilford, east London, on March 21
A judge was told she had 'no heart, man' as she jailed three young men for at least 30 years each for the execution-style shooting of a teenager with a semi-automatic pistol.
Abdifatah Sheikhey, 19, was blasted in the chest and stomach as he sat in the passenger seat of a stationary black Mercedes in Ilford, east London, on March 21.
In the planned attack, the killers left their BMW running as they fired seven shots in quick succession directly at the teenager in 13 seconds, four of them hitting him.
Even though the prosecution could not say which of them had fired the gun, the jury was told they were all in it together.
Following a trial, former West Ham United youth team player Sami Omar, 21, Jordi Kibusi, 21, and Suleman Mohamed, 20, all from Ilford, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail.
They had all denied murder.
There were tears in the public gallery and cries of 'it's not fair' and 'you have no heart, man' from supporters, as Judge Anuja Dhir QC set a minimum term of 30 years.
She said the manner of the shooting meant the victim had 'no chance of survival'.
Mr Sheikhey was murdered by the three drug dealers in retaliation for an incident in a chicken shop the previous day when he swung a large knife at Omar, the Old Bailey heard.
Judge Dhir said the starting point for murders with a gun was at least 30 years in prison and the crime was made worse because it was pre-meditated, they intended to kill, and it was drugs-related.
However, she told the defendants she had decided not to increase their sentences because of their youth and the circumstances of the case.
She said: 'It doesn't matter which one of you it was, I am satisfied from the evidence that you are all jointly responsible for this murder.
'This was a planned execution which was drug related and motivated in whole or in part by revenge for the events the night before.'
Promising footballer Sami Omar (left) and Suleman Mohamed (right) were jailed for a minimum of 30 years each
Mr Sheikhey had wanted to be a mechanic and work on cars, according to his brother Ahmed.
He said in a statement: 'He was only 19 years old when he was shot. It was a month before his 20th birthday - far too young to leave this world.
'What makes his death even worse is that he knew the people who shot him, people who were his friends. How could they do this?
'These sorts of murders have to stop. The people responsible should not be allowed to do this to anyone else.'
Jordi Kibusi, 21, (pictured) was also jailed for a minimum of 30 years for the execution-style shooting of a teenager with a semi-automatic pistol
The murder was committed against a background of 'lucrative' drug dealing, with two of the defendants being able to hire flats to store their stash, and Kibusi renting a BMW at 'hugely inflated' cost.
The day before the shooting, Mr Sheikhey had been involved in a knife fight with Omar at Chesters chicken shop in Ilford Lane.
Mr Sheikhey took Omar 'by surprise', as he was waving a weapon much larger than the small blade the defendant habitually carried around with him, the court heard.
On the evening of March 21, Mr Sheikhey had been in a black Mercedes car with two friends as a BMW followed behind containing the gunman, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Anthony Orchard QC said: 'A figure, with his face covered, left the vehicle and shouted to the front passenger side window of the Mercedes.
'The man was in possession of a firearm which was held at waist height. Several shots were heard.'
Mr Sheikhey, from Ilford, was pronounced dead soon after 11pm that night.
The.32 semi-automatic pistol which was used in the shooting was never recovered.
DCI Chris Jones said: 'This senseless murder - believed to have been committed in retaliation for a clash between the victim and one of the suspects - has devastated Abdifatah's family.
'These three suspects went out with the sole intention of tracking down Abdifatah and causing him serious harm.
'With a firearm in their possession, this tragic outcome was inevitable.
They now face a significant period in jail, and I hope the verdict will allow Abdifatah's family to come to terms with his death.'“It’s not good for colleges, it’s not good for the country - we’re missing out on a huge talent pool,” she said.
“Mediocre men are outperforming outstanding women because of the nature of the system. Sometimes it’s because women are not putting themselves forward, in other cases it’s because it’s a patriarchy. However we try to gloss over that, it’s a reality.”
The professor of modern history at Trinityand director of the Trinity Long Room Hub said for the issue to be taken seriously, financial rewards and penalties are required.
Hard to change culture
“There need to be sanctions for those who don’t take it seriously. Otherwise, it won’t happen. Its very hard to change the culture on the ground. We are lagging way behind most of our European neighbours.”
Academic core-funded university staff by grade (3 year average, December 2014-2016) Female Male Under-graduate 53% 47% Post-graduate 54% 46% Lecturer 51% 49% Senior Lecturer 36% 64% Associate Professor 29% 71% Professor 21% 79% Source: HEA • Created with Datawrapper
Latest figures demonstrate that significant gender inequality remains prevalent in higher education.
A report commissioned by the Higher Education Authority last year found that a “fix the women” approach – aimed at getting women to change to fit the existing culture – would not work.
It said the fact that women were not found in the same proportion as men in the most senior positions in higher education institutions was not because women were less talented or driven enough to fill these roles.
Systematic barriers
Rather, it identified systematic barriers in the organisation and culture within institutions which mean that talent alone is not always enough to guarantee success.
Its recommendations acknowledged that achieving gender equality will require genuine, long-term commitment and investment from managers at every level.
Ohlmeyer said research funding is also a powerful way of influencing behaviour. Ohlmeyer, who is chair of the Irish Research Council, said colleges will only be able to apply for funding if they receive formal recognition of having a track record of tackling the gender gap. The same rules will apply for funding from Science Foundation Ireland and the Health Research Board
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In the meantime, she said, women in senior positions face significant barriers.
Appointing a woman to the most senior position of all - president - is something that has not happened in the 400-plus years of Irish universities. Now, she said, might be a good time to start.A Detroit meatpacking company announced Monday that it's recalling 1.8 million pounds of ground beef that may be tainted with E. coli -- presenting what the USDA identifies as “a reasonable probability" of "serious, adverse health consequences or death” for consumers. The meat, according to food safety officials, may have found its way to restaurants nationwide.
The recall comes just months after a similarly large incident at California's Rancho Feeding Corp., in which 8.7 million pounds of beef were linked to "diseased and unsound animals." In that case, the meat (which the USDA classified as “unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food”) ended up in Hot Pockets.
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That such a staggering amount of meat could be a threat to public health shouldn't come as a surprise, says journalist Christopher Leonard. In fact, Leonard, whose recent book exposes the meat industry's dangerous and exploitative practices, told Salon, "These large recalls are now the norm for the industry."
It all comes to the slaughterhouses, Leonard explained, which have been on the decline in the U.S. since the late 1990s. The USDA charts a drop from 1,211 facilities in 1992 to just 809 in 2008; between 2002 and 2007, according to Food & Water Watch, the number of state and federally inspected facilities declined by about 20 percent. By 2005, nearly 85 percent of the nation's beef was being processed by the same four companies, which consolidated those smaller slaughterhouses into larger and larger facilities. In the past decade or so, as Leonard put it, "we've been living in the era of the mega-slaughterhouse."
There are plenty of things that can go wrong in a slaughterhouse of any size, explains Patty Lovera, an assistant director at Food & Water Watch. As the USDA's lists of current and past recalls demonstrate, recalls happen for a wide variety of reasons: It could be because E. coli or salmonella is suspected, as in the most recent case, because the product was mislabeled or because a USDA inspector wasn't present, making the product illegal to sell. Some of the largest recalls, Lovera noted, occur for ethical reasons, such as if the facility violated humane handling regulations. Not all of those things, it goes without saying, translate into a serious public health risk. But when they occur in an oversize slaughterhouse, safety procedures end up having oversize consequences.
"The volume going through each slaughterhouse is just enormous," Leonard said: A "mega-slaughterhouse" can cover multiple acres, and is capable of killing hundreds of cows per hour. "So when you've got a problem at one plant, for even one day, it can have tremendous ripple effects throughout the system."
The conditions in those slaughterhouses, he added, can make dangerous outbreaks more likely. As thousands of cows pass through assembly lines, a single ceiling drip, to take one example, could contaminate large swaths of them in record time, and safety inspectors can have a hard time spotting a problem amid the chaos. Then, of course, there's the poop: "These animals are all raised on factory farms now," Leonard explained, "where they're much more crowded than ever before. And chickens and cows literally live their whole lives standing on beds of manure and feces." They enter the slaughterhouse already covered in fecal matter, upping the odds of contamination once they're killed.
It's not just your mass-produced, factory-farmed meat that's in danger, however. A full quarter of the cows slaughtered in Ranchero's slaughterhouse, site of the 8.7 million pound recall, came from small, local and sustainable ranchers who sold “niche” products like grass-fed and organic beef. Even mid-size slaughterhouses are closing their doors, said Leonard, meaning those ranchers didn't have much of a choice but to rent out space from a large facility that was also processing cattle for the big four meat companies. Once there, those animals, regardless of how responsibly they were raised, became a disease risk as well.
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The real surprise, perhaps, is that we aren't seeing even more massive meat and poultry recalls than we already do. Increasingly, slaughterhouses are turning to aggressive measures to keep up with their quickly moving, contaminant-ridden product. Chickens, Leonard points out as one example, are sprayed in baths of bacteria-killing chemicals like peracetic acid and chlorine, posing a serious risk to workers. The tradeoff, in other words, can be as disconcerting as the threat of a disease outbreak.When does a building transform from a shell into a work of art within itself? Can artists improve even beautiful architectural wonders, turning them into something more creative and meaningful? Some architectural art installations are done out of necessity because the work is simply too large to be contained. Others use the building to make a political statement, to give value to an abandoned space or simply for the pure joy of it. These 12 installations encompass the whole spectrum, making use of everything from the Sydney Opera House to a decaying factory.
Wrapped Reichstag by Christo
In 1995, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the entire Reichstag building in Germany with more than 100,000 meters of fireproof polypropylene fabric. The building, which housed the first parliament of the German Empire until it was severely damaged in 1933, had stood in ruins for decades and became a symbol for a divided Germany. The ‘Wrapped Reichstag’ installation was only up for two weeks, but drew five million visitors. Onlookers described it alternately as ethereal and graceful during the day, but ominous at night.
Lighting Up the Sydney Opera House
It may seem ironic, and even a bit preposterous, to use a large amount of energy to light up the Sydney Opera House as a statement about global warming. But musical producer Brian Eno’s goal was to turn artists into advocates for action against climate change when he curated the Luminous Festival, a sound and light festival that involved images being projected onto the sails of the Opera House. Eno told BBC News, “…[A]rtists can create a sense of what is cool and what is not, what is acceptable, exciting, timely… I would like to see a future where artists think that they have a right to contemplate things like global warming.”
Discarded Umbrella Installation at Channel 4 Building in London
Artist Stephanie Imbeau came up with a strikingly creative idea to win Channel 4’s BIG4 public art competition. Her entry, ‘Shelter’, was an installation that involved constructing blocks of illuminated discarded umbrellas. Though unconnected, when viewed from a certain angle the blocks appeared as the number ‘4’. The installation stood in front of the Channel 4 building in London in March of 2009.
Tentacle Building Installation
An artist calling himself ‘FilthyLuker’ installed inflatable octopus tentacles in the windows of an unnamed building in June of 2009, making it appear as if the building is being devoured by a bright green kraken that somehow emerged from the sea and got stuck inside.
Erwin Wurm’s House Attack
In 2006, artist Erwin Wurm had an art exhibit at Austria’s MUMOK (Museum Moderner Kunst), displaying work that was often architectural in nature such as ‘fat houses’. Outside the building, the theme continued with an installation called ‘House Attack’ – an actual house imbedded in the museum’s roof.
Inversion Tunnel House
People passing by this building in Houston may have wondered whether it had suddenly turned into a black hole, or was the setting of some kind of explosion that defies the laws of physics. In fact, the strange tunnel was an art installation called ‘Inversion’ by Dan Havel and Dean Ruck, which was created just before the building was due to be torn down and replaced with a larger structure. The tunnel actually goes all the way through the building, ending in a private courtyard.
Turning the Place Over by Richard Wilson
In Liverpool, a former Yates Wine Lodge building sat empty and decaying for years until Richard Wilson, one of Britain’s most renowned sculptures, decided to make use of it for a project called ‘Turning the Place Over’. Wilson turned it into a piece of public art, cutting an oval from the exterior on one side and making it oscillate in three dimensions within the cutout. The artist, whose work is often inspired by engineering and construction, used a giant rotator usually used in the shipping and nuclear industries to keep the façade revolving.
Reflecting Light at Clark Shoes Headquarters by ROSO
“Light is only seen when reflected.” That is the observation that inspired an art installation called ‘Light’ by Studio ROSO for the Clarks Shoes headquarters in England. The work, situated in the communal courtyard in the center of the office building complex, consisted of mirrors strung from one end of the courtyard to the other. The strands of mirrors, organized into two ‘beams of light’, create a dynamic, ever-changing space as the wind and light changes throughout each day and as seasons pass.
Crochet Gas Station
Jennifer Marsh, crochet artist and director of the International Fiber Collaborative, saw an ugly, abandoned gas station and realized she could use it as the setting of a unique art installation that calls attention to our dependence on oil. Soliciting 3×3 foot squares from fiber artists all over the world, Marsh covered the entire building, along with two gas pumps, with the donated crochet squares.
The Defenestration Building by Brian Goggin
At an abandoned four-story building in San Francisco, furniture is leaping for its freedom from open windows – clocks poking their heads out and looking up at the sky, chairs making a run for it down the peeling brick walls and tables pitching themselves off the roof. The project is called Defenestration, a word meaning “to throw out of a window”, and was created by 100 volunteers.
Artist Brian Goggin describes it on his website thusly: “Located at the corner of Sixth and Howard Streets in San Francisco in an abandoned four-story tenement building, the site is part of a neighborhood that historically has faced economic challenge and has often endured the stigma of skid row status. Reflecting the harsh experience of many members of the community, the furniture is also of the streets, cast-off and unappreciated.”
1600 Empty Chairs
To some people, this art installation is nothing but a bunch of stacked cast-off chairs. But to Doris Salcedo, each of the 1600 chairs precariously balanced upon each other between two buildings in Istanbul stands for a victim of mass violence in her home country of Colombia. Salcedo wanted to commemorate anonymous victims, portraying their loss through empty chairs in a visual that resembles a mass grave. The installation was created for the 8th Instanbul Biennale in 2003.
Crossword Puzzle Apartment Building
The city of Lvov in Ukraine decided to give tourists an interesting enticement to visit: a crossword puzzle on the side of an apartment building that is completed by finding questions at major points of interests all over town. Walking around the city, visitors collect questions at museums, monuments, theaters, fountains and other locations and write down their guesses. During the day, the crossword puzzle is empty, but at night, special lights reveal the answers.AS the champagne sprayed into every corner of the Socceroos dressing room on a June night just a few weeks ago, and the celebration of reaching another World Cup intensified, Frank Lowy looked on with a mix of wonderment and delight.
When it was pointed out to him that the positivity of the night was a long way from the travails of recent years, he told this columnist that the press had to tell the truth as they saw it. "You must always write what you believe," he said.
So Mr Lowy, we can only take you at your word, no matter how uncomfortable the issue to be raised.
For it feels an appropriate time to consider a question that the game has largely avoided until now.
It’s a question that goes to the heart of where football aims to be by the time of the World Cup in 2018, and how it intends to get there. And it’s a conversation that has to start now.
Because, Mr Lowy, the constitution of the Football Federation decrees that you – plus two of your closest allies in Brian Schwartz and Phil Wolanski – must stand aside in 2015. It’s a strange thought to entertain after so long, but the end of the Lowy era is getting closer.
In many ways it’s a disconcerting thought, for yours has been the incomparable political and economic ballast which allowed the game to climb off its knees and haul its way with increasing confidence into mainstream respectability. We shall not see your like again.
But in that very realisation comes the knowledge that a very different future awaits. And it’s why we need to have this conversation now, for there are big, even monumental decisions to be made about how this wonderful sport should be run, and by whom.
It will be a difficult conversation for you to have and be part of, for by dint of your very passion – and style of doing business – you have driven every major debate within the game for this past decade.
But ultimately the baton will have to be passed on, and there’s a powerful argument to make that football now has the confidence and stature to attract the top end of town in terms of potential leaders.
Where 10 years ago you had to cajole and plead with friends of heavyweight standing to join the FFA board, part of the success since is that there are highly credentialled businessmen and women for whom a seat at this table would be an attractive proposition.
The make-up of the board for the Asian Cup supports this argument in spades.
But equally it’s increasingly likely that the landscape in which football will operate under a new chairman (or woman) will differ markedly. Over 10 years your sheer clout and negotiating skills have wrought an extraordinary amount of money from the Federal government – and nor should football apologise for that when it encourages more people to go out and play than any other team sport.
But the game cannot assume that anything like as much government assistance will be made available going forward. Which is why the make-up of the board from 2015, the skills they possess, and above all who leads that board, becomes so damn important.
In the 21st century, candidates are needed with |
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Jurgen Klopp rarely gives the impression of a man relaxed. A man at peace. A man with time on his side.
From his often manic gesturing on the touchline to the fact he’s already on the brink of etching his name into Anfield folklore after just seven months in charge, the German is not someone who seems willing to stand on ceremony.
Appearances, though, can be deceptive.
And when it comes to the bigger picture, Klopp is well aware of the value of that most precious footballing commodity.
Patience.
Liverpool could take a shortcut to the Champions League by beating Sevilla to lift the Europa League in Basel on Wednesday, the Reds boss successfully reigniting the Anfield faithful and, true to his mission statement, turning doubters into believers.
But the renewed fervour on the Kop should, Klopp believes, be tempered with a sense of realism.
“The nice thing is, when you are successful in three years or five years, you can look back and say the first two years were really important,” he says.
“If you want to have success in the first year, then there’s more pressure and you have a draw and it’s a catastrophe, things like that.
“Cool down. Everybody believe me. I’m ambitious to the highest level. I’m ready for everything.
“It’s absolutely normal that after this long time with success and then this long break from success that the people are still passionate, but they lose patience. That’s what happened here.
“But I know it’s work, and work needs time. Time can be a week, a month, a year, two years.
“If we stay really together and go this way together then it’s a bright future for Liverpool.”
'I love how Liverpudlians live football, the history around it'
Klopp made a pointed comment after Wednesday’s 1-1 home draw with Premier League that the fans, as well as the players, must learn to be more patient when things aren’t immediately going to plan.
But it has become increasingly difficult for supporters not to be carried away by the enthusiasm shown by the Reds boss that is being reflected in the performances of his players.
For Klopp, it’s something of a two-way street.
“I love how Liverpudlians live football, the history around it, the special commitment,” he says.
“People in Germany talked about Liverpool. It’s not like I watched 500 games with a Liverpool scarf in front of the TV, it was about following the way, the emotion.
“When I came here for a pre-season friendly (in August 2014 with former club Borussia Dortmund), I felt something special.
“It’s not like I was saying I hope they sack Brendan (Rodgers) or anything like that. It was always clear, if there was an opportunity (to come to Liverpool) then I’d think about it.
“Then coming here, we recognised they are nice and great people. It’s really very, very easy to work for these people.”
'I don’t have to make the players into something special'
It’s not just the fans that have been transformed under Klopp.
The Reds boss has been credited with reviving the floundering careers of several Liverpool players, with Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Joe Allen among the chief beneficiaries.
Klopp, though, plays down his resuscitative qualities with trademark modesty.
Speaking to the Men In Blazers podcast, he says: “The most important thing is these players ARE good, I don’t have to make them into something special.
“Adam Lallana, I knew him before he came here. I saw him playing at Southampton, he is a brilliant player and I didn’t care for one second what happened when he first came here.
“I saw Dejan Lovren play before he came here, and I knew he was brilliant. Divock Origi, when he was 17 everybody knew he could be a big striker, he was playing for the Belgium national team.
“I knew Joe Allen from Swansea, I’ve watched football much longer than I’ve been here (at Liverpool).
“It’s not that I think ‘you can’t play football, but believe me, I can make you a world star’. That’s not how it is. These players are really skilled.
“We all can fail and make mistakes. It’s not important. It’s how you handle it and react.”
'My only pressure is to be a good human being'
How Klopp reacts to the media has made him instant box office since arriving on Merseyside in October.
But the German has a typically straightforward approach to such dealings.
“If I like the question, I give a good answer,” he says. “If I don’t like the question, I give a bad answer. That’s how it is. An easy game.
“It’s not about saying what they want to hear or being funny for the sake of being funny.
“If I have the possibility to enjoy the things I do, I do.
“Press conferences are a break from the serious things I do all day. Press conferences are not work, if I have to do it, then I’ll do it.”
And asked for the secret to his success, Klopp has a ready answer.
“I believe in God,” he says. “It’s very easy.
“My only job is to do my best in life, care for my family, care for the people I feel responsible for.
“My only pressure is to be a good human being.”In Kibworth next Saturday, a bookshop will be offering tea, cake and hand massages in a green velvet armchair. In Crickhowell’s local bookstore, there’ll be a butler on the door serving prosecco. Independent booksellers up and down the country are preparing to host a “Civilised Saturday” next week, as the “perfect antidote” to the cut-throat bargain-hunting and frenzied shopping of the upcoming Black Friday.
So far, some 100 bookshops have signed up to the initiative on 28 November, the day after Black Friday on 27 November. The annual discounting frenzy originated in the US, marking the beginning of the Christmas shopping season, but was also huge in the UK last year, with fights breaking out as shoppers battled over bargains.
Alan Staton at the Booksellers Association said that Black Friday was “the antithesis” of what booksellers stand for, as seen with their “books are my bag” campaign. “It’s about discounts, it’s about a feeding frenzy, so we said why don’t we have a ‘Civilised Saturday’, which shows that what booksellers offer is an informed, civilised environment for people to make purchases. It may be for people who have gone through Black Friday and need some R&R afterwards, or for those who shun it for a more civilised alternative.”
“I liked the idea of an alternative to Black Friday,” said Emma Corfield-Walters of Book-ish in Crickhowell. “It’s a bit of a yah boo sucks to the big guys like Amazon, encouraging people to be a little more civilised, in terms of not getting beaten up [over bargains].”
Along with the offer of prosecco at Corfield-Walters’s shop, customers will have the chance to take part in a competition to see who can walk the furthest down the high street with a book on their head to ensure correct posture.
Mince pies, mulled wine, art and singing will be on offer at Burway Books in Church Stretton, there’ll be a day of celebrating the works of HP Lovecraft in Walsall’s Southcart Books, and at the Edinburgh Bookshop, staff on the day will be dressed in cocktail outfits, complete with evening gloves, and giving out “genteel” snacks and drinks to customers.
At The Bookshop Kibworth, in Leicestershire, Debbie James is planning to theme the day in the spirit of The Novel Cure by Susan Elderkin and Ella Bertoud, which offers literary prescriptions for ailments from depression to a stubbed toe. “We’re going to invite people in the shop to take a seat in our specially delivered green velvet armchair, and get them to explain to us what they’re looking for and how they’re feeling,” said James. “Then we’ll go about plucking titles off the shelf to bring back for them to look at in the chair. They’ll also be given tea and cakes, and a complimentary hand massage. It’s the most civilised thing ever to happen in a shop – absolutely the antidote to Black Friday.”
James said that “quite a few” of her customers had spoken negatively about Black Friday’s discount frenzy. “So we knew if we rolled out something different, they would absolutely love it.”
In Shropshire at Wenlock Books, meanwhile, there’ll be more prosecco, music from a local musician and a “very civilised” afternoon tea. “Black Friday appeared quite suddenly in the UK, and since it’s an American tradition following on from Thanksgiving it doesn’t mean anything to us. It’s become a day of chaos and that’s not at all how we feel shopping should be,” said Jasmine Denholm, an apprentice at the bookseller. “Christmas shopping should be a luxury where customers can take the time to find the perfect gift.”
• This article was amended on 24 November 2015. An earlier version said that there would be poetry readings at a “sophisticated soiree”, rather than a day celebrating the works of HP Lovecraft, at Southcart Books.Immigrants attacked a local Christian in Perugia and then smashed and urinated on a Madonna statue.
Raymond Ibrahim reported:
A man was kneeling in prayer before the statue of the revered Madonna, with the photograph of a loved one in hand, in the small chapel of St. Barnabas in Perugia (Italy), when he was attacked by five “immigrants.”
The first thing they did was rip the photo from his hands.
Next they unleashed their hatred against the image of the Virgin Mary. They broke the statue to pieces and then urinated on it.
Don Scarda, pastor of St. Barnabas, said the event was led by five “foreigners.” By the time police arrived at the chapel, the unidentified attackers had already fled.
The incident has caused a stir among locals. Some have lambasted Pope Francis who is accused of appeasing immigrants—mostly Muslims—to wild extremes. Earlier he had said that “Migrants, through their own humanity, cultural values, expand the sense of human brotherhood.”
Although the Diocese condemned the act of sacrilege against the Madonna statue, it also followed the Pope’s lead by absolving Islam of any responsibility for what happened.Why Washington State Doesn't Have an Income Tax:
The 1930s Campaign for Tax Reform and the Origins of Washington's Tax System
by Nathan Riding
Rural poverty, inadequate state infrastructure, and the economic crisis of the Great Depression spurred a movement for an income tax led by rural farmers in the Washington State Grange during the 1930s. The measure faced stiff political opposition, and as in this 1939 photograph by Dorothea Lange, taken in the Yakima Valley shows, poverty and lack of infrastructure and social services continued through the 1930s. (Photograph Courtesy of American Memory, FSA/OWI photographs, fsa 8b34283.)
Washington State is one of the few states in the country to never implement an income tax, giving it the dubious distinction of being the state with probably the most regressive and inequitable tax system in the country. Yet an income tax was passed by popular vote in the midst of the Great Depression, as a movement spearheaded by the farmers of the Washington State Grange sought to lessen their tax burden and promote a more equitably gained source of revenue to support the growth of Washington’s infrastructure and state services.
The movement for an income tax in 1930s Washington was primarily a revolt against the inequity in the tax system rather than a movement for the income tax in particular, so when the state government was able to reform its tax system by lessening the immediate burden of property taxes yet without passing an income tax, support for an income tax partially deflated. However, the State Grange sought year after year to introduce an income tax measure onto the ballot, only to face stiff opposition from the state government and direct overturnings of the popular vote by the State Supreme Court. This study draws from Philip J. Roberts’s recent work, A Penny for the Governor, a Dollar for Uncle Sam: Income Taxation in Washington,[1] as well as important primary sources, to investigate the history of the movement for an income tax in Washington State, and to understand how Washington has continued into the twenty-first century without a stable or equitable source of state funds.
During the Depression years, many people found themselves with little or no income. Rural Washingtonians strongly favored a state income tax as the fairest way to relieve a property tax burden that many no longer had the ability to pay. Support for the income tax was led by the Washington State Grange, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of farmers through cooperative economic and political means. The Grange ultimately failed due to the governor’s veto, judicial intervention, and the adoption of alternative taxation schemes by 1935. These new tax laws relieved the pressure on farmers and workers from the property tax and thus diminished support for the income tax. Despite the lagging support, however, the Washington State Grange unsuccessfully continued to push for the adoption of the income tax in 1936 and 1938, and the state legislature took up the cause in 1941. The quickly shifting priorities of people in an economic emergency was insufficient for passage of a State income tax in lieu of other taxation schemes that sufficiently relieved the immediate burden of property taxes at the time.
Examination of the history of the State income tax during the last great economic crisis can provide insight into solving our current state revenue challenges. The failure to enact a state income tax in Washington State during the Great Depression has left Washington with a tax system extraordinarily vulnerable to the up and down swings in the economic cycle. The current economic recession, the worst since the Great Depression, has focused policy makers’ attention on the current tax system of Washington State due to the resulting multi-billion dollar budget deficit. The state’s current antiquated tax scheme of excise, sales, and corporate taxes originally instituted during the Depression era has left a legacy of regressive taxation and unreliable revenues.[2]
The current crisis has moved many policy makers to reconsider the viability of instituting a state income tax in order to solve the issues of inequity and the inability of government to generate revenues that can keep pace with the rising cost of government services. Examination of the history of the state income tax during the last great economic crisis may provide insight into solving our current state revenue challenges.
Tax Reform Politics in the 1920s
From its territorial days until the Great Depression, Washington State’s government relied upon property taxes to fund its activities. Property taxes were a relatively equitable and reliable tax system, as those with more property paid more taxes and many Washington residents owned property because of the significant number of farms.
Washington's roads -- like this one, from 1927 -- were in desperate need of repair, and needed maintenance to accommodate new modes of transport. Washington's tax system was inadequate in dealing with these, and other, infrastructure problems. (Photo by Webster and Stevens, courtesy of Museum of History and Industry). But a great deal changed during the early twentieth century. In 1900, six of ten Washingtonians still lived on farms.[3] By 1930, Washington’s population tripled to 1,563,396 and the rural farm population shrank to around 300,000, making up only 19% of state’s population.[4]
As the population grew, so did the demand for government services. New roads were needed to accommodate the automobile and more revenue was needed to meet the escalating cost of public education. The legislature passed a one-cent tax on gasoline in 1921 to help meet revenue demands for new roads and increased it to two cents in 1925. However, the state government’s need for revenue continued to rise and the legislature remained reliant on property taxes to satisfy the state budget.[5] By 1920 property taxes had doubled in ten years.[6] Farmers became major contributors to state revenue disproportionate to their population in the state. In 1930, the State Tax Advisory Commission acknowledged the pressures on property owners in relation to the growth of government and the original intent of the property tax, writing in a petition:
"The tax system of Washington, in the main, was established when the ownership of real and tangible personal property was a fair measure, if not the only measure, of taxpaying ability. This system imposed almost the entire cost of government upon the owners of real and tangible personal property…. Since Statehood the scope of government has expanded beyond the bounds that then could have been contemplated. Likewise the forms of wealth of this State have changed along with the expansion of the economic life of its citizens…. Many States have met this enormous increased cost of government by providing method of taxation whereby the tax burden is equalized…."[7]
At first, the demands for tax reform took the shape of caps on taxes that the state could levy. In 1924, a group called the Federation of Taxpayers made up of farmers and realtors worked to collect signatures and successfully placed on the ballot an initiative limiting the combined property tax levy for all government entities, state and local, to 40 mills ($40 tax per thousand dollars of assessed value).[8] The measure was defeated, but the effort reflected the frustration of property owners regarding the growing property tax burden.
The West Coast was already in recession before the Great Depression officially began. The region’s manufacturing industries were hard hit by the rapid demobilization of the U.S. following the end of World War I, which also affected its mining and timber industries. Growing global recession in 1927 also hit the Northwest because of the dependence of the region’s farming and extractive economies on world trade. The effects of this depression were felt in the rural parts of Washington by 1927. The agriculture industry throughout the country had experienced deep decline during the 1920s, seeing 5 billion of its 18 billion dollar income wiped out.[9]
The growing economic recession in the Northwest motivated the Washington State Grange, a fraternal farm organization working for the social and political welfare of farmers, to lead the fight to reform the tax system and to provide tax relief to farmers even before the Great Depression began. The depressed agricultural industry coupled with farmers bearing an increasingly greater load of the tax burden made tax reform a top priority for the Washington State Grange. In 1928, the Grange supported a change in the constitution that would have allowed for the taxation of intangibles such as stocks and bonds. Despite their support, the measure was narrowly defeated in the 1928 election. Undeterred, the Grange turned their efforts to the income tax.[10] In the 1929 legislative session of the state assembly the Senate passed a state tax on personal income. Unfortunately, the legislation in the House was never brought up for a vote. The legislature did pass a corporate franchise tax on net income, but the legislation included exemptions for commercial banks. Smaller savings and loan firms challenged the law in court in the case Aberdeen v. Chase, which the Supreme Court overturned. The court reasoned that all banks had to be treated equally, and in this case the exemptions for larger banks violated the equal protections provided by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.[11]
Farmer Radicalism in the Emerging New Deal Coalition
By the 1930s all of Washington State was feeling the full effects of the Great Depression and the stock market crash of 1929. In an article in the Grange News, State Master Albert Goss describes the pitiful situation of many in Seattle during the time:
" Yesterday I walked through several blocks and alleys between First and Second avenues and Second and Third avenues in Seattle, and saw men running through the garbage cans looking for something to eat, ––not one but many. Last night I saw hundreds of men who had been standing in line possibly an hour, waiting for the doors of a soup kitchen to open where they could get a free bowl of soup. A few days ago I saw a crowd of men congregated before the “Millionaire’s Club” waiting for the tri-weekly distribution of dry bread, saw these men tear off the newspaper wrappings and devour a half loaf in a few moments like ravenous animals."[12]
This paper draws on Philip J. Roberts' 2003 book, published by the University of Washington Press, which examines the social and political battles over tax policy in Washington State.
Goss’s writing showed how farmers began to see their plight as connected to those of the poor and working classes in cities. At least the farmer didn’t go hungry, touted the Grange. However, farmers had suffered for years under difficult economic conditions, and could find empathy and potential common cause with others.
But whereas the urban poor had no food, the bigger problems for the farmer were that most of his capital was wiped out and his taxes were unpaid.[13] The heavy reliance on property taxes began to take a toll on revenue collection during the 1930s, underscoring the dire situation property owners faced. A report from 1956 done by the Washington State Research Council found these figures: "The property tax for 1929 was $78 million––$70 million (90 per cent) was collected; in 1932 the property tax was $73 million––$51 million (70 per cent) was collected; in 1933, the property tax was $66 million––$47 million (77%) was collected…. State taxes fell from $20.7 million in 1931 to $16.8 million in 1933, a loss of some 20 per cent––even with almost an additional $1 million from the new business and occupation tax."[14]
Charles Hodde, a Grange Master, Grange lobbyist, legislator, and eventual Speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives during the Depression, summed up the problem in an interview in 1997: “Here we were in entering the ’30s, and the cost of government didn’t decline as fast as the revenues of the people when prices dropped.”[15] At the time, the law allowed property taxes to go unpaid for up to five years before foreclosure could commence, so many farmers without profitable farms––which were many––had no choice but to let their taxes go unpaid. In Chelan County less than 50% of taxes were being paid in 1932.[16]
The Washington State Grange had previously been very active on tax reform issues, but by 1930 the desperate situation of the farmers spurred the Washington State Grange to greater action. The biggest problem for the farmers were taxes on property that had become a huge burden due to the drop in prices and loss of real values on their land. In 1929 Republican Governor Hartley, under pressure to address the difficult tax situation, recommended a special tax commission consisting of nine men to study the matter. The legislature agreed and the Governor appointed commissioners he viewed as sympathetic to his own position—opposition to the income tax—and charged them with submitting their report prior to the 1931 legislature.[17] The Grange was skeptical of the committee because it was predominantly made up of businessmen who had largely escaped paying taxes. However, the concerns of the Grange proved unwarranted.[18] As the report read: "After long and careful consideration of alternative revenue systems this Commission has come to the conclusion that the principal revenue system that this state should adopt for the relief of the property tax and to equalize the tax burden among all who have ability-to-pay should be based on the principle of measuring the tax by net income."[19]
The report of the special commission recommended that the state adopt a personal net income tax, a corporate net income tax, and recommended that the state derive its revenue from these sources rather than from the property tax in order to equalize the tax burden on Washingtonians. The property tax would be left to local government as their chief means of revenue collection.[20] The commission came out against the sales tax, Governor Hartley’s favored tax remedy, viewing it as a last resort to solving the property tax problem.[21] The commission’s findings validated the Grange’s long-held support for the income tax, and Grange members adopted a resolution in support of it.[22]
At the onset of the 1931 legislative session the Grange and other proponents of an income tax felt that their best chance to pass an income tax via the legislature had come. The Governor’s commission had recommended it and the full effects of the Great Depression created a climate for action that could buoy public support for lawmakers.[23] Early in the session, bills were introduced in both the House and Senate. One measure was the personal income tax and the other bill was an income tax on corporations.[24] By March, both measures had passed with large margins in each chamber and were sent to the Governor’s desk for signing.
On March 24th, Governor Hartley vetoed both the corporate and personal income tax bills. Hartley vehemently opposed the income tax. In his argument in support of his veto, Hartley claimed that the enforcement of the income tax would be too difficult and would require huge numbers of new workers to administer.[25] He also claimed that shrinking government and reducing costs would do far more to help relieve the tax burden than the income tax, and argued that the income tax would not stand judicial scrutiny.[26]
The Republican-controlled legislature and executive’s inability to come to agreement on a new tax program for the state contributed to Republican defeat at the polls. Hartley would run for re-election in the 1932 gubernatorial race but was defeated in the Republican primary largely due to his inability to adequately deal with the Depression and tax crisis.
Meanwhile, the Grange turned to the ballot initiative process––supported and passed by the Grange in 1912––to bypass the legislature and the governor and to provide a means of sound taxation for the state.[27] At the time, the Grange enjoyed a membership of nearly 30,000 members throughout Washington and was confident that it had the ability to collect the 60,000 signatures needed to qualify an income tax measure for the 1932 election.[28] The Grange carefully drafted the language of the initiative to avoid a repeat of the result in the Aberdeen case in 1929. The measure read:
"An act relating to and requiring the payment of a graduated income tax on the incomes of persons, firms, corporations, associations, joint stock companies, and common law trusts, the proceeds therefrom to be placed in the state current school fund and other state funds, as a means of reducing or eliminating the annual tax on general property which now provides revenues for such funds; providing penalties for violation; and making an appropriation from the general fund of the state treasury for paying expenses of administration of the act."[29]
The initiative qualified for the ballot in July and campaigning began in earnest, with the issue helping bring together Washington’s electoral coalition in support of New Deal Democrats in a state that had never had a Democratic Party majority in its legislature. The Grange knew that the rural vote alone would not be enough to pass the measure and sought to build support in the cities. The Grange gained the support of the Washington Education Association, the Seattle Labor Council, the Parent Teacher Association, the Unemployed Citizens League, and the High School Teachers’ League.[30] They set out to educate voters about the initiative and to gather signatures to win placement on the ballot. Charles Hodde was recruited by Grange State Master Goss to campaign for the measure in Seattle. “I went over there in September and I was there six weeks before the election. During that six weeks I drove 2,500 miles all inside the city of Seattle practically, and I averaged about seven or eight meetings a day.”[31]
In addition to the income tax, an initiative to cap property tax rates at 40 mills received enough signatures and was placed on the ballot similar to the failed initiative of 1924. The Grange took a neutral position on the matter. However, many of their urban allies like labor and education groups opposed the measure, and feared it would strangle schools and government without a replacement for the lost revenue.[32]
The result of the 1932 election was an historic Democratic landslide. Nationally, a new Democratic President, Franklin Roosevelt, and a Democratic Congress were elected. Democrats for the first time in history wrested control of Washington’s State government from the Republicans by electing a Democratic Governor, Clarence Martin, and by electing Democratic majorities in both houses of the legislature. The income tax initiative, I-69, passed by 70% of the vote, and I-64, the 40 mill limit, also passed.[33]
The overwhelming support by voters for the income tax initiative did not ensure its implementation. While the State Tax Commission began working out an administrative plan for the new law and began mailing out tax forms, opponents to the income tax filed lawsuits against the new law.[34] Just as in the Aberdeen case of 1929, the new income tax law was found unconstitutional in a 5 to 4 decision by the State Supreme Court in the summer of 1933. The court ultimately agreed with the original argument by lead counsel for the plaintiffs, Harold Preston, in Culliton v. Chase: “a flat tax would be permissible in Washington, a graduated net income tax would violate the constitution’s new uniformity provision because ‘income’ was ‘property’ and property was to be taxed uniformly.”[35] The income tax itself was not illegal, went the somewhat tortured legal argument; it was only a progressive income tax that was the problem, and thus “income” became equivalent to “property,” and the poorest farmer’s land was seen as equally taxable as a wealthy person’s bank account.
The Washington State Grange was outraged at the decision. The Grange News editorialized that “The courts are ruling America. The fact is that a government of the people, by the people, for the people has perished from this state if such decision as that invalidating Initiative No. 69 is allowed to stand.”[36]
Tax Alternatives
The loss of the income tax and passage of the 40 mills limit on property taxes made the state’s economic situation more, not less, dire. Jim Goodwin, secretary of the Davenport Commercial Club, wrote Governor Martin a handwritten letter saying, "Things are not improving any, are they: In this community, which is not a fault- finding community by any means, grumbling and objections are increasing. People simply don’t know how they are going to get by, and don’t know where to turn and grasp at anything they think might offer any relief."[37]
The need for government assistance further increased the pressure to find new revenue to help alleviate the suffering of so many. The state legislature, with new limits on their ability to collect property taxes due to the passage of the 40 mills limit initiative coupled with unconstitutionality of the income tax sought to find replacements to keep government budgets in the black and to address the increased need for economic assistance. The state had no choice but to turn to excise and sales taxes. In 1933, the state passed the business and occupation tax. At the end of 1933, the 21st Amendment repealing prohibition was ratified by the 36th state, opening the door for the regulation of liquor and the passage of excise taxes on alcohol.[38] In 1934, an excise tax of $1.00 per barrel of beer passed the legislature and was signed into law.[39]
Undeterred by court rulings, the Grange and supportive legislators passed a bill to amend the state constitution to allow for a graduated income tax after a vote by the people. The amendment received support by the Grange and was endorsed by the State Tax Commission. Despite their support, the Grange found reduced enthusiasm for the initiative among its own membership once the state had raised other taxes to cope with its fiscal emergency. The resulting support for the amendment on Election Day in 1934 was 134,908 in favor to 176,154 against, or only 43.4% of the vote.[40] The evaporation of support contrasted with the continued support and renewal of the 40 mills limit law. The property tax relief provided by the 40 mills law was reflected in its electoral success. The 40 mills law would continue to be renewed every two years throughout the decade until it was finally adopted as the 17th Amendment to the Washington State constitution in 1944.[41]
The steadfast support of the 40 mills limit and the continued defeat of the income tax forced legislators to find further replacements for diminishing property tax revenues. The legislature continued to experience drops in revenue due to the biannual renewal of the 40 mills law in 1934. From the period of 1931 to 1939, total property taxes declined by $40 million. Property taxes at the beginning of the 1930s made up 80% of total revenues and by the decade’s close dropped to just 42% of total state and local revenues totaling $40 million.[42] The legislature chose to overhaul the tax system by expanding excise and sales taxes, but did not give up hope on the income tax, and once again proposed legislation to institute a tax on net income.
The Grange supported the income tax bill and strongly opposed the sales tax. In an article in the Grange News the Grange declared, “The State Grange is a dyed-in-the-wool opponent of the sales tax.” The Grange argued that the sales tax, though “less painful because the payments come in small sums,” in the end was a “heavy burden” when “compared to the wealthy class.”[43]
The legislature moved ahead with their tax overhaul plans and passed the Revenue Act of 1935, creating the tax system that Washington State has had ever since. The act was signed by the Governor and passed judicial challenges that allowed for the creation of retail sales and use taxes, a business and occupation tax, a cigarette tax, admissions tax, fuel oil tax, and conveyance tax.[44] Legislators did not fare so well with the income tax bill, however. Lawmakers attempted to carefully word the income tax law to stave off any judicial challenges, but once again the Supreme Court struck down the law as unconstitutional, arguing that it violated the uniformity clause and the 14th Amendment.[45]
The 40 mill-limit law combined with the Revenue Act of 1935 made the adoption of other tax schemes unattractive to the voter. Charles Hodde in an interview said, “The tax system in place––the sales tax and the business occupation tax––wasn’t so obvious. Paying them was painless. People didn’t see what they had to pay a higher price for things because of those taxes.”[46] The Grange would try again in 1936 in an initiative to the people to pass the income tax and in 1938 without success.
Conclusion
The Washington State system of taxation in its early days was fair and equitable. Taxes were measured based on real property, as most of the wealth of the state was found in land. As the state grew and the demand for government services expanded so did property taxes. Property owners increasingly bore the lion’s share of taxes to support government services. Change in lifestyles and ways of accumulating wealth made the state tax system reliant on property taxes antiquated and unequal.
The onset of the Great Depression intensified the burden on the property owner. Taxes throughout the state went unpaid and state coffers were diminishing at a time of increased demand for state services. This climate created a crisis that forced the state to overhaul the tax system. The tax system was studied and a tax on net income was deemed to be the best solution to the revenue crisis. By 1932, income tax proponents passed the income tax by a large margin in a vote by the people but the measure was struck down as unconstitutional in conjunction with the passage of property tax limits.
The combination of property tax limits and continued judicial interference made the passage of an income tax in successive attempts futile. The inability to tax income forced the legislature to look for revenue replacements in excise and sales taxes. Once these replacements took hold, people no longer felt compelled to support the income tax as government finally received adequate revenue. In addition, under the 40 mill-limit law, property taxes were no longer burdensome and thus immediate need that had sparked the Grange’s income tax movement had been mitigated. The longstanding support of the income tax by the Washington State Grange would remain, but the legacy of the Great Depression on the state tax system would be the Revenue Act of 1935 and not the income tax.
Epilogue
The Washington State Grange would continue its attempts to pass an income tax with the support of the Democratic-controlled legislature by a vote of the people in 1936 and in 1938. The Grange and the Democrats continued to believe that a progressive income tax was the fairest means to collect revenue for the state. Unfortunately for proponents, attempts to pass a constitutional amendment allowing for an income tax were defeated in landside opposition to the measure in 1936 and 1938. The legislature made a final attempt to send the income tax measure to a vote of the people in 1941 but lost 2 to 1.[47] The support for the income tax experienced by the Grange in 1932 had evaporated, and further attempts pass it produced outcomes in reverse of their earlier their electoral successes.
The failure to pass the income tax forced the state to rely on the Revenue Act of 1935 as the main source of revenue for the state. Today sales and excise taxes remain the mainstay of revenue. State leaders since the Great Depression era have tried several times to implement a state income tax but have always failed. Perhaps not until economic conditions similar to those experienced during the Great Depression are again upon us will proponents of the income tax find sufficient support to finally pass it into law.
Copyright (c) 2010 Nathan Riding
HSTAA 498 Winter 2010
[1] Philip J. Roberts, A Penny for the Governor, a Dollar for Uncle Sam: Income Taxation in Washington (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002). Most of the page citations that follow are from Roberts' PhD dissertation, “Of Rain and Revenue: The Politics of Income Taxation in the State of Washington 1862-1940” (PHD Diss., University of Washington, 1990).
[2] Rachel A. LeMieux., “A Discussion and History of Taxes in Washington” (Washington Sate Department of Revenue, Centennial Committee, 1982), 19.
[3] Roberts, “Of Rain and Revenue," 13.
[4] Historical Census Browser, http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu/php/State.php (accessed Feb.19, 2010).
[5] Report of the Tax Advisory Council of the State of Washington, Proposal For Changes In The Washington State Tax Structure, Olympia, Dec. 1966, 100.
[6] Roberts, “Of Rain and Revenue," 146.
[7] Petition for Rehearing of the Tax Advisory Comm’n at 2-3, Aberdeen Savings & Loan Assoc. v. Chase, 157 Wash. 351, 289 P. 536 (1930) (No. 22228), reh’g |
for the annual Marine aquarium Conference of North america in Dallas/Fort Worth at the end of September, 2012. Sales of the book will help fund ongoing research and sustainability initiatives.
If you would like to back this project, head over to the Kickstarter Project page to make your financial pledge to help the project. There are a variety of funding options available for all levels of support. You can pledge as little as $1 or over $10,000. As you increase your funding contribution for the project, you are given additional perks:
At $10 you are entitled to have your name listed as an official supporter and a postcard from the team while they are in Indonesia.
$25 will get your name listed in the book along with custom notecards by Karen Talbot.
$50 contribution will get you a copy of the eBook when it is published and a signed copy of the article that publishes in CORAL about the project.
For a $75 pledge you will receive either a matted, limited edition print by expedition scientific illustrator Karen Talbot, or a matted, limited edition photographic print taken by Ret Talbot on the expedition
$100 will get you a copy of the book in softcover in addition to all previous pledge items
$250 pledge will receive a signed hardcover version of the book and both a matted, limited edition print by expedition scientific illustrator Karen Talbot AND a matted, limited edition photographic print taken on the expedition by Ret Talbot.
See the Kickstarter Project page for pledges of greater than $250.
Check back periodically on the Kickstarter page for regular updates on the project. In addition, a website has been set up further documenting the project; It can be found at http://www.banggai-rescue.com.
Advanced Aquarist encourages you to fund this project.
Websites:
Contact:
James Lawrence
802.985.9977 x7
james.lawrence@reef2rainforest.comAgribusiness is angry that its negative impacts will be highlighted at the Rio carnival in Brazil. Image: Joseph King via Fickr
A musical protest at the Rio carnival will stress the damaging impacts of factory farming on indigenous people and on global warming.
RIO DE JANEIRO, 16 February, 2017 – Concern about the environmental impact of industrialised farming through the use of pesticides and the destruction of the rainforest has even spread to Brazil’s famous Rio carnival.
One of the most famous samba schools, Imperatriz Leopoldinese, will take part later this month in the all-night parade in Rio de Janeiro, singing and dancing to highlight the plight of the Amazon’s indigenous Xingu population, whose reserve is now completely surrounded by cattle and soy fields.
The musical protest has aroused a furious response from the agribusiness lobby, which has accused the sambistas of denigrating their efforts to feed the population.
But the samba school’s concern is echoed in a report that spells out the negative consequences of industrial food production, both on the environment and on people’s health.
The report is published by GRAIN, an international not-for-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems.
Factory farming subsidies
It argues that factory farming is promoted by the industrial meat lobby, corporate subsidies and free trade agreements, and it recommends instead small-scale mixed farms.
The obvious solution is to cut meat consumption in rich countries. The US and Australia eat 90 kg per person per year, Europeans average 65 kg, and in China − where fast-food restaurants, meat imports and factory farming are rapidly expanding − it has reached 58 kg.
In stark contrast, meat consumption in India is 3kg per person and in Ethiopia it is 4kg.
This reduction in meat eating would not only help to fight climate change by reducing emissions, it would also greatly reduce some cancers and heart and lung disease and, some scientists say, cut infectious disease and reduce the emergence of antibiotic resistance.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that greenhouse gas emissions from industrial meat production are now higher than those of all transport systems combined.
“The food system is responsible for up to 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions,” the GRAIN report says. “Some of these emissions are due to the growth of packaged and frozen foods, the increased distance foods are shipped, and the rise in food waste.
“The US, Europe and other wealthy countries
have subsidised industrial meat and dairy
production for decades”
“But the most important source of food system-related GHG emissions is the escalation of meat and dairy consumption – made possible by the expansion of industrial livestock and chemical-intensive feeds.”
A fall in meat eating need not harm the world’s small farmers and pastoralists. There are an estimated 630 million small farmers practising low-emission mixed farming, plus 200 million herders who often graze their animals in areas where crops cannot be grown.
They live in the global south, where meat and dairy consumption in most countries – but not middle income countries such as Argentina and Brazil – is at sustainable levels.
And they contribute little to climate change, recycling animal waste and crop residues and using their livestock for many purposes, such as traction, energy, labour, hide and cash.
“Small-scale livestock production also enhances family nutrition, giving people access to both animal-based and plant-based foods,” the GRAIN report says. “In these systems, livestock is an essential part of people’s livelihoods, food security and health, as well as an integral part of cultural and religious traditions.”
Other advantages of cutting meat consumption would be to lower the production of methane − a major greenhouse gas (GHG) − from livestock, and reduce food waste, which generates about 4.4 gigatonnes of GHG emissions each year.
Although meat accounts for less than 4% of food waste by weight, it accounts for 20% of the global carbon footprint of food waste.
Agro-ecological production
The solution, GRAIN argues, is to stop supporting the production and consumption of cheap industrial meat and dairy and instead to support small-scale, local agro-ecological production.
In 2013, OECD countries distributed US$53 billion in subsidies to livestock producers, with the EU paying US$731 million to its cattle industry alone. In the same year, the US Department of Agriculture paid more than US$500 million to just 62 producers supplying meat and dairy products in school meals, but only a fraction of that to fruit and vegetable suppliers.
“The US, Europe and other wealthy countries have subsidised industrial meat and dairy production for decades,” GRAIN says. “These countries’ policies have generated astronomical profits for corporations, and have eroded the health of their citizens while worsening the climate.”
International trade deals such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) favour international corporations, and would even make local preferences illegal and subject to harsh penalties.
Yet going local, GRAIN insists, is at the very heart of commonsense strategies to reverse climate change by addressing the ways in which we produce, distribute and access food. – Climate News NetworkThe Thunder taking on water, April 6, 2015. Photo by Simon Ager/Sea Shepherd Global
A remarkable adventure came to a dramatic end Monday: The captain of a rogue fishing vessel that had been tailed by activists for more than three months apparently sank his ship off West Africa rather than face arrest with a load of illegally caught fish.
The pirate fishing ship’s crew was rescued by its pursuers, two ships belonging to the Sea Shepherd fleet, the Sam Simon and the Bob Barker, named after the late co-founder of The Simpsons and the former host of The Price Is Right.
Siddharth Chakravarty, the captain of the Sam Simon, said in a telephone interview Monday that the captain of the rogue ship Thunder, a Chilean, had told him that it sank because it had suffered a collision, an unlikely story. “We had crew on their boat and they noticed that all the doors had been tied open, which is the opposite of what you do if you’re taking on water after a collision,” he said. “Then the officers had neatly packed bags, so I have no doubt this was a planned, very intentional scuttling designed to remove evidence,” Chakravarty said.
Peter Hammarstedt, the captain of the Bob Barker, wrote in an email: “Our small boat crew reported that that the crew of the Thunder, including the officers, were cheering and chanting from the life rafts as it sank—hardly the actions of people who were shocked by the sinking of their vessel.”
The crew was placed on the back deck of the Sam Simon, which is piled with illegal nets that the Sam Simon’s crew had pulled out three months ago in the area where the Thunder was found laying illegal nets. The ships first encountered one another off Australian waters, where fishing is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
The illegally caught white-fleshed fish is familiar to patrons of high-end restaurants: It’s marketed as the Chilean sea bass and is often the most expensive fish on the menu. But for marine biologists, it’s called toothfish, a bottom-dwelling species so named because it has two sharklike rows of teeth, one in front of the other. In the dark waters around Antarctica, it’s by far the biggest fish and sits at the top of the fish food chain, fearing only seals and killer whales. Its heart beats every six seconds. (The Antarctic variety, which lives closer to shore and often under ice, has an anti-freeze protein that allows it to thrive in waters colder than 32 degrees Fahrenheit.)
When they boarded the Thunder to help rescue its sailors, the Sea Shepherd crew saw Patagonian toothfish in the hold, though how much is not clear. The Thunder, which has changed names more than a dozen times over its decadelong career as a toothfish poacher, was registered in Lagos, Nigeria—except that last week, the Nigerian authorities delisted it, which made it a stateless, officially pirate vessel for the last few days of its life.
The Law of the Sea Convention recently ruled that flag states would from now on be held responsible for the illegal fishing carried out by their ships. The sinking came days after that decision. Duncan Currie, an international lawyer who filed a brief on the case, said “I think so” when asked by email whether the decision to hold countries responsible for poaching carried out under their flags would be a game-changer. Until now, flag states have not been held responsible for the damages, financial or environmental, wrought by boats fishing illegally.
The Thunder broke the law, according to Chakravarty, by using bottom-set gillnets, banned in the region since 2003 because of their deadly efficacy not only against toothfish but also against other species of no commercial value, known as by-catch.
“Of the five gill-net sets that my vessel recovered, we released back to the ocean about 50,000 kilos of toothfish,” he said in a telephone interview. “That’s about 20 toothfish per kilometer of net, which is a massive amount of fish. … In addition, there’s a horrific amount of by-catch, more than three times as much” compared to fishing with legal long-lines, which use baited hooks.
When the toothfish craze started in the 1990s, it was a free-for-all, and the population of these slow-growing fish, which can reach six feet in length, quickly plummeted. Eventually, the poaching was reduced to that carried out by what the Amsterdam-based Sea Shepherd calls the “Bandit Six,” vessels whose ownership has been traced to Spanish companies. The Thunder was one of these six.
Several times, these ships were found and even briefly impounded in ports around the world, but until now they were able to sell their valuable catch, pay small fines, and return to fishing.
This year, the Sea Shepherd, better known for obstructing whale-fishing vessels, launched Operation Icefish (as the toothfish is also known) in an attempt to prove that the “Bandit 6” could be found and arrested by the Australian and New Zealand authorities if only they tried, according to Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd’s founder and chief, who has complained that neither country has prosecuted the toothfish poachers with much vigor.
The Sea Shepherd’s approach worked. The Sam Simon found two vessels, the Kunlun, now under arrest in Phuket, Thailand, and the Yongding, which has vanished. (Meanwhile, a third member of the six, the Viking, is being held in Malaysia following an Interpol request.) The Bob Barker found the Thunder and tailed it for 110 days. The pursuers hoped the Thunder would run out of fuel and food and would head into port, where the crew would be arrested. “We never expected they would sink their ship,” said Chakravarty.
As night fell over the tropical eastern Atlantic, the Sam Simon was steaming toward the port of Sao Tome off the coast of Gabon, where the crew—comprising 30 Indonesian members and 10 officers from Spain, Portugal, and Chile—were to be turned over to the authorities.Martin Smith (Specialist, House of Commons Science and Technology Committee) invites you to check the evidence behind three new policy areas announced today.
In true scientific fashion, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has recently been experimenting with a new approach to its work. Today it has published a set of Government statements on driverless cars, GM and gene editing, and smart cities. In each case, Ministers were asked to set out their policy—and the evidence behind it—so that it can be publicly scrutinised through a process known as ‘Evidence Check‘.
It’s a slightly different way of working for a select committee. Normally the Government’s written submission to an inquiry arrives at the same time as others are sending their own, and there’s less of an opportunity for contributors to get together to build on each other’s comments and criticisms. Evidence Check turns this around—the Government’s statement on its evidence base is published upfront for all to see, and the forum supports an iterative discussion of its strengths and weaknesses.
Evidence is always at the heart of a parliamentary select committee’s work, but this approach puts the focus squarely on what research the Government has used to inform its thinking. The Committee can then use the forum comments to help decide which issues to focus on when scrutinising the Government. Last week, the Committee launched an inquiry into smart meters following earlier discussion on an evidence check forum, and we hope that the community will be keen to help identify issues in the three new areas launched today.
Evidence Check also starts to lift the lid on the Government’s general approach to using evidence in its policymaking. Is inconvenient evidence ignored? Does the Government understand the problems it is trying to solve through its policymaking? What does the Government think ‘counts’ as evidence? Publishing these statements starts to shed some light onto these questions, and more. The Committee’s work draws on the ‘Show Your Workings’ report by the Institute for Government with the Alliance for Useful Evidence and Sense About Science, which provides a framework for assessing the transparency of the evidence provided. Combining that with comments from experts will ensure that the Government is held to account.
So now is your chance to query the evidence that’s steering driverless cars, to check whether the Government is editing the evidence on GM, and discuss whether there’ll be an intelligent approach to smart cities. The forums are open now, and I hope as many people as possible will engage with the process to help make our experiment a success. There’s no petri dishes involved, but we’re hoping something exciting will grow.
Views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of the Alliance for Useful Evidence. Join us (it’s free and open to all) and find out more about the how we champion the use of evidence in social policy and practice.It’s been three decades since Bobcat Goldthwait rose to the top of the stand-up comedy scene, thanks in part to the trademark vocal squeaks, garbled pronunciations, and decidedly dark humor that distinguished him from his peers, and eventually helped him land roles in movies like One Crazy Summer and the Police Academy series.
Over the years, however, the 53-year-old performer has moved behind the camera, directing Robin Williams in the warmly received 2009 indie World’s Greatest Dad, among other titles. But the late comedian — who died last year at the age of 63 — wasn’t simply a colleague. “Robin Williams was my best friend,” Goldthwait told Yahoo Movies in a phone interview on Tuesday.
As it turns out, Williams also served as an inspiration for Goldthwait’s latest film, the documentary Call Me Lucky (you can watch the exclusive trailer above). The film follows influential comedian and activist Barry Crimmins, and it wouldn’t have been made without Williams’s help. Goldthwait always planned to tell Crimmins’s story as a biopic, but struggled with that approach. “Robin was a fan of Barry’s, and he knew what I was trying to do,” recalled Goldthwait. “He suggested to make it a doc.” Williams then gave Goldthwait enough money in the spring of 2014 to start filming.
The resulting doc, which opens in select cities Aug. 7 before expanding nationwide, has been a hit on the festival circuit, despite its heavy subject matter. Crimmins, whom Goldthwait first met in the 1980s, made his mark as a larger-than-life comic — a firebrand who was highly critical of the Reagan administration, and who also happened to be a heavy drinker prone to fits of anger. Goldthwait met Crimmins on the Boston comedy circuit, and was immediately fascinated with him. Crimmins soon became Goldthwait’s mentor — and, at times, an unlikely protector. “[At one point], Barry had his fist in a cast because he had punched a wall,” Goldthwait said of their time together. “I had just stopped drinking, and one of the other comedians was trying to pour liquor down my mouth… [Crimmins] ended up breaking [the] guy’s jaw, possibly.” He added with a laugh: “Well, actually he did [break it] — I’m trying to change the story a little bit for legal reasons.”
Goldthwait was first inspired to make a movie about Crimmins 20 years ago, after he watched the comic testify against AOL on the U.S. Senate floor, where he spoke out against un-policed, rampant child-porn chat rooms (Crimmins himself had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child). Crimmins’s testimony is a pivotal moment in the film, which follows him as he resided over Boston’s burgeoning comedy scene in the ‘80s, where he mentored not only Goldthwait, but also such young acts as Paula Poundstone, Steven Wright, and Denis Leary.
Call Me Lucky includes footage of the comic in the earlier years, as well as several interviews with Crimmins himself. In this sense, Call Me Lucky an authorized biography, “but he gave me all the freedom I wanted,“ Goldthwait said. ”[Crimmins] never saw the movie until he sat there at Sundance with me — which is pretty crazy, because the movie ended up premiering at the same theater at Sundance as World’s Greatest Dad did. It was the same kind of thing, because I didn’t show Robin any of that movie, either. Fortunately, they both liked it. [But] it could have been terrible.”
Ultimately, Goldthwait said, “this movie is bigger than me. It’s about Barry’s courage, and it’s also addressing a problem that’s much larger than I had any idea when I made the movie.” Abuse survivors have approached the director after each of his many festival screenings. “It’s very powerful,” said Goldthwait, noting with a laugh: “And it’s really f—ing up me being a misanthrope, because now I’m being forced to hug people.”Dustin Martin remains no closer to re-signing with the Tigers
RICHMOND insists conversations with Dustin Martin's manager, Ralph Carr, are still taking place regularly, but concedes an in-season contract extension for the star midfielder looks increasingly unlikely.
Martin's price tag continues to rise and there's no sign of a new deal on the horizon.
"It's very unlikely that it would be signed before the end of the season as that's the decision we made six weeks ago," Carr told AFL.com.au on Wednesday.
Martin's salary expectations are on the up after the Tigers' surprise 5-1 start to the season.
He's continuing to show potential suitors just how durable he is, brushing off calls to wear a helmet after suffering a fractured cheekbone in round two.
Then in recent weeks the midfielder has powered through groin soreness.
Contract speculation hasn't hampered his form, with Martin averaging 28.5 disposals, 4.2 tackles and a career-high 6.8 clearances a game.
Richmond continues to do everything it can to show its love for the 25-year-old.
With his father Shane barred from returning to Australia, the club has allowed Martin to take leave to visit him in New Zealand.
Martin becomes a restricted free agent in October.Northern Ethiopia is rugged and poor. It is a place where people mostly get by as subsistence farmers. The government and international organizations like the World Bank have tried and failed for years to improve the well-being of locals. But then, one village went and did it all on its own.
The community is called Awra Amba. About 500 people live here in simple wattle and daub houses, and they keep busy in a variety of money-making activities.
The village has a mill, where grain is crushed into flour. There is a textile factory, where villagers make clothes for themselves and to sell. You will also find a café, a tourist hostel, and two stores that cater to people from outside the village.
With all of these businesses, Awra Amba has managed to pull itself out of poverty. Compared with the rest of the region, the average income here is more than twice as high. Literacy rates are higher than in neighboring villages. Mortality rates are lower.
“Everyone here dreams of becoming more prosperous — that's a big reason why our economy has grown faster than others,” says Zumra Nuru, who founded the village 40 years ago as a kind of utopian community. He says at the time, he was dissatisfied by the injustice he perceived in traditional Ethiopian culture and wanted to organize a society along more egalitarian lines. He also saw the community as a way to increase wealth.
“We use all our time for work and to improve our village,” he says.
One reason the people of Awra Amba are able to work so hard is that they do not follow organized religion.
In neighboring Christian and Muslim villages, residents respect the Sabbath and holidays. “They have quite frequent religious days, so on those days, they don't go to [do] farming work,” says sociologist Ashenafi Alemu of Ethiopia's University of Gondar. “But for Awra Amba, this is not the case. They work every day.”
The lack of religion is not the only competitive advantage for Awra Amba. The village invests a lot of energy in educating its children and diversifying its economy. It also embraces gender equality. You will see women here doing what is traditionally considered “men's work,” like plowing, which effectively doubles the workforce.
But by ignoring the region's customs, Awra Amba has found itself under attack. Neighboring communities view the residents as heretics.
“They threw a grenade right into the center of the village once, but luckily, no one was hurt,” says village founder Zumra Nuru. “They've tried shooting members of our village. They've sabotaged our harvest on occasion.”
In recent years, the grenades and assassination attempts have more or less stopped, but anger and frustration remain.
“The Awra Amba community doesn't have any spiritual beliefs — not a mosque or a church,” says Abraw Argew, a farmer from a neighboring Christian village. “This makes them selfish. I hate the people of Awra Amba.”
The village may be unpopular among its neighbors, but it is becoming a darling of development experts. They say Awra Amba has a lot to teach poor communities about how to reduce poverty. The problem is that few will listen to those lessons, as long as the hostility continues.
In an effort to soothe relations between the village and its neighbors, meetings are being held monthly between residents of Awra Amba and residents of the surrounding villages. They talk about their differences.
"If you embrace religion, this place would be very colorful," said a man from a nearby Christian village at a recent meeting.
A woman from Awra Amba responded, insisting that her community is spiritual and moral, even if it is not part of an organized religion.
“What is religion?” she asked rhetorically. “I don't get it. You see the work we do. We care for each other and help each other. Awra Amba helps to build our country. Our neighbors are unreasonable to hate us.”
And that hatred is diminishing. People from neighboring villages have begun sending their children to the schools that Awra Amba built. They come to get their corn milled. They buy clothes from the factory and goods from the shops.
Through this day-to-day trade, a quiet revolution is happening. Slowly, the hatred is dispersing and is being replaced by a kind of curiosity. “How did this village climb out of poverty?” the people of neighboring communities are starting to ask.
Development experts hope those people will soon ask a related, more promising question: "How can we climb out of poverty, too?"
Credit: Some audio for this story is courtesy of the Awra Amba Experience/Write This Down Productions.COLUMN ONE Ready for post-bimbo era in Italy
Critics blame Berlusconi for bombarding Italy with degrading images of women. Since his fall from power, many women are hoping that the damage can be undone.
Critics blame him for a steady coarsening of Italian society, especially its attitude toward women. Here was a leader who awarded government jobs to pretty starlets (some of them suspected of being his lovers), threw parties that allegedly featured strippers and hookers, and, through his vast media empire, bombarded Italy with images of women as playthings whose most important attributes for getting ahead were physical.
Like all Italian women her age, Giupponi grew up in the era of Silvio Berlusconi, the flamboyant media-tycoon-turned-premier who dominated this country's political scene for two decades. As Italy's longest-serving postwar prime minister, he became more famous for his personal scandals, including allegations that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl, than for his policies.
"If I think about women I could see when I was 15 or 16 on television, I can think only of showgirls," says Giupponi, who's 23 and about to earn a master's degree in economics. "You can see it everywhere. It's too much sometimes."
Reporting from Milan, Italy — As a studious girl in a small Italian town, Giulia Giupponi drew no inspiration from the women on the glowing box in her living room. The ones who giggled and jiggled while wearing next to nothing. Who simpered and cooed over male TV hosts more than twice their age. Who strutted, bent over, kneeled, pouted, blew kisses.
Berlusconi, 75, fell from power in November, a victim of Europe's debt crisis. Now many Italian women feel stirrings of hope that some of the damage to their standing in society might at last be undone, a process they say will take years, not the least because much of the media remains under Berlusconi's influence.
"It will be painful. It will not be easy," warns Lorella Zanardo, an outspoken critic of the way women are portrayed on television here.
Even his detractors acknowledge that sexism in Italy didn't originate with Berlusconi; this society was steeped in machismo long before his rise to power. But many women — and men as well — accuse him of exacerbating the situation through his many sex imbroglios and his grip on broadcast media, which seemed to promote his personal penchant for curvaceous veline, or showgirls.
That he went on to bestow political jobs to veline with few qualifications, jobs with big salaries and perks like chauffeured cars, sent the wrong message to an entire generation of Italians, they say.
"You'd go to schools, and some girls would say, 'Yes, when I grow up, I will be either a velina or a [government] minister,'" says Zanardo, a former marketing consultant who now spends her time in classrooms encouraging students, both girls and boys, to look at the media with critical eyes.
Berlusconi has been replaced by Mario Monti, a brainy, bespectacled technocrat whose serious demeanor already has many Italians cheering because of the respect accorded him by other world leaders, including President Obama.
Women especially took heart when, in one of his first speeches as prime minister, Monti emphasized the importance of increasing their participation in the labor force. Italy has the lowest rate of female workers in the European Union, except for Malta.
To back up his words, Monti chose highly respected women for three of his most senior Cabinet posts: ministers of the interior, justice and labor. So women are now leading the fight to tame the Mafia, overhaul Italy's sluggish court system and wrest open its job market.
The symbolism of the appointments didn't go unnoticed.
"There's a new sensitivity," Giupponi says. "We have very sober role models. I think this is very striking."
But expanding the shift for women at the top into changes on the ground is an enormous task.
It takes only a short stroll down an Italian street, or 15 minutes in front of a TV, to see how pervasive the idea of women as sex objects is here.
Kittenish models pose seductively on billboards to hype not just perfume and lingerie but also groceries. Serious newsmagazines find flimsy excuses to put scantily clad babes on their covers to increase street sales. The same yogurt maker that depicts happy families in its television commercials in France shows a slinky sexpot eating its product provocatively in Italian ads.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption EXPLAINED: What is a DDoS attack?
One of the biggest ever web attacks - in which more than one terabit of data was fired at a website to knock it offline - has been reported.
Web hosting company OVH said it had been attacked by a botnet (zombie army) of hacked devices such as webcams.
The previous largest attack was thought to be one on security expert Brian Krebs' website which hit 620Gbps (gigabits per second).
That was also thought to be mounted via a botnet of compromised smart devices.
Image copyright Twitter Image caption OVH founder Octave Klaba posted regular tweets about the size of the attack
It is not known whether the attacks were mounted by the same botnet.
Both were so-called distributed denial of service attacks - in which websites are hit by massive amounts of data.
They have thrown the spotlight once again on the security of IoT (internet of things) devices.
Breaking the net
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Technology explained: What is the internet of things?
According to a recent report on IoT malware from security firm Symantec, cybercriminals are increasingly looking for vulnerable smart devices - such as TVs, home security systems and webcams.
"Cybercriminals are interested in cheap bandwidth to enable bigger attacks. They obtain this by hijacking our devices and stitching together a large web of consumer devices that are easy to infect because they lack sophisticated security," said Nick Shaw from Symantec's Norton division.
OVH founder Octave Klaba has been tweeting about the ongoing attack, updating followers on the number of devices that are joining the botnet, which at one point including more than 145,000 devices : "+15,654 new CCTV participated in the DDoS last 48H," his last tweet reads.
Mr Krebs' website was offline for nearly a week and, according to Akamai - the security firm that supported the site - the attack was nearly double the size of any previous one it had seen and was "among the biggest assaults the internet has ever witnessed".
Dave Larson, chief technology officer at security firm Corero, said that IoT botnets were disrupting the industry.
"The tools and devices used to execute the attacks are readily available to just about anyone; combining this with almost complete anonymity creates a recipe to break the internet."It's happened twice now. Twice in three games.
Ryan Mathews hasn't just fumbled, he's fumbled in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter twice in three games the Eagles were trying to put away.
The first one, with 2:41 left in Detroit, almost certainly cost the Eagles a win. The second one, with 4:46 left against the Vikings on Sunday, didn't cost them a win but it did cost a touchdown.
Mathews is the only running back in the NFL to lose two fumbles in the last five minutes of a game this year.
In fact, the only other running back to fumble in the final five minutes of a game even once this year, according to the Pro-Football Reference play finder, is Jonathan Williams of the Bills, who fumbled with 4:37 left in the Bills' 45-16 win over the 49ers earlier this month.
So Mathews has fumbled in the final five minutes of games more than every other running back in the NFL combined.
He's also the first Eagles running back in at least 25 years to lose two fumbles in a season in late-game situations.
And he's the first NFL running back to fumble twice in the final five minutes of two different games in the same season since Ahmad Bradshaw of the Giants in 2010.
This is an issue.
"Well, it's definitely a concern, something we don't want to see, especially in four-minute situations at the end of the game," head coach Doug Pederson said Monday, after the Eagles improved to 4-2 with a 21-10 win over the Vikings at the Linc.
"We've got to continue to either find out if he's tired, where he's at at the end of the game, if we need to put Wendell (Smallwood) in there, put Darren (Sproles) in there, we'll find out about that."
But it's hard to imagine being tired is the cause of the fumbles.
The fumble in Detroit came on Mathews' ninth carry, and the fumble Sunday against the Vikings came on his 14th carry.
Mathews did run the ball effectively in Detroit and Washington, combining for 116 yards on 23 carries for 5.0 yards a pop. This is the first time he's been over 4.0 yards per carry in consecutive games since the seventh and eighth games of last year.
But Pederson is concerned enough about Mathews' fumbling to consider changing the late-game running back rotation.
"At no means am I down on Ryan at all," Pederson said. "We just have to make sure that he understands that he can't obviously do that and put ourselves in the situation where we're giving the ball back to our opponent."
Both fumbles came in situations where the Eagles were simply trying to run out the clock. Both led to scores.
In fact, the Eagles' defense has allowed only five second-half scores this year — four field goals, one touchdown — and two of the five were set up by Mathews fumbles.
Those fumbles led to more than half of the second-half points the Eagles' defense has allowed this year (10 of 19).
"It's an instinctive thing for a runner obviously to get as many yards as you can," Pederson said. "In that situation (Sunday), he was also fighting to get down, it was four minutes, trying to protect the sideline, stay in bounds, all that, and the secondary defender came in and punched the ball out.
"You just have to be cognizant of all that. That's what defenses are instructed to do, and we have to hang onto the ball to be able to finish the game."This phrase has got to be the most frequently asked question by new brewers, and usually the answer is "No." Depending on the cause, it might end up with an odd flavor or aroma, but you will still be able to drink it and chalk it up as another lesson on the way to brewing that perfect beer. Although a lot can potentially go wrong with a batch, most problems arise from just a couple of root causes. If the recipe was good and you used quality ingredients, there are three main culprits: poor sanitation, bad yeast or the wrong temperature. Most problems become noticeable once the beer is in the fermentor and nothing (or something weird) is happening. Let's examine some common symptoms and their possible causes.Bug Description
Since xenial updated the requirements for the strength of PGP signatures of packages, packages from some repositories are no longer updated. Apt-get update reports these errors:
E: Failed to fetch http://[...]/Release No Hash entry in Release file /var/lib/ apt/lists/ partial/ [...] which is considered strong enough for security purposes
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
While the motivation for the change is valid, the result is a potential security problem, as the new versions of the packages that may fix recently discovered vulnerabilities are not automatically installed.
One less important but unfortunate effect is a scary message that is displayed to the user, without clear explanation that the problem needs to be addressed by the repository owner.
Related: Bug #1558331POST FALLS, Idaho - Post Falls Police say shooting suspect Shade Miller was the one who called 9-1-1 Sunday afternoon saying he had shot his girlfriend in the face.
When officers arrived he was standing in the street and that's where they arrested Miller.
On Monday he made his first court appearance, where he was charged with aggravated battery and his bail was set at $100,000. He was also ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Police say Sunday just after 4 pm Miller shot his girlfriend in the face at a home on 15th Avenue in Post Falls. Inside the home they found a woman with a gunshot wound to the face and she was taken to Kootenai Health with serious injuries.
Neighbors say they frequently heard the couple yelling at each other, but police say they aren't sure quite yet if this was a case of domestic violence.
"We don't know that yet, this case is still under investigation. This is like a puzzle you have to put all the pieces together before you can determine what exactly happened," Post Falls Police Chief Scott Haug said.(CBS/AP) CAMARILLO, Calif. - A civilian training jet on contract to the military crashed in southern California on Friday, killing the |
people didn’t want to have meetings with them,” said one FBI terrorism task force supervisor who worked often with the two. “They refused to accept no for an answer. And they were often given no for an answer. Even though they were usually right.”
“We should also not forget about the 100’s of used car companies in the states — some of them owned by Islamic Extremists — which are part of this network" — Jack Kelly
An early flash point was Operation Titan, the DEA initiative in Colombia. After its undercover agent was compromised, DEA and Colombian authorities scrambled to build cases against as many as 130 traffickers, including a Colombian cartel leader and a suspected Safieddine associate named Chekry Harb, nicknamed El Taliban.
For months afterward, the Justice Department rebuffed requests by task force agents, and some of its own prosecutors, to add narcoterrorism charges to the drug and money-laundering counts against Harb, several sources involved in the case said. Agents argued that they had evidence that would easily support the more serious charges. Moreover, Harb’s prosecution was an essential building block in their larger plan for a sustained legal assault against Hezbollah’s criminal network.
Its centerpiece would be a prosecution under the Racketeer Act, a powerful tool used by the Justice Department against sophisticated international conspiracies, including the Mafia, drug cartels and white-collar corporate crimes. A RICO case would give the task force the ability to tie many seemingly unconnected conspiracies together, and prosecute the alleged bosses overseeing them, like Safieddine, participants say.
It would also allow authorities to seize potentially billions in assets, they say, and to use the threat of far longer prison terms to wring more cooperation out of Harb and others already charged or convicted.
After the Justice Department’s final refusal to bring narcoterrorism charges against Harb, Kelly sent an angry email to the DEA leadership warning that Justice’s “obstruction” would have “far reaching implications including threats to our National Security” given Hezbollah’s mushrooming criminal activity.
Of particular concern: A 25–year-old Lebanese man that Kelly described as the network’s “command and control element,” according to the email.
The young man was not only in contact “with Joumaa and some of the other top drug traffickers in the world” but also “leaders of a foreign [country’s] black ops special forces; executive leadership of Hezbollah; and a representative of a company which is most likely facilitating the development of WMDs.”
“We should also not forget,” he added, “about the 100’s of used car companies in the states — some of them owned by Islamic Extremists — which are part of this network.” In interviews, former task force officials identified the young man as Safieddine’s son, and said he acted as his father’s liaison in Beirut.
All of that information was shared with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies — and the White House — via the DEA’s Chantilly nerve center. But by early 2009, Obama’s national security team batted down Project Cassandra’s increasingly urgent warnings as being overly alarmist, counterproductive or untrue, or simply ignored them, according to Kelly, Asher, Maltz and other participants in and out of government.
By following the money, though, Asher had become convinced that the task force wasn’t overhyping the threat posed by Hezbollah’s criminal activities, it was significantly underestimating it. Because Hezbollah’s drug trafficking was bankrolling its Islamic Jihad military wing and joint ventures with Iran, as Asher would later testify before Congress, it represented “the largest material support scheme for terrorism operations” the world had ever seen.
As proof, Asher would often bring PowerPoints to interagency drug and crime meetings, showing how cash reserves of U.S currency in Lebanon had doubled, to $16 billion, in just a few years, and how shiny new skyscrapers were popping up around Beirut, just like Miami, Panama City, Panama, and other cities awash in drug money.
Privately, Asher began to tell task force colleagues, the best way to take down the entire criminal enterprise — especially such a politically sensitive one as Hezbollah — was to go after its money, and the financial institutions assisting it. Their first target would be one of the world’s fastest-growing banks, the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank and its $5 billion in assets.
Blocked efforts, missed opportunities
Asher knew how to successfully implode the financial underpinnings of an illicit, state-sponsored trafficking network because he’d already done it, just a few years earlier, as the Bush administration’s point man on North Korea. In that case, he used the post-9/11 PATRIOT Act to cut off Pyongyang by going after Banco Delta Asia, a Macau-based bank that made illicit financial transactions on behalf of the North Korean regime.
In Beirut, Asher and his team worked with an Israeli intelligence operation to penetrate the Lebanese bank’s inner workings and diagram its Byzantine money flows. They gathered evidence showing how Joumaa’s network alone was laundering $200 million per month in “bulk proceeds of drug sales” through the bank and various money exchange houses, according to Justice and Treasury department documents.
Much of the freshly laundered cash, the records show, was then wired to about 300 U.S. used-car dealers to buy and ship thousands of vehicles to West Africa.
“Right now, we have 50 FBI agents not doing anything because they know their Iran cases aren’t going anywhere” — Jack Kelly on what a Justice Department official told him about the chilling effect of Obama's rapprochement with Iran
Task force agents also documented how Safieddine was a financial liaison providing Hezbollah — and, of potentially huge significance, Iran — with VIP services at the bank, including precious access to the international financial system in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to those records.
By then, the task force was working closely with federal prosecutors in a new Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit out of the Justice Department’s Southern District of New York. The Manhattan prosecutors agreed to file criminal charges against the bank and two senior officials that they hoped to turn into cooperating witnesses against Hezbollah and Safieddine, several participants said.
Federal authorities filed a civil action against the bank in February 2011 and later seized $102 million, ultimately forcing it to shut down and sell its assets without admitting wrongdoing. But the Justice Department never filed the criminal charges, and also stymied investigations into other financial institutions and individuals that task force agents targeted as part of the planned case, they say.
The Obama White House said privately that it feared a broader assault on Lebanese financial institutions would destabilize the country. But without the threat of prison time, complicit bank officials clammed up. And without pressure on the many other financial institutions in Lebanon and the region, Hezbollah simply moved its banking business elsewhere.
Soon afterward, Kelly said, he ran into one of the unit’s top prosecutors and asked if there was “something going on with the White House that explains why we can’t get a criminal filing.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” the prosecutor replied, according to Kelly. “Right now, we have 50 FBI agents not doing anything because they know their Iran cases aren’t going anywhere,” including investigations around the U.S. into allegedly complicit used-car dealers.
Justice Department officials involved, including then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and other prosecutors, declined requests to discuss the bank case or others involving Hezbollah.
That October, Asher helped uncover a plot by two Iranian agents and a Texas-based Iranian-American to hire Mexican cartel gunmen to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s U.S. ambassador in a crowded Washington cafe. A month later, prosecutors indicted Joumaa, accusing him of working with Mexico’s Zetas cartel and Colombian and Venezuelan suppliers to smuggle 85 tons of cocaine into the U.S., and laundering $850 million in drug proceeds.
Task force agents hoped those cases would win them the political support needed to attack the Hezbollah criminal network and its patrons in Tehran. Instead, the opposite appeared to be happening.
DEA officials weren’t included in the Justice and FBI news conference on the assassination plot, and claim it was because the Obama White House wanted to downplay the drug-terror connection. And Joumaa’s indictment didn’t mention Hezbollah once, despite DEA evidence of his connections to the group dating back to 1997.
By the end of 2012, senior officials at the Justice Department’s National Security and Criminal divisions, and at the State Department and National Security Council, had shut down, derailed or delayed numerous other Hezbollah-related cases with little or no explanation, according to Asher, Kelly, Maltz and other current and former participating officials.
Agents discovered “an entire Quds force network” in the U.S., laundering money, moving drugs and illegally smuggling Bell helicopters, night-vision goggles and other items for Iran, Asher said.
“We crashed to indict” the elite Iranian unit, and while some operatives were eventually prosecuted, other critically important indictments “were rejected despite the fact that we had excellent evidence and testifying witnesses,” said Asher, who helped lead the investigation.
In Philadelphia, the FBI-led task force had spent two years bolstering its case claiming that Safieddine had overseen an effort to purchase 1,200 military-grade assault rifles bound for Lebanon, with the help of Kelly and the special narcoterrorism prosecutors in New York.
Now, they had two key eyewitnesses. One would identify Safieddine as the Hezbollah official sitting behind a smoked-glass barricade who approved the assault weapons deal. And an agent and prosecutor had flown to a remote Asian hotel and spent four days persuading another eyewitness to testify about Safieddine’s role in an even bigger weapons and drugs conspiracy, multiple former law enforcement officials confirmed to POLITICO.
Some Obama officials warned that further crackdowns against Hezbollah would destabilize Lebanon.
Convinced they had a strong case, the New York prosecutors sent a formal prosecution request to senior Justice Department lawyers in Washington, as required in such high-profile cases. The Justice Department rejected it, and the FBI and DEA agents were never told why, those former officials said.
Justice Department officials declined to comment on the case.
Kelly had been searching for an appropriate DEA code name to give to collaborating agencies so they could access and contribute to task force investigative files. He found it while reading the Erik Larson book “In the Garden of Beasts,” in which the former U.S. ambassador to Germany named his U.S. speaking tour about the growing Nazi menace after the famous mythological figure whose warnings about the future were unheeded.
Now the project had its name: Cassandra.
Standing down on Hezbollah
After Obama won reelection in November 2012, the administration’s pushback on Hezbollah drug cases became more overt, and now seemed to be emanating directly from the White House, according to task force members, some former U.S. officials and other observers.
One reason, they said, was Obama’s choice of a new national security team. The appointment of John Kerry as secretary of state was widely viewed as a sign of a redoubled effort to engage with Iran. Obama’s appointment of Brennan — the public supporter of cultivating Hezbollah moderates — as CIA director, and the president’s choice of the Justice Department’s top national security lawyer, Lisa MonacoLisa Monaco, as Brennan’s replacement as White House counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, put two more strong proponents of diplomatic engagement with Iran in key positions.
Another factor was the victory of reformist candidate Hassan Rouhani as president of Iran that summer, which pushed the talks over a possible nuclear deal into high gear.
The administration’s eagerness for an Iran deal was broadcast through so many channels, task force members say, that political appointees and career officials at key agencies like Justice, State and the National Security Council felt unspoken pressure to view the task force’s efforts with skepticism. One former senior Justice Department official confirmed to POLITICO that some adverse decisions might have been influenced by an informal multi-agency Iran working group that “assessed the potential impact” of criminal investigations and prosecutions on the nuclear negotiations.
Monaco was a particularly influential roadblock at the intersection of law enforcement and politics, in part due to her sense of caution, her close relationship with Obama and her frequent contact with her former colleagues at the Justice Department’s National Security Division, according to several task force members and other current and former officials familiar with its efforts.
Some Obama officials warned that further crackdowns against Hezbollah would destabilize Lebanon. Others warned that such actions would alienate Iran at a critical early stage of the serious Iran deal talks. And some officials, including Monaco, said the administration was concerned about retaliatory terrorist or military actions by Hezbollah, task force members said.
“That was the established policy of the Obama administration internally,” one former senior Obama national security official said, in describing the reluctance to go after Hezbollah for fear of reprisal. He said he criticized it at the time as being misguided and hypocritical.
“We’re obviously doing those actions against al Qaeda and ISIS all the time,” the Obama official said. “I thought it was bad policy [to refrain from such actions on Hezbollah] that limited the range of options we had,” including criminal prosecutions.
Monaco declined repeated requests for comment, including detailed questions sent by email and text, though a former White House subordinate of hers rejected the task force members’ description of her motives and actions.
The couriers were lugging suitcases stuffed with as much as $2 million each, and the task force was on the tail of every one of them.
The White House was driven by a broader set of concerns than the fate of the nuclear talks, the former White House official said, including the fear of reprisals by Hezbollah against the United States and Israel, and the need to maintain peace and stability in the Middle East.
Brennan also told POLITICO he was not commenting on any aspect of his CIA tenure. His former associates, however, said that he remained committed to preventing Hezbollah from committing terrorist acts, and that his decisions were based on an overall concern for U.S. security.
For their part, task force agents said they tried to work around the obstacles presented by the Justice and State Departments and the White House. Often, they chose to build relatively simple drug and weapons cases against suspects rather than the ambitious narcoterrorism prosecutions that required the approval of senior Justice Department lawyers, interviews and records show.
At the same time, though, they redoubled efforts to build a case and gain Justice Department support for it.
Their ace in the hole, Kelly and Asher said they told Justice officials, wasn’t some dramatic drug bust, but thousands of individual financial transactions, each of which constituted an overt criminal act under RICO. Much of this evidence grew out of the Lebanese Canadian Bank investigation, including details of how an army of couriers for years had been transporting billions of dollars in dirty U.S. cash from West African car dealerships to friendly banks in Beirut.
The couriers would begin their journeys at a four-star hotel in Lome, Togo, lugging suitcases stuffed with as much as $2 million each, Kelly said. And the task force was on the tail of every one of them, he said, thanks to an enterprising DEA agent who had found a way to get all of their cellphone numbers. “They had no idea what we were doing,” Kelly said. “But that alone gave us all the slam-dunk evidence we needed” for a RICO case against everyone involved in the conspiracy, including Hezbollah.
Such on-the-ground spadework, combined with its worldwide network of court-approved communications intercepts, gave Project Cassandra agents virtual omniscience over some aspects of the Hezbollah criminal network.
And from their perch in Chantilly, they watched with growing alarm as Hezbollah accelerated its global expansion that the drug money helped finance.
Both Hezbollah and Iran continued to build up their military arsenals and move thousands of soldiers and weapons into Syria. Aided by the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, Iran, with the help of Hezbollah, consolidated its control and influence over wide swaths of the war-ravaged country.
Iran and Hezbollah began making similar moves into Yemen and other Sunni-controlled countries. And their networks in Africa trafficked not just in drugs, weapons and used cars but diamonds, commercial merchandise and even human slaves, according to interviews with former Project Cassandra members and Treasury Department documents. Hezbollah and the Quds force also were moving into China and other new markets.
But Project Cassandra’s agents were most alarmed, by far, by the havoc Hezbollah and Iran were wreaking in Latin America.
A threat in America's backyard
In the years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when Washington’s focus was elsewhere, Hezbollah and Iran cultivated alliances with governments along the “cocaine corridor” from the tip of South America to Mexico, to turn them against the United States.
The strategy worked in Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela, which evicted the DEA, shuttering strategic bases and partnerships that had been a bulwark in the U.S. counternarcotics campaign.
In Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez was personally working with then-Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Hezbollah on drug trafficking and other activities aimed at undermining U.S. influence in the region, according to interviews and documents.
"If we had gotten our hands on either of them, we could have taken down the entire network" — Kelly on the extradition of a top Venezuelan official and a drug kingpin
Within a few years, Venezuelan cocaine exports skyrocketed from 50 tons a year to 250, much of it bound for American cities, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime statistics show.
And beginning in 2007, DEA agents watched as a commercial jetliner from Venezuela’s state-run Conviasa airline flew from Caracas to Tehran via Damascus, Syria, every week with a cargo-hold full of drugs and cash. They nicknamed it “Aeroterror,” they said, because the return flight often carried weapons and was packed with Hezbollah and Iranian operatives whom the Venezuelan government would provide with fake identities and travel documents on their arrival.
From there, the operatives spread throughout the subcontinent and set up shop in the many recently opened Iranian consulates, businesses and mosques, former Project Cassandra agents said.
But when the Obama administration had opportunities to secure the extradition of two of the biggest players in that conspiracy, it failed to press hard enough to get them extradited to the United States, where they would face charges, task force officials told POLITICO.
One was Syrian-born Venezuelan businessman Walid Makled, alias the “king of kingpins,” who was arrested in Colombia in 2010 on charges of shipping 10 tons of cocaine a month to the United States. While in custody, Makled claimed to have 40 Venezuelan generals on his payroll and evidence implicating dozens of top Venezuelan officials in drug trafficking and other crimes. He pleaded to be sent to New York as a protected, cooperating witness, but Colombia — a staunch U.S. ally — extradited him to Venezuela instead.
The other, retired Venezuelan general and former chief of intelligence Hugo Carvajal, was arrested in Aruba on U.S. drug charges. Carvajal “was the main man between Venezuela and Iran, the Quds force, Hezbollah and the cocaine trafficking,” Kelly said. “If we had gotten our hands on either of them, we could have taken down the entire network.”
Instead, Venezuela was now the primary pipeline for U.S.-bound cocaine, thanks in part to the DEA’s success in neighboring Colombia. It had also become a strategically invaluable staging area for Hezbollah and Iran in the United States’ backyard, including camps they established to train Shiite militias.
And at the center of much of that activity was the Ghost, another suspected Safieddine associate so elusive that no photos of him were said to exist.
Project Cassandra agents came to regard the Ghost as perhaps the most important on-the-ground operator in the conspiracy because of his suspected role in moving drugs, money and munitions, including multi-ton loads of cocaine, into the United States, and WMD components to the Middle East, according to two former senior U.S. officials.
Now, he and Joumaa were living in Beirut, and Project Cassandra agents were so familiar with their routines that they knew at which cafe the two men gathered every morning to drink espresso and “discuss drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons,” one of the two former officials said.
The Ghost was also in business with another suspected Safieddine associate, Ali Fayad, who had long been instrumental in providing weapons to Shiite militias in Iraq, including through the deadly IED network that had killed so many U.S. troops, the former officials believed.
Now, they had information that Fayad, a joint Lebanese and Ukrainian citizen, and the Ghost were involved in moving conventional and chemical weapons into Syria for Hezbollah, Iran and Russia to help President Assad crush the insurgency against his regime. Adding to the mystery: Fayad served as a Ukrainian defense ministry adviser, worked for the state-owned arms exporter Ukrspecexport and appeared to have taken Bout’s place as Putin’s go-to arms merchant, the former officials said.
So when Fayad’s name surfaced in a DEA investigation in West Africa as a senior Hezbollah weapons trafficker, agents scrambled to create a sting operation, with undercover operatives posing as Colombian narcoterrorists plotting to shoot down American government helicopters.
Hezbollah's network moved "metric ton quantities of cocaine [to] launder drug proceeds on a global scale, and procure weapons and... explosives" — Excerpt of a Confidential DEA assessment
Fayad was happy to offer his expert advice, and after agreeing to provide them with 20 Russian-made shoulder-fired Igla surface-to-air missiles, 400 rocket-propelled grenades and various firearms and rocket launchers for $8.3 million, he was arrested by Czech authorities on a U.S. warrant in April 2014, U.S. court records show.
The Fayad sting — and his unprecedented value as a potential cooperating witness — was just one of many reasons Project Cassandra members had good cause, finally, for optimism.
* * *
PART III
A BATTLE AGAINST ENEMIES FAR AND NEAR
As negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal intensify, the administration pushes back against Project Cassandra.
More than a year into Obama’s second term, many national security officials still disagreed with Kelly and Asher about whether Hezbollah fully controlled a global criminal network, especially in drug trafficking and distribution, or merely profited from crimes by its supporters within the global Lebanese diaspora. But Project Cassandra’s years of relentless investigation had produced a wealth of evidence about Hezbollah’s global operations, a clear window into how its hierarchy worked and some significant sanctions by the Treasury Department.
A confidential DEA assessment from that period concluded that Hezbollah’s business affairs entity “has leveraged relationships with corrupt foreign government officials and transnational criminal actors … creating a network that can be utilized to move metric ton quantities of cocaine, launder drug proceeds on a global scale, and procure weapons and precursors for explosives.”
Hezbollah “has at its disposal one of the most capable networks of actors coalescing elements of transnational organized crime with terrorism in the world,” the assessment concluded.
Some top U.S. military officials shared those concerns, including the four-star generals heading U.S. Special Operations and Southern commands, who warned Congress that Hezbollah’s criminal operations and growing beachhead in Latin America posed an urgent threat to U.S. security, according to transcripts of the hearings.
“The intelligence community fundamentally doubted the intel” from the DEA, the subordinate recalled.
In early 2014, Kelly and other task force members briefed Attorney General Eric Holder, who was so alarmed by the findings that he insisted Obama and his entire national security team get the same briefing as they formulated the administration’s Iran strategy.
So task force leaders welcomed the opportunity to attend a May 2014 summit meeting of Obama national security officials at Special Operations Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Task force leaders hoped to convince the administration of the threat posed by Hezbollah’s networks, and of the need for other agencies to work with DEA in targeting the growing nexus of drugs, crime and terror.
The summit, and several weeks of interagency prep that preceded it, however, prompted even more pushback from some top national security officials. Monaco, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, expressed concerns about using RICO laws against top Hezbollah leaders and about the possibility of reprisals, according to several people familiar with the summit.
They said senior Obama administration officials appeared to be alarmed by how far Project Cassandra’s investigations had reached into the leadership of Hezbollah and Iran, and wary of the possible political repercussions.
As a result, task force members claim, Project Cassandra was increasingly viewed as a threat to the administration’s efforts to secure a nuclear deal, and the top-secret prisoner swap that was about to be negotiated.
Monaco’s former subordinate, speaking under on condition of anonymity, said the White House did not attempt to curb DEA-led efforts against Hezbollah because of the Iran deal. But the subordinate said the White House felt a need to balance the drug agency’s interests with those of other agencies who often disagreed with it.
“The intelligence community fundamentally doubted the intel” from the DEA, the subordinate recalled. “I spent so much time trying to get them to work together.”
Nonetheless, after the meeting in Tampa, the administration made it clear that it would not support a RICO case, even though Asher and others say they’d spent years gathering evidence for it, the task force members said.
In addition, the briefings for top White House and Justice Department officials that had been requested by Holder never materialized, task force agents said. (Holder did not respond to requests for comment.) Also, a top intelligence official blocked the inclusion of Project Cassandra’s memo on the Hezbollah drug threat from being included in Obama’s daily threat briefing, they said. And Kelly, Asher and other agents said they stopped getting invitations to interagency meetings, including those of a top Obama transnational crime working group.
That may have been because Obama officials dropped Hezbollah from the formal list of groups targeted by a special White House initiative into transnational organized crime, which in turn effectively eliminated DEA’s broad authority to investigate it overseas, task force members said.
“The funny thing is Tampa was supposed to settle how everyone would have a seat at the table and what the national strategy is going to be, and how clearly law enforcement has role,” Jack Riley, who was the DEA’s chief of operations at the time, told POLITICO. “And the opposite happened. We walked away with nothing.”
Willfully blind to the threat
After the Tampa meeting, Project Cassandra leaders pushed – unsuccessfully, they said – for greater support from the Obama administration in extraditing Fayad from the Czech Republic to New York for prosecution, and in locating and arresting the many high-value targets who went underground after hearing news of his arrest.
They also struck out repeatedly, they said, in obtaining the administration’s approval for offering multimillion-dollar “rewards for justice” bounties of a type commonly issued for indicted kingpins like Joumaa, and for the administration to unseal the secret indictments of others, like the Ghost, to improve the chances of catching them.
And task force officials pushed the Obama team, also unsuccessfully, to use U.S. aid money and weapons sales as leverage to push Lebanon into adopting an extradition treaty and handing over all of the indicted Hezbollah suspects living openly in the country, they said.
“There were ways of getting these guys if they’d let us,” Kelly said.
Frustrated, he wrote another of his emails to DEA leaders in July 2014, asking for help.
The email stated that the used-car money-laundering scheme was flourishing in the United States and Africa. The number of vehicles being shipped to Benin had more than doubled from December 2011 to 2014, he wrote, with one dealership alone receiving more than $4 million.
And despite the DEA’s creation of a multi-agency “Iran-Hezbollah Super Facilitator Initiative” in 2013, Kelly said, only the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Patrol was sharing information and resources.
“The nuclear negotiations are on their own. They’re standing separate from anything else” — Secretary of State John Kerry to reporters
“The FBI and other parts of the USG [U.S. government] provide a little or no assistance during our investigations,” Kelly wrote in the email. “The USG lack of action on this issue has allowed [Hezbollah] to become one of the biggest transnational organized crime groups in the world.”
Around this time, people outside Project Cassandra began noting that senior administration officials were increasingly suspicious of it.
Douglas Farah, a transnational crime analyst, said he tried to raise the Project Cassandra investigations with Obama officials in order to corroborate his own on-the-ground research, without success. “When it looked like the [nuclear] agreement might actually happen, it became clear that there was no interest in dealing with anything about Iran or Hezbollah on the ground that it may be negative, that it might scare off the Iranians,” said Farah.
Asher, meanwhile, said he and others began hearing “from multiple people involved in the Iran discussions that this Hezbollah stuff was definitely getting in the way of a successful negotiation,” he said. One Obama national security official even said so explicitly in the same State Department meeting in which he boasted about how the administration was bringing together a broad coalition in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, to fight the Islamic State terrorist group, Asher recalled.
Indeed, the United States was seeking Iran’s help in taking on the Islamic State. As the nuclear deal negotiations were intensifying ahead of a November 2014 diplomatic deadline, Obama himself secretly wrote to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to say the two countries had a mutual interest in fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Kerry, who was overseeing the negotiations, rejected suggestions that the nuclear deal was linked to other issues affecting the U.S-Iranian relationship.
“The nuclear negotiations are on their own,” he told reporters. “They’re standing separate from anything else. And no discussion has ever taken place about linking one thing to another.”
The Obama team “really, really, really wanted the deal" — Former CIA officer on how intelligence operations were also impacted by negotiations with Iran
But even some former CIA officials said the negotiations were affecting their dealings in the Middle East and those of the DEA.
DEA operations in the Middle East were shut down repeatedly due to political sensitivities, especially in Lebanon, according to one former CIA officer working in the region. He said pressure from the White House also prompted the CIA to declare “a moratorium” on covert operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, too, for a time, after the administration received complaints from Iranian negotiators.
“During the negotiations, early on, they [the Iranians] said listen, we need you to lay off Hezbollah, to tamp down the pressure on them, and the Obama administration acquiesced to that request,” the former CIA officer told POLITICO. “It was a strategic decision to show good faith toward the Iranians in terms of reaching an agreement.”
The Obama team “really, really, really wanted the deal,” the former officer said.
As a result, “We were making concessions that had never been made before, which is outrageous to anyone in the agency,” the former intelligence officer said, adding that the orders from Washington especially infuriated CIA officers in the field who knew that Hezbollah “was still doing assassinations and other terrorist activities.”
That allegation was contested vehemently by the former senior Obama national security official who played a role in the Iran nuclear negotiations. “That the Iranians would ask for a favor in this realm and that we would acquiesce is ludicrous,” he said.
Nonetheless, feeling that he had few options left, Asher went public with his concerns at a congressional hearing in May 2015 saying, “the Department of Justice should seek to indict and prosecute” Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization as an international conspiracy using the RICORICO case statute. That was the only way, he testified, for U.S. officials to “defeat narcoterrorism financing, including that running right through the heart of the American financial system,” as Hezbollah was doing with the used-cars scheme.
The nuclear deal was signed in July 2015, and formally implemented on Jan. 17, 2016. A week later, almost two years after his arrest, Czech officials finally released Fayad to Lebanon in exchange for five Czech citizens that Hezbollah operatives had kidnapped as bargaining chips.
Unlike in the case of Bout, the former arms trafficker for Putin, neither Obama nor other senior White House officials made personal pleas for the extradition of Fayad, task force officials said. Afterward, the U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic issued a statement saying, “We are dismayed by the Czech government’s decision.”
For the task force, Fayad’s release was one of the biggest blows yet. Some agents told POLITICO that Fayad’s relationships with Hezbollah, Latin American drug cartels and the governments of Iran, Syria and Russia made him a critically important witness in any RICO prosecution and in virtually all of their ongoing investigations.
“He is one of the very few people who could describe for us the workings of the operation at the highest levels,” Kelly said. “And the administration didn’t lift a finger to get him back here.”
One senior Obama administration official familiar with the case said it would be a stretch to link the Fayad case to the Iran deal, even if the administration didn’t lobby aggressively enough to have Fayad extradited to the United States.
“I guess it’s possible that they [the White House] didn’t want to try hard because of the Iran deal but I don’t have memories of it,” said the former official. “Clearly there were things that the Obama administration did to keep the negotiations alive, prudent negotiating tactics to keep the Iranians at the table. But to be fair, there was a lot of shit we did during the Iran deal negotiations that pissed the Iranians off.”
Afterward, Czech President Milos Zeman told local media he had freed Fayad at the personal request of Putin, a close ally of both the Czech Republic and Iran, who had lobbied hard for his release in a series of phone calls like the ones Project Cassandra officials were hoping Obama would make.
A week later, European authorities, working with the DEA and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, arrested an undisclosed number of Hezbollah-related suspects in France and neighboring countries on charges of using drug trafficking money to procure weapons for use in Syria.
In announcing the arrests, the DEA and the Justice Department disclosed for the first time the existence of Project Cassandra, as well as its target, the drug-and weapons-trafficking unit known as Hezbollah’s Business Affairs Component. In a news release, DEA also said the business entity “currently operates under the control of Abdallah Safieddine” and Tabaja.
Jack Riley, the DEA’s acting deputy administrator, said in the news release that Hezbollah’s criminal operations “provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the world.”
Riley described the operation as “ongoing,” saying “DEA and our partners will continue to dismantle networks who exploit the nexus between drugs and terror using all available law enforcement mechanisms.”
But Kelly and some other agents had already come to believe that the arrests would be a last hurrah for the task force, as it was crumbling under pressure from U.S. officials eager to keep the newly implemented Iran deal intact. That’s why Project Cassandra members insisted on including Safieddine’s name in the media releases. They wanted it in the public record, in case they had no further opportunity to expose the massive conspiracy they believed he had been overseeing.
A last hurrah
The news release caused a stir. The CIA was furious that Project Cassandra went public with details of Hezbollah’s business operations. And the French government called off a joint news conference planned to announce the arrests. Kelly, who was already in Paris awaiting the news conference, said European authorities told him the French didn’t want to offend Iran, which just 11 days after the nuclear deal implementation had agreed to buy 118 French Airbus aircraft worth about $25 billion.
“Given the group’s ever-lengthening criminal rap sheet around the world, designating it as a TCO [Transnational Criminal Organization] has become an open-and-shut case" — Matthew Levitt
Two weeks later, after firing off another angry email or two, Kelly said he was told by his superiors that he was being transferred against his wishes to a gang unit at DEA headquarters. He retired months later on the first day he was eligible.
Several other key agents and analysts also transferred out on their own accord, in some cases in order to receive promotions, or after being told by DEA leaders that they had been at the Special Operations Division for too long, according to Kelly, Asher, Maltz and others.
Meanwhile, the administration was resisting demands that it produce a long-overdue intelligence assessment that Congress had requested as a way of finally resolving the interagency dispute over Hezbollah’s role in drug trafficking and organized crime.
It wasn’t just a bureaucratic exercise. More than a year earlier, Congress – concerned that the administration was whitewashing the threat posed by Hezbollah – passed the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act. That measure required the White House to lay out in writing its plans for designating Hezbollah a “significant transnational criminal organization.”
The White House delegated responsibility for the report to the office of the director of National Intelligence, prompting immediate accusations by the task force and its allies that the administration was stacking the deck against such a determination, and against Project Cassandra, given the intelligence community’s doubts about the DEA’s conclusions about Hezbollah’s drug-running.
“Given the group’s ever-lengthening criminal rap sheet around the world, designating it as a TCO [Transnational Criminal Organization] has become an open-and-shut case,” Matthew Levitt, a former senior Treasury official, said of Hezbollah in an April 2016 policy paper for a Washington think tank.
Agents from Project Cassandra and other law enforcement agencies “investigate criminal activities as a matter of course and are therefore best positioned to judge whether a group has engaged in transnational organized crime,” wrote Levitt, who is also a former FBI analyst and author of a respected book on Hezbollah. “Intelligence agencies are at a disadvantage in this regard, so the DNI’s forthcoming report should reflect the repeated findings of law enforcement, criminal courts, and Treasury designations.”
As expected, the administration’s final report, which remains classified, significantly downplayed Hezbollah’s operational links to drug trafficking, which in turn further marginalized the DEA’s role in fighting it, according to a former Justice Department official and others familiar with the report.
Once the Obama administration left office, in January 2017, the logjam of task force cases appeared to break, and several task force members said it wasn’t a coincidence.
An alleged top Hezbollah financier, Kassim Tajideen, was arrested in Morocco — seven years after Treasury officials blacklisted him as a sponsor of terror — and flown to Washington to stand trial. Asher said task force agents had kept his case under wraps, hoping for a better outcome in whatever administration succeeded Obama’s.
The Trump administration also designated Venezuelan Vice President Tareck Aissami as a global narcotics kingpin, almost a decade after DEA agents became convinced he was Hezbollah’s point man within the Chavez, and then Maduro, regimes.
Ironically, many senior career intelligence officials now freely acknowledge that the task force was right all along about Hezbollah’s operational involvement in drug trafficking. “It dates back many years,” said one senior Directorate of National Intelligence official.
“They are a global threat, particularly if the Trump relationships turn sour” — Magnus Ranstorp
Meanwhile, Hezbollah — in league with Iran, Russia and |
India to stop buying oil from Iran:
That’s a very good question, and let me give you a little context for that question. When President Obama took over in 2009, we knew Iran’s continuing development of a nuclear weapons program would be very destabilizing in the region, because there would be an arms race with the nations in the region who have pre-existing enmity between themselves and Iran. And it would also cause a great threat to Israel.
USA Today should have noted that there is no evidence that Iran has any nuclear weapons program at all–as U.S. intelligence and the Pentagon secretary have acknowledged. That’s what newspapers should do when politicians mislead. Instead, the paper puts this headline over the piece: “Clinton Wraps Asia Trip with Tough Talk on Iran.”
“Tough talk” is a weak way to describe a government official’s misrepresentation of the facts.1980 studio album by Talking Heads
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American rock band Talking Heads, released on October 8, 1980 by Sire Records. It was recorded at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas and Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia between July and August 1980 and produced by longtime collaborator Brian Eno. Following the release of their previous album Fear of Music in 1979, the quartet and Eno sought to dispel notions of the band as a mere vehicle for frontman and lyricist David Byrne. Drawing on the influence of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, the band experimented with African polyrhythms, funk, and electronics, recording instrumental tracks as a series of looping grooves. The sessions incorporated a variety of side musicians, including guitarist Adrian Belew, singer Nona Hendryx, and trumpet player Jon Hassell.
Byrne struggled with writer's block, but adopted a scattered, stream-of-consciousness lyrical style inspired by early rap and academic literature on Africa. The artwork for the album was conceived by bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz, and was crafted with the help of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computers and design company M&Co. The band expanded to nine members for a promotional tour, and following its completion, they went on hiatus for several years, leaving the individual members to pursue a variety of side projects. The album was the last of the band's collaborations with Eno, although Eno and Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was released the following year.
Remain in Light was widely acclaimed by critics, who praised its sonic experimentation, rhythmic innovations, and cohesive merging of disparate genres. The album peaked at number nineteen on the US Billboard 200 and number 21 on the UK Albums Chart, and spawned the singles "Once in a Lifetime" and "Houses in Motion". It has been featured in several publications' lists of the best albums of the 1980s and of all time, and is often considered Talking Heads' magnum opus. In 2017, the Library of Congress deemed the album "culturally, historically, or artistically significant",[1] and selected it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.[2]
Background [ edit ]
In January 1980, the members of Talking Heads returned to New York City after the tours in support of their 1979 critically acclaimed third album, Fear of Music, and took time off to pursue personal interests. Singer David Byrne worked with Brian Eno, the record's producer, on an experimental album, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.[3] Keyboardist Jerry Harrison produced an album for soul singer Nona Hendryx at the Sigma Sound Studios branch in New York City; Hendryx and the studio were used during the Remain in Light recording on Harrison's advice.[4]
Drummer Chris Frantz and bassist Tina Weymouth, a married couple, discussed leaving Talking Heads after Weymouth suggested that Byrne was too controlling.[5] Frantz did not want to leave, and the two took a long vacation in the Caribbean to ponder the state of the band and their marriage. They became involved in Haitian Vodou religious ceremonies, practised native percussion instruments, and socialised with the reggae rhythm section of Sly and Robbie.[4]
Frantz and Weymouth ended their holiday by purchasing an apartment above Compass Point Studios in Nassau, the Bahamas, where Talking Heads had recorded their second album, More Songs About Buildings and Food.[4] Byrne joined the duo and Harrison there in early 1980.[6] The band members realised that it had been solely up to Byrne to craft songs even though they were performed as a quartet. They had tired of the notion of a singer leading a backup band; the ideal they aimed for, according to Byrne, was "sacrificing our egos for mutual cooperation".[7] Byrne additionally wanted to escape "the psychological paranoia and personal torment" he had been writing and feeling in New York.[8] Instead of the band writing music to Byrne's lyrics, Talking Heads performed instrumental jams, using the Fear of Music song "I Zimbra" as a starting point.[6]
Eno arrived in the Bahamas three weeks after Byrne. He was reluctant to work with the band again after collaborating on the previous two albums. He changed his mind after being excited by the instrumental demo tapes.[6] The band and Eno experimented with the communal African way of making music, in which individual parts mesh as polyrhythms.[7] Afrodisiac, the 1973 Afrobeat record by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, became the template for the album.[8] Weymouth said that the beginnings of hip-hop music made Talking Heads realise that the musical landscape was changing.[9] Before the studio sessions began, longtime friend David Gans instructed the band that "the things one doesn't intend are the seeds for a more interesting future". He encouraged them to experiment, improvise and make use of "mistakes".[10]
Recording and production [ edit ]
Remain in Light using stylised methods and sonic experiments. Eno, here photographed in 2007, producedusing stylised methods and sonic experiments.
Recording sessions started at Compass Point Studios in July 1980. The album's creation required the use of additional musicians, particularly percussionists.[11] Talking Heads used the working title Melody Attack throughout the studio process after watching a Japanese game show of the same name.[12] Harrison said the ambition was to blend rock and African genres, rather than simply imitate African music.[13] Eno's production techniques and personal approach were key to the record's conception. The process was geared to promote the expression of instinct and spontaneity without overtly focusing on the sound of the final product.[14] Eno compared the creative process to "looking out to the world and saying, 'What a fantastic place we live in. Let's celebrate it.'"[9]
Sections and instrumentals were recorded one at a time in a discontinuous process.[15] Loops played a key part at a time when computers could not yet adequately perform such functions. Talking Heads developed Remain in Light by recording jams, isolating the best parts, and learning to play them repetitively. The basic tracks focused wholly on rhythms and were all performed in a minimalist method using only one chord. Each section was recorded as a long loop to enable the creation of compositions through the positioning or merging of loops in different ways.[16] Byrne likened the process to modern sampling: "We were human samplers."[17]
After a few sessions in the Bahamas, engineer Rhett Davies left following an argument with the producer over the fast speed of recording. Steven Stanley, who since the age of 17 had engineered for musicians such as Bob Marley, stepped in to cover the workload.[16] He is credited by Frantz with helping create "Once in a Lifetime", which was released as a single.[18] A Lexicon 224 digital reverb effects unit, obtained by engineer and mixer Dave Jerden, was used on the album.[19] The machine was one of the first of its kind and able to simulate environments such as echo chambers and rooms through interchangeable programs.[20] Like Davies, Jerden was unhappy with the fast pace at which Eno wanted to record sonically complicated compositions, but did not complain.[16]
The tracks made Byrne rethink his vocal style and he tried singing to the instrumental songs, but sounded "stilted". Few vocal sections were recorded in the Bahamas.[12] The writing process for the lyrics occurred when the band returned to the US and was split between New York City and California.[21] Harrison booked Talking Heads into Sigma Sound, which focused primarily on R&B music, after convincing the owners that the band's work could bring them a new type of clientele. In New York City, Byrne struggled with writer's block.[12] Harrison and Eno spent their time tweaking the compositions recorded in the Bahamas, while Frantz and Weymouth often did not show up at the studio. Doubts began to surface about whether the album would be completed. The recording sessions only built up pace after the recruitment of guitarist Adrian Belew at the request of Byrne, Harrison and Eno. He was advised to add guitar solos to the Compass Point tracks, making use of a Roland guitar synthesiser.[22]
Byrne recorded all the tracks, as they were after Belew had performed on them, to a cassette and looked to Africa to break his writer's block. He realised that, when African musicians forget words, they often improvise and make new ones up. He used a portable tape recorder and tried to create onomatopoeic rhymes in the style of Eno, who believed that lyrics were never the center of a song's meaning. Byrne continuously listened to his recorded scatting until convinced that he was no longer "hearing nonsense".[23] After he was satisfied, Harrison invited Nona Hendryx to Sigma Sound to record backing vocals for the album. She was advised extensively on her vocal delivery by Byrne, Frantz, and Weymouth, and often sang in a trio with Byrne and Eno.[24] The voice sessions were followed by the overdubbing process. Brass player Jon Hassell, who had been working on parts of My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, was hired to perform trumpet and horn sections.[25] In August 1980, half of the album was mixed by Eno and engineer John Potoker in New York City with the assistance of Harrison, while the other half was mixed by Byrne and Jerden at Eldorado Studios in Los Angeles.[26]
Music and lyrics [ edit ]
Remain in Light. The testimony of Watergate scandal conspirator John Dean was one of several inspirations for the lyrics on
Remain in Light features new wave,[27][28] post-punk,[29][30] worldbeat,[31][32] dance-rock,[33] and different types of funk, specifically afrofunk[33][34][35] and avant-funk.[36] Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine described the album as a "dense amalgam of African percussion, funk bass and keyboards, pop songs, and electronics."[37] It contains eight songs that possess a "striking free-associative feel" according to psychoanalyst Michael A. Brog, in that there is no long-lasting coherent thought process that can be followed in the stream-of-consciousness lyrics. David Gans instructed Byrne to be freer with his lyrical content by advising him that "rational thinking has its limits".[14] The frontman included a bibliography with the album press kit along with a statement that explained how the album was inspired by African mythologies and rhythms. The release stressed that the major inspiration to the lyrics was Professor John Miller Chernoff's African Rhythm and African Sensibility,[38] which examined the musical enhancement of life in the continent's rural communities.[39] The academic travelled to Ghana in 1970 to study native percussion and wrote about how Africans have complicated conversations through drum patterns.[40] One of the songs, "The Great Curve", exemplifies the African theme by including the line "The world moves on a woman's hips", which Byrne used after reading Professor Robert Farris Thompson's book African Art in Motion.[21] He additionally studied straight speech, from John Dean's Watergate testimony to the stories of African American former slaves.[41]
Like all the other tracks, album opener "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" borrows from "preaching, shouting and ranting".[8] The expression "And the Heat Goes On", used in the title and repeated in the chorus, is based on a New York Post headline Eno read in the summer of 1980 whilst Byrne rewrote the song title "Don't Worry About the Government" from Talking Heads' debut album, Talking Heads: 77, into the lyric "Look at the hands of a government man".[23] The "rhythmical rant" in "Crosseyed and Painless"—"Facts are simple and facts are straight. Facts are lazy and facts are late."—is influenced by old school rap, specifically Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" given to Byrne by Frantz. "Once in a Lifetime" borrows heavily from preachers' diatribes.[41] Some critics have suggested that the song is "a kind of prescient jab at the excesses of the 1980s". Byrne disagreed with the categorisation and commented that its lyrics are meant to be taken literally; he stated, "We're largely unconscious. You know, we operate half awake or on autopilot and end up, whatever, with a house and family and job and everything else, and we haven't really stopped to ask ourselves, 'How did I get here?'."[9]
"The Great Curve" [22] It features the line "The world moves on a woman's hips", inspired by African Art in Motion.[21] "The Great Curve" includes Belew's synthesiser-treated guitar, African-inspired percussion, and brass interludes.It features the line "The world moves on a woman's hips", inspired by Robert Farris Thompson's 1974 book Problems playing this file? See media help.
Byrne has described the album's final mix as a "spiritual" piece of work, "joyous and ecstatic and yet it's serious"; he has pointed out that, in the end, there was "less Africanism in Remain in Light that we implied... but the African ideas were far more important to get across than specific rhythms".[13] According to Eno, the record uniquely blends funk and punk rock or new wave music.[8] None of the compositions include chord changes and instead rely on the use of different harmonics and notes.[23] "Spidery riffs" and layered tracks of bass and percussion are used extensively throughout the album.[12] The first side contains the more rhythmic songs recorded—"Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)", "Crosseyed and Painless", and "The Great Curve"—which include long instrumental interludes.[42] The last-named track contains extended synthesiser-treated guitar solos from Adrian Belew.[22]
The second side of Remain in Light features more introspective songs.[42] "Once in a Lifetime" pays homage to early rap techniques and the music of art rock band The Velvet Underground.[9] The track was originally called "Weird Guitar Riff Song" because of its composition.[41] It was conceived as a single riff before the band added a second, boosted riff over the top of the first. Eno alternated eight bars of each riff with corresponding bars of its counterpart.[12] "Houses in Motion" incorporates lengthy brass performances from Jon Hassell, while "Listening Wind" features Arabic music elements. The final track on the album, "The Overload," was Talking Heads' attempt to emulate the sound of British post-punk band Joy Division. The song was made despite no band member having heard the music of Joy Division; rather, it was based on an idea of what the British quartet might sound like based on descriptions in the music press. The track features "tribal-cum-industrial" beats created primarily by Harrison and Byrne.[42]
Packaging and title [ edit ]
Grumman Avengers, used by the US Navy, in which Weymouth's father had served, inspired the initial cover art, later used on the back of the LP sleeve after the album name change.
The cover art was conceived by Weymouth and Frantz with the help of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Walter Bender and his MIT Media Lab team.[25][43] Using Melody Attack as inspiration, the couple created a collage of red warplanes flying in formation over the Himalayas.[25] The planes are an artistic depiction of Grumman Avenger planes in honour of Weymouth's father, Ralph Weymouth, who was a US Navy Admiral.[39] The idea for the back cover included simple portraits of the band members. Weymouth attended MIT regularly during the summer of 1980 and worked with Bender's colleague, Scott Fisher, on the computer renditions of the ideas. The process was tortuous because computer power was limited in the early 1980s and the mainframe alone took up several rooms.[25] Weymouth and Fisher shared a passion for masks and used the concept to experiment with the portraits. The faces (except for eyes, noses and mouths) were blotted out with blocks of red colour. Weymouth considered superimposing Eno's face on top of all four portraits to insinuate his egotism—the producer wanted to be on the cover art together with Talking Heads—but decided against it in the end.[44]
The rest of the artwork and the liner notes were crafted by the graphic designer Tibor Kalman and his company M&Co.[43][44] Kalman was a fervent critic of formalism and professional design in art and advertisements.[45] He offered his services for free to create publicity, and discussed using unconventional materials such as sandpaper and velour for the LP sleeve. Weymouth, who was sceptical of hiring a designing firm, vetoed Kalman's ideas and held firm on the MIT computerised images. The designing process made the band members realise that the title Melody Attack was "too flippant" for the music recorded, and they adopted Remain in Light instead.[44] Byrne has noted, "Besides not being all that melodic, the music had something to say that at the time seemed new, transcendent, and maybe even revolutionary, at least for funk rock songs." The image of the warplanes was relegated to the back of the sleeve and the doctored portraits became the front cover. Kalman later suggested that the planes were not removed altogether because they seemed appropriate during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979–81.[42]
Weymouth advised Kalman that she wanted simple typography in a bold sans serif font. M&Co. followed the instructions and came up with the idea of inverting the "A"s in "TALKING HEADS". Weymouth and Frantz decided to use the joint credit acronym C/T for the artwork, while Bender and Fisher used initials and code names because the project was not an official MIT venture.[42] The design credits read "HCL, JPT, DDD, WALTER GP, PAUL, C/T".[39] The final mass-produced version of Remain in Light boasted one of the first computer-designed record jackets.[9] Psychoanalyst Michael A. Brog has called its front cover a "disarming image, which suggests both splitting and obliteration of identity" and which introduces the listener to the album's recurring theme of "identity disturbance"; he states, "The image is in bleak contrast to the title with the obscured images of the band members unable to'remain in light'."[10]
Talking Heads and Eno originally agreed to credit all songs in alphabetical order to "David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth" after failing to devise an accurate mathematical formula for the split,[44] but the album was released with the label credit: "all songs written by David Byrne & Brian Eno (except "Houses In Motion" and 'The Overload", written by David Byrne, Brian Eno & Jerry Harrison)".[11] Frantz, Harrison, and Weymouth disputed Byrne and Eno's attempt to claim sole credits, especially for a process they had partly funded.[18] According to Weymouth, Byrne told Kalman to doctor the credits on Eno's advice.[39] Later editions rectified the error.[46] In 2009, Frantz recalled, "we felt very burnt by the credits dispute".[18]
Promotion and release [ edit ]
Remain in Light promotional tours. Talking Heads hired five additional musicians for thepromotional tours.
Brian Eno advised Talking Heads that the music on Remain in Light was too dense for a quartet to perform.[26] The band expanded to nine musicians for the tours in support of the album. The augmenting members recruited by Harrison were Belew, Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell, bassist Busta "Cherry" Jones, Ashford & Simpson percussionist Steven Scales, and backing vocalist Dolette MacDonald.[3] The larger group performed soundchecks in Frantz and Weymouth's loft by following the rhythms established by Worrell, who had studied at the New England Conservatory and Juilliard School.[47]
The expanded band's first appearance was on August 23, 1980 at the Heatwave festival in Canada in front of 70,000 people; Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times called the band's new music a "rock-funk sound with dramatic, near show-stopping force".[48] On August 27, the expanded Talking Heads performed a showcase of tracks to an audience of 125,000 at the Wollman Rink in New York City's Central Park.[49] The Canada and New York gigs were the only ones initially planned, but Sire Records decided to support the nine-member band on an extended tour.[3] Following the promotional tour, the band went on hiatus for several years, leaving the individual members to pursue a variety of side projects.[37]
Remain in Light was released worldwide on October 8, 1980. Remain in Light received its world premiere airing in its entirety on October 10, 1980 on WDFM.[50] According to writer David Sheppard, "it was received as a great cultural event as much as a vivid art-pop record."[51] It was certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in February 1981 after shipping 50,000 copies,[52] and by Recording Industry Association of America in September 1985 after shipping 500,000 copies.[53] Over one million copies have been sold worldwide.[54]
Critical reception [ edit ]
The album attained widespread acclaim from media outlets. Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone felt it was a brave and absorbing attempt to locate a common ground in the early 1980s divergent and often hostile musical genres; he concluded, "Remain in Light yields scary, funny music to which you can dance and think, think and dance, dance and think, ad infinitum."[65] Robert Christgau, writing in The Village Voice, described the record as one "in which David Byrne conquers his fear of music in a visionary Afrofunk synthesis—clear-eyed, detached, almost mystically optimistic".[35] Michael Kulp of the Daily Collegian commented that the album deserves the tag "classic" like each of the band's three previous full-length releases,[66] while John Rockwell, writing in The New York Times, suggested that it confirmed Talking Heads' position as "America's most venturesome rock band".[67] Sandy Robertson of Sounds praised the record's innovation,[68] while Billboard wrote, "Just about every LP Talking Heads has released in the last four years has wound up on virtually every critics' best of list. Remain in Light should be no exception."[69]
AllMusic's William Ruhlmann wrote that Talking Heads' musical transition, first witnessed in Fear of Music, came to full fruition in Remain in Light; he stated, "Talking Heads were connecting with an audience ready to follow their musical evolution, and the album was so inventive and influential."[55] In the 1995 Spin Alternative Record Guide, Eric Weisbard praised Eno's production effort which helped rein in any excessive appropriations of African music by Talking Heads.[63] In 2004, Slant Magazine's Barry Walsh labelled its results as "simply magical" after the band turned rock music into a more global entity in terms of its musical and lyrical scope.[70] In a 2008 review, Sean Fennessey of Vibe concluded, "Talking Heads took African polyrhythms to NYC and made a return trip with elegant, alien post-punk in tow."[29]
Accolades and legacy [ edit ]
Remain in Light was named the best album of 1980 by Sounds, ahead of The Skids' The Absolute Game, and by Melody Maker,[71][72] while The New York Times included it in its unnumbered shortlist of the 10 best records issued that year.[73] It figured highly in other end-of-year best album lists, notably at number two, behind The Clash's London Calling, by Robert Christgau,[74] and at number six by NME.[75] It featured at number three—behind London Calling and Bruce Springsteen's The River—in The Village Voice's 1980 Pazz & Jop critics' poll, which aggregates the votes of hundreds of prominent reviewers.[76]
Remain in Light may be the Talking Heads' defining moment."[77] "So they congregated in a Nassau studio with Brian Eno and created a record without precedent... Both daringly experimental and pop-accessible,may be the Talking Heads' defining moment." —Pitchfork Media's Ryan Schreiber in 2002
In 1989, Rolling Stone named Remain in Light as the fourth best album of the decade.[78] In 1993, it was included at number 11 in NME's list of The 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s,[79] and at number 68 in the publication's Greatest Albums Of All Time list.[80] In 1997, The Guardian collated worldwide data from renowned critics, artists, and radio DJs, which placed the record at number 43 in the list of the 100 Best Albums Ever.[81] In 1999, it was included by Vibe as one of its 100 Essential Albums Of The 20th Century.[82] In 2002, Pitchfork Media featured Remain in Light at number two behind Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation in its Top 100 Albums Of The 1980s list.[77] In 2003, VH1 named the record at number 88 during its 100 Greatest Albums countdown,[83] while Slant magazine included it in its unnumbered shortlist of 50 Essential Pop Albums.[84] Rolling Stone placed it at number 129 in its December 2015 issue of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", higher than three other Talking Heads releases.[15] In 2006, Q ranked Remain in Light at number 27 in its list of the 40 Best Albums of the 80s.[85] In 2012, Slant listed the album at number six on its list of the "Best Albums of the 1980s".[86]
Track listing [ edit ]
All lyrics written by David Byrne, except "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" and "Crosseyed and Painless", written by David Byrne and Brian Eno; all music composed by Byrne, Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, and Tina Weymouth.
Side two No. Title Length 4. "Once in a Lifetime" 4:23 5. "Houses in Motion" 4:33 6. "Seen and Not Seen" 3:25 7. "Listening Wind" 4:43 8. "The Overload" 6:02
Expanded CD reissue unfinished outtakes No. Title Length 9. "Fela's Riff" 5:19 10. "Unison" 4:50 11. "Double Groove" 4:28 12. "Right Start" 4:07
Notes
The remastered reissue was produced by Andy Zax with the help of Talking Heads.
The DVD portion of the European reissue contains videos of the band performing "Crosseyed and Painless" and "Once in a Lifetime" on German music show Rockpop in 1980.
Personnel [ edit ]
Those involved in the making of Remain in Light were:[42][43][46]
Charts [ edit ]
Certifications and sales [ edit ]
Region Certification Certified units/Sales Canada (Music Canada)[93] Gold 50,000^ France (SNEP)[94] none 175,000 [95]* United States (RIAA)[96] Gold 500,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[97] Silver 60,000^ *sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Bowman, David (2001). This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-380-97846-6.
Brog, Michael A. (June 2002). " " Living Turned Inside Out": The Musical Expression of Psychotic and Schizoid Experience in Talking Heads' Remain in Light ". The American Journal of Psychoanalysis. 62 (2): 163–184. doi:10.1023/A:1015181228250.
Pareles, Jon (May 1982). "Talking Heads Talk". Mother Jones. pp. 36–39.Thanks a lot for following along with the observations that made me conclude that Java rocks more than ever. This is the third part, taking a look at open-source.
Feel free to tell me about your experiences and findings, I love to read all your different viewpoints. Some people argument that many of these reasons were true 10 years ago. That’s totally correct and actually reinforces the topic at hand! When you combine everything together with the fact that many features have stood strong for over a decade and were even dramatically improved upon, it’s easy to conclude that the Java platform is in its best shape ever (hint, Ever is not a programming language).
As a reminder, here are my top 10 favorite things about the Java platform again:
This time I’ll talk about #3, Open-Source.
What rocks about Open-Source and Java
I’ve contributed to and created open-source projects for my entire software career: from GTK+ to Gentoo Linux to OpenLaszlo to RIFE to EigenD … with dozens of other small stops along the way. I consider the open-source mindset and community to be an essential part of software development.
There’s a Jar for that
I hear you immediately say that open-source is not unique to Java, and you’re right, it isn’t! What is unique though is that the Java platform ranges all the way from mobile to enterprise and that many of the world’s critical systems rely on it. Linux is possibly the only other open-source technology that has achieved similar ubiquitousness, Java being the only software development platform with that status.
Obviously, the C and C++ language are used even more but they don’t have a stable and common Core API and are certainly not a platform. This effectively splits many C-based open-source efforts up into isolated silos that rely on a specific set of core classes. A lot of the efforts are duplicated and instead of combining forces to move forward as a community, many projects mirror siblings for the mere reason of being based on another API (for instance Gnome, KDE, XFCE, Enlightenment, …). When you add different licenses and the lack of operating system independence to this, there’s a huge amount of fragmentation with sometimes no viable open-source solution being available for your needs.
I found this to not be the case in Java. I’ve always been able to find a viable library for general-purpose functionality with often even the burden of having to choose between different fundamental approaches for a particular problem (web frameworks or template engines anyone?). It only takes a glance at the language-based categorization of projects in the Apache Foundation to see how far-reaching this is.
Professional Open-Source
Everything about Java is open: from the language, to the standards, to the core libraries, to the virtual machine and the development tools. Since the open-source mindset is so pervasive in the Java world, present at its core and tested at enterprise-grade level; it’s become logical for commercial services to be built around thriving projects. The prevalence of professional open-source companies removes the risk of using an open-source solution that relies on individuals. As a solution provider, you get the safety net of continuity, combined with top-to-bottom consistency and the freedom of open-source.
That is a very powerful combination to beat for a development platform, one that is mostly only seen for specific products or operational tools!
Community spirit … or consuming spirits
Obviously, open-source goes hand-in-hand with community and here Java is again as vibrant as it gets. More than a hundred of conferences spread over the world and close to 400 registered Java User Groups allow any developer to learn from his peers. Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg with many online communities that are bursting at their seams.
This community spirit has become standard for us Java developers, but I found that it’s not as evident as one might think. Being a musician and music being all about sharing and all, I expected that working on music software would be community to the n-th degree.
Something like an orgy of sharing goodness with mental sparkles that would continuously ignite everyone’s brain and transport us, music software makers, to a fairytale geekdom nirvana equalled only by recording an awesome album on drugs. Instead, I found a barren wasteland of quirky towers with guards posted in front of every little idea.
Technology there is pretty much in a stalemate situation where everyone is scared by others stealing the slightest ‘invention’. The same algorithms are reused and repackaged over-and-over again without much innovation. The last time everyone agreed upon something was in the eighties when MIDI arrived and nowadays the industry pretty much considers that an accident that will most probably never be reproduced again. Most open-source efforts in this sector are driven by universities and the educational sector, which is a far-cry from the professional open-source we see in the Java world.
Stay tuned …
Summing up, open-source is a given in the modern software world and Java provides the development platform that is the most vibrant, the most consistent and the most reliable out there. While one might have expected that an enterprise solution would be completely closed and proprietary, the exact opposite happened and Java consistently gets a level of open-source contribution that pushes the platform forward on all fronts.
The next feature I’ll talk about will be the Java Memory Model and we’ll finally get a bit technical … until next time, keep rockin’.Daniel Benjamin.png
Salem City Councilor Daniel Benjamin is under fire after sharing graphic, violent video of cars running over Black Lives Matter protesters.
(KATU screenshot)
Update: Daniel Benjamin has resigned from the Salem city council
Warning: The video embedded in this post contains graphic, violent footage.
Salem City Councilor Daniel Benjamin has come under fire after sharing a graphic video of cars running over Black Lives Matters demonstrators on Facebook.
Portland activist and Don't Shoot PDX lead organizer Teressa Raiford has called for his resignation. Salem Mayor Anna M. Peterson told Benjamin that she was "disappointed and shocked at the video and I suggested that he take it down," reports KATU.
Benjamin claims that because he shared it on his personal Facebook page, that anyone who was offended by it could simply unfriend him. He then told KATU that any claims he was racist for sharing it, "is actually racist" itself.
Raiford told the station it's "hogwash," and that sharing the video promotes racism. The graphic footage shows a series of clips from news reports wherein vehicles run over Black Lives Matter protestors.
Salem city councilor who shared video of cars running over Black Lives Matter protesters resigns Daniel Benjamin also no longer works for a Nissan dealership in town.
Benjamin shared the video from Ron Dwyer, a conservative blogger who captioned the footage with, "As this video shows people are starting to get tired of the Black lives Matter bullies blocking the roadways."
According to the Salem city attorney, the only way a councilor can be removed is if he or she is convicted or a crime or neglects to attend work meetings for 30 days without notifying city officials, KATU reports.
The council can, however, censure Benjamin and Peterson can remove him from any sub-committees. She says she'll decide what to do after meeting with Benjamin one-on-one.
The day after KATU's initial report, Benjamin issued an apology on Facebook, writing that, "My intention by sharing that video was to bring awareness that people were being killed in the streets of our cities."
Most responses to Benjamin's apology struck a similar tone: Too little, too late.
The KATU report is embedded below -- it contains the graphic, violent footage Benjamin shared on Facebook.
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we are free to follow our own conscience, religious or not, unrestricted by the rules and dogmas of other people's religious beliefs." While it's understandable that Hemeryck, like many other Christians, wants to see a nativity scene displayed, theists and non-theists have the right to put up their own displays. It really boils down to this: Either everyone is allowed to put up a holiday display or no one is. As an atheist, I like to celebrate the winter solstice, and yes, this is a Pagan ritual, but it's a reminder of nature's life-giving force and that spring is not far behind. It's a time to celebrate the harvest and the new year that's about to be born. It is a light in the darkness. Prosecutors said they dropped the charge because there was no evidence of damage, WCTV reports.This video shows someone who appears to be Hemeryck, vandalizing the display: Now, Hemeryck has launched a GoFundMe page partly, she says, because she lost her home and her job in the aftermath, but also because she wants to wage a war on Satanists and atheists. So far, she's managed to raise just over $3,000.She writes that members of The Satanic Temple attacked Christianity "and desecrated our holy celebration of Christ's birth by placing a "grossly offensive" satanic display in the same spot where the Nativity had been removed just hours earlier."The nativity scene was removed after a staff attorney for the Freedom From Religion Foundation argued that it was "unlawful for the town to maintain, erect, or host a holiday display that consists solely of a nativity scene, thus singling out, showing preference for, and endorsing one religion. The Supreme Court has ruled it is impermissible to place a nativity scene as the sole focus of a display on government property," the attorney wrote in a letter to the Jay City Hall, where the display was set up. The attorney said the letter was in response to a complaint the foundation had received from a resident.Hemeryck was upset because kids coming to the Capitol on Christmas Eve "hoping [sic] see baby Jesus saw only Satan instead. The Satanic Temple is also trying to place satanic books in Florida public schools and a life-size statue of Satan in Oklahoma."However, what The Satanic Temple wants is a place at the table. As an atheist, I want that too, as do scads of other religious or non-religious organizations as well.Fortunately, not all Christians get upset by worldviews that differ from their own, Jex Blackmore, a spokeswoman for The Satanic Temple noted in an interview with Digital Journal."However, it's clear that many do take issue with sharing the holiday season with those outside the Christian faith," she said. "It demonstrates a lack of cultural and historical awareness topped with a hefty dose of narcissism. The Satanic Temple has only affirmatively asserted our own beliefs, we have not sought to remove or attack any Christian displays, rather, we've merely asked that our voice is represented within the public forum alongside others."Indeed, as LiveScience notes, the origins for this winter holiday stretch back well before Christians co-opted it.Hemeryck alleges that Satanists are seeking revenge against her in time for next Christmas, but The Satanic Temple hasn't taken any action against her, Blackmore notes."The Satanic Temple took no action whatsoever because the case was in the hands of the state who decided to drop all charges against her," Blackmore says. "She claims that she would like to pursue a legal battle against us, but on what grounds? She offers no strategy, and no legal rationalization in support of such claims. She committed a crime, and not only did she get off scot-free, she's now asking to be rewarded--begging for a handout on false pretenses."Hemeryck then says that the Satanists "are also moving forward with their agenda to entrench Satan in America's government hall and in our public schools," she writes.She writes this without a single trace of irony."The Satanic Temple has never advocated for hostility against another religion or encouraged our members to deface or attack those who disagree with our organization," Blackmore said. "On the other hand, Ms. Hemeryck has engaged in and clearly condones violence and other illegal activity towards members of the Satanic religion simply because she doesn't agree with our beliefs.""However, I suppose her behavior comes as little surprise considering that she shares the same faith of the very villains she has ironically likened us to. Perhaps we should remind her that the KKK is a 'faith-based Christian organization,' and that the Vatican endorsed the Nazi regime."These are the principles of The Satanic Temple:"The Satanic Temple's mission is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense and justice, and be directed by the human conscience to undertake noble pursuits guided by the individual will," Blackmore said. "To us, Satan is symbolic of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds."Hemeryck also gets the Constitution wrong when she writes:"The public expression of our Judeo-Christian faith is part of our American heritage, because it is upon these principles that America and her Constitution were founded." The Atlantic notes that our Constitution, in the First Amendment's Establishment Clause states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"--and this means that not only no church but no "religion" could be made the official faith of the United States.Further, the Free Exercise Clause states that "Congress shall not make laws "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion, although this seems to be lost on many religious, right-wing politicians, like say Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, or Ted Cruz. Like Hemeryck, many of these politicians are members of the Tea Party and they are forcing an agenda that they claim is based on their religious beliefs, but that agenda discriminates against women, against science, against LGBT people, immigrants, blacks, and the non-religious.It discriminates against all these groups who want to have their own place at the table, and this is where our Constitution comes in. To protect our place at that table.We are navigating through a dangerous time."In a nation that supposedly cherishes the diversity and independence of its citizens, we tread in dangerous waters when we begin to see differences of faith and worldview as a threat," Blackmore said. "Framing the debate regarding diverse holiday displays as a war on the Christian faith is not only inaccurate, but plays into the hands of those who already enjoy a majority influence, yet want to claim victim status."That oft-used phrase "Freedom of Religion" also means freedom from religion."By its very nature religious freedom must include the right to reject all religion or else it really isn't religious freedom at all. In fact, we all practice freedom from religion in some form such as choosing one religion over another--a Catholic has the right not to follow the teachings of Muhammad," Blackmore said. "However, as some have claimed, freedom from religion does not mean being free from seeing religion in society such as churches or religious expressions."She added:"Freedom from religion means that we are free to follow our own conscience, religious or not, unrestricted by the rules and dogmas of other people's religious beliefs."While it's understandable that Hemeryck, like many other Christians, wants to see a nativity scene displayed, theists and non-theists have the right to put up their own displays.It really boils down to this: Either everyone is allowed to put up a holiday display or no one is.As an atheist, I like to celebrate the winter solstice, and yes, this is a Pagan ritual, but it's a reminder of nature's life-giving force and that spring is not far behind. It's a time to celebrate the harvest and the new year that's about to be born.It is a light in the darkness. This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com More about Satanic temple, Florida, Susan Hemeryck, Satan, Atheists More news from Satanic temple Florida Susan Hemeryck Satan Atheists jex blackmore gofundme Freedom from religio... Digital Journal the Constitution JudeoChristian faith American heritage First amendment Establishment Clause Congress shall make...Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He was best known as the lead vocalist for Linkin Park. He was also lead vocalist for the bands Dead by Sunrise, Grey Daze, and Stone Temple Pilots. Bennington is widely regarded as one of the top rock musicians of the 2000s. Hit Parader magazine placed him at number 46 on their list of the "100 Metal Vocalists of All Time".[1]
Bennington first gained prominence as a vocalist following the release of Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory, in 2000, which became a commercial success. The album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2005, making it the best-selling debut album of the decade, as well as one of the few albums ever to hit that many sales.[2] Linkin Park's following studio albums, from Meteora (2003) to One More Light (2017), continued the band's success. Linkin Park has sold over 100 million records worldwide making them the best-selling band of the 21st century and one of the best-selling artists of all time.
Bennington formed his own band, Dead by Sunrise, as a side project in 2005. The band's debut album, Out of Ashes, was released on October 13, 2009. He became the lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots in 2013 to release the extended play record High Rise on October 8, 2013, via their own record label, Play Pen, but left in 2015 to focus solely on Linkin Park. He also appeared in cameo roles in several films, including Crank, Crank: High Voltage and Saw 3D.[3]
On July 20, 2017, Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging.[4]
Early life [ edit ]
Chester Charles Bennington was born on March 20, 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona. His mother was a nurse, while his father was a police detective who worked on child sexual abuse cases.[5][6] Bennington took an interest in music at a young age, citing the bands Depeche Mode and Stone Temple Pilots as his earliest inspirations,[7] and dreamed of becoming a member of Stone Temple Pilots, which he later achieved when he became their lead singer.[8]
Bennington suffered sexual abuse from an older male friend when he was seven years old.[9] He was afraid to ask for help because he did not want people to think he was gay or lying, and the abuse continued until he was 13 years old.[10] Years later, he revealed the abuser's identity to his father, but chose not to pursue him after he realized the abuser was a victim himself.[11]
Bennington's parents divorced when he was 11 years old. The abuse and his situation at home affected him so much that he felt the urge to kill people and run away.[10] To comfort himself, he drew pictures and wrote poetry and songs.[10] After the divorce, Bennington's father gained custody of him.[6] Bennington started abusing alcohol, marijuana, opium, cocaine, meth, and LSD.[7][11][6] He was physically bullied in high school. In an interview, he said that he was "knocked around like a rag doll at school, for being skinny and looking different".[12]
At the age of 17, Bennington moved in with his mother. He was banned from leaving the house for a time when his mother discovered his drug activity.[6] He worked at a Burger King before starting his career as a professional musician.[7]
Career [ edit ]
Early acts [ edit ]
Bennington performing in 1994
Bennington first began singing with a band called Sean Dowdell and His Friends? They released an eponymous three-track cassette in 1993. Later, Dowdell and Bennington moved on to form a new band, Grey Daze, a post-grunge band from Phoenix, Arizona. The band recorded three albums: Demo in 1993, Wake/Me in 1994, and...no sun today in 1997. Bennington left Grey Daze in 1998, but struggled to find another band.[13]
Linkin Park [ edit ]
Bennington performing with Linkin Park in 2007
Bennington was frustrated and almost ready to quit his musical career altogether when Jeff Blue, the vice president of artists and repertoire at Zomba Music in Los Angeles, offered him an audition with the future members of Linkin Park.[13] Bennington quit his day job at a digital services firm[6] and took his family to California, where he had a successful audition with Linkin Park, who were then called Xero.[13] He managed to record the song for his audition in a day, missing his own birthday celebration in the process. Bennington and Mike Shinoda, the band's other vocalist, made significant progress together, but failed to find a record deal.[13] After facing numerous rejections, Blue, now a vice president of artists and repertoire at Warner Bros., intervened again to help the band sign with Warner Bros. Records.[13]
On October 24, 2000, Linkin Park released their debut album, Hybrid Theory, through Warner Bros. Records. Bennington and Shinoda wrote the lyrics to Hybrid Theory based on some early material.[5] Shinoda characterized the lyrics as interpretations of universal feelings, emotions, and experiences, and as "everyday emotions you talk about and think about."[14][15] Bennington later described the songwriting experience to Rolling Stone magazine in early 2002, "It's easy to fall into that thing – 'poor, poor me', that's where songs like 'Crawling' come from: I can't take myself. But that song is about taking responsibility for your actions. I don't say 'you' at any point. It's about how I'm the reason that I feel this way. There's something inside me that pulls me down."[5]
Bennington primarily served as Linkin Park's lead vocalist, but occasionally shared the role with Shinoda. All Music Guide described Bennington's vocals as "higher-pitched" and "emotional", in contrast to Shinoda's hip-hop-style delivery.[7] Both members also worked together to write lyrics for the band's songs.[16]
Dead by Sunrise [ edit ]
Bennington co-founded Dead by Sunrise, an electronic rock band from Los Angeles, California, with Orgy and Julien-K members Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck in 2005.[17][18] Dead by Sunrise made their live debut in May 2008, performing four songs at the 13th anniversary party for Club Tattoo in Tempe, Arizona.[19]
The band released their debut album Out of Ashes on October 13, 2009.[20]
Stone Temple Pilots [ edit ]
In February 2013, Stone Temple Pilots parted ways with long-time lead singer Scott Weiland. The band recruited Bennington to replace Weiland in May 2013. On May 18, 2013, Bennington took the stage at KROQ's Weenie Roast with the band. The setlist included original Stone Temple Pilots songs, as well as their first single with Bennington on vocals called "Out of Time", which debuted on May 19 and was available for free download via their official website. It was later announced by Chester and the band in an exclusive KROQ interview that he was officially the new frontman of Stone Temple Pilots and discussed the possibility of a new album and tour. The song "Out of Time" is featured on their EP High Rise, which was released on October 8, 2013.[21]
Bennington reflected on joining Stone Temple Pilots, stating, "Every band has its own kind of vibe. Stone Temple Pilots has this sexier, more classic rock feel to it. Linkin Park is a very modern, very tech-heavy type of band. I grew up listening to these guys. When this opportunity came up, it was just like a no-brainer." Bennington stated in interviews that singing lead vocals in Stone Temple Pilots was his lifelong dream. He left the band on good terms due to his commitments with Linkin Park in 2015.[8][22]
Personal life [ edit ]
Bennington performing with Linkin Park at the 2009 Sonisphere Festival
Bennington had a child, Jaime (born May 12, 1996), from his relationship with Elka Brand.[23] In 2006, he adopted Brand's other son, Isaiah[23] (born November 8, 1997). He married his first wife, Samantha Marie Olit, on October 31, 1996.[24] They had one child together, Draven Sebastian (born April 19, 2002).[23] Bennington's relationship with his first wife declined during his early years with Linkin Park, and they divorced in 2005.[25] In 2006, he married Talinda Ann Bentley, a former Playboy model with whom he had three children: Tyler Lee Bennington (born March 16, 2006) and twins Lilly and Lila (born November 6, 2011).[26]
Chester and Talida Bennington were harassed by a cyberstalker named Devon Townsend (not to be confused with Canadian musician Devin Townsend) for almost a year. Townsend was found guilty of tampering with the couple's email, as well as sending threatening messages, and was later sentenced to two years in prison.[27]
Bennington struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. Eventually, after his bandmates held an intervention in 2006,[28] Bennington was able to overcome his drug addiction; he would go on to denounce drug use in future interviews.[29] In 2011, he said he had quit drinking, noting, "I just don't want to be that person anymore."[30]
Bennington was a tattoo enthusiast.[31] He had done work and promotions with Club Tattoo, a tattoo parlor in Tempe, Arizona. Club Tattoo is owned by Sean Dowdell, Bennington's friend since high school with whom he played in two bands.[32][33] Bennington was a fan of the Phoenix Suns,[34][35] Arizona Cardinals, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Arizona Coyotes.[36]
In a January 2011 interview, in response to the 2011 Tucson shooting, Bennington said, "There's a non-violent way to express yourself and get your point across – regardless of what you're saying or what your point is. In a free society, people have a right to believe whatever they want to believe. That's their business and they can speak their mind. But nobody, even in a free society, has the right to take another person's life. Ever. That's something that we really need to move beyond."[37]
Health and injuries [ edit ]
Bennington was plagued with poor health during the making of Meteora, and struggled to attend some of the album's recording sessions.[38] In the summer of 2003, he began to suffer from extreme abdominal pain and gastrointestinal issues while filming the music video for "Numb" in Prague. He was forced to return to the United States for surgery, and filmed the remainder of the music video in Los Angeles.[39][40]
Bennington sustained a wrist injury in October 2007 while attempting to jump off a platform during a show in Melbourne at the Rod Laver Arena. Despite the injury, he continued to perform the entire show with a broken wrist, before heading to the emergency room. He received five stitches.[41][42]
In 2011, Bennington fell ill again, and Linkin Park was forced to cancel three shows and reschedule two from the A Thousand Suns World Tour.[43] Bennington injured his shoulder during the band's tour in Asia and was advised by doctors to have immediate surgery, cancelling their final show at Pensacola Beach, Florida, and ending their tour.[44]
Bennington injured his ankle in January 2015 during a basketball game.[45] He attempted to cope with the injury and perform with the aid of crutches and a knee scooter. Linkin Park later canceled the remainder of their tour to allow Bennington to undergo surgery and recover.[46][47][48]
Death [ edit ]
Bennington performing in July 2017, two weeks before his death
Bennington was found dead at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California; his housekeeper discovered his body around 9:00 a.m. PDT on July 20, 2017.[49][50] His death was ruled a suicide. Mike Shinoda confirmed his death on Twitter, writing, "Shocked and heartbroken, but it's true. An official statement will come out as soon as we have one".[51] On July 21, Brian Elias, the chief of operations for the office of the medical examiner-coroner, confirmed that a half-empty bottle of alcohol was found at the scene, but no other drugs were present.[52] The band announced that they had canceled the North American leg of their One More Light Tour following Bennington's death and that tickets would be refunded.[53]
Bennington's funeral was held at South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes, California, on July 29. In addition to his family members and close friends, many musicians who toured or played with Linkin Park were also in attendance. The service also included a full stage for musical tributes.[54] Bennington was cremated.[55]
On December 5, 2017, Billboard magazine wrote that Bennington's toxicology report showed "a trace amount" of alcohol in the singer's system at the time of death.[56]
Memorial and tributes [ edit ]
Bennington filmed an episode of Carpool Karaoke six days before his death. Bennington's family allowed the episode to be aired on October 12, 2017.[57] On August 27, during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, Jared Leto received media attention for his tribute to Bennington and Chris Cornell.[58] Some of his former bandmates from Dead by Sunrise and Grey Daze united to perform a tribute for Bennington during a concert on September 2 in Las Vegas.[59] Linkin Park also hosted a public tribute for Bennington in Los Angeles on October 27, titled Linkin Park and Friends: Celebrate Life in Honor of Chester Bennington. The event featured the band's first performance following his death, along with performances from Blink-182, members of System of a Down, Korn, Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me the Horizon, and Yellowcard, and the singer Kiiara, among others.[60][61][62]
Rapper Jay-Z paid tribute to Bennington on several occasions by performing "Numb/Encore" live. Jay-Z and Bennington (with Linkin Park) collaborated on the song. Coldplay's Chris Martin paid tribute to Bennington during the band's North American tour concert at MetLife Stadium, playing an acoustic version of "Crawling" on piano.[63] During the 60th Annual Grammy Awards's annual in memoriam tribute, rapper Logic performed the song "1-800-273-8255" live alongside Alessia Cara and Khalid as a tribute to both Cornell and Bennington. The song's title is the phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.[64]
Connections to Chris Cornell's death [ edit ]
Bennington's death occurred on what would have been Chris Cornell's 53rd birthday.[65] Cornell was a close friend of Bennington. Cornell's death was also ruled as suicide, by hanging, two months prior.[65] Bennington commented on Cornell's death on Instagram by stating, "I can't imagine a world without you in it."[65] Shinoda noted that Bennington was very emotional when the band performed "One More Light" in his honor on Jimmy Kimmel Live!,[66] where he could not finish singing the song and started getting choked up during both the rehearsal and at the live performance setting.[67] The band was due to record a live performance of their single "Heavy" on the show, but decided instead to play "One More Light" after hearing the news about Cornell's death because the song is about the loss of a friend.[67] Bennington sang Leonard Cohen's song "Hallelujah" at Cornell's funeral.[65] He was also the godfather of Cornell's son Christopher.[65]
Musical style and influences [ edit ]
Bennington possessed a three octave tenor vocal range, beginning at the low bass G (G2), and reaching its peak at the tenor G (G5). His vocals showed tremendous durability for the entirety of his career.[68] Altheapi of Rolling Stone wrote: "Bennington's voice embodied the anguish and wide-ranging emotions of the lyrics, from capturing life's vulnerable moments to the fury and catharsis found in his belted screams, which he would often move between at the turn of a dime."[69]
Talking about his favorite bands and influences, Bennington mentioned Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, Arcade Fire, Circle Jerks, Descendents, Deftones, Jane's Addiction, Metallica, Ministry, Minor Threat, Misfits, The Naked and Famous, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Refused, Skinny Puppy, Soundgarden, and A Tribe Called Quest.[70][71] Bennington also considered himself as "a huge Madonna fan", crediting her for making him grow up wanting to be a musician.[72]
Legacy [ edit ]
Several publications have commented on the music legacy Bennington left with the bands and projects he worked in.[73][74] While describing the success of Bennington and Linkin Park, Allmusic's Andrew Leahey said, "Although rooted in alternative metal, Linkin Park became one of the most successful acts of the 2000s by welcoming elements of hip-hop, modern rock, and atmospheric electronica into their music... focusing as much on the vocal interplay between singer Chester Bennington and rapper Mike Shinoda".[75] Writing for Billboard, Dan Weiss stated that Bennington "turned nu-metal universal," as he was "clearly an important conduit for his far-ranging audience".[76]
The New York Times' Jon Caramanica commented that Bennington's ability to "pair serrated rawness with sleek melody" separated him from other contemporary singers, and also from the artists he was influenced by. Caramanica noted, "He was an emo sympathizer in a time when heavy metal was still setting the agenda for mainstream hard rock, and a hip-hop enthusiast who found ways to make hip-hop-informed music that benefited from his very un-hip-hop skill set". As Bennington acquired influences from industrial and hardcore punk acts, the journalist believed this was the factor that made Linkin Park survive the "rise and precipitous fall of the rap-rock era", calling the musician "a rock music polymath".[77] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times argued, "Perhaps more than Linkin Park's influential sound, Bennington's real artistic legacy will be the message he put across – the reassurance he offered from the dark".[78]
BBC's Steve Holden called Bennington the "voice of a generation", saying his voice was arguably Linkin Park's greatest asset.[79] Jonathan McAloon of The Daily Telegraph commented, "Bennington’s death will have an impact on many millennials because his voice was the sound of their millennium".[80] While talking about Linkin Park's popularity, Corey Apar, of AllMusic, commented, "Bennington's oft-tortured vocals became one of the most distinctive in the alternative rock scene".[81] Writing for The Guardian, Ben Beaumont-Thomas noted "Bennington’s decision to sing clearly and openly was, therefore, more radical than he is given credit for, and indeed more socially valuable". The journalist continued to discuss Bennington's impact, commenting,
“ His cleanly articulated tales of emotional struggle gave millions the sense that someone understood them, and the huge sound of his band around him magnified that sense, moving listeners from the psychic space of their bedrooms into an arena of thousands of people who shared their pain.[82] ”
James Hingle echoed this sentiment, writing for Kerrang! he said that Bennington "was one of the most honest vocalists out there when it came to his mental health".[83] In the same topic, William Goodman from Billboard said Bennington and fellow musicians Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland "helped define a generation of the hard rock sound, who were tied together artistically and personally".[84]
The Straits Times' music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi stated Bennington was an inspiration to many artists in the Singapore music scene.[85] Calum Slingerland, editor of the Canadian periodical Exclaim!, expressed, "[H]is influence has been felt in the worlds of rock, metal, rap, and beyond".[86]
After Bennington's death, his wife Talinda Bennington launched a campaign called 320 Changes Direction in honor of her husband to help break the stigma surrounding mental health.
Other works [ edit ]
In 2005, Bennington appeared on "Walking Dead", the lead single from turntablist Z-Trip's debut album Shifting Gears. Bennington also made a surprise guest appearance during Z-Trip's performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2005.[87] He also joined Alice in Chains and performed the song "Man in the Box" at KROQ's Inland Invasion Festival in 2006.[88][89] Bennington performed with Kings of Chaos during their six-show 2016 concert tour.[90]
Album contributions [ edit ]
Music producer [ edit ]
Bennington executive-produced the 2012 debut EP Us–You for Los Angeles hard rock band Hellflower, which is fronted by his long-time friend and Director of Activities (D.O.A.) Church.[93]
Filmography [ edit ]
Bennington made a cameo appearance in the 2006 film Crank as a customer in a pharmacy.[94] He later appeared as a horse-track spectator in the film's 2009 sequel, Crank: High Voltage.[95] Bennington also played the role of the ill-fated racist Evan in the 2010 film Saw 3D.[96] He was one of several rock musicians who spoke about the industry on Jared Leto's 2012 documentary, Artifact.[97]
Bennington was working with Church on developing an upcoming television show, Mayor of the World, with executive producer Trip Taylor.[98]It was the first day of third grade and 8-year-old Lucy was sitting in the principal’s office with her parents, crying her heart out.
“She was terrified,” her mother, Bridget Tidd, recalls. “Mark and I sat with her and said: ‘This is your journey. We will go and do whatever you want.’ She had this blue bunny and she just held onto that and sobbed and sobbed. And then Mark carried her to the classroom.”
It was her first day of going to school as a girl. The little boy who was Benjamin Tidd was no more. Instead, there was Lucy, in her pink dress, black leggings and a headband in her still-short hair.
“The scariest thing is that nobody knew except for the teachers,” Mark Tidd said. “The kids saw Benjamin walk into school dressed like a girl, and they were like, ‘Hey, Benji.’ They were confused, but there was no malicious intent.”
Lucy didn’t relax until recess, when her mother helped a group of curious girls understand what was happening.
“I said to them, ‘This is the same person you played with last year, that you played four square with, that you played jump rope with, that you ran around and played ball with. This is the same exact person,’ ” Bridget told them.
Only now, Benji wanted to be just like them – like a girl.
Benji’s friends at Lyseth Elementary School in Portland didn’t know that since he was 3 or 4 years old, he had been dressing up and wearing nail polish and acting like a girl in the safety of his home. Now he wanted to be that way all the time, everywhere. Just weeks earlier, he picked out the name Lucy – for the young heroine of C.S. Lewis’ “Chronicles of Narnia,” who enters an enchanted wardrobe and discovers a new world on the other side – and decided to start third grade as a girl.
“I said, ‘Do you think that we can let her be herself and do this?’ ” Bridget asked the girls, who nodded in agreement. “Then the next thing I know they took her hand and they ran and that was it.”
“I stood there with tears in my eyes, trusting that the rest of the day would be OK, and I let her go. And at that moment she was completely free, and we’ve never turned back.”
GROWING ACCEPTANCE
Lucy’s life as a transgender girl since that day, almost 18 months ago, has been largely uneventful. No complaints from parents or bullies at school. No question about the teams she plays on or the bathroom she uses. Friends have been welcoming.
That hasn’t always been the case for transgender people, those who identify with or express a gender identity different from the one that corresponds to their sex at birth. Many who have come out as transgender have experienced decades of discrimination and stigma. But new research, the coming out of several high-profile individuals and a growing transgender civil rights movement have made gender identity part of the national conversation.
Related The medical perspective on being transgender
The U.S. defense secretary says he plans to lift a ban on transgender troops. Medicare now covers gender reassignment surgery. Title IX protects transgender students from discrimination. The federal Civil Rights Act recognizes transgender discrimination as a form of sex discrimination.
And while some states or cities have opposed laws that prohibit discrimination against transgender people in employment, housing or public places, many, including Maine, have passed laws or policies that shield transgender children from bullying, give them the right to play sports or use a bathroom based on their transgender identity.
“There really has been a societal change and acceptance. Even the laws are changing pretty rapidly,” said Jeremi Carswell, a pediatric endocrinologist at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, home to the first clinic in the United States for transgender children and adolescents.
The Tidds, who have three other children, say they braced for a vicious backlash but have not experienced it yet.
They credit societal changes, as well as strong family ties, faith in God and good friends.
“We were waiting for some name calling or (someone) belligerent,” Mark said. “But people we didn’t know came up to us and said, ‘We support you, we encourage you and we’re here for you.’ It was amazing.”
The Tidds hope that by telling their story, it will help others in similar situations. For years, they struggled alone with their confusion and doubts. Bridget says she still has moments when she mourns the loss of Benji.
Even now they don’t know anyone else in their situation.
“We so desperately want to help someone else,” said Bridget.
‘IT’S ALL OUT NOW’
On a recent afternoon at Lyseth Elementary School, Lucy is bouncing on the tips of her toes, dancing sideways and swatting at a huge red ball as her friends cheer her on. She breaks out in a dazzling ear-to-ear grin, her face framed by a multicolored scarf that holds back her shoulder-length brown hair and reveals gold earrings. She and the girls huddle close in line, whispering and giggling.
There were signs early on that the Tidds’ son was different.
“As early as 3 (years old) she always wanted to be in dresses and have long hair. We allowed it in the home, but not outside of the home because we didn’t know how it would be received,” her mother said. “We were afraid she would be teased.”
“She’d put on my shoes then say, ‘I love the sound of that’ – the tapping sound. Or she would put a shirt on her head and the sleeves would become her hair, and she’d pretend to brush it.”
At first, Mark resisted the girly behavior in Benji, who was in Cub Scouts and played baseball and basketball.
“I had this mindset that I had three sons,” said Mark. “At the time, I thought it wasn’t OK. It’s not the norm.”
Even Bridget admits that she wasn’t always sure what to do.
“As she got older she kept saying, ‘I want to wear a dress to school’ (and) I didn’t know how to respond to that,” Bridget said. “I remember thinking at the time, maybe my child is gay, and that’s OK. That was OK with me.”
But starting in second grade, the Tidds started getting calls from school and noticing more behavior problems at home.
“We were having severe tantrums, screaming and yelling and fighting, and it would last for hours,” her mother said. Lucy would lie, steal inconsequential items like hand sanitizer from classmates and hide them in her room.
“We could not get through to her as parents, and we both have special education backgrounds.”
Mark worked at Sweetser, a behavioral health care agency, for 15 years, and both parents currently work as ed techs in the public school system.
Bridget said she thinks Lucy acted out because she was living a lie as a boy.
“She had a lot of secrets in her life,” Bridget said. “Her secret (was) this lie, this inability to be who she was.”
‘GOD COULD BRING ME BACK AS A GIRL’
It didn’t occur to the Tidds that their son might be transgender.
“It wasn’t something like it is today,” Bridget said. “None of that was there for us in the beginning.”
But they can both point to turning points, when they realized their little boy’s fascination with nail polish and long hair was something more than a silly child’s game.
“I remember finding her journal,” Bridget said. |
forwarded e-mail with the following content...
England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...
if someone could find a source for this it would be great to add to to the page. 65.92.244.107 18:46, 5 August 2009 (UTC)Continue Reading Below Advertisement
I know I just called Stephen Bannon a racist and absolutely can't hide my disgust that Trump is president -- but putting aside partisan views, I can't stress enough how concerned I am for the President's health. The man doesn't sleep, eats junk, and clearly has an anger problem. It doesn't help that most of the country hates him... but that probably has to do with the fact that he's being advised by an apocalypse-faced white nationalist and has no actual interest in helping the American people. Come to think of it, I'm not actually that concerned with his health after all -- so let's move on.
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.: More (Awkward) President Stuff
Look -- it's not all fun and games, people. The prez gotta work. However, since this is the end of the day (the White House has office hours like everywhere else), the 5 p.m. block is probably reserved for whatever bullshit he doesn't mind cancelling at the last second. This is further evidenced by the fact that Trump has used this time to host a "bipartisan congressional leadership reception" and meet with Paul Ryan -- a man his Breitbart posse doesn't see eye-to-eye with.
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6:00 p.m.: Leaving The Office, Entering Depression
Upon leaving for the day, Obama would immediately have dinner with his family before playing a solid 45 minutes of pool with their personal chef -- presumably while stoically digesting. Trump, however, did not bring any personal staff to the White House -- and by "personal staff" I mean "his family." First lady Melania and little Barron are staying in New York, with the occasional weekend visit.
The Washington Post
"Just don't bother me on Saturday night, though."
Look. While it's technically hearsay, I'm like 80 percent certain Melania Trump doesn't enjoy her time with Donald. Her body language has all the tellings of a little kid forced to hang with a weird uncle. Trump once boasted that he's never heard her fart in front of him, as if that's a sign of a comfortable relationship and not someone who desperately doesn't want to upset you. When Barron was born, Melania and the baby lived on a completely separate floor of Trump Tower. These are all facts.
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And so our 45th commander-in-chief is destined to spend his weeknights alone with his anger-thoughts, eating at the end of a long solitary table like a more-easily-winded Bruce Wayne.
8:00 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.: "Reading," Boyish Hope, Cultivating Rage
No, you flaccid fools, the president's work is never done. According to Obama's chef, his post-pool evening would be routinely cut off by the usher's office delivering an 8 p.m. binder filled with "an insane amount of paper" -- which he went over for three or four hours before bed.
However, according to his own words, Trump doesn't read. His desk is often piled with nothing but magazines and articles specifically about him. He claims to be too "busy" to put brain to paper, and makes his decisions not from gaining information but rather "common sense" and "business ability."If the critics are right, the stem-cell enthusiasts are heading down a blind alley that will serve as just another cautionary tale in the history of medical research.
In the meantime, though, proponents are looking for ways to kill the stem cells, and say that certain new drugs may be the solution.
“Within the next year, we will see medical centers targeting stem cells in almost every cancer,” said Dr. Max S. Wicha, director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, one of the sites for the preliminary study that begins in the next few months (the other participating institutions are Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston).
“We are so excited about this,” Dr. Wicha said. “It has become a major thrust of our cancer center.”
At the National Cancer Institute, administrators seem excited, too.
“If this is real, it could have almost immediate impact,” said Dr. R. Allan Mufson, chief of the institute’s Cancer Immunology and Hematology Branch.
The cancer institute is financing the research, he said, and has authorized Dr. Mufson to put out a request for proposals, soliciting investigators to apply for cancer institute money to study cancer stem cells and ways to bring the research to cancer patients. The institute has agreed to contribute $5.4 million.
“Given the current fiscal situation, which is terrible, it’s a surprising amount,” Dr. Mufson said. “We actually asked for less,” he added, but the cancer institute’s executive committee asked that the amount be increased.
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Proponents of the hypothesis like to use the analogy of a lawn dotted with dandelions: Mowing the lawn makes it look like the weeds are gone, but the roots are intact and the dandelions come back.
So it is with cancer, they say. Chemotherapy and radiation often destroy most of a tumor, but if they do not kill the stem cells, which are the cancer’s roots, it can grow back.
Cancerous stem cells are not the same as embryonic stem cells, the cells present early in development that can turn into any cell of the body. Cancerous stem cells are different. They can turn into tumor cells, and they are characterized by distinctive molecular markers.
The stem-cell hypothesis answered a longstanding question: does each cell in a tumor have the same ability to keep a cancer going? By one test the answer was no. When researchers transplanted tumor cells into a mouse that had no immune system, they found that not all of the cells could form tumors.
To take the work to the next step, researchers needed a good way to isolate the cancer-forming cells. Until recently, “the whole thing languished,” said Dr. John E. Dick, director of the stem cell biology program at the University of Toronto, because scientists did not have the molecular tools to investigate.
But when those tools emerged in the early 1990s, Dr. Dick found stem cells in acute myelogenous leukemia, a blood cancer. He reported that such cells made up just 1 percent of the leukemia cells and that those were the only ones that could form tumors in mice.
Yet Dr. Dick’s research, Dr. Wicha said, “was pretty much ignored.” Cancer researchers, he said, were not persuaded — and even if they had accepted the research — doubted that the results would hold for solid tumors, like those of the breast, colon, prostate or brain.
That changed in 1994, when Dr. Wicha and a colleague, Dr. Michael Clarke, who is now at Stanford, reported finding cancerous stem cells in breast cancer patients.
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“The paper hit me like a bombshell,” said Robert Weinberg, a professor of biology at M.I.T. and a leader in cancer research. “To my mind, that is conceptually the most important paper in cancer over the past decade.”
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Dr. Weinberg and others began pursuing the stem-cell hypothesis, and researchers now say they have found cancerous stem cells in cancers of the colon, head and neck, lung, prostate, brain, and pancreas.
Symposiums were held. Leading journals published paper after paper.
But difficult questions persisted. One problem, critics say, is that the math does not add up. The hypothesis only makes sense if a tiny fraction of cells in a tumor are stem cells, said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, a colon cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins who said he had not made up his mind on the validity of the hypothesis.
But some studies suggest that stem cells make up 10 percent or even 40 percent or 50 percent of tumor cells, at least by the molecular-marker criterion. If a treatment shrinks a tumor by 99 percent, as is often the case, and 10 percent of the tumor was stem cells, then the stem cells too must have been susceptible, Dr. Vogelstein says.
Critics also question the research on mice. The same cells that can give rise to a tumor if transplanted into one part of a mouse may not form a tumor elsewhere.
“A lot of things affect transplants,” Dr. Kern, the Johns Hopkins researcher, said, explaining that transplanting tumors into mice did not necessarily reveal whether there were stem cells.
Other doubts have been raised by Dr. Kornelia Polyak, a researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Polyak asked whether breast cancer cells remain true to type, that is, whether stem cells remain stem cells and whether others remain non-stem cells? The answer, she has found, is “not necessarily.”
Cancer cells instead appear to be moving targets, changing from stem cells to non-stem cells and back again. The discovery was unexpected because it had been thought that cell development went one way — from stem cell to tumor cell — and there was no going back.
“You want to kill all the cells in a tumor,” Dr. Polyak said. “Everyone assumes that currently-used drugs are not targeting stem cell populations, but that has not been proven.”
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“To say you just have to kill the cancer stem cell is oversimplified,” she added. “It’s giving false hope.”
The criticisms make sense, Dr. Weinberg said. But he said he remained swayed by the stem cell hypothesis.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions, mind you,” he said. “Most believe cancer stem cells exist, but that doesn’t mean they exist. We believe it on the basis of rather fragmentary evidence, which I happen to believe in the aggregate is rather convincing.”
Dr. Wicha said he was convinced that the hypothesis was correct, and said it explained better than any other hypothesis what doctors and patients already know.
“Not only are some of the approaches we are using not getting us anywhere, but even the way we approve drugs is a bad model,” he said. Anti-cancer drugs, he noted, are approved if they shrink tumors even if they do not prolong life. It is the medical equivalent, he said, of mowing a dandelion field.
He said the moment of truth would come soon, with studies like the one planned for women with breast cancer.
The drug to be tested was developed by Merck to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It did not work on Alzheimer’s but it kills breast cancer stem cells in laboratory studies, Dr. Wicha says.
The study will start with a safety test on 30 women who have advanced breast cancer. Hopes are that it will be expanded to find out if the drug can prolong lives.
“Patient survival,” Dr. Wicha said, “is the ultimate endpoint.”What a ridiculous question. How can you lose a registry?
So a few days ago, we were informed that we have less than 5 weeks to comply with an “employee dependent verification” audit conducted by a third party contracted through the City (City Council and the Mayor approved of this, unanimously.) These audits are used to weed out cheaters – they require employees to provide proof of relationships, both in terms of “forming it” (marriage licenses, birth certificates) and its current status (proof of shared bills, tax forms, etc.)
The first problem is that five weeks is not very much time to gather paperwork you may not have on hand.
The second problem is that the criteria for married couples is less onerous than the criteria for domestic partners. Married couples have to provide their marriage license and either a copy of their 2012 tax return or a curent bill with both of their names. Domestic partners have to provide our affidavit of domestic partnership (the item that registered us with the City’s official Domestic Partner Registry) and THREE forms of additional evidence of financial intermingling.
Well, that’s inherently unfair. Are we more likely to cheat? Consider this – we have to pay on average $1,000 more per year for our health insurance coverage because we are not married – it is considered taxable income, not pretax. So we pay more and we are presumed “more guilty” until proven innocent?
And I haven’t even explored the onus for domestic partners who have coverage for their children and step-children. I can’t even imagine.
The third problem – the BIGGEST problem – is that the City erased our domestic partnership. Ledcat went to the Personnel Department to get a copy of that certificate because it seemed the fastest way to handle it and meet the deadline. Much to her shock, they don’t have the certificates. Gone. No explanation. No promise to look into it. Just an offer for us to backdate a new form. That’s potential fraud btw. You don’t just recreate a document with a backdate – you have to actually document the reason for recreating it.
So we’ve been on the books since 2006 as domestic partners. In 2008, the City created an official Domestic Partner Registry and all existing partnerships were transferred automatically. My understanding at least count was that about 50 couples were registered. So the Personnel Department is not just the employer, is is the legal repository for these documents – like a Registrar of Wills.
So we can’t even deal with the unfair burden of the “three forms of proof” yet because the City apparently unpartnered us.
So you might think, oh its just a paperwork issue. But considering it is the single piece of paperwork in the entire world that creates any type of relationship recognition for us – it is much worse than an “issue” – it devastating. An expensive, anxiety causing, humiliating slap in the face to employees who have been loyal and hardworking and willing to pay higher taxes to support their families.
This is the City that flies rainbow flags over federal court decisions. The City that has an LGBTQ Advisory Board. The City that offered domestic partner benefits in the mid-1990’s. The City that just decided to require contractors to offer domestic partner benefits. Ha. How can you require contractors to offer domestic partner benefits when you can’t keep track of your own paperwork? If I were a contractor, I’d laugh in your face.
As for the “three forms of proof” – thanks for creating a scenario where we have to undergo a riorous scrutiny about the mess that is same sex relationships in 2013. When we called for clarification, we were told a completely different set of requirements than was sent to us via mail. Everything is unclear – do they consider a will proof of anything? Or a pension distribution? A phone bill? Yes. That’s fine. However, the process to add a second person to a Verizon account is a nightmare. And takes more than five weeks. Do we believe the paper? The woman on the phone? Personnel?
In what reality does it make sense that a will prepared by a licensed attorney in accordance with state law is not proof of anything, but the bill the customer service rep at Duquesne Light can generate with just a few flicks of their wrist – that’s proof?
The City is spending $55,000 on this audit. I can’t imagine there is that much fraud unless they are checking residency requirements at the same time. Fine. But if your own Personnel Department is so screwed up can you imagine the potential lawsuits when people lose coverage? And is the residency requirement data worth hurting innocent employees who happen to be LGBTQ? (This is pure speculation on my part, but so far its the only thing that makes sense.)
Let me be clear – this is a humiliating and degrading experience. I’ve been on the phone all week as has Ledcat and so far we’ve just heard “we’ll get back to you” – well, that’s great fellas, but time is ticking. And unless you are prepared to personally pay for my health insurance if things don’t work out before the deadline – yeah, I’m upset.
You erased my relationship. It doesn’t matter what’s in my heart or my Facebook photo albums. At the end of the day, what matters it what’s documented.
First, the City needs to go public about the status of the Domestic Partner Registry. How many are missing? Where are the affidavits? And how is the City Solicitor going to address the missing documents without asking us to “backdate” paperwork?
Second, the City needs to fix that problem ASAP. Not in January.
Third, the City will need to confirm with the auditor that they have a clear grasp on the most current interpretation of federal and state laws (DOMA) on same sex relationships. If the IRS recognizes an out of state marriage for purposes of determining pre/post tax liability, why should the City do otherwise?
Fourth, the auditor needs to reissue in writing a list of acceptable forms of verification, a list that does not discriminate against LGBTQ employees and their families. This will require that the deadline be pushed back. And some rethinking take place.
Fifth, Future Mayor Pedutor’s HR team will need to meet with a group of everyday LGBTQ folks to understand how the Domestic Partner Registry requirements are barriers, not tools we can use to access supports.
I am not enjoying answering stupid intrusive questions like “why can’t you just open a joint back account?” or “can’t you just get a credit card together?” No. And it’s none of your fucking business, but leave it at this – I’m not stupid. Of course, I considered all my options. I am immersed in this information every single day. The answer to “why not?” – it’s because we are second class citizens. Period.
Even as a middle class, educate white lesbian – life is not easy in this region. I’ve been harassed, mocked, humiliated, threatened, chased, taunted, belittled, insulted, denied, and more. But nothing has made me feel so awful as having my entire relationship erased. It broke something inside me.
Was the audit intended to dump people from City health coverage a la UPS and the Affordable Care Act?
Is it related to proof of residency issues around the ongoing battle with the FOP over residency requirements?
Is it connected to the need to trim costs to continue the battle with UPMC over health coverage?
I don’t know. I do know that this company is going to get $55,000 of tax payer money and I’m likely not going to get an explanation. Just a quick fix. (And it is sort of ironic that that amount would pay the extra federal tax bill for all the domestic partners for an entire year.)
But what’s broken won’t heal with a quick fix. The paperwork matters. And I’m not feeling any confidence in a system that tells me to just backdate something. So we are going to have to see a lawyer. And who is going to pay for that? Will we get a refund in the $1000 more we pay in taxes for these very health insurance benefits? And what about the other domestic partners? Has anyone notified them?
I feel pretty low about all of this. I was originally angry, but we are one full week closer to the deadline and not an inch closer to answers. Now I just feel like maybe we are innocent bystanders in some larger war and no one knows how to fix it.
Why should we continue to live in Pennsylvania when we can’t even have the most simple things run smoothly?In this April 15, 1997 picture, Senior Airmen Mark Pacis, left, and Christopher Carver mount a refurbished nuclear warhead to the top of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile inside an underground silo in Scottsbluff, Neb. Eric Draper/AP
With public trust and safety at stake, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered immediate actions Thursday to define the depth of trouble inside the nation's nuclear force, which has been rocked by disclosures about security lapses, poor discipline, weak morale and other problems that raise questions about nuclear security.
It amounted to the most significant expression of high-level Pentagon concern about the nuclear force since 2008, when then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired the top uniformed and civilian officials in the Air Force following a series of mistakes that included an unauthorized flight of nuclear-armed cruise missiles across the country.
Hagel had recently said he was considering what may lay behind problems in the nuclear Air Force but his chief spokesman said Thursday that the defense secretary concluded urgent remedies were needed.
"To the degree there are systemic problems in the training and professional standards of the nuclear career field, the secretary wants them solved," the spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, said. "To the degree there are gaps in our understanding or implementation of those standards, he wants them closed. And to the degree leaders have failed in their duties, he wants them held to account."
Hagel summoned top military officials to a Pentagon conference, to be held within two weeks, to "raise and address" any personnel problems infesting the nuclear force, and he ordered an "action plan" be written within 60 days to explore nuclear force personnel issues, identify remedies, and put those fixes into place quickly. Hagel said he and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, will host the nuclear summit.
The Pentagon chief also said he would assemble a small group of outsiders with expertise in the nuclear field to conduct a broader review of the U.S. nuclear force, with a focus on personnel issues, and to recommend changes "that would help ensure the continued safety, security and effectiveness of our nuclear forces."
"Personnel failures within this force threaten to jeopardize the trust the American people have placed in us to keep our nuclear weapons safe and secure," Hagel wrote in a memo to a dozen top officials, including heads of the Air Force and Navy.
Since May, the AP has reported that nuclear missile force officers, from the commanding officer on down, had engaged in numerous misbehaviors or lapses. Some of those included failing security tests, violating security rules like leaving the blast door open while one of two officers napped, morale so low an officer complained of "rot" in his force and a report citing worryingly high levels of burnout.
Personnel issues are important because intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are kept on alert every hour of every day, and the potential for human error is ever-present. Some argue that the men and women who hold the keys to the nuclear missiles have lost some of their focus on the mission, while others say their commanders are more to blame.
Not at issue, at least in the short term, is the Obama administration's commitment to keeping the bulk of the current nuclear force, which is comprised of ballistic missile submarines, nuclear-capable bombers and the Air Force's fleet of 450 Minuteman 3 ICBMs based in silos in five states.
Hagel recently reiterated his support for the nuclear force and said he is not questioning its safety.
Hagel directed his concern mainly at the Air Force and its Minuteman 3 missiles, which have been the source of many of the problems reported.
And just last week, in a disclosure that apparently startled Hagel, the Air Force said a drug investigation that began at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., which operates one-third of the ICBM force, led to a separate investigation of alleged cheating on proficiency tests by 34 officers who operate the missiles there.
Those 34 officers had their security clearances suspended in a scandal that the commander at Malmstrom, Col. Robert W. Stanley II, told the AP in an interview last Friday had left his force "brokenhearted."
Last month an Air Force investigation revealed that Maj. Gen. Michael Carey, who was commander of the nuclear missile force, had engaged in embarrassing behavior while leading a U.S. government delegation to a nuclear security exercise in Russia, including heavy drinking and cavorting with suspicious women. He had been fired in October, just days after another senior nuclear officer, Navy Vice Adm. Tim Giardina, was relieved of command at U.S. Strategic Command amid allegations linked to counterfeit gambling chips.
With an eye toward avoiding further surprises, Hagel's planned Pentagon summit meeting with top officers, as well as other actions announced Thursday, include participation by Navy officials responsible for their portion of the nuclear arsenal.
The Navy has not suffered any recent reported lapses or failures within its nuclear submarine force, but Kirby said Hagel believed it would be imprudent for him not to examine the entirety of the arsenal.
"What the secretary wants to know is, what else don't I know" about problems inside the force, Kirby said.
The Associated PressThis post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
There is a simple joy in being entertained. The younger me would sit back on the end of my bed, eyes filled with excitement while immersed in a video game. However, there are times when what is designed to entertain captures our mind, our imagination, and our heart.
It is here that I must move on to the topic of today — Shenmue. For the uninitiated, Shenmue is an unfinished martial-arts video game from Sega. Set in Japan during the 1980s, it defies typical genre labeling and has developed a cult following. However, unlike many cult classics, this game was not subject to a small budget or limited marketing release. In fact, Shenmue had ground-breaking graphics and features for the time and was reminiscent of the big-budget, open-world games that we see today.
Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed the visual feast, it was the presentation of a new culture that grabbed the heart of my 12-year-old self. Playing Shenmue was like peering through a window into the far East. As the protagonist Ryo’s adventure had him slowly understanding Chinese folklore, learning martial arts, and interacting with everyday Yokosuka, Japan, I was fully immersed in this experience as the player. It compelled me to one day visit the locations explored in Shenmue. That journey, very much unlike our beloved series, is finally complete.
Now, I present my journey into the real-life locations of Shenmue, sprawling two countries, four plane trips, and three trains!
Note: I would like to point out that I visited the locations in reverse order and will present them as so. I will be embedding a few pictures but will link to the full photo albums.
First stop: Guilin
Guilin is the last stop of Ryo’s journey and the first of mine. Needless to say, I was excited — not only because Guilin is the setting for this wonderful game but also because it is considered one of the most beautiful areas in China, its scenery gracing China’s 20 Yuan note. It’s hard to argue when you see it in person.
The first thing I am struck by is how big Guilin is. Shenmue doesn’t actually present any of Gulin city itself and doesn’t lead you to believe that it is a city of over 4 million. This is why the most iconic pictures in my collection are from Yangshuo, a smaller town with better views of the mountains.
After arriving in Guilin Airport and managing to find a bus, I was left in central Guilin with no idea where my hostel was. I spent 30 minutes in a taxi trying to find my would-be residence. Eventually, with the help of some locals and the realization that I was in possession of my hostel’s phone number, I found my way. I arrived and was greeted by this forklift parked directly outside. As those who have played Shenmue well know, a forklift is heavily prominent in the game, and I knew it was a sign.
So I was finally here. I was excited but tired. Traveling does that for some reason. So I grabbed some late night KFC (yes, KFC — they omitted that from Shenmue, funnily enough) and rested my head for the night in wait for the big day ahead.
In Guilin, I made several excursions, namely to Elephant Trunk Hill and the Reed Flute Cave. If you are in the area, try the Guilin specialty of udon noodles and beer-cooked fish, which you can select from the tank outside!
That’s me in Guilin. P.S. — getting a haircut in a country where you don’t speak the language can surprisingly result in some half-decent results.
Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin.
Reed Flute Cave, reminiscent of Shenhua’s father’s cave.(ANSA) - Rome, March 3 - COPASIR parliamentary intelligence oversight committee chair Giacomo Stucchi said Thursday two of the four Italian employees of the Bonatti oilfield construction firm kidnapped in Libya in July 2015 are confirmed dead.
"They were recognised using photographic techniques, we hope their bodies will soon be returned to Italy," Stucchi said.
Intelligence Undersecretary Marco Minniti earlier told COPASIR the other two hostages are still alive.
Filippo Calcagno and Gino Pollicardo were captured along with Salvatore Failla and Fausto Piano - both of whom are confirmed dead - near a Mellitah Oil Gas Company facility in western Libya, some 60 kms from Tripoli.
The foreign ministry said Thursday that Failla and Piano may have been killed in a shooting. "As regards the publication of some images of victims of a shooting in the region of Sabratha in Libya, apparently traceable to westerners, the foreign ministry communicates that those images, with the bodies still unavailable, could be two of the four Italian employees of the Bonatti construction firm kidnapped in July 2015," the ministry said in a statement.
The two Italians are said to have been killed on the outskirts of Sabratha, judicial sources said on Thursday. The convoy they were travelling in came under attack by a militia group and all the passengers were killed, the sources said. The bodies were recovered by the militias, they said.
A Libyan witness who is in Tunis after leaving Sabratha told ANSA Thursday that two Italians killed in a shooting "were used as human shields" by ISIS jidahists. The witness said that the two were killed "in clashes" with local militias on Wednesday in the south of the city, in the area of Surman.
Libyan medical sources had previously said that at least seven people were killed on an attack by local militias on an ISIS hideout in the Sabratha area, while two jihadists, a Syrian and a Tunisian, were captured and three others escaped.
Italian intelligence services had believed the abductions were carried out for ransom.
A family member of Pollicardo, a 55-year-old from Monterosso, near La Spezia, said that "we know nothing, apart from what we have managed to glean from the media over the last few hours. We hope for the best".
Renato Brunetta, the Lower House whip for Silvio Berlusconi's opposition centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, and Lia Quartapelle, a lawmaker for Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD), both requested that the government report to parliament shortly on the reports and on the situation in the chaos-hit North African country.
Giampiero Massolo, the director of National Intelligence and Security Department DIS, on Thursday called for caution. "There are two more lives to save and we must not say things that would compromise ongoing operations," he said. He added: "the area of the shooting is a zone where militias loyal to Tripoli are trying to combat Daesh (ISIS)".
The deaths of the two was likely not a reprisal for an announced Italian intervention in the North African country. "I really don't think so," Massolo told Sky TG24 news.Traffic never developed as expected on the $1.35 billion section of State Highway 130 operated by the SH 130 Concession Co.
DALLAS – Four years after a 41-mile section of the Texas State Highway 130 toll road opened near Austin, its private operator plans to give up ownership of the $1.35 billion project under a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan.
The State Highway 130 Concession Co., created by toll road developer Cintra and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 3.
The plan to reorganize under new ownership was filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio.
"Under the plan the equity positions currently held by investors Cintra and Zachry American Infrastructure would be cancelled, and new membership interests in the company will be created and distributed to the project's lenders," according to a prepared statement from the company.
Among the creditors is the Federal Highway Administration, which awarded the project a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan of $438 million.
Although the concession was granted by the Texas Department of Transportation, the state would not be financially impacted by the debt restructuring, according to the company.
"The Texas Department of Transportation contributed no money to build the project and is not liable for any of SH 130 Concession Company's outstanding debt, money that was used to finance construction," the company said.
Despite the lack of financial risk, the failure of the concession model is a significant setback for the TxDOT's efforts to keep pace with construction needs through private finance. TxDOT, which has billions of dollars of projects on its own drawing board in the rapidly growing state, operates the northern section of SH 130 as the Central Texas Turnpike System.
Under the original concession, TxDOT owns the highway while granting a lease to SH 130 Concession Co. for 50 years.
TxDOT will continue to own the road and must approve any new operator, according to terms of the original deal. The transition to a new owner is expected to take up to 18 months.
"The Facility Concession Agreement between the concession and TxDOT will remain in place to protect the public interest, and the company will continue to meet all terms of this agreement," the company stated. "There are details that remain to be resolved between the company and its lenders. The court and a majority of the company's creditors must approve a final plan before it can be implemented."
TxDOT received an upfront payment $125 million after awarding the project to Cintra-Zachary in 2007. The operator also agreed to share some toll revenue with the state.
While 10 international banks helped finance the project, five hold the majority of the debt: Banco Santander, Caixabank, Bankia, Banco Espirito Santo and BNP Paribas.
To qualify for the $438 million federal TIFIA loan, the SH 130 Concession Co. project needed an investment-grade credit rating.
TIFIA was authorized in 1998 to help state and local governments finance large-scale transportation projects with tolls and other forms of user-backed revenue. Recipients had previously had difficulty obtaining financing at reasonable rates due to uncertainties surrounding the revenue streams.
TIFIA provides fixed rates that are often lower than what most borrowers can obtain in the private market. SH 130 fit the TIFIA lending profile, which includes large-scale projects that might otherwise be delayed because of size, complexity, or uncertainty over the timing of revenues.
In 2008, Moody's Investors Service rated the concession company's senior-lien debt Baa3 while assigning a junk-bond rating of Ba1 to the subordinate TIFIA debt. The senior bank debt has a final maturity of 2038 and the TIFIA subordinate debt matures in 2047.
On April 12, 2013, Moody's downgraded the $686 million senior-lien debt to B1 and the subordinate-lien to B1, maintaining a negative outlook. Analysts said traffic and revenues were running about half of the projected rate.
On Oct. 15, 2013, Moody's dropped the senior-lien rating to Caa3 from B1, warning that the toll road was headed for default.
The concession company began negotiating with its lenders for new debt terms.
After the bankruptcy filing, Moody's lowered its final rating on the TIFIA loan to Ca from Caa3 and said it would withdraw the rating with a stable outlook.
The reorganization of SH 130 ownership could follow the model of the Indiana Toll Road Concession Company, which filed for bankruptcy in September 2014. Six months later, the Australian investment firm IFM Investors bid $5.72 billion for the Indiana Toll Road, a record for a U.S. public asset by a foreign company.
After IFM's acquisition, the Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. continued to operate the toll road.
The 157-mile Indiana Toll Road is a key link between the Chicago area and the East Coast. Competition from other roads is limited, and the concession agreement requires Indiana to keep it that way, or compensate the concessionaire in the event any competing roadway is built within 10 miles of the toll road over the life of the lease.
SH 130, in contrast, was designed as a bypass for heavily travelled Interstate 35, several miles to the east. While I-35 passes through the heart of Austin, SH 130 travels through sparsely populated outskirts of the city.
SH 130 was originally envisioned as part of the Trans Texas Corridor, a super highway designed to carry truck traffic from the Mexican border to the state's northern border. After protests from landowners, the TTC plan, fostered by then-Gov. Rick Perry, was abandoned.
Developers of SH 130 believed that truck operators would bypass the heavily congested I-35 for the new highway, which boasts a speed limit of 85 mph. However, a study by the Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute noted that large trucks are limited to lower speeds in the interest of saving fuel.
Developers also blamed the lingering effects of the 2008 recession for SH 130's disappointing traffic. Critics noted the high cost of traveling the entire length of the 89-mile tollway. The toll is $9.83 for a car without an electronic tag, and runs as high as $41.21 for a vehicle pulling two trailers. |
aesthetic that it shouldn’t be a harsh transition between teams.
AdvertisementAmir Khan has not held any world titles since losing to Lamont Peterson in 2011
Britain's Amir Khan will fight Mexico's Saul Alvarez for the WBC world middleweight title on 7 May in Las Vegas.
Khan, 29, a former light-welterweight world champion, has not fought since outpointing Chris Algieri in New York in May.
Alvarez, 25, beat Miguel Cotto by a unanimous points decision to claim the title in Las Vegas in November.
Alvarez has lost once and won 46 of his 48 fights.
The fight has been set at a catchweight of 155lb, eight more than Khan weighed in victory against Algieri and a jump of two weight divisions.
The usual weight limit for middleweight is 160lb, but Alvarez's last few fights have had the same weight stipulation.
The announcement also rules Khan out of a fight against IBF welterweight champion and domestic rival Kell Brook at Wembley on 4 June.
"I know Canelo fights the best and wouldn't pass up the opportunity to face me like others have," said Khan.
"My goal is to always fight the biggest names and the best fighters. That is why I'm excited for this fight.
"I know I have the speed and ability to beat him and will give my fans what they deserve."
Alvarez said he was looking forward to taking on Khan.
"Amir was a decorated amateur, a two-time world champion and is in the prime of his career," he said. "Fans are in for a great fight."
Khan has won 31 and lost three of his 34 professional fights.
Former WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi has his say on the fight
Former WBO international cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew predicts a tough test for Khan
Analysis
BBC Radio 5 live boxing correspondent Mike Costello:
"There was not a word of speculation this fight was in the making. Only last Thursday, promoter Eddie Hearn was telling me how negotiations for Khan to fight Brook had made slight progress.
"What is happening for Khan is much bigger in global terms. His career for the past year has been on hold. Suddenly he has a chance, an outside chance, to become a superstar.
"He has been constantly chasing the big names for the past few years and finally the patience has paid off. This is a big step up in class. Alvarez has lost only once and that was to Floyd Mayweather."Many animals produce alarm calls to predators, and do this more often when kin or mates are present than other audience members. So far, however, there has been no evidence that they take the other group members' knowledge state into account. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the University of St. Andrews, Great Britain, set up a study with wild chimpanzees in Uganda and found that chimpanzees were more likely to alarm call to a snake in the presence of unaware than in the presence of aware group members, suggesting that they recognize knowledge and ignorance in others.
Furthermore, to share new information with others by means of communication represents a crucial stage in the evolution of language. This study thus suggests that this stage was already present when our common ancestor split off from chimps 6 million years ago.
The ability to recognize another individuals' knowledge and beliefs may be unique to humankind. Tests of a "theory of mind" in animals have been mainly conducted in captivity and have yielded conflicting results: Some non-human primates can read others' intentions and know what others see, but they may not understand that, in others, perception can lead to knowledge. When there are negative results, however, the question remains whether chimpanzees really cannot do the task or whether they simply do not understand it. "The advantage of addressing these questions in wild chimpanzees is that they are simply doing what they always do in an ecologically relevant setting," says Catherine Crockford, a researcher at the University of St. Andrews.
Catherine Crockford, Roman Wittig and colleagues set up a study with wild chimpanzees in Budongo Forest, Uganda. They presented them with models of dangerous venomous snakes, two gaboon vipers and one rhinoceros viper. "As these highly camouflaged snakes sit in one place for weeks, it pays for the chimp who discovers it to inform other community members about the danger," says Crockford.
The researchers have monitored the behavior of 33 different chimpanzees, who saw one of three snake models and found that alarm calls were produced more when the caller was with group members who had either not seen the snake or had not been present when alarm calls were emitted. "Chimpanzees really seem to take another's knowledge state into account and voluntarily produce a warning call to inform the others of a danger that they [the others] do not know about," says Roman Wittig of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of St. Andrews. "In contrast, chimpanzees were less likely to inform audience members who already know about the danger."
This study shows that these are not only intentionally produced alert calls, but that they are produced more when the audience is ignorant of the danger. "It is as if the chimpanzees really understand that they know something the audience does not AND they understand that by producing a specific vocalization they can provide the audience with that information," concludes Wittig. Some scientists suggest that providing group members with missing information by means of communication is a crucial stage in the evolution of language: why inform audience members if you do not realize they need the information? Until now it was not clear at what point in hominoid or hominid evolution this stage evolved. It has been assumed that it was more likely to be during hominid evolution. This study suggests, however, that it was already present when our common ancestor split off from chimps 6 million years ago.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard
After Senate Republicans made it clear on Monday that they have no intention of investigating Russia’s influence and or relationship with Republican Donald Trump, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took to the floor Tuesday to try to shame Republicans into actually caring about Russia’s attack on their country by citing the founding fathers warning us about foreign interference.
“The Founding Fathers in their wisdom wrote in the Constitution that we had to worry about foreign interference,” Schumer warned on the Senate floor. “It’s happening now in a way that it has never happened before.”
“Mr. President, both parties here in Congress should be focused on the threat posed by Russia’s hacking activities and their attempts to influence foreign elections, especially ours,” Schumer said in floor remarks sent to PoliticusUSA.
“Make no mistake about it: these cyber-attacks won’t be limited to any one party or president… Whatever is good for Russia at the moment, whatever hurts the United States the most, that’s what he will pursue.”
“Director Clapper testified that Russia likely feels ’emboldened’ to continue their hacking activities given their success at disrupting our 2016 elections,” the Democrat continued, trying to rouse a hidden morsel of patriotism from his colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
“He said, ‘If there has ever been a clarion call for vigilance and action against a threat to the very foundation of our democratic political system, this episode is it. I hope the American people recognize the severity of this threat and that we collectively counter it before it further erodes the fabric of our democracy.’”
“I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Clapper. I hope these hearings are just the start of a bipartisan discussion about how to combat these efforts and safeguard the integrity of our elections. Democrats and Republicans should join together, pick out what Russia has done to us in the past, and how we prevent it from happening in the future. Again, as Director Clapper said, the very foundation of our democracy is at stake. The Founding Fathers in their wisdom wrote in the Constitution that we had to worry about foreign interference. It’s happening now in a way that it has never happened before. And in a bipartisan way, we must act.”
A valiant effort by Senator Schumer, but let’s face it. Republicans aren’t buying.
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday made it clear they were not there to discuss Russia. Instead, they asked questions about leaks to the press about the Trump camp’s ongoing contacts and possible collusion with Russia. They asked questions about Hillary Clinton’s emails (oh, yes, really). They asked questions about Yates refusing to defend Trump’s immigration executive order (the “Muslim ban”), which she said she found unlawful.
But none of those questions addressed the elephant in the room. That is that Russia might well be in control of our government right now. They interfered in the 2016 election, they will interfere in the next one unless they are stopped.
Republicans might feel like they are safe as Putin’s dirty acts of war helped them so who cares that he’s attacking the U.S.A. Or perhaps, given that they were also hacked, they are unable to do the right thing for their country because they are also compromised.
Either way, Republicans are not doing the right thing for their country. The only way to deal with this is to vote them out in 2018 as an act of patriotism.
If Republicans will not appoint an Independent Counsel or independent investigation to look into the possible collusion with Russia, they shouldn’t be in office.
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:The Columbia University student accused of rape by fellow student Emma Sulkowicz, who became a symbol of campus sexual assault with a high-profile campaign to bring awareness to her case, is fighting back in court.
Close video How art can be used to address rape culture Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz talks about why she is carrying her mattress around campus until her alleged rapist is expelled or moves off campus. share tweet email save Embed filed a discrimination suit in federal district court on Thursday against Columbia University, president Lee C. Bollinger, and Jon Kessler, a visual arts professor who advised Sulkowicz on a thesis project that involved carrying her mattress around campus unless Nungesser was expelled.
Sulkowicz, who has appeared on msnbc several times to tell her story and was a guest of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand at the 2015 State of the Union, has long criticized the university’s proceedings in investigating her complaint. She is not named in the suit. Instead, the lawsuit contends that the university and its top officials have “significantly damaged, if not effectively destroyed Paul Nungesser’s college experience, his reputation, his emotional well-being and his future career prospects,” which Nungesser alleges constitutes “gender based harassment and misconduct” in violation of state and federal law.
Sulkowicz, the suit argues, is “actively earning course credit from Columbia for this outrageous display of harassment and defamation of Paul and she is using this to fulfill her graduation requirement of a senior thesis, even despite clear notice by Paul and his parents to President Bollinger and other Columbia persons of authority, that Paul’s legal rights are being violated.”
The suit accuses Columbia’s president of having “displayed a contemptible moral cowardice in bowing down to the witch hunt against an innocent student instead of standing up for the truth and taking appropriate steps to protect Paul from gender based harassment.” Nungesser says he was ”targeted because he is a male, and attacked for his (consensual) sexual activity.”
RELATED: Columbia University to require students to take sex respect course
The university has appeared to try to stay above the fray in the very public aftermath of the case, but Nungesser’s suit implicates them by saying they “even provided financial endorsement to [Sulkowicz’s actions] by paying a portion of the clean-up fee at a [Columbia] campus rally in which Emma publicly declared that Paul is her rapist.” Moreover, the suit says, “Columbia allowed Columbia student Emma to carry the mattress into each of her classes, the library, and on campus-provided transportation and therefore endorsed Columbia student Emma’s gender based harassment, even though it was based on what Columbia had found after investigation to be untrue allegations.”
Nungesser is a German national who says his educational and professional pursuits, along with his ability to stay in the United States, have been destroyed by the university’s actions. The suit requests a jury trial and monetary damages.The video will start in 8 Cancel
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Police are battling a "serious organised crime problem" after recording a massive rise in carjackings and linked burglaries, according to the West Midlands' most senior officer.
Chief constable Dave Thompson said drivers faced a "lot of threat and risk" as gangs targeted modern cars which could be spirited abroad or broken up and used in "chop shops".
He spoke after a member of a policing warning warned of the "staggering" rise in such crimes in affluent areas like Solihull.
A string of terrifying carjackings - and house break-ins as raiders search for keys - have been recorded in the town and parts of south Birmingham in recent months.
Strategic Police and Crime Board member, Brendan Connor, said: “The rate of the increase in burglaries and robberies is staggering.
"We are looking at a 40 per cent in the period since March.
"One of the narratives coming out of the communities is that the burglaries and robberies are related.
“We have seen a very substantial increase in areas like Solihull.
"People are saying this is because they are the least-policed areas.
“During a road hijacking there is a very powerful threat of violence and there is a significant effect on the individuals.
“Public confidence in this area is going to go through the floor.”
Mr Thompson told the meeting: "There has been a big shift into newer modern vehicles. It has flipped around as a problem rapidly.
(Image: West Midlands Police)
"A lot of the vehicles have gone out of the country or ended up in a chop shop. I think it’s a really serious organised crime problem.
"There is a lot of threat and risk and it’s an absolute priority for the force."
And, responding to the concerns, Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said: "Our response needs to be incredibly robust.
“The scarcity of officers in these areas is a myth.
"There is a correlation in areas where there are higher value vehicles.
“One or two offenders have been responsible for a whole spree of car key burglaries, robberies and carjackings.
”She added that some of the stolen cars had been shipped abroad, others had been used with false plates to commit other crimes and some had ended up in “chop shops.”
Mr Thompson said the force had used sensitive tactics to tackle the issue and not all of the policing was visible to the public.
He added: “There is a level of organisation that’s quite intimidating.
“People have worked very hard to earn the money to have nice things.”
Last month the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, warned organised criminals were targeting luxury cars parked at railway stations across the West Midlands.
He raised the issue with manufacturers, accusing them of failing to protect customers.
He said: “Very few of these cars have been recovered. I have called on leading manufacturers to bring in measures to protect their vehicles from theft.
“As well as tough police action, it is important manufacturers take responsibility to ensure their vehicles are much more difficult to steal.
“Manufacturers are failing in their duties to protect their customers.
"The manufacturers should face up to their responsibilities and ensure the expensive vehicles they sell are not as vulnerable to hacking and theft.”Israeli security forces gather at the scene where a Palestinian, who the Israeli military said tried to stab a soldier, was shot dead by Israeli troops near the Jewish settlement of Ofra near the West Bank city of Ramallah November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab a soldier near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the military said.
The soldier was attacked as he guarded a bus stop near Ofra, the force said. “Responding to threat, forces at the scene shot the assailant, resulting in his death,” it added.
Over the past year, Palestinians, many acting alone and often using rudimentary weapons and cars, have killed at least 35 Israelis and two visiting Americans in similar attacks.
During the same period, at least 226 Palestinians have died in violent incidents in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Of those, Israel has identified 154 as assailants, while others were killed during clashes and protests.
Palestinians have accused Israeli police and soldiers of using excessive force in many such cases. Israel has opened investigations of several incidents.
Palestinian leaders say the assailants are acting out of desperation over the collapse in 2014 of peace talks and the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.Image copyright Northern Ireland Executive Image caption Lord Ballyedmond was one of Northern Ireland's richest men
Northern Ireland peer and industrialist Lord Ballyedmond was one of four people killed in a helicopter crash.
The helicopter came down in a field near his stately home in Gillingham, near Beccles, Norfolk, on Thursday.
Lord Ballyedmond, who was one of Northern Ireland's richest men, and the three other people on board, all confirmed as male, died at the scene.
One of the victims was Declan Small, 42, from Mayobridge, County Down.
It is not known what caused the crash but witnesses reported fog in the area at the time and said the helicopter came down very soon after taking off at about 19:30 GMT.
A spokesman for the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it would be sending a team to the area.
Limited investigations
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been contacted by Norfolk Police for assistance.
The helicopter has been confirmed as an Agusta Westland AW139.
Supt Dave Marshall, of Norfolk police, said: "Police, along with our emergency service colleagues and the Air Accident Investigation Branch are now working towards the dignified removal of the four bodies, which is expected to take place this afternoon, full examination of the scene and opening roads as quickly as possible.
"The cordon is in place to keep areas sterile and allow the investigation to be carried out sensitively and safely."
Image copyright Anthony Dunn Image caption The helicopter that is believed to have crashed in Norfolk
Tributes have been paid to Dr Edward Haughey, who became Lord Ballyedmond of Mourne when he was created a life peer in 2004.
He was a leading industrialist and owned veterinary pharmaceutical firm Norbrook Laboratories in Newry, County Down, and had a range of other business interests.
Image caption Several roads close to the helicopter crash scene have been closed off by police
As well as being a member of the House of Lords, he was a former member of the Irish senate.
Tributes paid
Ulster Unionist peer Lord Reg Empey, who has known the Haughey family for 25 years, said: "Lord Ballyedmond was one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland and indeed these islands.
"He brought high-quality employment opportunities to this country during its darkest days.
"This tragic accident has cut short the life of a man who had still much to give. The family circle will be numbed by the tragedy."
Ulster Unionist Stormont assembly member Danny Kennedy said he was stunned to hear of his death.
Image copyright Mike Page Image caption Gillingham Hall is in a small village in south Norfolk
"He will be sadly missed throughout the business community in Northern Ireland and wider afield. I offer my deepest sympathies to Lady Mary and the children."
South Down SDLP MP Margaret Ritchie said he was unique.
"He was a major employer in the County Down area and invested a lot of money.
"He got up and at it and he possessed those attributes required to make you a successful businessman, but he also was a major employer and a lot of families had connections with him through that."
In December 1996 a helicopter owned by Lord Ballyedmond crashed on Carlingford Mountain in the Republic of Ireland killing three people.
It was en route to his Rostrevor home.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lord Ballyedmond was one of Northern Ireland's richest men
Gillingham is a small village in the south of Norfolk with a population of about 650.
Norfolk Police said the crash site would remained cordoned off during the day while examinations of the scene were carried out.
The site of the crash is about 45 miles from where four crew members died when a US military helicopter crashed on a training mission in a nature reserve in Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, in January.McCain's Focus on Georgia Raises Question of Propriety
After Chiding Obama, He Dwells on Crisis as a President Might
By Dan Eggen and Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, August 15, 2008
Standing behind a lectern in Michigan this week, with two trusted senators ready to do his bidding, John McCain seemed to forget for a moment that he was only running for president.
Asked about his tough rhetoric on the ongoing conflict in Georgia, McCain began: "If I may be so bold, there was another president..."
He caught himself and started again: "At one time, there was a president named Ronald Reagan who spoke very strongly about America's advocacy for democracy and freedom."
With his Democratic opponent on vacation in Hawaii, the senator from Arizona has been doing all he can in recent days to look like President McCain, particularly when it comes to the ongoing international crisis in Georgia.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says he talks to McCain, a personal friend, several times a day. McCain's top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was until recently a paid lobbyist for Georgia's government. McCain also announced this week that two of his closest allies, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), would travel to Georgia's capital of Tbilisi on his behalf, after a similar journey by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
The extent of McCain's involvement in the military conflict in Georgia appears remarkable among presidential candidates, who traditionally have kept some distance from unfolding crises out of deference to whoever is occupying the White House. The episode also follows months of sustained GOP criticism of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who was accused of acting too presidential for, among other things, briefly adopting a campaign seal and taking a trip abroad that included a huge rally in Berlin.
"We talk about how there's only one president at a time, so the idea that you would send your own emissaries and really interfere with the process is remarkable," said Lawrence Korb, a Reagan Defense Department official who now acts as an informal adviser to the Obama campaign. "It's very risky and can send mixed messages to foreign governments.... They accused Obama of being presumptuous, but he didn't do anything close to this."
But McCain and his aides say his tough rhetoric on the Georgia crisis, along with his personal familiarity with the region, underscores the foreign policy expertise he would bring to the White House.
His focus on the dispute has also allowed McCain to distance himself somewhat from President Bush, who has been sharply criticized by many conservatives for moving too slowly to respond to Russia's military incursion into Georgia and South Ossetia, the breakaway province at the heart of the dispute. McCain's first statement on the conflict last Friday came before the White House itself had responded.
In often-lengthy remarks about Georgia this week on the campaign trail, McCain repeatedly talked of how many times he had been to the region, let it be known that he had talked daily with Saakashvili since the crisis began and made it clear that there had been times he thought Bush's response could have been stronger.
He provided a primer for why Americans should care about the "tiny little democracy" and tried to tie the foreign crisis with a domestic one: oil. Georgia is "part of a strategic energy corridor affecting individual lives far beyond" the region, he said.
"His statements have been very presidential," said John R. Bolton, a former U.N. ambassador under Bush who has since become one of the sharpest critics of the administration's recent foreign policy. "These are the kinds of things that the president should have been saying from the beginning."
At the same time, McCain also appears sensitive to going too far. In remarks both Wednesday and yesterday, for example, McCain explicitly ruled out direct military action against Russia, a step advocated by some hard-line conservatives.
"We want to avoid any armed conflict, and we will not have armed conflict," McCain said at a fundraiser yesterday in Edwards, Colo. "That's not the solution to this problem. But we have to stand up for freedom and democracy as we did in the darkest days."
McCain's ties to Saakashvili go back to the 1990s, when the future leader of the "Rose Revolution" was a student at George Washington University. In an interview this week on CNN, Saakashvili said he was "talking to Senator McCain several times a day."
"You know, I think he spends less time on his presidential campaign these days and lots of time on Georgia," Saakashvili said. "And I really appreciate that, because Senator McCain has been fighting for freedom of Georgia for many, many years."
He added a moment later: "And the same for Senator Obama."
The Obama campaign has been generally cautious in its remarks about the Georgia conflict, and the campaign yesterday declined to comment on the appropriateness of McCain's role. But earlier this week, Obama adviser Susan Rice said McCain "may have complicated the situation" with his early tough rhetoric on the dispute.
"John McCain shot from the hip," Rice said on MSNBC, calling his initial statement "very aggressive, very belligerent."
Lieberman, one of McCain's most ardent and vocal supporters, responded by criticizing Obama's more cautious first statement on the Georgia situation an example of "moral neutrality" that showed his "inexperience."
By Wednesday, however, both McCain and Obama had come together to praise the Bush administration's announcement of humanitarian aid and the secretary of state's diplomatic journey. McCain also told reporters that "this isn't the time for partisanship, sniping between campaigns," and declined to comment on Rice's or Lieberman's remarks.
Barnes reported from the campaign trail in Michigan and Colorado.
© 2008 The Washington Post CompanyRyan Brehm has made just three career PGA Tour starts. In those three starts, he has just one made cut, and that was in 2005.
Now, the 30-year-old Michigan State product has his PGA Tour card for next season.
Brehm shot 3-under 68 Sunday at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club’s Witch Hollow in North Plains, Ore., to finish at 15-under 269 and win the Winco Foods Portland Open by a shot. The victory moved Brehm to fourth on the Web.com Tour money list and put him among the 25 players to earn their 2016-17 PGA Tour cards.
Mark Anderson, a 30-year-old who played college golf at South Carolina, also moved inside the top 25, climbing to 16th after a runner-up finish in Portland. This will be Anderson’s second season on the PGA Tour as he also was a member in 2012.
Dropping out of the top 25 were Stephan Jaeger, who shot 58 last month but missed the cut in Portland to slip from 24th to 28th, and Andrew Svoboda, who also missed the cut, dropping from 25th to 29th.
Here is a look at the 25 Web.com Tour players who earned their PGA Tour cards for the 2016-17 season (Note: Wesley Bryan earned an immediate PGA Tour promotion following his third victory of the season):
• • •
Wesley Bryan
Age: 26
College: South Carolina
2016 Web.com Tour money: $449,392
2016 Web.com Tour record: 13 starts, three wins (Chitimacha Louisiana Open, El Bosque Mexico Championship, Digital Ally Open), one runner-up, seven top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Four starts, one top 10, three made cuts
• • •
Richy Werenski
Age: 24
College: Georgia Tech
2016 Web.com Tour money: $351,770
2016 Web.com Tour record: 19 starts, one win (BMW Charity Pro-Am), three runners-up, four top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: One start, one made cut
• • •
J.J. Spaun
Age: 26
College: San Diego State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $350,832
2016 Web.com Tour record: 20 starts, one win (News Sentinel Open), two runners-up, seven top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Two starts, one made cut
• • •
Ryan Brehm
Age: 30
College: Michigan State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $281,808
2016 Web.com Tour record: 21 starts, one win (Winco Foods Portland Open), two thirds, five top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Three starts, one made cut
• • •
Martin Flores
Age: 34
College: Oklahoma
2016 Web.com Tour money: $281,403
2016 Web.com Tour record: 18 starts, one win (Lincoln Land Charity Championship), two thirds, six top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 142 starts, one third, six top 10s, 82 made cuts
• • •
Ollie Schniederjans
Age: 23
College: Georgia Tech
2016 Web.com Tour money: $279,127
2016 Web.com Tour record: 17 starts, one win (Air Capital Classic), one runner-up, five top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 14 starts, three top 25s, eight made cuts
• • •
Dominic Bozzelli
Age: 25
College: Auburn
2016 Web.com Tour money: $214,307
2016 Web.com Tour record: 15 starts, one win (Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship), one runner-up, four top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: N/A
• • •
Trey Mullinax
Age: 24
College: Alabama
2016 Web.com Tour money: $212,016
2016 Web.com Tour record: 19 starts, one win (Rex Hospital Open), three top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Three starts, one top 25, two made cuts
• • •
Seamus Power
Age: 29
College: East Tennessee State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $209,590
2016 Web.com Tour record: 19 starts, one win (United Leasing and Finance Championship), three top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: N/A
• • •
J.T. Poston
Age: 23
College: Western Carolina
2016 Web.com Tour money: $205,597
2016 Web.com Tour record: 15 starts, two runners-up, one third, four top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: N/A
• • •
Cheng-Tsung Pan
Age: 24
College: Washington
2016 Web.com Tour money: $204,075
2016 Web.com Tour record: 19 starts, one runner-up, six top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Five starts, one top 25, three made cuts
• • •
Ryan Armour
Age: 40
College: Ohio State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $200,629
2016 Web.com Tour record: 19 starts, one win (Panama Claro Championship), three top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 83 starts, three top 10s, 41 made cuts
• • •
Jonathan Randolph
Age: 28
College: Ole Miss
2016 Web.com Tour money: $195,248
2016 Web.com Tour record: 20 starts, two runners-up, four top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 30 starts, three top 25s, 14 made cuts
• • •
Brad Fritsch
Age: 38
College: Campbell
2016 Web.com Tour money: $194,857
2016 Web.com Tour record: 13 starts, one win (Servientrega Championship), one runner-up, two top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 53 starts, four top 10s, 28 made cuts
• • •
Brian Campbell
Age: 23
College: Illinois
2016 Web.com Tour money: $180,324
2016 Web.com Tour record: 14 starts, two runners-up, five top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Three starts, one made cut
• • •
Mark Anderson
Age: 30
College: South Carolina
2016 Web.com Tour money: $169,499
2016 Web.com Tour record: 17 starts, one runner-up, six top 25s
Career on PGA Tour: 45 starts, one top 10, 21 made cuts
• • •
Mackenzie Hughes
Age: 25
College: Kent State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $167,369
2016 Web.com Tour record: 20 starts, one win (Price Cutter Charity Championship), two top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Four starts
• • •
Grayson Murray
Age: 22
College: Arizona State
2016 Web.com Tour money: $159,963
2016 Web.com Tour record: 14 starts, one runner-up, six top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: One start
• • •
Brandon Hagy
Age: 25
College: California
2016 Web.com Tour money: $158,966
2016 Web.com Tour record: 16 starts, one third-place finish, five top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 10 starts, one top 25, four made cuts
• • •
Julian Etulain
Age: 28
College: N/A
2016 Web.com Tour money: $158,860
2016 Web.com Tour record: 20 starts, one runner-up, three top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Two starts, one made cut
• • •
Nicholas Lindheim
Age: 31
College: N/A
2016 Web.com Tour money: $158,654
2016 Web.com Tour record: 18 starts, one win (Utah Championship), four top 25s
Career on PGA Tour: One start, made the cut
• • •
Sebastian Munoz
Age: 23
College: North Texas
2016 Web.com Tour money: $156,671
2016 Web.com Tour record: 20 starts, one win (Club Colombia Championship), two top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: Has not made a PGA Tour start
• • •
Max Homa
Age: 25
College: California
2016 Web.com Tour money: $155,653
2016 Web.com Tour record: 18 starts, one win (Rust-Oleum Championship), two top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: 36 starts, two top 10s, 16 made cuts
• • •
Rick Lamb
Age: 25
College: Tennessee
2016 Web.com Tour money: $154,368
2016 Web.com Tour record: 10 starts, one win (LECOM Health Challenge), one third, two top 10s
Career on PGA Tour: N/A
• • •
Joel DahmenGreen Party co-leader Metiria Turei has launched an ambitious $1.4b plan to lift hundreds of thousands of Kiwis out of poverty.
It includes a big overhaul of social welfare, with all benefit payments increasing by 20 percent and all sanctions and obligations for beneficiaries removed.
It means those receiving welfare won't have their benefits cut if they don't search for jobs or fail drug tests, or if mothers don't name the father of their child.
Working for Families also gets beefed up under the policy, with weekly payments increasing by at least $72. However, the threshold of eligibility won't be changed.
Ms Turei has also made the bold move of introducing a new top tax bracket of 40 percent, which kicks in for all income over $150,000.
The tax rate in the lowest bracket, presently 10.5 percent, will reduce to 9 percent.
Minimum wage will also go up immediately by $2, from $15.75 to $17.75.
How much more will people get?
Sole parent on a benefit, with two school-age kids: $179.62 extra per week
Single person on JobSeeker benefit: $42.20 extra per week
Two parents on JobSeeker benefit, with three kids: $207.46 extra per week
Two parents, one earning $70k salary, with two kids: $87.85 extra per week
Metiria's admission
Metiria Turei made an astonishing admission while announcing the package: she lied to WINZ when she was a beneficiary.
She was a single mum in 1993 and lied to WINZ about her living conditions so her accommodation payment wouldn't be reduced. She was living with flatmates at the time, but told Work and Income she was living alone so her payment would be higher.
Ms Turei says she could have been charged with fraud, but risked it so she could make ends meet for her and her daughter, Piu.
Newshub.Photo Voters waited to cast their ballots in Milwaukee earlier this month. Credit Darren Hauck/Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The top lawyer for Hillary Clinton ’s presidential bid said Saturday that the campaign would join a third-party candidate’s effort to seek a full recount in Wisconsin, and potentially two other states, though he said the campaign had seen no “actionable evidence” of vote hacking.
In a post on Medium, Marc Elias, the campaign’s general counsel, described an intensive behind-the-scenes effort by the campaign to look for signs of Russian hacking or other irregularities in the vote count.
The essay suggested that the campaign was joining the recount effort with little expectation that it would change the result. But many of its supporters, picking up on the campaign’s frequent complaints of Russian interference in the election, have enthusiastically backed the recount effort led by Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate.
Ms. Stein filed for a recount |
the list, you need only type their name in the search box to find them. Ladder positions (for the Monthly Cup) will be locked in on Monday, January 2nd at 12:00pm (Noon) CET, and the ladder resets shortly thereafter.
Monthly Cup qualifier
There is yet another way you can qualify for the Monthly Cup! Participate in Sunday's qualifying tournament and be one of the 8 finalists. Did you know you also can win gold and Pandora coins in the process?Smartphones are too often a colossal distraction to motorists, but Honda sees a way of using them to protect pedestrians from inattentive drivers.
The automaker hopes to tap into pedestrians' phones to alert passing drivers to their presence. The technology – dubbed Vehicle-to-Pedestrian – uses a smartphone's GPS and dedicated short range communications (DSRC) to warn drivers when a pedestrian steps out from behind a parked car or other obstruction. A light flashes on the dashboard to tell the driver of an approaching pedestrian, while the hapless walker gets an alert on their smartphone.
The DSRC system can be deployed through a dedicated app with the technology operating on the 5.9GHz band set aside for automotive applications. Honda's not alone in pursuing this. General Motors is using the same tech to develop its own pedestrian detecting technology. But Honda is taking it a step further. In addition to the pedestrian detection tech, Honda is also testing Vehicle-to-Motorcycle systems using the same DSRC to alert drivers of a motorcycle outside their field of vision.
Honda is joined by several other automakers working with the University of Michigan through the Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot Program conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation on the technology, and if all goes well, these systems could be deployed in the next several years.Carmelo Anthony
In his first few games with the New York Knicks, Carmelo Anthony has been everything everyone expected him to be. To admirers, he’s putting up the numbers of a legitimate superstar: about 25 points and seven rebounds a game. Detractors see a different Melo: a ball hog who’s shooting a meager 42 percent from the field. “I think what Carmelo does is, the more players you have guarding him, the more he wants to shoot. Which is the opposite of what you’re supposed to do,” says economist Dave Berri, author of several books on sports statistics and player evaluation.
In the run-up to the NBA trading deadline, Berri told the Wall Street Journal that if the Knicks sold the farm to bring in Carmelo, they would win “roughly 29 games over a full year.” After seeing which players were actually involved in the deal, he said the team might win 50. * A lot of people thought that sounded off. New York Times stats guru Nate Silver argued that, on the contrary, Melo is “the ultimate team player” because his offensive game draws defenders and allows his teammates to get more wide-open shots, boosting their field goal percentage. Carmelo’s value, Silver and other analysts said, was spilling over his own stat line and into the box scores of his teammates.
To number-crunching nerds raised on baseball, in which pitcher and batter compete in statistically delicious one-on-one duels, such messy “interaction effects” are a lumpy blemish in the box score. In January, seasoned baseball sabermetrician (and occasional Slate contributor) Phil Birnbaum argued in his blog that basketball’s so-called “advanced” box-score stats are so gnarled with this problem that they can’t be trusted. (He went so far as to call them “the RBIs of basketball“—a brutal insult to lovers of well-validated statistics.) Is Birnbaum right? Is this why people can’t agree on the value of Carmelo?
The statisticization of basketball is a relatively new enterprise. Its modern incarnation is usually traced to Dean Oliver, a Ph.D.-trained statistician who started scrutinizing the game on a per-possession basis in the 1990s and derived the so-called “Four Factors” that make for hoops success: shooting, turnovers, rebounds, and free throws. After the publication of Moneyball, Michael Lewis’ best-selling 2003 book on the numerical analysis of baseball, basketball stat-heads redoubled their efforts. Their hunt for a definitive, all-in-one performance metric—something analogous to baseball’s wins above replacement, perhaps—yielded an array of competing stats, including: Efficiency, a simple tally that adds up a player’s successes (like points) and subtracts his failures (like turnovers); Player Efficiency Rating, a more complex figure that assigns weights to these individual measures; and Wins Produced, a stat that assesses how various performance parameters correlate with team wins and then divvies up credit to players. These well-known measures are only the beginning: Today, the Internet is awash with stats sites seeking to describe basketball player talent in a more accurate, mathematical way.
But these metrics are limited by the available data. Not only does the box score fail to capture defense adequately—it tells us about blocks and steals and nothing else—but its tallies are polluted with hidden interaction effects. Take rebounds: If a point guard plays tight defense and forces his counterpart into a lousy shot, that act is probably credited to the center or forward who grabs the board. Rebounds also suffer from so-called “diminishing returns“—the idea that players on the same team effectively compete with one another for boards. Often a particular player—say, Minnesota Timberwolves center Kevin Love—serves as his team’s designated glass-cleaner, and he scoops up balls that his teammates might well have grabbed anyway. Sometimes players work together as rebounding partners: During Jason Kidd’s tenure with the New Jersey Nets, he grabbed a lot of boards thanks to his teammate Jason Collins, who would box-out the opposing team’s best rebounder. “Year after year [Collins] had very low rebound numbers … but his team did really well rebounding when he was on the court,” one stats expert who works for an NBA team told me. (A similar problem afflicts those who want to assess a baseball player’s “range” in the field: The shortstop and third baseman compete for balls in the hole—if one guy gets to it, his teammate doesn’t.)
This suggests that statistics that give players a lot of credit for rebounding prowess, like Berri’s Wins Produced, may be weighing the numbers wrong. In past years, Berri’s system has declared that rebounding studs like Ben Wallace have been the most valuable players in the NBA, ranking at the very top in Wins Produced. (Berri argues that reducing the importance of rebounds in his formula doesn’t change its results.) Other box-score stats have different biases: John Hollinger’s Player Efficiency Rating, for example, is often accused of overvaluing high “usage” players—ball hogs who take a ton of shots and hence score more points. But is a high usage rate a symptom of having a weak supporting cast or of a propensity to launch crappy shots? The stats don’t say. Dan Rosenbaum, an economist for the Office of Management and Budget who also works as a consultant for the Cleveland Cavaliers, says the problem with many of these supposedly advanced stats is that they are “not empirical”—rather than rank players by value, they merely reflect their creators’ sense of the importance of different facets of the game.
A statistic that appears less biased on its face is adjusted plus-minus. This is a measure, popularized by hockey, that reflects the difference between the total number of points a team scores and allows with a particular player on the floor. Analysts then adjust the figure to account for the fact that some players must toil on lousy teams. The greatest virtue of adjusted plus-minus is that it captures defense—you can see, for example, that Carmelo appears to be an elite offensive player but a subpar defender. The technique can also examine the impact of top rebounders: Kevin Love consistently rebounds in double digits, but his contribution to his team’s total boards is only about two to three per game, according to one analysis.The chief analytic consultant for one NBA team told me that the impact of Love’s rebounding might net a team only about three points per game. “The adjusted rebounding numbers seem to suggest that rebounding is vastly overrated,” he said. Other “good” rebounders, such as the Celtics’ Troy Murphy, who has averaged 8.5 boards a game over his career, appear to exert a negative overall effect on team rebounding. It might be that he’s getting in the way of his teammates or failing to box out when he’s not in on the play himself.
Or it could be that these stats just aren’t any good. The biggest problem with adjusted plus-minus is that you need several years’ worth of data to get a reliable signal. Once again, interaction effects are the issue: Coaches tend to use the same combinations of players over and over again, so certain guys will play together more often than others. A player who is in a lineup with LeBron James will benefit from that association and have a higher plus-minus as a result. And teams that don’t recognize these flaws in the metric can get bitten. The Dallas Mavericks—with their science-loving owner, Mark Cuban—were early adopters of adjusted plus-minus. But they made some crucial player personnel errors, especially in devising playoff lineups, because they didn’t fully appreciate the noisiness of the data, according to one NBA stats analyst who requested anonymity so that he could speak candidly about another team. Still, many NBA stats experts do use versions of adjusted plus-minus as part of their player evaluation system. Some front offices also look at Player Efficiency Rating to get a basic sense of offensive talent. Several NBA statisticians told me that they did not know of any franchise that relies on Wins Produced.
The world’s top sports statisticians are working hard to devise better metrics. Last week, they gathered in Boston for the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. On Friday, one of the presentations touched on interaction effects in the NBA and could perhaps shed light on the alleged “Carmelo effect” (in which a top offensive player boosts his teammates’ scoring). Economists Matt Goldman and Justin Rao looked at whether teams do a good job of distributing shots among players and whether individual players shoot too often or not often enough. Their model considers each basketball possession as a complex economic problem in which a team seeks to optimize its chances of scoring via two interlocking strategies: first, players must decide whether to keep the ball to themselves or pass to a teammate; then they decide, on a second-by-second basis, whether to take a shot at the basket or to hold the ball for a better opportunity.
Their analysis suggests that very few players in the league overshoot. Most elite offensive players such as Carmelo, they say, should be taking evenmoreshots. Shooting is always better than a turnover, after all, and leads to offensive rebounds in about 30 percent of misses. (According to the study, only a handful of players are legitimate overshooters, including the notorious chucker Monta Ellis.) What’s more, an offensive superstar allows his teammates to shoot more selectively, because they can always pass him the ball late in the shot clock, with the confidence that he can use his athleticism to get off a decent attempt. Of course, this theory may be leaving out important elements of the game, such as player fatigue and the need to stay healthy.
So it’s doubtful these data will resolve the Carmelo debate. Still, nearly all of the NBA stats experts I interviewed saw Melo in about the same way: an elite offensive threat who underperforms on defense, especially in zone coverage. One joked that it was surprising Carmelo had gotten so much attention, given that he was not even the best player traded before the deadline. That player would be Deron Williams, by a significant margin. (Shane Battier, the famous “No Stats All-Star” who was traded from the Rockets to the Grizzlies, also continues to rate well among the stats set.)
Today about half of NBA teams work with statisticians, and they tend to outperform those that don’t. But the heyday of the all-in-one advanced-box-score stat may actually be behind us; coaches now chart players’ strengths and weaknesses using services that slice up piles of game film into digestible pieces. That lets them scrutinize the quality of pick-and-rolls and investigate whether their power forwards are better attacking the basket from the left or right post. There are statistics involved, but in the end a flesh-and-blood human must sit there and fix his eyeballs on the tape.
Dean Oliver, the founding father of hoops math, who now runs the numbers for all of ESPN, says the main benefit of statistical analysis is simply that it lets coaches keeps tabs on more games. “The numbers do not see any individual game as well as a person. But they see all of the games,” he said. In the next breath, though, Oliver stated with confidence that Dwayne Wade is the “most important guy to take away” on the Miami Heat—not LeBron James. “Not everybody knows that,” he said—including many opposing coaches who appear to be keying on LeBron. So how did he know that? His computerized mathematical game-analysis tool, called Roboscout, told him. “It’s not an obvious thing when you watch the game,” he said. “But when you do the analysis, that comes out.”
Correction, March 8, 2011: The original version was misleading about Dave Berri’s assessment of the Carmelo Anthony trade. His prediction that the Knicks would win just 29 games with Carmelo was based on an earlier version of the deal that never came to pass. (Return to the corrected sentence.)Chandler Parsons has reached an agreement with the Dallas Mavericks on a three year, $45 million deal. That’s greater than a 1,500% increase in salary. Houston will now have 72 hours to match the offer, but Dallas has put them in a very interesting situation, as Houston's after free agent Chris Bosh, who is waiting for LeBron James’ decision before he decides if he will go to Houston or Miami.
If Houston matches Parsons’ offer, they likely can’t afford Bosh. So unless LeBron makes up his mind in the next 72 hours, Houston has a tough choice to make.
Dallas, meanwhile, is in a win-win situation. If Houston matches, they can’t go after a big free agent like Chris Bosh, and will be extremely limited in improving their team from last year. If they don’t, then Dallas is acquiring a very good player in an area of need for a reasonable price.
The $15 million per year deal is a hefty price tag for a player who was the third-best scoring option on his team last year, but don’t be fooled - Parsons is worth it. Our own Russell Peddle gave a great explanation on why Parsons is free agency’s best consolation prize after LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. To summarize, Parsons had a nERD score of 3.9, ranking him eighth among small forwards in our player power rankings this year, with the only LeBron and Carmelo ranking above him at the position.
Fit in Dallas
Last season, Shawn Marion started 76 games for the Mavericks. At first glance, Marion and Parsons’ contributions look fairly similar outside of the fact that Parsons scored a bit more. Therefore, one might ask why Dallas is bringing in someone at $15 million when they can pay Marion less than half of that. Let’s take a closer look.
Player MPG PPG APG RPG STL BLK FG% 3FG% Fouls Drawn FTA nERD Parsons 37.6 16.6 4 5.5 1.2 0.4 47.2 37 2.6 3 3.9 Marion 31.7 10.4 1.6 6.5 1.2 0.5 48.2 35.8 0.7 0.9 -1.1
Parsons had almost four times as many fouls drawn, and shot more than three times as many free throws. The truth is, Parsons can put the ball on the floor and create for himself while Marion is fairly limited to others creating shots for him. Parsons was driving to the basket more and getting easy points at the free throw line. His ability to handle the ball also allowed him to average four assists and his passing ability will make him much more useful in Dallas’ flow offense. Rick Carlisle is arguably one of the best coaches in the NBA right now and he will be able to do a lot more with Parsons that he was able to do with Marion.
We can also see from our own nERD metric that Parsons’ total contribution greatly exceeded Marion’s. The nERD metric is supposed to measure how many wins a player adds to a team if they played with average players, meaning Marion took away 1.1 wins from the Mavericks while Parsons added 3.9 wins to the Rockets. The Mavs finished eighth in the West last season, but if they had Parsons over Marion, we would have expected them to finish with an extra five wins – putting them in a tie for fourth place with possible home court advantage in the first round. Dallas isn't the only team that will pay $15 million per year for that luxury.
Age
Marion is 36 years old and on the decline. It’s highly unlikely he averages 31.7 minutes per game in a season again. Parsons, on the other hand, has been steadily improving in his three season in the NBA and is only 25 years old.
Season MPG PPG APG RPG STL BLK WS 2011-12 28.6 9.5 2.1 4.8 1.2 0.5 3.4 2012-13 36.3 15.5 3.5 5.3 1 0.4 7 2013-14 37.6 16.6 4 5.5 1.2 0.4 7.6
As you can see, Parsons has improved in most categories every year so far. If the trend continues, Parsons has every chance to be a very good second tier small forward behind the first tier of LeBron, Carmelo, and Kawhi Leonard for years to come. Some of the other free agents only have two to three years left in their prime (Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza).
Market Price
With an arguably inferior talent in Gordon Hayward getting a four year, $63 million offer on the market, Parsons was bound to get a similar contract. Early projections had similar players like Luol Deng and Trevor Ariza getting in the $8 to $12 million per year range, but I can’t see either of them signing for less than $10 million at this point in time. The demand for three-point shooting small forwards that can drive to the basket and handle the ball is very high, and the price is starting to reflect that.
Verdict
Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks are getting an extremely good player who can compete on both sides of the floor. A starting lineup of Raymond Felton, Monta Ellis, Chandler Parsons, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tyson Chandler will be able to challenge for a top four spot in the Western Conference. And $15 million is a reasonable price to pay for the difference between fighting for a playoff spot and being in the top four. On the other hand, Parsons is finally getting the money he deserves and gets to play on a playoff team. It's a win-win.This article is from the archive of our partner.
See full coverage Fresh news and ideas about our planet's future
Andrew Cuomo's strategy on not getting into the political circus of whether or not climate change exists is actually pretty simple: just state the facts. "That's a whole political debate that I don't want to get into," the governor told reporters Wednesday (that quote, out of context, attracted some raised eyebrows). And he didn't. Instead of getting into Republicans say this, Democrats say that, and what's at the root of climate change, Cuomo stated, quite bluntly, that our planet is getting warmer and that we should be prepared for the consequences.
"Part of learning from this is the recognition that climate change is a reality," Cuomo told reporters Wednesday while briefing everyone on brokenness of New York City. "For us to say this is once-in-a-generation, that it's not going to happen again, as elected officials that would be short-sighted," he added, echoing his remarks from yesterday, when he told reporters:
There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement, that is a factual statement. Anyone who says there is not a dramatic change in weather patterns is denying reality.... We have a 100-year flood every two years now.
He's right about that. Irene was touted as a once-a-century storm. Sandy was too. And they happened a year from one another with more than 87 years to go in this century. Not to mention that Sandy followed a period where we saw New England's warmest waters on record, a summer which left many states in the United States in massive drought, forest fires in Colorado and New Mexico, and 2012's July being the hottest month in U.S. history.A poster campaign defending men's rights and bearing slogans like "Stop Violence Against Women, but not against men, because men do not matter, and despite being more often the victims of violence, male victims are no good for fund raising, so screw them" has come under fire in Vancouver.
A local men's rights blog called MasculisM.ca is behind the posters. Blogger Jack Day writes that masculinity and the male gender have been under attack for "two generations."
"The term male-bashing extends itself to aesthetics, opposing their attainment by men which includes the male body and men’s physicality," states MasulisM.ca's mission.
Other posters claim, "90 per cent of divorces are initiated by women" and “90 per cent of homeless are men."
The posters have gone up in Vancouver's Commercial Drive and Main Street areas — and have been swiftly torn down by those objecting to them, News1130 reported.
The posters are attracting mixed reactions.
"I think these posters should definitely be good to go. I mean, anyone who's against violence against either men or women, I'm all behind that," one woman told the radio station.
OpenFile Vancouver interviewed several Commercial Drive-area residents who said the men's rights posters were not welcome in their neighbourhood.
"It’s really just an echo chamber of misogyny and hatred of women in general," Jamie James told OpenFile. "This self-victimization that women are evil and trying to tear down men, when you confront these ideas, people sometimes realize that isn’t what they meant when they said they support this movement.”
A blogger for women's site Jezebel says the men's rights movement behind the posters "isn't so much pro-men as it is virulently anti-women."Hello. I am Sameer. I am 20 years old. I am confused. Confused about what to do with my life. This confusion stems from the countless pieces of advice from mom, dad, relatives, friends, their relatives, and even the watchman sitting at my building gate who apart from the daily greeting ritual has never even interacted with me (that’s as unsolicited as it gets).
Isn’t it the most complex puzzle one has to solve? I wonder how everyone manages to get through this.
Today, I sit in front of my computer screen. Staring at it. I have entered the words ‘How to make the perfect career choice?’ in the google search bar.
As I am about to hit the enter key, I suddenly hear a voice from within myself,
“Oh come on! You are not going to base your decision which will shape your future on the results google brings to you. I mean a certain complex algorithm and some programmed bots cannot take this call.” This was my brain talking.
“I agree with the brain, for a change” said another voice. It was my heart.
“What are you up to? This is about your career, about your future, about you! And it has to be you who makes this decision. Period!” the heart went on.
The brain cut in, “Yes, you have to make the decision yourself, but not just by following what your ‘gut’ says. You must apply logic, analyze the pros versus the cons of the various career choices, study the practicality and viability, the probability of success versus failure and only then take the final call.”
“You mean he should give up on his childhood dream? His passion? Just because there are too many people who share the same passion? You mean he should be afraid of the intense competition existing in the career he always wanted to take up and just let go? When you were little and you felt like grabbing a soda drink. Coca-Cola had always been your favorite one. There were other alternatives which were available in your locality but to get a bottle of Coca-Cola you would have to walk for ten minutes longer to buy it. Would you not walk for those ten minutes and get your favorite drink? You would! In fact you would enjoy it all the more, because you didn’t take the easy way out but strived to get what you actually wanted.” the heart gave the brain something to think about with this one.
The brain promptly replied saying, “No dear heart! I do not want him to give up on his passion. I am not asking him to take the easy way out either. But then, I don’t even want him to have a tough time feeding himself and his children if he blindly takes the ‘leap of faith’ as you call it. Both of us are aware of how deeply saturated the industry is with countless people aspiring to be an actor. Isn’t it very probable that he goes unnoticed or unappreciated? This isn’t about buying a soft drink right? Wouldn’t you be hurt then? Of course you would. You are an emotional fool!” the brain had a point. A very valid point here.
“Yes I would be hurt but I don’t think he should restrain himself from giving it a try. After all, there is no certainty that if he gets into his family business or a 9-5 job, he will do well. We cannot overlook the layoffs, downsizing, recession. He might as well struggle to achieve what he wants right? At least the struggle will take him closer to his destination if he follows the route of passion” the heart confidently rebutted.
Point after point, they went on. Trying their best to convince me, persuade me to do what they felt should be done. It is said that “Your heart knows what you really want” but it is also true that “your brain tries to think logically and rationally, and come up with a decision for the confusion, based on several external and internal factors.”
This conversation had not led to any decision as there was an absence of harmony between my heart and my brain. Every time I decided to go ahead with my brain, my heart would pop up something convincing enough not to do so and vice versa.
As I was still looking to reach to a conclusion as to whether or not it would be worth taking the risk, a third voice from within, that of my soul, prompted me to ‘harmoniously blend’ the advice given by my heart and mind. This voice stressed that everything in life cannot be black or white, left or right, yes or no, this or that.
I decided to find a mid-way which would not be as uncomforting to the brain, owing to the reduced amount of risk involved, at the same time it would not disturb the heart as much by having to absolutely give up what I wanted to do.
Which voice would you go with?
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Here is the Link to our LinkedIn group.Owed in large part to the Turkish caliph Erdogan. Once Turkey becomes a member of the EU, as Chancellor Merkel has previously promised, the continent will be all but subsumed by Islamic supremacist rule.
Refugee surge on Greek islands
September 16, 2017, DW:
As smuggling activity in the Aegean Sea has reached the highest level since last fall, the Greek islands are once again becoming overcrowded. Diego Cupolo reports that most new arrivals come via Turkey.
Aid groups are once again struggling to accommodate a rising number of people arriving on the Greek islands to request asylum. Despite heightened patrols in the Aegean Sea to deter smuggling activity between Turkey and Greece, about 3,700 refugees reached Greek shores in August and about 400 new arrivals have been recorded per week so far this month.
The recent spike in arrivals is mainly credited to seasonal weather patterns and calm seas, but some monitors on both sides of the Aegean have said the liberation of areas controlled by the “Islamic State” (IS) in Syria and Iraq may also be a factor as new refugees arrive in Turkey and head directly to Greece.
“Many new arrivals are coming from Syria and from cities that were previously under siege,” said Louise Roland-Gosselin, an advocacy manager for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Greece. “It’s difficult for us to know for sure where they are from … but this is what people are telling us as they arrive.”
Numbers fell sharply after the EU-Turkey deal, which was implemented in March 2016 to stop informal migration to European nations, and rose again only in October of last year before tapering off again and have remained relatively low ever since.
Read more: The misery is still real
Greek islands face overcrowding
Though the current crossings are not comparable to the 10,000-people-per-day rates seen at the height of the EU refugee crisis back in 2015, recorded arrivals have been high enough in recent weeks to cause concern among aid groups. They report hazardous overcrowding in reception centers on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos and Leros.
Since the end of July, the number of people seeking asylum in Samos has almost doubled, said Bogdan Andrei, project coordinator for the aid group Samos Volunteers. The island’s sole reception center is designed for 700 inhabitants, but is currently hosting about 2,200 people, including 600 minors. Due to lack of space, new arrivals are pitching tents around the camp’s periphery and about 200 people have sought accommodation from charities and religious groups operating on the island.
Andrei, who has provided aid in Samos since last summer, said such overcrowding creates unhygienic conditions in camps and increases tensions among refugees, putting vulnerable families and individuals at risk.Apple, Nokia and Research In Motion (RIM) gave Indian intelligence agencies secret access to encrypted smartphone communications as the price of doing business in the country, according to what appear to be leaked Indian government documents.
The purported documents, if they are real, indicate that the smartphone giants gave India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Indian military intelligence "backdoor" tools that would let the Indian agencies read encrypted emails sent to and from RIM's BlackBerrys, Apple's iPhones and Nokia smartphones.
"Military Intelligence and the CBI have been conducting bilateral cellular and Internet surveillance operations since April 2011," reads a document allegedly from the Directorate General of Military Intelligence and publicly posted online.
The memos refer to an agreement between India's Ministry of Defense and RIM, Nokia and Apple, that considers data interception and surveillance part of the "general framework" allowing the smartphone makers to sell their devices in India.
A "decision was made earlier this year to sign an agreement with mobile manufacturers (MM) in exchange for the Indian market presence," the military intelligence document reads.
Apple, RIM and Nokia did not respond to requests for comment.
The leaked files arose from last week's disclosure that a group of South Asian hackers, calling themselves the Lords of Dharmaraja, had allegedly broken into Indian government servers and stolen documents including the source code to Norton and Symantec anti-virus software. Symantec confirmed the legitimacy of the source code, but would not comment on its provenance.
The purported Indian intelligence memos also state that the backdoors provided by Apple, Nokia and RIM allowed India to spy on American government officials.
The memos include a set of purported private email exchanges in September and October 2011 among members of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), a congressional commission tasked with investigating and monitoring the economic and trade relationship, as well as reports of cyberwarfare and espionage, between the United States and China.
The memos state that Indian naval intelligence personnel were sent to China as a result of the emails.
© TechMediaNetwork.comFacebook According to Nielsen, just three companies are responsible for the 10 most used smartphone apps in the United States: Facebook, Alphabet's Google, and Apple.
As people spend more time on their mobile devices, these three companies are in prime positions to capitalize on their apps' popularity and growth.
But all three are taking different approaches to achieve success with their apps and to turning their popularity into profits for investors.
Facebook
Facebook is notably different from both Google and Apple, since it doesn't own a smartphone platform. Google has Android and Apple has iOS, which allows them to pre-install their own apps on users' phones, giving them an advantage.
Still, Facebook owns three apps in the top 10: its flagship app (No. 1), Messenger (No. 3), and Instagram (No. 8). In fact, the big blue app is 30% more popular than the next leading app, YouTube.
Facebook's dominance in the mobile space is seen in its revenue growth. Mobile advertising revenue accounted for 78% of total ad revenue in the third quarter, up from 66% in the year-ago period.
Meanwhile, Messenger and Instagram are two of the fastest-growing apps. Messenger usage grew 31% year over year after growing 242% in 2014. It climbed up the charts to be the third most used app in the U.S., from seventh place last year, and it will probably surpass YouTube next year.
This huge U.S. user base represents a big opportunity for Facebook when it comes to monetization. Early efforts in that regard are ongoing, with Facebook focusing on getting more businesses to interact with customers through the app.
Instagram is also growing rapidly, increasing usage in the U.S. 23% to 55 million unique users per month, on average, in this ranking. This is well short of Instagram's own reporting, says around 25% of its 400 million users are from the United States. Still, the continued growth in the United States bodes well for the growth of ad revenue from the photo-sharing app. The company just opened its advertising API to small businesses this summer.
Google
A man walks past a YouTube logo at the YouTube Space LA in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles Thomson Reuters With the help of Android, which is installed on more than 50% of smartphones in the U.S., Google dominates the top 10 apps, with five apps within the top seven.
Google's ability to pre-install apps on smartphones has led to its success with utilitarian apps Google Search (No. 4), Google Play (No. 5), Google Maps (No. 6), and Gmail (No. 7), while Google's YouTube comes in just ahead of Facebook's Messenger as the No. 2 most popular app on this list.
While Google's apps have proved very popular, user growth is missing. All five of the apps on the chart exhibit user growth in the 3%-8% range. Every other app on the chart, save Facebook (8%), exhibits double-digit growth.
Even without significant user growth, however, Google is seeing its mobile users become more engaged. It announced this year that Web searches on smartphones surpassed those on desktops and laptops. YouTube, meanwhile, told investors that total watch time on mobile doubled year over year in the second quarter.
This trend puts mounting pressure on Google to bring mobile ad prices in line with desktop ad prices. With access to more precise location data and other context from the more personal devices that are always with a person, the potential for mobile ads to outperform desktop is certainly there.
Apple
Apple finds itself taking the bottom two places on this top 10 list, with Apple Music (No. 9) and its Maps app (No. 10).
The popularity of Apple Maps is a testament to the power of default apps. Despite lacking key features such as public-transit directions and street views in most cities, it's still become much more popular than Google Maps on iOS. The benefit of having more people use Apple Maps may express itself well down the line as Apple looks to integrate its software with automobiles; it's rumored to be working on a car design of its own.
Apple
Likewise, Apple Music has seen a lot of traction, according to Nielsen, which is a product of its being baked into the default music app on iOS. While it's unlikely that 55 million people have tried the Apple subscription service -- that's the number of unique monthly visitors noted in this survey -- it's very likely they regularly open the Music app pre-installed on their iPhone. Every time they do, they're reminded about Apple Music.
Growth in Apple's Music app is also notable. The only app growing faster is Facebook's Messenger. With the launch of Apple Music, Apple saw 26% more people use its app than the year before. Messenger notched a 31% change. Apple is looking to offset declining digital-music sales with subscription music revenue.
The future in mobile Mobile growth is key for all three of these tech giants. With Google and Facebook seeing more traffic from mobile than desktop users, maintaining their current momentum and positions in mobile is essential to their future revenue growth. Meanwhile, Apple is heavily reliant on iPhone sales for the bulk of its revenue. Maintaining popular apps and services is a surefire way to keep users from switching.A passenger was arrested at Heathrow Airport and charged with sexual assault after allegedly molesting two teenagers on a flight.
Adam Pitcher was handcuffed to his seat by staff after allegedly damaging the plane's toilets and assaulting two fellow passengers in an alcohol-fuelled rampage on the Air Canada flight from Toronto to London.
The 36-year-old from Canada was arrested by Metropolitan Police officers waiting for him at Heathrow around 5.30am last Wednesday.
Adam Pitcher was handcuffed to his seat by staff after allegedly damaging the plane's toilets and assaulting two fellow passengers on the Air Canada plane
Crew members and some passengers aboard Flight AC856 were questioned as witnesses.
Pitcher was charged with sexual assault on a female over the age of 16, sexual assault on a male over the age of 16, damaging an aircraft and being drunk on an aircraft.
A police spokesman said: 'A 36-year-old man who was arrested on an inbound flight into Heathrow Airport at around 5.35hrs on Wednesday, 28 June has now been charged.
The 36-year-old from Canada was arrested by Metropolitan Police officers waiting for him at Heathrow (pictured)
'Adam |
non-linear story films to watch, which included the likes of Timecop and Pulp Fiction.
In the morning, Warren is outside the Girls Dormitory waiting for Max.[note 1] When Max exits the dormitory after speaking with Kate Marsh, Max runs into Warren near the dormitory exit on her way to the Two Whales Diner to meet Chloe. Warren, noticing Max, asks her to come over. When Max asks what Warren was doing there, he nervously admits to waiting for a call he already took. He wanted to talk to Max about what happened yesterday, Max thanks him for helping her out with Nathan Prescott and tells him that she owes him.
Warren dubs himself her "personal superhero", but Max considers him a "real everyday hero", in lieu of the contest being held by Mr. Jefferson, because he stood up to Nathan's bullying for her. Jokingly, Warren reminds her that she left him with Nathan following the arrival of Chloe. He asks about who she is, noting that she was "pretty punk rock". Max can explain that Chloe was an old friend that she hadn't seen in a while. Warren notes that Max was glad to see her appear out of nowhere "like a rockstar". Concerned, he asked why Nathan Prescott was bothering her. Max either explains that she busted Nathan with a gun in the girls' bathroom or tells Warren not to get involved.
Shifting the conversation, Warren mentions that there is a Planet of the Apes marathon happening at the drive-in he mentioned yesterday and asks if she wanted to come with him.
Max accepts Warren's invitation, a fan of the Planet of the Apes films herself. Warren, happy that she is going with him, mentions that he has to tell Brooke that he's going to the marathon with Max instead.[2] Max decides to decline Warren's invitation, feeling that she couldn't concentrate on movies at the moment. Disappointed, but accepting, Warren accepts Max's answer and makes a joke about her being a "damn dirty human" (in reference to the quote "damn dirty ape") before saying he'd go himself. Before she leaves, however, Warren tells her that he plans on asking Brooke to go see the marathon with him instead and that he'd talk to her later.[2]
During Max's time with Chloe in the junkyard, Max receives a text from Warren, letting her know that she can "hit him up anytime" if she had any more questions regarding time travel.
He reminds Max that the drive in at Newberg is sixty miles from Arcadia Bay and that they should leave for the Planet of the Apes marathon around five o'clock and that they should get supplies the drive-in. Additionally, he suggests that the two should get dinner as well. He texts again and appears to regret the latter idea, but Max responds with "Too late!" and he sends her a smiley face emoticon. He tells Max not to worry about going to the Planet of the Apes marathon in Newberg with him, though he thought it would be cool to take a road trip in his new car. He makes a joke about deciding he would "drive in circles". Max apologizes, explaining that she's had a busy week. When she reminds him that she "still owes him", Warren agrees and asks her to let him know if she changed her mind about the movie marathon.
Later at school, Warren texts Max again shortly after her conversation with David Madsen and tells her that he's in the science lab. If Max joins him, Warren is struggling with a science experiment. At a loss, he asks for Max's help and promises to give her a "free hug" if her suggestion works. Max can unsuccessfully recommend sodium or potassium, the latter resulting in a powdered explosion.
She rewinds time and asks Ms. Grant who recommends chlorine. Heading back to Warren, she gives him the information relayed to her by Ms. Grant. Warren tries the chlorine and the experiment is success. Warren compliments Max, calling her the next "Werner Heisenberg". Max can take a photo of Warren with his finished project.
In a conversation with Brooke, Brooke tells Max that Warren was more interested in asking someone inexperienced with science so as not to feel "threatened". Additionally Brooke felt as though Warren would never ask her to help him with a science project he was having problems with, but declares she was more interested in robotics than chemistry anyway.
Right before Max's class with Mark Jefferson starts, Warren enters the class room and mentions that he saw Kate running down the hall crying. He attempted to ask her what the problem was, but she didn't answer him. When Mr. Jefferson enters the room, he asks everyone not in his class to leave. Warren tells Max that he'll see her later.
Warren is present with the rest of the student body during Kate's attempted or successful suicide off the roof of the girls dormitory rooftop. When Max stops time, Warren can be seen holding Alyssa who is hiding her face in his shoulder.[note 2]
Following convincing Kate to come down from the ledge and her meeting with Principal Wells, Max describes her experience on the roof to Warren. She states she and Kate reaching out for each other's hand like watching a moment in slow moment. Warren declares Max's actions were the "greatest thing" he'd never seen, reiterating Max's own words and calls her superhero. Embarrassed, Max thought herself a mess, but Warren believed Max was was a "human halo" that earned her wings. Max expresses her concern over Kate, noting that she tried to kill herself over a video. Warren compares the video to a disease and ashamedly reluctantly admits that he watched the video "one and a half times", like most the student body in the school. Shifting the conversation, Max states that she believes something "ominous" going on at Blackwell and that she was looking to connect the disappearance of Rachel Amber and the death of Kate Marsh, as well as Nathan and David. Admitting that he wasn't big into conspiracy theories, Warren also agreed something was amiss with both Nathan and David. When he asks what she thinks is happening, they are both distracted by the sudden occurrence of an eclipse. Warren tells Max that there was no eclipse scheduled to happen. Max tells him that she believes him, that she'd believe anything that week. Following the death of Kate and her meeting with Principal Wells, Max describes her experience on the rooftop to Warren. She explains that she watched Kate "drop like a weight" and that she was disappointed that she couldn't save her "like a real superhero" when it came to preventing her from killing herself. Warren tries to reassure Max, telling her to not blamer herself for what happened to Kate. He tells her Kate was up on the roof for her own reasons and that her suicide had nothing to do with her actions. Though Max continued to blame herself, Warren reminds her that she was the only one brave enough to go to the top of the roof, that she was the only one who cared enough to stop Kate. Max, unconvinced, wished that more people better than herself had cared. Warren continues to try and encourage Max, saying that she was the best person around. Still, Max believed she "screwed up", something Warren didn't believe made any logical sense. Shifting the conversation, Max states that she believes something "ominous" going on at Blackwell and that she was looking to connect the disappearance of Rachel Amber and the death of Kate Marsh, as well as Nathan and David. Admitting that he wasn't big into conspiracy theories, Warren also agreed something was amiss with both Nathan and David. Their conversation is cut short when Max notices an eclipse is occurring right in front of them. Warren states that there was no eclipse scheduled to occur today. When Max reacts to the cooling weather, Warren puts his arms around Max. Max tells him that she believes him and was willing to believe anything at that point.
If Max is able to convince Kate to come down from the rooftop of the girls dormitory, Warren is one of several students who thank Max for helping her. On her Facebook page, Warren writers, "MAX POWER". If Mr. Jefferson is suspended for his involvement in Kate's successful or attempted suicide, a Facebook page supporting Jefferson is set up by his students. In a show of support, Warren writes, "JEFFERSON POWER". If David Madsen was suspended by Ray Wells on the basis that he was harassing Kate Marsh, according to Max, a Facebook page calling for his termination from Blackwell as head of security will is set up. Warren makes fun of David, writing, "Coming This Summer... DAVID MADSEN: MALL COP".
During Max and Chloe's forced entry into the Principal Wells office, Max contacts Warren for instructions regarding a "hypothetical" situation regarding the creation of a "device" that could "open locked doors". Warren presumably questions the reason behind Max's question, she assures him that she was merely asking "for fun".
He offers to come out out and show her, but Max tells him that she needed him where he was for back up. During their conversation Warren brings up the Planet of the Apes movie marathon still happening at Newberg. Max may reply that she was ready to go to the drive-in with him or apologize for not feeling up to the movies. Eventually, Warren texts Max written directions with a crude drawing on how to construct a pipe bomb that included sugar, duct tape, a soda can and Sodium chlorate. Max, confused about what the latter could be, asked what he meant. Warren clarified by explaining it was power used to create Chlorine dioxide. When he asked if she intended on using his directions, Max vaguely replied "the keyword is try" and that she bowed to his wisdom.
After a moment, Warren texted her again to make sure she hadn't blown herself up. A preoccupied Max reassured him that she was still alive, but needed to concentrate. The following morning, after Max and Chloe escape the school grounds, Warren contacts Max again and asks if she used the bomb. Max jokes that she only wanted to see if Warren knew his explosives and to see his "incredible artwork". Warren states he was almost glad that she didn't blow up Blackwell Academy and reminded her about getting tickets at drive-in at Newberg.
Alternate Timeline
When Max prevents Chloe's father, William Price, from dying in a car accident, she alters the timeline of her present. When she "wakes" in the new reality, she is a member of the Vortex Club. Disoriented, Max also assumes that Warren and Stella Hill have become romantically involved, based on their body language. Warren regards Max for a moment before returning his attention to Stella.
Warren appears after Max searches Nathan's room, when Nathan walks through the door where Chloe was keeping watch. Nathan attempts to attack Max before Warren shows up and headbutts Nathan, who falls to the ground. While on the ground Nathan pulls out his handgun, but it is kicked out of reach by Warren, who then begins to brutally attack Nathan.
Warren kicks Nathan until Nathan is left on the ground with multiple bruises on his face. After the fight, Chloe grabs Nathan's pistol and walks out the door. On the Blackwell grounds, Warren wonders how different his violence is from Nathan's. Max forces Warren to stop hitting Nathan. Afterwards, Nathan grabs his gun and walks away. On the Blackwell grounds, Warren thanks Max for stopping him from going over the top with his beating of Nathan.
Warren offers to help Chloe and Max in their search, but they decline.
Before Max and Chloe enter the End of the World Party, Warren stops them on the sidewalk, seemingly inebriated. He takes a photo with Max and promises to keep an eye out for Nathan.
When Max wins the Everyday Heroes contest in an alternate reality, Warren texts her wondering if he has to make an appointment to see her now.
After escaping from the Dark Room with David Madsen's help, Max calls Warren. Warren says that he is stuck at the Two Whales Diner, and Max drives through the storm to reach him and the photo of the previous night.
As Max reaches the Two Whales Diner, it explodes, killing all inside. Max quickly reverses this and enters the diner. She and Warren discuss her time-travel powers and their relationship to the storm. Eventually, Warren gives Max the photo so that she can save Chloe.
After Max saves Chloe, undeliverable message notices from 11 am on October 11 imply that Warren has been killed.
If Max sacrifices Chloe to save Arcadia Bay, Warren will be seen attending Chloe's funeral.
Characteristics
Personality
Warren is a relatively easygoing young man. He was one of the first to befriend Max when she arrived at Blackwell Academy. Warren's major interest is science and as a result, according to Max, he will come off as a "know-it-all" to those less inclined for the more technical aspects of the subject. Though his major interest, academically speaking, is science, he also isn't shy about speaking or discussing or other subjects with the likes of Max, who appreciates his knowledge on photography and genre films.
Warren is friends with Alyssa and Brooke, two girls with differing attitudes on genre film. It's suggested that he has a stronger rapport with Alyssa, who is interested in similar science fiction films as he is. However, Brooke has little interest in science fiction. Her shared interest in mathematics and science makes the likes of Max believe that Warren and Brooke would be perfect for each other, romantically speaking.
It's heavily implied that Warren has a crush on Max as he makes several attempts to ask her out. Max seems partially aware of this as seen when Dana and Brooke point out that Warren follows her around. Though in a journal entry, Max states that she sees Warren more as a brother than anything.[8]
After one conversation, Max notes that she doesn't want to lead Warren on with the wrong idea about their relationship. It is also implied that Brooke Scott has a crush on him, which Warren may or may not be aware of. Max will remark that they are both alike, and that Brooke will sometimes act distantly to her (possibly due to Warren's crush on her).
Known Inconsistencies
In "Chrysalis" according to Max's introduction page for Warren, he is the same age as she is (eighteen years old). [7] However, the Blackwell Academy school file on Warren states he was born in November 1996, which would make him sixteen years old during the events of the game. [note 3] [3] Michel Koch has stated on Twitter that Warren is "almost 17" [4]
However, the Blackwell Academy school file on Warren states he was born in November 1996, which would make him sixteen years old during the events of the game. Michel Koch has stated on Twitter that Warren is "almost 17" In an e-mail from Warren in "Chrysalis", Warren thanks Max for class notes for Mr. Jefferson's class.[note 4][1] However, Warren is never seen attending Mr. Jefferson's class. In "Out of Time" he leaves the art class when Mr. Jefferson dismisses the students that aren't his.[2]
Trivia
Warren downloads films and television illegally and refers to himself as a "pop cultural connoisseur". [1]
Warren threatened to revoke Max's "geek cred" because she hadn't read many books written by Ray Bradbury. [9]
Written on the counter where Brooke is standing in the science lab is "Warren + Alyssa 2013" surrounded by a heart. [note 5] The message, presumably written by Brooke herself, suggests that Warren and Alyssa may have been in a relationship, or that Alyssa herself is also interested in Warren. [2] It is again later implied during the roof scene where he is holding Alyssa, who is hiding her face in his shoulder.
The message, presumably written by Brooke herself, suggests that Warren and Alyssa may have been in a relationship, or that Alyssa herself is also interested in Warren. It is again later implied during the roof scene where he is holding Alyssa, who is hiding her face in his shoulder. According to Warren's school file, he has a perfect 4.0 Grade Point Average. [3]
Warren's school file states that he has the "gift of gab". "Gift of gab" is an informal term referring to a speaker who is considered eloquent and persuasive. [10]
Warren has at least five phone numbers listed according to his school file. [3]
Warren and Max may be frequent players of World of Warcraft : In "Chrysalis" after Warren texts Max a photograph of his black eye, Max ends their conversation with "Kek", a term that is largely considered Orcish language. [1] In "Chaos Theory", when Max calls Warren for help with Principal Well's door, she tells him to "Bubble Hearth", which suggests Warren's player class is Paladin. [3]
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Gallery
An image gallery is available for
Warren Graham
NotesIf you fancy seeing how the other half lives or have some cash to splash on spectacularly luxurious hotel accommodation, we have just the place for you. The Royal Penthouse Suite at the Hotel President Wilson in Geneva is famous for being the largest suite in Europe at 1680 square metres, and numerous celebrities and heads of state have stayed in it.
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The opulent suite has 12 luxury bedrooms so you can bring all your pals and your entourage along. The bedrooms have marble bathrooms with bath products by Hermès. The two master bedrooms have a vast walk-in dressing room and a marble bathroom with a jacuzzi facing the lake, as well as a separate shower, steam and mirror TV.
There is also a fitness room to keep you in shape, and a private chef and chauffeur are available to you at all times. To keep yourselves entertained, you have the world’s largest TV screen by Bang & Olufsen, the BeoVision 4-103 home cinema set.
If you are musically talented or want to hire someone to entertain you, there’s a Steinway grand piano at your disposal. With a huge dining table ready to accommodate lots of people, you could host lovely dinner parties.
You and your pals could get into a friendly competition using the Brunswick billiard table, or browse the suite’s collection of ancient books and art pieces.
The suite is designed with maximum security in mind, so it is fitted with bulletproof windows, emergency alarm buttons and a reinforced safe. There is also a private lift to take you directly to your swish living quarters and shield you from fellow guests’ eyes.
Rates for the penthouse suits start at approximately $80,000 per night, making it the world’s most expensive suite, and further information is available here.HE IS LUCKY to have his name in the first list. Otherwise, he would have been like scores of other “trishanku candidates” (in limbo), neither here nor there. These words of a block chief of the Congress party in Amloh constituency of Punjab sum up the state of the election campaign here: confused. The candidate in Amloh, Randeep Singh Nabha, admits things are not all rosy. “It is a tough fight here and a lot depends on our ability to ‘keep down’ other claimants to the party ticket who can affect close to 5,000 odd votes here,” he tells Open. Once he leaves to attend an election event, his supporters offer a realistic appraisal. “He can win as people are fed up with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). But their guy is going all guns blazing on the campaign trail while our people are busy bickering for tickets.”
Amloh, a constituency that is neither urban nor fully rural, offers a good example of the interplay of factors that are making the 2017 poll campaign in Punjab a complex relay race instead of the usual 100-metre dash. Hindu voters in the constituency’s main town, Mandi Gobindgarh, are inclined towards the Congress even as they harbour a reservoir of support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But this time, the BJP’s main partner in the state, SAD—the traditionally dominant party of rural Punjab—is on a weak wicket. And in Punjab, as anywhere else in local elections in India, to be on the winning side is important if one is to gain something and not lose much by betting on the wrong horse. Farmers in Amloh appear divided between loyalty for the SAD and backing the ‘nice guy’, Nabha. If that were not enough, there is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promising the moon, when it is not fishing for trouble.
The confused state of affairs in this southeast corner of the map only reflects what is happening all over Punjab. The three main contending parties for power—AAP, the Congress and the SAD, the lead partner in a coalition that includes the BJP—are all in different stages of their campaigns. AAP, which has been in the ring for the longest, almost a year now, is seeing a flagging of energy and possibly fortunes as well.
The Congress campaign, after an initial flurry of constituency-level visits by Captain Amarinder Singh, has slowed for a while as the party finalises the names of candidates for the single-phase polls due on February 4th. Almost a month ago, the party announced a list of 61 contenders, following it up with another 16 on December 23rd. The second list—which had 25 names on it—showed the keen and somewhat bitter internal contest for candidacy in many seats. With the polling date just about three weeks away, the party is yet to announce the 40 remaining candidates as Open goes to press. In at least four constituencies, the fight among claimants is so bitter that in all likelihood the party high command will have to take a decision.
All this has taken a toll on the party’s campaign in what is otherwise a promising election for it. Amarinder Singh is caught up in all this in Delhi. Until the last 40 names are finalised, he cannot get back into the thick of things back in his state. This would have consequences. For one, a lot of time has been lost that could have been spent on the campaign trail. For another, once those 40 names go public, an inevitable mushrooming of rebels will occur. The time gap between the announcement of remaining candidates and what is ideally needed to make this rebels ‘sit down’ is perhaps too short. The danger that this will mar the Congress’ prospects is indeed real, but especially in its Doaba stronghold, a region in the heart of Punjab that accounts for 23 seats of the Assembly’s 117. With a strong presence of Dalits, it’s not a belt the party can afford to lose. In the last state elections, under similar circumstances of infighting, the party was defeated in 18 of these constituencies. The other two contenders, AAP and SAD, do not face such a quandary.
It is the SAD that faces the most uncertainty after ten years of ruling Punjab. Anti-incumbency stares at the party, especially in its bastion, Malwa
AAP, however, has its own—more difficult—problems. The longest in the fray, it is now losing steam. The party has ‘imported’ many candidates and leaders from its Delhi unit and is focusing on the Malwa region of Punjab—the state’s political centre of gravity that accounts for 69 of the 117 legislators to be elected. In many districts here, AAP is in a position to give the SAD and Congress a fight, an outcome of its long campaign for power in a state that accounts for its four MPs in the Lok Sabha (the same tally as SAD’s, incidentally). But even this may not be enough for it to send its man to the first floor in the Punjab Secretariat in Chandigarh. For one, its presence in Malwa is uneven across its districts. The party is considered especially weak in the key districts of Patiala—Captain Amarinder Singh’s bastion—and Ferozepur. Patiala alone accounts for 18 seats in the Assembly. Observers contend that AAP is on a weak footing in most of these. That leaves it to slug it out in around 50-55 seats in other parts of Malwa. It cannot win all these constituencies. If that’s not enough, the party’s presence in the two other regions of the state—Majha (Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts) and Doaba—is pretty thin, and its chances low.
“AAP did not factor the social and cultural complexities of Punjab,” argues Pramod Kumar, director of the Institute for Development and Communication (IDC), a think-tank based in Chandigarh. “Its presence across regions and demographics is askew. For example, it has some traction with the youth of the state, but because it has indulged in a strident campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it has lost support majorly among urban Hindus,” he adds.
One reason why AAP may not be able to ‘swing’ Punjab is the state’s unique religious configuration. Sikhs here consider themselves a majority, while Hindus are in a minority. But at the national level, this equation is reversed. The result is that political rhetoric that may please one aspect of a community’s identity may backfire in another place. AAP has been caught in these political crosshairs. It raised the issue of Delhi’s 1984 anti-Sikh riots in parts of India, an issue that has little traction in Punjab. Similarly, it has been unable to appeal to the state’s Hindus in an effective manner. “All major political parties tread on religious and caste issues with extra care in Punjab,” observes Kumar, “The same cannot be said about AAP.”
The Congress campaign, after a flurry of constituency-level visits by Amarinder Singh, has slowed as it struggles to finalise candidates in time for the polls
Of all the parties, however, it is the SAD that faces the most uncertainty after ten straight years of ruling Punjab. Anti-incumbency stares at the party in all parts of the state, but especially in its bastion, Malwa. A combination of factors—relative inattention to the woes of its core constituency, farmers, allegations of corruption in high places and the general harassment of ordinary people by persons affiliated to the party—has generated considerable doubt over its fate at the hustings. Even in places like Faridkot, deep in Malwa where at one time it was inconceivable that SAD would be weak, matters are in a flux. In 2015, desecration of the Sikh holy book led to protests. In the police ‘action’ that followed, two persons were killed. That rankles to this day in the area.
“[The government] never caught the persons who desecrated the Granth Sahib, but instead shot dead two innocent persons who were peacefully protesting against government inaction,” Jagroop Singh, caretaker of the local gurdwara in Bargari in Faridkot district, tells Open. “See for yourself how much support do the Akalis have in this area,” he adds, referring to SAD candidates.
In Chandigarh, Kumar concurs on what is happening on the ground. “The troubles of the Akalis are largely due to the arrogance of power. One family (the Badals) monopolised power and that has not gone down well with the electorate over time,” he says.
POLITICS, MANOEUVRING OF parties and the calculations to win seats are one matter; the political economy of the state is another. This random dance of politics is largely at variance with the abysmal state of Punjab’s economy. While all parties pay lip service to the state’s economic crisis, it’s clear that in reality they care two hoots. The manifestos released by AAP and the Congress illustrate this.
The Aam Aadmi Party which has been in the ring for the longest, almost a year now, is seeing a flagging of energy and possibly fortunes as well
At one point, in 1980s and 1990s, the state had among the highest per capita levels of income in India and its economy grew faster than many other major states. But that was in the past. A decade of terrorism and the opening of the Indian economy ensured that Punjab fell behind even as other states—better equipped in policy terms and with deeper investments in human capital—marched ahead. Today, the state is better known for its begging-bowl pleas for financial restructuring. Consider Punjab’s outstanding liabilities. On paper, it seems to be doing not so badly. Data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2016 shows that there are many states worse off when it comes to outstanding debt. But take a closer look at these numbers and a scary picture emerges. Over the last decade—since the SAD-BJP combine took charge of the state, outstanding liabilities have more than doubled from Rs 51,000 crore in 2007 to over Rs 1.25 lakh crore estimated in 2016. Alarmingly, when compared to the size of its economic pie—as measured by the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP)—liabilities comprised 31.4 per cent of its GSDP. Here, Punjab stands in the company of only one other state: West Bengal. It is a dubious distinction to hold.
All of this has fallen on deaf ears. On January 9th, the Congress released its election manifesto in Delhi. The 121-page document, replete with annexures, blame allotments, promises and more has the imprint of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Manpreet Badal, a former finance minister of Punjab who was once considered an economic reformer in this arch-populist state. Apart from a slew of other sops, the manifesto promises continuation of free power for the agriculture sector, waiver of farmer debts, and the establishment of a price stabilisation fund. Even if one ignores all other promises, these three are beyond the financial capacity of Punjab, unless the state wants to contract a mountain of additional debt. The Congress does not specify how it plans to raise the money to implement its programme.
If the Congress vision seems to display a gap between what is possible and what can be dreamt up, AAP’s ideas have been wholly tangential. Much like its ideas for governance in Delhi, in Punjab, too, it has promised the moon. Unlike the single document released by the Congress, AAP has released multiple ‘manifestoes’— for farmers, for Dalits, the state’s youth, and the trade and transport and industry. This plethora of documents lacks one essential ingredient: realism. The Congress, a party that has plenty of administrative experience, can be expected to prune its list of promises—it knows what can be done and what can’t—but AAP, which is supposed to be an alternative party, has not explained where it will find the resources needed to fulfil its plans. On an earlier occasion, when Open spoke with a senior leader of the party in the state, he simply said, “We will find a way.”
Perhaps the last word belongs to the state’s hardy farmers who don’t expect much from their government and politicians except being spared the trouble they encounter in government offices and at the hands of the police. In an election gathering in Fatehgarh Sahib, where a harried candidate on a sticky wicket is trying his best to convince a sceptical audience why he will be a good bet for them, one farmer gets up and asks what his party will do for them. The candidate reels of a list of impressive promises—including, of course, debt waiver. A look at their scraggy faces confirms that few of them believe this. The candidate moves on. When asked whether he believes what was promised, the reply of a farmer, well into old age, is revealing: “It is the lies that tell you what these people are up to. Had he said that ‘I will stand by you when you need me,’ I would have believed him. But he promised what he knows he cannot deliver.” It is on these dusty roads of Punjab that manifestoes and promises come crashing against reality.KOLKATA: A 32-year-old fashion designer who had failed to secure a job after returning from New York committed suicide by hanging himself at his Motilal Nehru Road house in Lake police station area on Wednesday morning. Writabrata Dutta in a suicide note held nobody responsible for his death. But he mentioned that his career and his parents' refusal to shift to the West had made him upset.The victim studied fashion designing in New York. Last year, he joined a New York agency and returned to Kolkata after having lost his job. He had been depressed ever since, the victim's father Subrata Dutta, an engineer, told police."On Wednesday, he was supposed to visit a dentist. When his parents went to alert him about the appointment, they found no response from his room and informed police," said an investigator. Cops broke open the door to find him hanging from the ceiling fan with his mother's saree. His body was sent to SSKM Hospital for autopsy.In the suicide note found in his room, Writabrata held nobody responsible. The victim mentioned that he had been insisting his parents to move with him to the West after selling off their property in Kolkata since he found no future in this country. He was upset after being denied a job on a par with his academic records, said joint commissioner (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh.Writabrata's father Subrata conceded to investigators that his son had been depressed after coming back from New York. His applications to top agencies in Bengaluru and Mumbai yielded no result and he wanted to return to New York. His parents' refusal to shift base made him more depressed.A fashion designer failing to persuade his parents to relocate in the west committed suicide by hanging himsef in his first floor room at his Motilal Nehru Road house in Lake police station area on Wednesday morning. Writabrata Dutta (32), who used to work as fashion designer with a New York agency, had lost his job. Coming back, he applied to some top fashion designing institute of India but failed to secure a job of his worth.In suicide note, Dutta, an alumnus of a premier city school, suffered frustration with a little scope to further his career that took a flying start at New York where he had studied fashion designing. "On Wednesday, he was supposed to see a dentist as he was suffering from the decayed tooth. But when his parents went to alert him about the appointment, they found no response from inside," said an investigator.Police were infomed. Police broke into the room and found Writabrata Dutta hanging from the ceiling fan with his mother's saree. His body was recovered and sent to SSKM Hospital for post-mortem. Police retrieved a note where he held no one responsible for his death. He mentioned that he had been insisting that his parents also move with him selling off their properties in Kolkata as he found no future in this country. He was upset after he was denied a job commensurating his academic track-records, said joint commissioner (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh.His father, a reputed engineer with an expertise in bridge and flyover, Subrata Dutta told police that Writabrata was a person with strong likes and dislikes. He had gone to New York in 2012 and joined an agency there. But he lost that job too. He was very depressed ever since. He came back and applied to various agencies in Bangaluru and Mumbai. But he apparently failed to secure a job. He was thinking of going back to New York to try his luck there once more.He apparently insisted that his parents also accompany him in the west after selling off their house and other properties here. But they refused to toe his line. This made him even more depressed.Projections are a constant in modern baseball analysis. Gone are the days when players were evaluated only on past performance; now, players as well as trades, contracts, and roster constructions are evaluated with some combination of one or more quantitative forecasts. There are many, and they don't all agree (as BtBS's own Ryan Romano has been documenting recently), but they tend to do, on the whole, a much better job than merely going by one's gut.
That brings up two related questions. Just how good a job do the projections do? And how do they do not on the whole but on more specific subsets of players? Are certain skillsets or profiles easier for a system to project than others? Other writers have taken whacks at these questions in the past — this 2014 article from The Hardball Times evaluated the performance of several systems in 2014, for both MLB as a whole and groups of players sorted by experience and age — and I wanted to do something similar for 2015.
I'll be considering the main public projection systems: PECOTA, Baseball Prospectus' proprietary system; Steamer, created by Jared Cross, Dash Davidson, and Peter Rosenbloom and hosted at FanGraphs and Razzball; and ZiPS, created by Dan Szymborski and also hosted at FanGraphs.
As a baseline, I'll also include the charmingly named Marcel the Monkey Forecasting System, which is overseen by Tom Tango. There's not much to oversee, however; the whole point of the Marcels is to provide an extremely basic forecast. It utilizes only a simple age adjustment and each player's past three seasons of performance, weighing last year most heavily and three years ago least heavily. Players with no MLB history are, by design, projected at precisely league average. For a project like this, Marcel is invaluable, since it establishes the bar that any other projection system should aim to clear.
First, I took all batters with at least one plate appearance in 2015 and threw out anyone who didn't receive a projection from all three of PECOTA, Steamer, and ZiPS, leaving an overall sample of 545 players. There are alternatives to this process you might prefer — the most obvious would have been to give each unprojected player a league-average forecast, like Marcel — but I wanted this evaluation to focus on the figures the various systems actually produced, not their scope.
The next thing I did was take the projected and actual stats for each player and scale them to league average, for two reasons. One, it could be argued that this is what is actually relevant, and that it's more important to know how well a system projected relative levels of performance than whether it correctly projected a continued rise in strikeouts league-wide. Again, this isn't the only way — there's something interesting in the fact that Steamer projects a leaguewide OBP of.316, while ZiPS is at.299 and PECOTA at.300 — but it's what I chose. Two, and more importantly, it allows for comparisons of projections across statistics. I wanted to look for different strengths of the systems in different areas (maybe PECOTA can predict OBP with incredible accuracy, while Steamer's forte is SLG), and scaling everything to league average |
Intro
Notes: Beautiful Piano Music!
[1:40] #AoC fastest growing kickstarter community
Questions from Discord and Twitch today Passed 13000 backers, unlocks unique dye set Dyes are one-time use. Kickstarter dye set changes a dye you’ve achieved in-game to your color 6 days remaining, coming on 2.5 million goal
Discord and Twitch Chat Q&A
Template:Ts"5:00 Will you allow us to save our UI settings
Yes, will be savable
[5:27] How will blacksmithing work? Will it be like traditional or quick time-events?
Combination of collecting materials and recipes Dials that are available to manipulate the stats
[6:22] For the royalty package on KS, will be able to stream the session to our channels (private QnA)?
Probably be under NDA Depends on what we’re discussing
[7:21] Will the kickstarter items be permanent to use? Mounts?
Mounts will have unique looks/effects Mentions transparency, spectral, flames Don't want to give you a single mount that will be obsolete You take the “skin” and apply to a mount you’ve earned in-game. You keep the stats of the original, have appearance of KS skin. Can re-use.
[9:16] Aside from races, what did you take inspiration of from Lord of the Rings?
Hard to tell Difficult to unpack the large amount of inspiration that LotR gives to the vast majority of fantasy media. Mentions of Sting, Frodo's sword, and how it had a story, wasn’t just a +1 Sword.
[10:58] Will the religions rival each other in belief, or are they all just unrelated?
They are all related We are talking of a “pantheon” It is about which god “best identifies with you” Each god has a specific part of the world/region they relate with More like the Greek Pantheon, for example. No direct combativeness between the religions. Competition between the religions due to progression mechanics A city might have one temple slot, which religion gets that slot? In the pantheon of gods they are in antagonists (Literally the word antagonists is said). That’s it.
[13:30] Is the music at the beginning Intrepids?
Yes. We will reveal more about the music at a later date.
[13:43] Will there be a level cap?
Yes. In regards to the adventure path. Different routes of progression.
[13:30] Can we cover our character’s bodies in tattoos?
Talking about different potential options for how it could work Haven’t really thought about it too much. No real answer.
[15:33] Do we have evil gods or demonic beings to worship?
Little bit of a reveal Beginning of the universe was a result of group of gods/beings, 10 of them. Celestial struggle happened. Those gods fractured(?) Two components of Good and Evil. Potential for some storylines to relate to that Evil half. Maybe not Evil, but Dark (2spooky) Short answer, yes.
[17:04] Do you like cookies?
Yes. Pete doesn’t like cookies. Jeffrey likes cookies after ramen. Steven likes macadamia Nut cookies
[17:38] Some gameplay please?
OK. Will be releasing freehold content on youtube after stream
[18:10] Will you discuss banking / if there will be shared spaces between alts?
Account management page for KS items, can assign items to characters. Can move items to characters Can only be on one character at a time In game items, probably not. Staying away from it for now, still discussing.
[19:05] Can the cleric skills do extra damage to corrupted monsters/players?
Something they alluded to in a dev blog maybe? One of the Cleric utility skills. They have control over life, which gives them control over the status of life.
[19:50] Bikini plate armour for females?
Wouldn't really serve a purpose to have bikini-plate armor Should be protective Enjoyable for some people, immersion issue Going for more realistic look.
[20:46] Will each race have their own armor and weapon appearances?
Yes. Armour sets/pieces will have unique appearances for each race. Plate armour will look like plate armour, but different for each race.
[21:20] How does the sub-type of the race affect gameplay?
Quite a few different ways Affects class. Race aspected abilities Augments Stats grow in different ways for each sub race Base stats will be different, so will stat growth. Appearance and NPCs in nodes will be different for each race.
[22:22] If a guild all bought monster coins, would they all be able to wreak havoc (same time)?
No. Owning a monster coin does not allow you to spawn a monster. Monster coin events will occur because of triggers. Defeating a boss, building a special building, many different things. On a trigger, people who own coins will enter a queue based on procurement of a coin. Difficult for groups to get in all at once Aware that if a system can be gamed, it will be gamed Can’t participate in a monster event in an area that you are a citizen of. Supposed to more be monster participation in a public quest.
[22:45] How will the difficulty of monsters be determined? Will it be based on the land/node?
Bit of both 3Naturally there will areas with a mix of monster levels As nodes develop, spawn tables change for nodes around that node. Zones are not level based No level 10 zone, level 20 zone Each zone will have a mix of monster levels. Trying to make progression more dynamic, less linear
[26:00] For crafting, will recipes be automatically be learned, or will we go out and find the recipes?
Finding recipes, for the most part. Something we're talking about: when someone finds a recipe, they get a period of time to “patent” the recipe out. You can license out a recipe from a boss for a fee (TBA)
[28:18] How will we know how much of x item we will need to evolve a node?
You won’t know the exact amount. You will see a relative growth, but cannot track percentage or number
[29:07] Will there be any server vs server PvP?
Something we’ve discussed Arenas possibly Military metropolis possibly being cross-server We like the cross-server play
[30:35] When do you think you will have your royal and above pledgers come to visit studios?
We don't know yet. We will have a couple of dates for multiple groups. We will be in communication with them.
[31:32] Will underground nodes use the same caravan routes as above-ground routes?
Will be underground as well. Potential routes go underground. Advantages and disadvantages
[32:17] Will users be able to purchase party items (i.e. fireworks, toys)
Definitely Not for repelling monsters Fireworks are big
[33:06] Can you be a good tank without using a shield? (i.e shadowknight)
Yes, totally. Evasion tanks, shield tanks, etc. Tanks will not be forced to have a shield
[33:42] How come Steven only steals Jeff’s Water?
One of the great life mysteries.
[34:22] Will players gathering and building a village purely out of freeholds be viable?
Depends on story Will not be a proper village Cannot place a freehold without a village stage node or above Can for RP or aesthetics place freeholds near each other
[35:11] Am I able to start up a tavern on a ship?
Not something we’ve considered Totally should have a party boat
[36:19] What role will alliances play in regards to guild wars and siege?
All in how you use it. Some alliance mechanics are at play You will have alliance indicators where you can invite guilds Alliance wars, war between guilds or alliances Will discuss more about those systems in the Guild Wars blog
[37:16] Will there be flying mounts in any form?
Dragon that is claimable by kings/queens and metropolis leaders Could be a world boss drop, that would die over time Generally flying is something we don't want to do. We don't want you flying over the world skipping content Reserving dragons to very few people
[38:33] If AoC becomes a huge hit, do you think you will bring it to console?
Our goal with AoC is a perfectly built game to PC first. Future can possibly be a single-player RPG Always back of our head
[39:35] How will the new race we may unlock interact with the other races? Will they be hostile or friendly?
This race can go to the surface. Vice-versa It is a player-race. Will be like any other race.
[40:42] Will we ever do a meet and greet for fans?
We will be at PAX Prime. September Wasn’t supposed to announce yet (laughs) We will try to be at the major conferences.
[41:37] What happens if I breed a horse with a turtle?
You get a hortle. Animal husbandry has different classes of mounts that are breedable. Breed horses with horses
[42:26] What about underealm nodes? If it exists how will it be sieged?
They exist. They are sieged the same way. Still balanced with the other sieges.
[43:20] Can summoners fuse with their summons? Like synthesis?
I don't think we will have a fusing system - probably not. Not currently in cards.
[44:00] Are you only stuck with elven gear if you are elven or can you choose what style you want?
Freeholds you can choose whatever styles you want. You are not locked in armor.
[44:38] Is node citizenship necessary, can you lose out by not choosing one?
No you do not. Yes you will lose out on certain citizenship things Will not be paying taxes You can be technically just a bandit
[45:38] Can you tell us more about mounts? If they die are they lost forever?
No. The dragon is a mount you can lose if you lose your title. May be epic timed mounts Traditional mounts will not be killable (permanently)
[46:42] Can you breed those special/epic mounts?
No you cannot. You can breed mounts that you find in the wild as you move through the breeding tree.
Forum Questions
[47:28] Will there be a mechanism for AFK guild leaders to transfer?
Been talking about that. There is a lot of abuse that can happen with that. It is a problem we are aware of.
[48:12] Will there be an arena for GvG?
Not specifically for guild. Can utilize the team battle system. Can enter a 5v5 as a team.
[48:49] Will there be collection quests?
yes
[49:00] If I have a freehold on a land that is primarily elven can I change my freehold to like a different races?
Yes
[49:07] How impactful are the social organizations going to be?
No They will be like religion, and have a tree to follow, at times they may not be in agreement and there may be conflict. Not full society against society war. Intrigue kind of war rather than an open war.
[50:08] Can you own business chains across nodes?
No You can only have a single freehold, however you could license the name and work with others to form franchises.
[50:39] How many players will be able to be rendered on screen at one time?
Unreal has a lot of mechanics to have client-side render characters. Will be a “a lot”. No hard numbers.
[51:26] Will ships be player-craftable?
Yes
[51:38] Will there be a scribe or anything similar? (Scrolls, Books)
Yes. tell the story from their point of view
[52:08] Will there be a chance for a summoner to tame an epic boss?
No. Might be able to do something with appearances. Will have an appearance shop for summons.
[53:04] Will there be other pack mounts besides what is in kickstarter
Yes.other pack mounts besides KS Yes
[53:11] Will there be penalties on armor/differences
Yes. Different armors have different stats.
[53:37] Will players be able to choose different voices for their characters.
Few presets
[53:57] Will currency have in-game weight?
No
[54:04] Can a single player advance a node if noone is around?
Meant to be community driven. No.
[55:03] Closing
Notes: Next week on Tuesday and Thursday Last week! See you on Tuesday. *Plays awesome music again*
ReferencesTim Murray by
Anetta Kahane claims she has both the moral and the aesthetic fibre to ensure that Germans don't commit Facebook crimes against the Islamization of their country
F
ormer winner of East Germany's Miss Universe Contest, now single, is looking for the far-right man. Are you that lucky man? Find out with eHarmony! That's "e" for ethnic!Above, bubbly former Stasi informant Anetta Kahane has been charged by Chancellor Merkel's Minister of Justice Heiko Maas with the task of monitoring Facebook to discover "xenophobic" posts, whose authors will be fined and imprisoned We at eHarmony.ca pride ourselves in finding the right match for you. Someone who will understand where you are coming from and what you are thinking and posting.If you are a single man looking for Ms. Right, or in this case Ms. Left, then Anetta is the gal for you. She is a single, well indoctrinated, with a secure job and a handsome income, and she has multicultural flair, inherited from her father, German-Jewish communist emigré Max Kahane. In other words, she has a lot to bring to the table.There are many adjectives that would fit this fun-loving lady. Outgoing, upbeat, effervescent, bubbly and buoyant are but a few of them. But it is her trademark Leftist sense of humour that she is most noted for. In turn, she likes a good laugh too, except that if your one-liners are judged to be Islamophobic, xenophobic or racist, the joke will be on you, Herr Brownshirt.Suffice to say that Anetta can be the life of the party, especially if that party is like the DDR's Socialist Unity Party (SED) or lately, the CDU (same difference).As full disclosure is one of the conditions that eHarmony requires of its clients, whether they be men seeking women or women seeking men, we must point out that like all human beings, Frau Kahane does on occasion show her warts. But let's be realistic, Ms. Right can never be Ms. Perfect. Not in this world. And besides, you are not getting any younger, are you? Beggars can't be choosers, can they now? Adjust your standards, man.The jealous type, Anetta will confess that she is somewhat of a stalker. Just out of habit, she will monitor her man, track his movements and report his comments to her superiors. It all goes to show that a leopard can't change its spots.If anything, Anetta is first and foremost a career woman, and pleasing her superiors is just as important as pleasing you. Look, this is 2016 and you can't expect a woman to forfeit career satisfaction or upward mobility and build a life just around you, can you?Well, whatever her faults may be, you can count on one thing. Anetta is consistent. She doesn't have those ups and downs that many women have. She is the same woman now that she was then, before 1989. Young at heart. The only difference is that back then, Anetta liked walls. But now she wants all the walls to come down. Just like her boss Angela. Or her soul mate, Hillary.Bottom line: don't despair, young man. You will not have to live out your days as a bachelor, or a widower if that is your present status. The opportunity is there for the taking. Take heart, for as the saying goes, for every Jack, there is a Jill — or an Anetta. And eHarmony will find her for you. Of course you and your true love will have your differences but as Canadian Prime Minister Justice Trudeau continually reminds us, it is our unbridgeable differences that make us strong. There is "Unity in Diversity". Repeat that often enough and you will come to believe it. Or else.So say goodbye to loneliness. You will never have to be alone again, unless you are sent to a prison for a thought crime because a former Stasi informant ratted on you. All you have to do is keep your mouth shut. If you grew up in the DDR, that should be second nature to you anyway, right? And if you are not yet ready to do that, we can always send you to training camp in Sweden for conditioning. If they can't find a spot for you, Canada will do. By the way, you just have to see Canada's model "re-education" camp, adorned with a sign over the entrance gate that reads "Diversity will set you free". See, you feel "vibrant" already, don't you? Admit it.If you are interested, we can connect you to Anette, or send screen shots of your postings on Twitter in care of her address, by way of an introduction. If you need an escort, we can arrange that too, and remand you to her custody in the basement of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, once renowned for its gracious hospitality.Naturally, like anyone who is suddenly confronted by the woman of his dreams, you can expect to be a little stage-struck at first. Rendered speechless in fact — if fines and imprisonment haven't already done the trick. But don't worry, if the cat has got your tongue, Anetta will make you talk. She is that kind of woman. Charm is her middle name.Hope to hear from you soon!Bet on love with eHarmony!Cyclists in Wiltshire and Gloucestershire are being urged to help police bring to justice a motorist caught on film veering across the road to pass an oncoming rider with just inches to spare in what appears to be a deliberate and highly dangerous close pass. Two other cyclists have come forward to say they believe they were targeted by the same driver in the same manner, with one adding that action needs to be taken before someone is killed.
The husband of one of those cyclists told road.cc via Facebook that police proceedings are now under way against the motorist.
The cyclist who filmed the incident he was involved in, Dave Jones, posted a link to the video, which is hosted on the photo-sharing site Flickr, to timetriallingforum.co.uk on 1 May. You can watch it here.
He said: “Last night [30 April] while riding near Ashton Keynes [Wiltshire], an oncoming dark blue Peugeot car, registration V496ELT swerved onto my side of the road and drove at me at around 50 mph. He presumably didn't see my helmet camera which recorded the incident.
“Unfortunately the wide angle lens makes the vehicle appear further away than it actually was – I thought I was done for. The audio track is drowned by wind noise, but if you listen carefully you can hear that the driver sounded the car horn throughout the incident.
“As shown by the first part of the video clip, the road was clear and he had no reason to cross the white line... “
He said he had passed the video to local police who were investigating, adding: “If anyone else in the Wilts/Glos area has had a similar experience with this vehicle, please let me know as the Police would like this info.
“He was travelling northwards on the B4696, just past the Spine Road crossroads when the incident occurred.”
Eventually two cyclists came forward separately on the forum last Friday to say that they too had been involved in similar incidents with what appears to be the same vehicle.
One, called Adriano and a member of Swindon Road Club, said: “On my way to the club 10TT a blue Peugeot drove on to me on my side of the road. The same thing that happen to you but on this occasion I had to throw myself off road to avoid the collision.
“Fortunately no injury was caused to me or the bike. However, I was in shock for a moment and did not know what to do.
“I did not see the reg of the car but I suspect it's the same car that drove on to you. I meet other cyclists on my way to the TT and they said the same thing had happened to them. Something needs to be done as a matter of urgency before someone gets killed.
“This driver is using his car as a weapon to target fellow cyclists. We need to spread the word so we all know there's a maniac on the loose.”
Another rider, Amanda Adams, posted: “I was also swerved into by what also seems the same guy the same eve on the way to Ashton Keynes to the club time trial. Defo blue Peugeot that is similar to my husband’s car.
“I phoned this in to the police as well but I was told (despite mentioning your own incident), that I needed a secondary witness. When I said that three cyclists had this car swerve into them in the space of about 10 mins, he said that if we get together to make a statement that would act as the 'independent' witness.
“There was a guy in a car behind who saw it and who stopped to make sure I was ok but unfortunately I was still too much in shock to ask for his phone number and name.”
She added that she would email Adriano.
Anyone with further information on the vehicle involved, especially those who may have experienced similar situations, is asked to contact Dave Jones through the thread on timetrialling.co.uk or via Flickr so the information can be passed onto the police.
We regret we are unable to accept comments on this article.Some people are fans of the Carolina Panthers. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Carolina Panthers. This 2014 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group.
Your team: Carolina Panthers
Your 2013 record: 12-4. The Panthers won the division and were able to save Ron Rivera's job. OH SHIT THEY SAVED RON RIVERA'S JOB DEAR GOD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! You know what they say: If you can't spot the obvious candidate for regression in 2014, then YOU are the obvious candidate for regression in 2014.
Your coach: Ron Rivera. You know the story by now: overly conservative coach gets shit on for being overly conservative, then overly conservative makes a big show of actually taking risks like going for it on fourth down (when going for it on fourth down is not actually a large statistical risk), then overly conservative coach dubs himself Riverboat Ron, and then overly conservative coach's team makes the playoffs, and then overly conservative coach INSTANTLY reverts to true form and runs the ball up the gut 50 times from the one-yard line to seal the defeat.
Never trust a man who wears transition lenses. That's Mike Tolbert getting stoned in most of that video, by the way. The Panthers paid $4.2 million for that.
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Anyway, with your memory now refreshed, I think we can all agree that Ron Rivera can try to not be Ron Rivera all he likes. But when it really matters, he will go right back to being Ron Rivera. I watched Marty Schottenheimer coach for two decades. I know how this works.
Your quarterback: Cam "Improved Body Language" Newton.
Also, Cam should serve as an eternal reminder to you folks out there to never paint your laptops. You can paint your walls and your flower boxes, but please do not paint your computer. Your computer will not like it. Cam could win 50 Super Bowls and I'll still remember him as the dude who painted a laptop.
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By the way, the success of the Panthers defense last season helped mask the fact that Cam Newton turned the ball over more last season than he ever has in his career. Thankfully, the Panthers front office spent this offseason giving Cam all of the weapons and critical pass protection he needs to truly flourish. LOL JK THEY FUCKED HIM GOOD.
What's new that sucks: Ah, that's just it. The Panthers lost Steve Smith, Brandon LaFell, and the entire right side of the offensive line. But don't worry! Jerricho Cotchery is here to make up for all of that. Smith is the only good wideout Cam Newton has ever had to work with, and he is now gone. And when you cut ties with Steve Smith, you ensure that Steve Smith will spend the rest of his lifetime vowing to pay you back a hundred fold. This team plays Baltimore in Week 4 and I assume that Smith has some sort of Extreme Red Wedding planned for the occasion: mortar fire, arrows, baby-punching, etc.
To make up for Smith's loss, the Panthers drafted wideout Kelvin Benjamin in the first round. And I bet you five million dollars that Roger Goodell is just ACHING to Josh Gordon the shit out of Kelvin Benjamin somewhere down the road. He treats any incoming wideout with a reputation for blowing off meetings like a new Christmas present. You will see Kelvin Benjamin catch 800 yards worth of passes in the first month of this season, and then? POOF! Gone. Suspended for … things.
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Here is your boilerplate "this kid will be a trouble maker" dossier on Benjamin:
This year, I've been told of numerous players with 10-15 meetings with teams. Florida State wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin apparently decided he'd had enough, electing to blow off a workout with an NFL coach who made "a special trip" to work him out, according to NFL.com's Gil Brandt. There are any number of legitimate reasons why Benjamin may have been unable to work out. For a player who admitted at the NFL combine, however, that he'd struggled with work ethic earlier in his career at Florida State, Thursday's news could come as a significant red flag.
I love it when NFL teams force draftees to attend 50,000 interviews and then mark a player down if he dares to express frustration with the process. "How dare you not subject yourself to my interrogation! I MADE A SPECIAL TRIP."
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On the defensive side of the ball, pretty much everyone from last year's secondary is gone, which is bad! To help plug the gaps, the Panthers signed Roman Harper, who is 97 years old. Why do teams keep giving Roman Harper work? Does Bill Parcells threaten to sit on GMs if they don't bring Harper in for a workout?
What has always sucked: You just can't stop those gritty Panthers from hurting women and/or killing them outright. Consider the case of defensive end and apparent Toilet Warrior Greg Hardy:
Hardy, Holder said, flung her from the bed, threw her into a bathtub, then tossed her on a futon covered with rifles. Holder said Hardy ripped a necklace he had given her off her neck, threw it into a toilet and slammed the lid on her arm when she tried to fish it out. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound Hardy dragged her by the hair room to room, she said, before putting his hands around her throat. "He looked me in my eyes and he told me he was going to kill me," said Holder, 24, who said she used to live with Hardy. "I was so scared I wanted to die. When he loosened his grip slightly, I said, 'Just do it. Kill me.'" Later, as Holder said she was held by her former boyfriend's personal assistant, she said Hardy made the 911 call, showed her the phone, and said, "Run, little girl. You're going to jail."
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Hardy has publicly expressed remorse … for being a distraction to the Panthers. The whole "allegedly slamming a toilet on a lady and almost choking her to death" thing went unmentioned. One of Hardy's defense witnesses actually showed up to hang at camp the other day. Hopefully, he'll bring his gun futon into the team clubhouse next week so everyone can chill on it. Nothing relaxes me like a quality gun futon.
You might think that team owner and It's A Wonderful Life villain Jerry Richardson would disapprove of having Hardy on the roster. After all, THIS is what Richardson looks like:
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That is the face of an owner who loves nothing more than to treat his employees like welfare recipients. Anyway, I have a theory that Jerry Richardson secretly enjoys having wayward souls like Hardy on the roster. It gives him consistent proof that his players are undisciplined goons that must be controlled at all costs. He's Colonel Montgomery in Glory, the evil guy who has his soldiers burn the village.
By the way, have you seen the Panthers' stadium deal? This team gets $50 million in flash money if they merely consider the idea of not moving the team for an additional four years. The Panthers have said they won't take this bonus money, because they're so gosh darn charitable. But the deadline for that $50 million is still a year away. I wonder if the team's stance might change in that time!
Now comes the part where we make fun of the Carolinas, which tolerate the Panthers only until ACC basketball season begins in earnest. I drove through both Carolinas last fall and you will spend every waking moment in the Carolinas in fear of being murdered at a truck stop. I went to South Carolina—a state that, despite the team's overreaching naming effort, probably houses a grand total of six actual Panthers fans—and that state is the Maine of the American Southeast: pretty on the coasts, HELL INLAND. I swear the highways there are made of gravel. South of the Border remains the strangest roadside attraction I've ever seen, like the USO show the boat stumbles upon in Apocalypse Now. I thought I hallucinated it. I've also been told that Myrtle Beach is just thousands of dads doing thousands of Kenny Powers impersonations, poorly, and a factory outlet.
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Also, there are STILL too many overpaid running backs on this roster. Can Tolbert play wideout or something?
What might not suck: Benjamin is a stud and will probably get 250 targets over the course of the season, or as many as he gets until he's suspended for having a general air of insubordination. So if opposing coaches are stupid enough to leave him single-covered, and they don't bother trying to throw on this secondary, and they don't put a spy on Newton running out of the backfield, this team might just stumble into another fluky division title.
Hear it from Panthers fans!
Martin:
Our best current wide receiver on the roster is Jerricho Cotchery who was the 3rd best receiver on the JETS when he was young, 4 years ago. We cut the most well liked Panther, Steve Smith, anddddd he still counts against our cap. We are still actually paying him to beat us this year.
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Jonathan:
A friend bought PSLs a few years ago before we drafted Cam Newton, and in his frustration at the high price of watching a shit team, emailed the Panthers front office to vent. Somehow, someway Ol' Jerry found about the email and called him. Did he call to save "have hope" or "things will get better"? No. He called to tell my friend to stop complaining and be grateful that Charlotte has an NFL team. He then preceded to degrade him for about 2 minutes and threaten to take his PSLs WITHOUT a refund, then abruptly hung up on my friend. I wish I was making this up.
Kyle:
Jerry Richardson is the Mark Emmert of the NFL.
Dave:
Because our dipshit fans STILL blame John Kasay for "losing the Super Bowl." The Panthers defense was gassed since they were on the field the entire goddamn first half (one first down - because of a defensive holding penalty - in the first quarter) and showed they couldn't stop the Pats in the fourth at all. But these mouthbreathers think "durr, no way Brady and that hall of fame offense score if they don't start from the 40." The Pats trotted off the field once they were in FG range. Took their sweet time to call time out. But nope, it's all the kicker's fault. Did I mention our fans are stupid? "That Peppers is a bum! He makes too much!" Then when he signed with Chicago "That jerk has no loyalty!"
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Zack:
Remember, before he was Riverboat Ron, he prompted this.
Will:
Because my greatest and worst childhood memories involve a Jake Delhomme pass and a John Kasay kickoff.
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Davis:
Marty Hurney misread the NFL running back market so miserably that he gave Costa Rica's GDP to eighteen different running backs. This is the equivalent of investing in Confederate railroad stocks six months before the Civil War. What's worse is that he still has the nerve to go on ESPN and analyze our team like he didn't take a hot shit on our entire salary cap. Marty Hurney, man. I wouldn't let that guy be the GM of a lemonade stand. Our wide receivers are either 18 or 38.
Andy:
All you need to know about Carolina is they cut the best player in franchise history in Steve Smith and signed 3 free agent wideouts to replace him. Two of them - Jason Avant and Jerricho Cotchery - I literally didn't even know were still playing football for a living. At least they drafted a wideout, albeit one whose biggest problem according to draftniks is his hands. At least those aren't important for a wide rec-OH SHIT.
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Tarun:
Our fans are the worst. At least a third of them would rather have Matt Moore than Cam. They are so mad that we let go of an over the hill expensive WR, that over half of them will be wearing purple and rooting for Steve Smith to score the game winning touchdown when we face the Ravens in September. And that's probably a good thing, because it's the only way we could possibly fill the stadium. The opposing team's fans come close to outnumbering ours almost every home game. We also named our stadium after a corrupt bank, and our owner got the city of Charlotte to fork over a ton of money to renovate a basically new stadium anyway. But all of that pales in comparison to what our front office does for our franchise QB. Every team in the league that drafted a young QB in the last few years immediately starts surrounding them with help. San Francisco got Kaepernick Boldin and Stevie Johnson. Seattle got Wilson Percy Harvin. The Colts surrounded Luck with WRs. The Redskins signed DeSean Jackson. The Bengals gave Dalton AJ Green. Our front office gave our QB Domenik Hixon, Ted Ginn, Brandon LaFell, and 40% of Steve Smith and said "if you're the franchise QB, this is good enough". He still made the Pro Bowl and got us to the playoffs. We then promptly replaced all of those guys with Jason Avant and Jerricho Cotchery. When our Pro Bowl LT retired in June, we replaced him with Byron Bell, one of the worst RTs in the league. We replaced Byron Bell with a converted defensive lineman who has never played OT before. Our organization is actively trying to let Cam Newton die on the football field. We took a dominant spread offense QB, and put him in a scheme built around spending 5 minutes to gain 12 yards. Our offensive game plan is to watch our overpaid 30 year old RBs get tackled for 1 yard gains, then watch Cam somehow avoid 3 sacks and make a huge play, right before getting knocked the fuck out by every defensive lineman. Our top five players in franchise history include a kicker who choked in the Super Bowl, a LB that spent half his career with the Saints, and Jake Delhomme.
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Kyle:
Marty Hurney, the walking zombie of a former GM who had to be high on bath salts when he made 90% of his decisions during his decade long disaster of a tenure, now hosts a local radio show in Charlotte. It's bizarre. He occasionally conducts on-air interviews with current GM Dave Gettleman, and when he asks hard-hitting questions such as, "Dave, what does it take to put a winning team on the field for more than one year?" I seriously think it has nothing to do with the interests of the listening audience but more because he genuinely wants to know the answer. And while Gettleman recites the same canned response every time, there's a 100% chance he wants to say "I dunno, Marty, but it's probably NOT spending a quarter of your cap on two washed-up running backs, giving a $50 million deal to a middle linebacker who has Achilles tendonitis and signing a quarterback who just threw five interceptions in a playoff game to a five-year extension." I applaud Gettleman for not reaching across the table and throttling Hurney for leaving behind this complete abomination of a cap situation as an apparent farewell 'fuck you' to the organization and its fans.
Andrew:
I am a native North Carolinian and in no way a Panthers fan. This puts me in a very large demographic.
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Tom:
Jerry Richardson's team could go 16-0 in the regular season on the way to a decisive Super Bowl victory and he wouldn't wipe that disapproving scowl off his face. The only time he cracks a smile is when he's duping the city and the taxpayers into financing his stadium expansions. And man oh man does this fucking asshole get a lot of credit for being the only owner who has actually played in the league. He played two seasons and then became a fast food tycoon! A walk through Bank of America Stadium on gameday is like walking through the clubhouse of the greater Charlotte area's lamest country club. Tucked in polo shirts and visors as far as the eye can see.
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Jeremy:
The franchise has gone out of its way to genericize itself, making it near-impossible for fans to even understand what identity is being marketed. First of all, we're the region-encompassing "Carolina" Panthers, so chosen, I guess, because Charlotte is essentially the "Iron Man 2" of American cities: a whole lot of people have seen it, but nobody remembers anything about it. Charlotte looks like somebody expanded the lobby of a Holiday Inn Express to fill up 300 square miles, dotted it with the occasional Moe's Southwest Grill, and then sold it to Bank of America. Even North Carolinians just sort of ignore Charlotte. And to worsen the regionalism, the organization blatantly pandered to North Carolina's mouth-breathing, |
la Esparza vs. Randa Markos
For more on UFC Fight Night 105, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.Brad Keselowski has heard the rumors and if they are true then Kyle Busch is out of a ride until Daytona and now without sponsorship. Busch was parked this week at Texas due to actions in the Camping World Truck Series when he wrecked fellow competitor Ron Hornaday under caution.
The #18 of Busch had been adorned with colors and products of Mars, namely their M&M candies. Mars was one of the few companies that still sponsored a car for the bulk of a season, something that will surely impact Joe Gibbs Racing going forward as any plans to run Busch in 2012 will require a new sponsor now.
Busch is the most polarizing figure in the NASCAR garage and was recently fined $50,000 for his actions in that truck series race.
UPDATE: Bob Pockrass of Scene Daily says on his twitter “On Kyle Busch: JGR still hasn’t confirmed if he’ll race Cup at PIR. I lean toward he’ll race but wouldn’t be surprised either way.”
UPDATE: Jayski.com notes that “the weekly race preview for JGR/Kyle Busch has not been released as of yet when it usually comes out on Tuesday.” Not sure if it means anything. With many teams making their way to Phoenix today, we could hear word from someone at Gibbs on whether Busch will drive the car or not.
UPDATE: AP reports Z-line designs has asked Joe Gibbs Racing to remove Busch from the Nationwide entry at Homestead. Denny Hamlin is expected to fill that seat.
UPDATE: David Newton of ESPN wrote the following just moments ago
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Aric Almirola told ESPN.com on Thursday he has been contacted by Joe Gibbs Racing about possibly replacing Kyle Busch in the final two Sprint Cup races and is awaiting final word from the organization.
ESPN’s Marty Smith reported on SportsCenter and NASCARNow that Busch, according to sources, will be in the No. 18 Cup car this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway and next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Multiple sources said the car likely will be sponsored by Interstate Batteries instead of M&Ms, which was scheduled to be on the car.
UPDATE An AP source at Yahoo Sports News has said they were told Kyle Busch will be racing the final two races, but with Interstate Batteries on his car and not M&M’s. They spoke anonymously as plans for Kyle’s future are still not known.
UPDATE: Jenna Fryer is claiming that M&M’s will be back on the #18 of Kyle Busch in 2012.With the possible decommissioning of AK47 in the offing, the big gun himself had to arrive. Alan Kelly walked in the door of the Longford Westmeath count centre at 6.15pm, there to lend support to Willie Penrose - Labour's last man standing.
With the possible decommissioning of AK47 in the offing, the big gun himself had to arrive. Alan Kelly walked in the door of the Longford Westmeath count centre at 6.15pm, there to lend support to Willie Penrose - Labour's last man standing.
Now lawyers slug it out in Longford at the Battle of Keenagh
The magic 'number seven' is needed to grant the party the magic, life-giving elixir of speaking rights. Facing the very real threat of silence, Kelly was tense and on edge.
"Ah hopefully, yeah," he said, when asked if Penrose was going to make it. "I want to see how it's going on," he added, making his way to the pen where the votes of Penrose and Fine Gael rival James Bannon, his fellow party member Peter Burke and Sinn Féin's Paul Hogan were being carefully recounted.
The real big guns were at the top of the room - with senior counsel and election guru Joe Revington drafted in by Penrose, and Kevin O'Higgins, with the same status, for Bannon. At 2am yesterday morning, it was said unofficially that just two lone votes stood between the two men in this most ferocious of battlegrounds - and neighbours of less than four miles apart.
So both had 'lawyered up' - for the first time in Longford since 1964, when local Republican icon Sean McEoin - "the Blacksmith of Ballinalee" and Justice Minister - lost his seat by a mere 12 votes.
Penrose himself had not been seen all day but his younger brother, Johnny - his doppelgänger - was sitting amid great tension by the sidelines while Willie's daughter, Aisling, was acting as her father's eyes and ears.
It was like a funeral, with everyone sitting on chairs along the walls, keeping their conversations low.
One of Penrose's neighbours was jiggling his feet in great agitation and had a crate of buns and a homemade cake by his feet, along with a cannister of coffee. Demolished boxes of Roses sat on each count table, because on day four of this count everybody was living on their reserves - and chocolate.
"They're calling Willie Lazarus because he'd given up on Saturday - he hadn't a chance but by the third day he rose," quipped a friend of the Labour TD, who has consistently topped the poll since 1992.
Ringside, James Bannon was shell-shocked and ashen, unslept for the last five nights by his own admission.
He was sucking, appropriately enough, on a green bookies' pen.
"It's tight," he said, awakening as though from a daze, his eyes on the steady progress of the count staff.
"I don't want to do anything to speculate." Kelly shook his hand - not just party rivals but colleagues.
Later, Bannon darkly said questions would have to be asked within Fine Gael about how Longford had lost a third of the vote to Mullingar, as he had helplessly watched a crucial portion of 'his' vote go to Peter Burke.
At around 7pm last night, the lights of the Keenagh community centre suddenly dimmed.
There was a bit of a flap.
"And no guards around," said one man crossly, as the barristers pored over the ballot papers.
In fact there was a garda down the back of the room, hanging over the railings like everyone else.
With no sign of the finish line in sight, the legal battle of Keenagh stretched into the night.
Irish IndependentOn the first night of the Republican National Convention, Rudy Giuliani laid down the apocalyptic stakes of the the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: “There’s no next election. This is it. There’s no time left for us to revive our great country.” The former mayor of New York City was echoing Trump at his most apocalyptic with the suggestion that the country faced a choice between life and death, that the very election of Clinton would spell doom.
Giuliani earned the most enthusiastic response from the Republican crowd of the evening because he made the message of impending death the most explicit of anyone speaking. But he was only the loudest ranter of the evening; otherwise his message wasn’t unique. One way or another, almost all the speakers came back to the matter of death.
There were no less than five parents on stage Monday evening in Cleveland who spoke about dead children: Pat Smith, whose son died in Benghazi, said, “I blame Hillary Clinton personally for the death of my son. Personally.” The mother of a dead Navy Seal and three parents whose children were killed by undocumented immigrants also spoke. And there was an extended speech by survivors of the Benghazi attack. All these witnesses and relatives of the dead, each with their personal grief and horror stories, gave the evening a morbid feel.
It’s no accident that the evening was one long memento mori, a reminder of death. Citing psychological studies, John Judis persuasively argued in Vox that being reminded of death makes people more likely to support order-promising right-wing leaders:As blogger Hemant Mehta at The Friendly Atheist reports:
It was almost a year ago when Ryan Bell, a professor and former pastor of a Seventh-day Adventist church, announced that he would “try on” atheism and “live as if there is no God” for 12 months… But he got a taste of what being an atheist was like much sooner than expected. Less than a week after announcing his experiment, Bell was fired by his Christian employers at Azusa Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary… Readers of this site came through in a big way and helped raise more than $27,000 for his family… In an NPR story today, he told reporter Arun Rath that atheism just makes more sense to him now‘: “I’ve looked at the majority of the arguments that I’ve been able to find for the existence of God and on the question of God’s existence or not, I have to say I don’t find there to be a convincing case in my view. I don’t think that God exists. I think before I wanted a closer relationship to God and today I just want a closer relationship with reality.”” Bell has a new job, by the way, putting his Humanism in action. He’s working with a group called People Assisting The Homeless (PATH). He worked with them when he was a pastor, but now, it’s just more evidence that he can still be good without God.
A few days before, the Christian Post quoted him in a story titled “Ex-Pastor Who Took Yearlong Break From Faith Asks ‘Why Do I Need Religion to Love?’ May Announce Atheism Soon:”
“The question I am asking right now [is] why do I need religion to love?…I want to be for something good, but I don’t want boundaries, and religion just feels like a very bounded thing.”
The Post’s Christian readers were angered:
This is nothing more than rebellion, and at the expense of many of the rest of us. What selfishness and irresponsibility, no matter what the personal struggle. You need the Christian religion (and yes, Christianity is a religion, the true religion) to worship God, and God must be worshiped. Those who have entered into a genuine relationship with Christ Jesus are the most loving people.
At Free Republic, where the Christian Post story was reposted, angry, militant Christians vented homophobic slurs and character attacks:
“What a dirtbag. Sorry, without Christ your ‘good deeds’ are worth *****.” ”Drama queen.” “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light….. Isaiah 5:20.” “He means without submitting to God. But only God is good, so it is impossible without Him. “ “Being good without boundaries. The serpent couldn’t have said it any better.” “No God, no concience… No God, no peace… Now come out of the closet faggot.” “Calling evil good and good evil... where have we heard that before, I wonder?” “Next he’ll tell us he’s discovered he’s a transvestite.” “I was wondering if he is dating a male or female.” “Seems as though he is sewing the devils fruits to me.” “His “wrestling with doubts” is about as real as professional wrestling.” “Smells like someone is having a mid-life crisis.” “He is not smart enough to be able to see the difference between religion and belief.”
You’ll want to engage your Irony Surge Protector before reading these:
“I am sincerely curious. What obnoxious certainty do Christians have that he objects to?” “This man is full of self-approval. He thinks he knows it all. Pathetic.”Stephen Bannon, President Donald Trump ’s recently embattled White House chief strategist, has advised the president and senior staff to take a hard “stand” on border-wall funding this week—a game of chicken with lawmakers on Capitol Hill that threatens an imminent government shutdown.
“This is a stand worth taking,” Bannon told allies last week, according to two White House sources with direct knowledge who talked to The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity to speak freely. “We’re drawing a line in the sand.”
“[ Bannon ] was pushing for this standoff, very hard,” another Trump administration official said. “He is 100-percent committed to this [specific] fight… to show that [the White House is] tough on immigration [enforcement], tough on the border—show they’re serious about the wall.”
Last week, Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget and co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, signaled that the president was prepared to use the threat of a government shutdown at the end of this week as leverage to force Democrats into supporting some funding for building Trump’s desired wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. The proposed trade, and set-up for a spending showdown, was clear: If Trump gets money for his wall, Democrats get money for Obamacare subsidies.
“ObamaCare is in serious trouble. The Dems need big money to keep it going - otherwise it dies far sooner than anyone would have thought,” the president tweeted on Sunday morning. “The Democrats don’t want money from budget going to border wall despite the fact that it will stop drugs and very bad MS 13 gang members.”
While Mulvaney accused Democrats on the Hill of “holding hostage national security” by opposing $1.5 billion to help construct the wall (one of Trump’s longest-running campaign promises), top congressional Republicans remain—at best—uneasy about the Trump administration making the border wall the deal-breaker.
Senate and House Democrats, for their part, do not appear to be budging in the president’s direction, and instead spent the past few days bashing Trump for throwing a wrench into funding negotiations meant to forestall another government shutdown. “We’d ask [Trump] to let us do our work, not throw in some last-minute poison pills that could undo it, and we could get this done,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.
It’s a game of chicken that, if the White House doesn’t blink, sets up Republicans in Congress for a no-win situation, and the White House for more signs of dysfunction in Trump’s first 100 days in office.
That Bannon and his West Wing and Trump-administration allies—who make up the so-called nationalist, anti-globalist faction of Trump’s inner political circle—would wholeheartedly support this kind of spending fight isn’t a surprise.
The nationalist true-believers on Trump’s team view a hard-line on immigration as a core tenet, and as another way for them to assert influence during a time when a more centrist-leaning faction, spearheaded by such officials as Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and Gary Cohn, appeared ascendent in the West Wing.
In recent weeks—as various news outlets were busy prematurely writing Bannon’s political obituary—Bannon and his associates have reasserted their relevance by also backing and cheering on President Trump on draconian immigration policies, “Buy American, Hire American” rhetoric, and new executive orders that reflect a nationalist worldview on issue such as trade and imports.
Some of these measures, however, are watered down from what many of the Trumpian nationalists wanted, and some have been indefinitely blocked, including Trump’s travel restrictions and “Muslim bans” that were swiftly tied up in court. These hardliners had wanted a memo—calling for the Commerce Department to investigate whether steel imports threaten U.S. national security—to include immediate additional 25-percent tariffs imposed on certain product categories that are allegedly being unfairly “dumped” into the U.S. The proposed tariffs were ultimately left off the memo, according to an Axios report last week.
Two White House sources told The Daily Beast that the nixed tariffs were in part a throwback to when Trump, in 2011 during his birther-fueled political rise, told a crowd that as president he would “drop a 25-percent tax on China.”
“Listen, you motherfuckers, we’re gonna tax you 25 percent,” he said on stage in Las Vegas to hoots and rowdy applause nearly six years before he became president.
The week ahead is set to be a particularly tense one for the Trump White House, as the president’s 100-day mark looms, the government-shutdown standoff builds to a head, and a potential tax-reform blueprint gets floated.
Much of this drama will be exacerbated by the simple fact that Trump staffers are acting scared for their jobs and standing in the president’s eyes.Human skull found on secluded NT beach by man fishing for crabs
Updated
A human skull has been found on a beach by a man who says he called police and was told to hide it until they could get there.
It was spotted by Darwin man Chris Johnson while he was fishing for crabs on a beach in the Mandorah area, about 130km by road from Darwin, about 3pm (ACST) on Friday.
Mr Johnson posted photos of the skull on his Facebook page.
"Yep!! Called the Po Po (the police)... They want me to hide it!! They are going to come around," he wrote.
Mr Johnson said he had caught several crabs and had packed up his equipment when he made the discovery as he left.
"It's pretty heavy, it's like a bowling ball, it's all full of sand," he told the ABC.
He said after police told him to hide it, he took the skull and placed it in scrubland away from the water.
"The police instructed me to go and hide it in the bush somewhere, so I did that," he said.
Mr Johnson said police told him they would call when they were leaving for the site but "they never did".
"It's a secluded beach, you can't even take a car there... it's pretty boggy sand," he added.
Mr Johnson said he felt uncomfortable at the thought the skull was still where he left it on Friday.
"It's definitely still there. I just feel uneasy that there is a human skull sitting exposed out there in the bush. That's just how I am," he said.
The area is believed to be a traditional Aboriginal burial site.
Northern Territory police said no action was likely to be taken until Monday and refused to confirm whether they had visited the site yet.
Superintendent Robert Burgoyne said the discovery was not being treated as a crime scene, and it must therefore seek permission to enter the site from Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA).
But AAPA CEO Ben Scambary told the ABC his organisation no longer handled burial site issues and it was a matter for the Heritage Branch of the NT Government.
Supt Burgoyne said police records did not show Mr Johnson was advised to move the skull.
"Our information is he removed it himself and was not instructed by police," he said.
In 2010, two men fishing for crabs near the Mandorah Hotel found a skull and bones in a sand bank.
That find occurred within a registered sacred site that includes a number of traditional Aboriginal burial grounds in the Mandorah area.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, history, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, mandorah-0822
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Gwangju, South Korea—On May 2, Moon Jae-in, the Korean politician who is expected to win next Tuesday’s presidential election here, issued a stern warning to the United States. Pointing to the escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States, he told The Washington Post that South Korea must “take the lead on matters on the Korean Peninsula.” Seoul, he added, “should not take the back seat.”1 Ad Policy
Moon, a progressive politician with deep roots in South Korea’s left, has repeated these words throughout his campaign. They signal his wish to change the dynamics of US-South Korean relations and meet his country’s desire for a more independent foreign policy. In particular, he wants to use economic and political incentives to ease tensions with the North—a position anathema to many in Washington.2
The US government, Congress, and the Pentagon should listen to Moon and his voters. Over the past two months, President Trump has done more to alienate South Korea than any American leader in the past 40 years. If Trump and the American politicians and pundits who support his militaristic approach to North Korea aren’t careful and continue to ignore this country’s wishes, they could spark the most serious wave of anti-Americanism in the South since 1980.3
That was the year the Carter administration—which had made human rights the centerpiece of US foreign policy—helped South Korea’s military put down a citizens’ uprising in this city against a group of generals who had seized power to stave off the country’s first “democratic spring.”4
As I first revealed in 1996, the White House made that decision knowing that hundreds of people had been massacred by Korean special forces only days before. The damage to US-Korean relations from this episode lasted for years, and shaped the attitude of many South Koreans toward the United States.5 When it comes to national security issues, US officials have long preferred dealing with South Korea’s right wing.
To be sure, a Gwangju-like repression is unlikely to ever happen again in South Korea. And the United States learned long ago that its support for military strongmen in Seoul seriously eroded its moral authority in Korea. But when it comes to national security issues, US officials have long preferred dealing with South Korea’s right wing.6
During the past two American administrations, US officials embraced the hard-line policies toward North Korea taken by former president Park Geun-hye, who was recently impeached after months of candlelight vigils involving millions of angry citizens; she is now in jail, awaiting trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power. The US government was equally supportive of Lee Myung-bak, Park’s conservative predecessor.7
But today, Park’s and Lee’s policies are widely reviled in South Korea for stoking the current tensions with Pyongyang. In his campaign, Moon has picked up this theme, urging a return to the “Sunshine” policies once embraced by South Korea’s previous progressive presidents, Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. The remnants of Park’s right-wing party have responded with vicious red-baiting ads that portray Moon and other left-wing candidates as tools of North Korea, according to the Twitter feed “Ask a Korean.”8 The left could win big next Tuesday—an astonishing total in a country where conservatives have ruled since 2008.
But with Moon entering Tuesday’s snap election with a massive lead in the polls (42.5 percent to 18.6 percent over his nearest rival, the centrist Ahn Cheol-soo), he will almost certainly assume the presidency. When the numbers for the other leftist candidate in the race, the labor activist Sim Sang-jung, are counted, the left could take 49.7 percent of the vote—an astonishing total in a country where conservatives have ruled since 2008 and at a time of intense tensions with communist North Korea. This election, therefore, will force Trump to deal with a South Korea very different from the one led by conservatives over the past decade.9
Trump’s mishaps with the South began in mid-April, when he said he was deploying an “armada” to Korean waters to carry out a possible pre-emptive strike on Kim Jong-un’s North Korea. South Korean politicians of all stripes demanded that Seoul be consulted on any such action—and then learned, as Americans did, that the carrier group was nowhere near the peninsula. This was a humiliating blow, and many people felt used and manipulated.10 Related Articles This Is What’s Really Behind North Korea’s Nuclear Provocations Bruce Cumings Are We Drifting Toward War With North Korea? Patrick Lawrence In South Korea, War Hysteria Is Seen as an American Problem Tim Shorrock In South Korea, Women Are Leading the Resistance to US-Backed Militarization Christine Ahn
Then came Trump’s silly tweet that Korea once belonged to China; it, too, was challenged and denounced across the political spectrum. But the most insulting move came on April 25, when the Pentagon—using North Korea’s stepped-up missile tests as an excuse—unilaterally deployed equipment for the unpopular Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile system on a corporate golf course in North Gyeongsang Province.11
The Pentagon did this over the objections of many politicians, including Moon, who has been saying for months that he wants the next government to make the decision on THAAD. He called the move a fait accompli, telling reporters that THAAD “should not be rushed ahead” of the elections. Moon and many other politicians were further incensed when Trump demanded that South Korea pay for the $1 billion system. A Korea Times banner headline on May 2 told the story: “THAAD billing to strain ROK-US alliance.”12 These are the most overt expression of anti-American feeling I’ve seen since I was a reporter here in 1985.
Public anger over THAAD was deepened by photographs of American GIs taking video of the scene as riot police pushed and beat thousands of local residents, many of them elderly, trying to block the deployment. Signs at the protests—which have not let up—symbolized the growing ferment. A photograph of one sign reading “Hey! USA! Are you Friends or Occupying Troops?” was splashed across the front pages of many newspapers. They are the most overt expression of anti-American feeling I’ve seen since I was a reporter here in 1985.13
But Trump’s actions and attitudes aren’t really new. They underscore a deep-seated problem with American policy in Korea: a refusal to see South Korea as an independent nation with a will, a spirit, and interests of its own.14
The attitude goes back to 1945, when the United States accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula (by mutual agreement, the Soviet Union did the same in the north). In contrast to the US occupation of Japan, which was allowed to rule through its existing state structure, the US Army in Seoul imposed a military government on Korea, which had been a victim of Japan’s colonial rule. This set up a dynamic that would prove to be tragic.15
As part of America’s shift into the Cold War, the US military commanders in South Korea chose to work with Koreans who had collaborated with the Japanese Empire in its own fight against communism during World War II. Koreans who opposed these policies and sought to unify with the north were jailed and ruthlessly suppressed.16 From 1947 to 1949, the US military presided over a brutal counterinsurgency campaign against leftist nationalists.
From 1947 to 1949, the US military even presided over a brutal counterinsurgency campaign against leftist nationalists on Jeju-do, an island off the southern coast, at the cost of over 30,000 lives—nearly one-fifth of the population. The internal conflicts in the south laid the seeds for the creation of separate states in 1948, and was a key factor in the war that broke out across the peninsula when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950.17
Only eight years after that terrible war, South Korea experienced its first military coup when Park Chung-hee, a general trained by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, overthrew an elected government in 1961 in a military coup and was immediately recognized as South Korea’s leader by the Kennedy administration.18
Over the next 18 years, Park presided over a vast police and torture state. But he also set out to industrialize South Korea, which grew during his rule into a powerhouse in garments, shoes, steel, shipbuilding, automobiles, and, eventually, electronics (Park Geun-hye, the recently deposed president, was the dictator’s daughter). He ruled with an iron fist until he was assassinated in the midst of large-scale worker and student unrest in 1979.19 Under a 1978 agreement, a US general still has operational control over the South Korean army in war time.
Throughout Park Chung-hee’s rule, the South Korean military remained an adjunct of the Pentagon. During the Vietnam War, at Washington’s request, Park sent thousands of Korean troops to fight alongside American forces (among them was Chun Doo-hwan, the general who seized power in May 1980 and ordered his special forces into Gwangju). Under a joint command created in 1978, a US general still has operational control over the South Korean army in times of war.20
These Cold War dynamics created a “big brother–little brother” relationship in which US officials—even today—disdainfully treat South Korea as a junior partner in the alliance. This attitude has rubbed off on the US press, which often covers North Korea without even mentioning South Korea, its complex mix of politics, and the terrible impact a war would have on the South. The country’s insignificance to the US national-security elite has been further amplified by Trump’s exclusive consultations with Japan’s Shinzo Abe and China’s Xi Jinping regarding North Korea.21
Trump’s calls to the Japanese and Chinese leaders led one South Korean newspaper to accuse the United States of “freezing out Seoul.” They also prompted Moon Jae-in’s demand, in his Washington Post interview, for South Korea to be the driver for change on the peninsula. He is also pushing for a quick recovery of wartime operational control from US forces. “We will take charge of our defense ourselves [for] all intents and purposes,” he declared in April.22
Most reporters, however, have missed how Moon has also taken sides on the volatile issue of Gwangju.23
Two weeks ago, I heard Moon speak at a campaign rally not far from the site of the 1980 massacre. At one point, with his fist raised high, he joined the crowd in singing “March for the Beloved,” the famous Gwangju anthem to the hundreds of local citizens killed by martial-law forces during the 1980 uprising. The song, frequently sung at political gatherings here, has been denounced by rightists and the current ruling party as pro–North Korean.24
But with his gesture, Moon sent a strong signal that a South Korea under his presidency will honor the spirit of Gwangju and stand up to America when it’s wrong, as it was when it sided in 1980 with the generals instead of Gwangju’s citizens.25
As I reported last fall, many US officials, particularly at the Pentagon and its associated think tanks, have been uncomfortable with the thought of Moon or anyone else on the South Korean left taking power. They better wise up, because the Korea they once knew is gone forever. Even as tensions mount with North Korea, the United States—unless it shows greater respect for the South Korean people, its elected leaders, and their vibrant democracy—could lose one of the best friends it ever had.26
Tim Shorrock is currently working at Gwangju’s 5.18 Archives to help document the US role in the 1980 uprising.27SCOTTISH Secretary Michael Moore has compared the SNP to anti-EU party UKIP as he claimed there was a “clear parallel” between the two parties.
Mr Moore claimed the SNP and UKIP had similar arguments as he claimed that both parties had a “hard need to assert a specific sense of national identity”.
The cabinet minister launched the attack on the SNP at a fringe meeting on the issue of Europe at the Lib Dem conference in Glasgow.
The claims come a day after Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie accused the SNP of playing a “dangerous game” as he claimed the party promoted the idea that Scottish identity was the same as support for independence.
Mr Moore went on to claim “nationhood rather than economics” is at the heart of Scottish nationalism as he drew the comparison with the SNP and UKIP.
He insisted that UKIP had its “own high-pitched case” of anti-EU nationalism that has no focus on jobs and the economy.
Mr Moore said: “There is of course a clear parallel between those who want Scotland to leave the UK, and those who want the UK to leave the EU.
“For both the nationalists and the Eurosceptics, there is a hard need to assert a specific sense of national identity.
“That need overrides facts.
“The First Minister has said that nationhood rather than economics is at the heart of Scottish nationalism.
“And Eurosceptics place sovereignty rather than jobs, trade or family finances at the centre of their own high-pitched case.”
The minister went on to claim that the the Lib Dem arguments in favour of Scotland’s place in the UK and Britain’s EU membership are “highly rational and very similar”.
Mr Moore said the SNP and UKIP, which is led by Nigel Farage, “pull in tandem” as he claimed nationalists and Eurosceptics were similar political movements.
He said: “Both families were formed out of a growing sense of cross-border identity, and the realisation that cross-border cooperation benefits us all.
“Whether we talk about the need for a free market, movement of people, or big and specific challenges like climate change, the answer is in partnership not separation.
“For all the noise that these two groups make, and for all they would claim to be in opposition, nationalists and Eurosceptics pull in tandem.
“And stretch to breaking point our national interest.”
Mr Moore claims were dismissed as “absurd” by an SNP spokesman, who said the Lib Dems were in “grave danger of sliding into electoral oblivion” in Scotland.
An SNP spokesman said: “The Lib Dems’ disastrous conference just got worse with this absurd statement by Mr Moore. It is the Tory-led government he is helping to prop up that is dancing to UKIP’s tune at Westminster - which is utterly unrepresentative of Scotland, where UKIP have never once even saved their deposit in an election - and his own party are now pandering to UKIP by moving towards backing a referendum to exit the EU.
“By lurching onto UKIP’s territory and joining other Westminster parties in seeking a referendum on EU membership – which is the only threat to Scotland’s future in Europe –the Lib Dems have more in common with UKIP than they might like to think.
“Indeed, much like UKIP, the latest poll putting Lib Dem support at just 4% in Scotland means they are in grave danger of sliding into electoral oblivion.”
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CONFERENCE IN GLASGOW
• Nick Clegg opposes veil ban
• Cable backs Clegg economy plan
• Vince Cable to vow zero-hours abuse crackdownImage: Airbus Defence and Space SAS 2014
The first satellite of the European Data Relay System (EDRS) is set to launch from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan tonight with its laser node payload, which aims to make the transfer of Earth imaging data from satellites to ground stations about 90 times faster than your typical earthly internet connection and drastically cut down delays.
"You can imagine if it's almost 100 times the speed of a normal internet connection at home, you can transmit phenomenal amounts of data in very short periods of time," said Michael Witting, project manager for EDRS at the European Space Agency.
At the moment, most Earth imaging satellites are placed in low Earth orbit and transmit the data they collect to stations on the ground. But a satellite can only make contact when it's over the relevant ground station, which can often mean gaps of 90 minutes between communications and a limited time slot to transfer the data.
The EDRS-A node will be launched on the Eutelsat-9B satellite into geostationary orbit—much higher up at around 36,000 km—and so has a wider view of the planet. Witting said it could transmit data to a ground centre "between 50 percent and in the best case 100 percent of the time."
Image: ESA
This could be particularly useful for satellites with applications that are hindered by latency, such as Earth observation satellites that are used to inform on-the-ground disaster relief efforts. "Anything from disasters at sea, oil spills, earthquakes, tsunamis, natural disasters like flooding and so forth where you have on the ground forces to help, time is of the essence," said Witting. "It makes a difference if you get the message after 15 minutes or if it takes one and a half hours."
ESA has partnered on the project with French company Airbus Defence and Space, which will operate the service. Airbus will offer the high-speed data transfer as a commercial service, but the first two customers are ESA satellites Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, which both carry out Earth observation.
EDRS works by collecting data from the lower satellite over an optical (laser) link and then bouncing it back down to the ground station. The laser terminal, developed by German company Tesat, is the first of its kind and has a much higher bit rate than the radio links typically used by satellites.
"It's more or less akin to standing in Europe and taking a laser beam or a torch and pointing at a coin in New York, across the Atlantic."
"Just to give you a comparison, the data rate that we have on the optical link in space is up to 1.8 gigabits per second," said Witting. "If you imagine you have an internet connection at home, it's typically today 20 megabits or so." (And that's a generous estimate of your average internet speed.)
The main challenge of the system is connecting the satellites over such a great distance—depending on where each is in its orbit, we're talking up to 45,000 km between the two. That means that operators need to know where each satellite is in relation to the other with great accuracy, and the satellites' laser terminals need to be able to target the laser beam with great precision. Witting said that "it's more or less akin to standing in Europe and taking a laser beam or a torch and pointing at a coin in New York, across the Atlantic."
One design feature that helps |
“singlings.” (While the first run produces liquor at about 60-80 proof and is drinkable, you wouldn’t want to drink it since it still has quite a bit of off flavors carried over through the water from the mash.) To raise the alcohol content, you have to save up all the results of your first runs, and then run all of that through the still a second time. The second run raises it up to the 60-70% ABV range. Moonshine that had been run through the still three times was very close to being pure alcohol, above 80% ABV. The three XXX’s scrawled on the front of a moonshine jug indicated that it had been run through the still three times and that it had high, almost pure, alcohol content.
Now, with that said, I have never once seen a historic example of a jug with three X’s written on it. Any jugs like that would have to be quite old since moonshiners moved to half gallon mason jars many years ago. If any readers have an example of an old moonshine jug with the XXX’s still visible, I would love to see it and we could even post your photos here on the site.For writer Carol Church, what started as a reusable solution for her kids' birthday parties turned into something else. Dubbed the "party box," the container has been shared and added to by several of her friends and neighbors. Now full of party supplies and favors, the box saves time and money (and is a lot of fun). Though Carol's version is kid-focused, the concept can be adapted for anyone—she shares tips for starting your own.
It all started because my pesky kids have birthdays 17 days apart. Faced with the prospect of buying and chucking two stacks of disposable plates, cups, and silverware, I hit on a new plan: I would head to the Salvation Army and stock up on cheap, unbreakable dishware that I could reuse for both parties. No guilt, no waste, no muss, no fuss.
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One hour and about $20 later, I had a box of mismatched plates, miscellaneous forks, and random glasses and cups…and thus, Party Box was born. For such a simple concept that's actually a great money-saver, I'm not sure why I didn't think of this one sooner. But Party Box doesn't just save ME money and help me keep trash out of the waste stream—it has done so at tens of parties of my friends. As soon as I started the box, I knew I would share it—and, because I have a close-knit group of environmentally conscious friends, the idea caught on in an instant. So Party Box goes camping. It goes to work functions; it comes to back-to-school events; and it has witnessed many a pinata-smashing. It's one hard-working box.
On its first run, Party Box needed supplementing from my own cupboards. But, as soon as it started making the rounds to other people's parties, other folks started adding to the box, from appetizer plates shaped like Hawaiian shirts (a gift from someone's mother-in-law, naturally) to long-unused silverware sets that had sat in closets for years. Someone had the smart idea to pick up a dishwasher silverware organizer to hold the forks, knives, and spoons. A dish towel appeared. And duct tape, because, well, you never know.
Party Box has an extremely active social life—more active than my own, in fact. I often don't know exactly where it is, and it sometimes goes to parties to which my family has not been invited. All this seems to be working out just fine. When someone needs the box, we just put out a Party Box APB, if you will. Though it nominally belongs to me, it doesn't actually spend much time at my house, and I don't feel much sense of ownership about it. Every once in a while, there are two people who want the box on the same weekend, but this has always worked out amicably.
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It's true that it's a bit of a storage issue, but we make sure to buy only nonbreakable items. Everything is stored in a 25-gallon plastic storage bin with a lid, making it easy to move in and out of car trunks and garages. When it's at my house, Party Box lives in a shed in my carport. It is not pampered. And, yes, you have to WASH those dishes…but everything goes in the dishwasher.
We keep saying that we're going to put a little notebook into Party Box, so that the box can tell tales of where it's been and what it's done. I'm honestly not sure if anyone will ever get around to this, and it might get lost or misplaced anyway. Even if it never happens, though, when I look at Party Box, I remember birthday parties and camping trips gone by. I have a favorite weird mug (glitter green plastic with a cheesy dolphin) that I always try to drink out of. I see my daughter washing Hawaiian-shirt-shaped dishes in a bin of soapy water in the woods. Just try getting sentimental like that over a pile of dirty paper plates.
Party Box Tips & Tricks
Mark all items, especially silverware; it's easy to get them mixed up into people's personal stuff. Nail polish works best. Unbreakable items only, if you value your sanity. Think stackable! This is especially important for cups. You need lots of forks, lots of cups, and lots of small plates (for cake and appetizers). You don't need many knives. Extras that are nice to have: tablecloths, serving utensils, a few towels, something to keep the utensils in. Buy used for the best prices and least environmental impact. Cups are the hardest and may need to be bought new. Don't forget to buy cloth napkins! At times, you may need to supplement with disposable, but if you put them out, people will ALWAYS use them first. If you prefer they not be used, monitor the table and only put out the ‘sposies as needed. It's a good idea to have two bins. When the dishes are clean, store the bin with the dishes inside the empty one. At the party, put the extra bin out with a sign on it that says "Dirty Dishes." It's also awesome to have a compost bin out and available for people to scrape leftovers into, if that is an option for you.
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How to Make a Party Box to Share with Neighbors | Shareable
Carol Church is a scriptwriter for Family Album Radio, a public radio feature covering recent research on the family. She has been interested in organized sharing since her years in the co-ops of Oberlin College. She lives in Gainesville, Florida, a community with many active sharing networks, with her husband and two children.
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Shareable is the online magazine that tells the story of sharing. They cover the people and projects bringing a shareable world to life, and share how-tos so you can make a sharing real in your life.
Photo by Carol Church.
Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News Shir-Agha Mohamed holds a piece of shrapnel from an airstrike that killed his son.
JARCHI, Afghanistan — After four months on the front line fighting the Taliban, Ahmad Zai was exhausted. It had been a hot, demanding summer for the Afghan National Police, holding territory taken from the Taliban or rushing to reinforce the army wherever the militants were on the march. So when he headed home to his village of Jarchi in early September, he was looking forward to spending time with his family. Zai’s spirits were high. A cousin had just announced his engagement to a young woman from a local family, and it was time for a rare celebration. Zai greeted his father and mother, and after a rest, headed off with his cousins and friends to a nearby farm. As is the tradition at wedding and engagement celebrations, at some point the young men began firing their guns into the air. “We were drinking tea in the garden, waiting for sweets to arrive,” said Tufan Mohammad-Agha, 20, a member of Afghanistan’s elite commando forces. “One of us was praying.” But the gunfire must have drawn the attention of US forces at the nearby base. It was around 9 p.m. on Sept. 3 when a 112-pound bomb came seemingly out of nowhere and struck the gathered men. The explosion shattered windows nearby, sending body parts and branches from the grapevines flying. Mohammad-Agha remembered lying on the ground barely conscious for 15 minutes, before relatives came, threw him in an ambulance, and took him to a nearby clinic. “I tried to see what was happening but I couldn’t,” said Mohammad-Agha, whose leg was badly wounded in the bombing. He got off lucky. Zai and another relative were killed in the airstrike. “At 3 p.m. my son came home,” said Shir-Agha Mohamed, Zai’s father. “By 9 p.m. he was dead.” Under President Donald Trump, the US is again increasing its involvement in Afghanistan, adding 3,000 troops to the around 11,000 already deployed in the country. Perhaps more significantly, the US is upping its use of airpower and expanding the leeway military officers on the ground have to call in airstrikes. According to a report by the US air force, September saw the highest number of US airstrikes in Afghanistan since 2012, with an average of five munition launches a day, up 50% from August. “This increase can be attributed to the president’s strategy to more proactively target extremist groups that threaten the stability and security of the Afghan people,” said the report.
But airstrikes can go terribly wrong, as the bombing in Jarchi, north of the capital, Kabul, showed, and that can undermine US goals, alienating Afghans and pushing them into the hands of the Taliban. No Taliban atrocity ever causes the same level of outrage. “For Afghans, like Americans, who the perpetrator is matters about how outraged you are about the incident,” said Scott Worden, the Afghanistan director at the US Institute for Peace in Washington. Two people were killed and three injured in the Jarchi airstrike, but its reverberations were felt beyond the tiny farming villages north of Kabul. In addition to Zai, a thirtysomething farmer named Baz-Mohamed Seyed-Aghol was killed. He and his wife had just had their first child after trying unsuccessfully for more than 15 years. Zai’s brother, 18-year-old Zazai, lost vision in one eye and may be permanently brain damaged. Weeks after the bombing, the high school student could barely walk and was unable to speak. “I’m very angry,” said Zai’s father. “If there’s a person responsible, I would destroy them. The horror and oppression of the Taliban was never as bad as the Americans’.” According to witnesses and local officials, US forces accompanied by a translator arrived in military vehicles shortly after the airstrike, cordoning off the area until the early morning, asking a few questions about the dead and injured, before hauling off the remains of the missile. A US military spokesperson in Afghanistan declined to comment for this story. The markings on the missile suggest it was a Hellfire, likely launched from a Predator drone. Through an interpreter, the Americans eventually expressed regrets for the killing, collected phone numbers, and promised to call back. They never did. Kabar Oryakhel, the local wakil, or political representative, for Jarchi and a cluster of six other villages containing as many as 4,000 households, noted with dismay how such incidents undermine the very security they are meant to uphold. “These incidents become politicized,” he said, speaking in his home less than a mile from the site of the attack. “They cause protests. If the government doesn’t respond, they escalate. The young people become emotional. And, yes, they might join the Taliban.” Jarchi remains under Afghan government control but is slowly being contested. In Parwan province, to the northwest, Taliban fighters are making steady headway, pushing forward among the largely ethnic Pashto peoples in the Ghorband River valley toward the crucial road connecting the capital to the Panjshir Valley, just about the last large, undisputed pro-government stronghold in eastern Afghanistan. Roadside bombs targeting passing Afghan army and police vehicles have increased. Taliban supporters recently appeared in Qarabagh, the nearby urban hub, waving their distinctive white flag. To complicate matters further, the local branch of ISIS also has begun to move in, with whispers of attempts to sway disaffected youth and former Taliban loyalists.
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News Shir-Agha Mohamed with his younger son, Zazai, who was badly injured in an airstrike.
Maliar Obeid Rahman, 23, like Zai, a member of the Afghan National Police, was enraged over the airstrike. He repeated a complaint heard throughout Afghanistan — that the US no longer coordinates effectively with local forces. “Before the Americans used to come and ask questions before they killed,” he said. “Now they kill, and then they come and ask questions.” He even suggested the Taliban and ISIS might be an improvement over the Americans. “They’re here but they’re not killing anybody,” he said. “As for the Americans, they’ve done nothing for us. Maybe it’s better that the infidels leave.”
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News A joint base on the edge of Bagram, where a US Army engineering unit is helping Afghan forces put up a blast wall.
The Trump administration’s strategy, unveiled over the last several months, will likely extend US involvement in the multifaceted conflict until at least 2021, nearly 20 years since it began. The aim is to break what US military planners describe as a frustrating stalemate between the government and Taliban and convince the latter to play politics instead of war. But that was also the Obama administration’s Afghanistan gamble when it increased US troops in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. The only difference now is that the Trump administration hopes to step back and encourage Afghan forces to take the lead on the ground while the US uses increased firepower from above to persuade the Taliban to come to the negotiating table. Many believe the US plan to pound the Taliban to the negotiating table is a fantasy. “Moderate Taliban is like fried ice cream,” said Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s former intelligence chief. In recent weeks the Taliban have escalated attacks on US-backed Afghan forces, striking bases across the country. They say they are not interested in peace talks as long as any US troops remain in the country. “Limiting the number of [foreign] soldiers won’t solve the basic problem of Afghans, which is the occupation of the country,” Zabiollah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, told BuzzFeed News in response to a series of emailed questions. “Even if there are only 10 occupation troops in Afghanistan and they are able to bomb us, kill our people, and have the run of our air and land, it doesn’t make any difference from 100,000 occupation troops. We can’t accept even one American and will resist to the end until all the American occupation forces are out of the country.” Increased US airstrikes have caused more civilian casualties this year — the UN mission to Afghanistan documented 95 civilian deaths due to US or US-backed airstrikes in the first six months of 2017, up 67% on the same period last year. But while such airstrikes cause only about 4% of civilian casualties, and the UN attributes the majority of civilian casualties to Taliban roadside bombs and suicide attacks, the US-caused deaths have far greater political consequences. The Jarchi airstrike made its way into local and international news coverage, and cries of protest reached Afghanistan’s Parliament. The Taliban used it as propaganda and dredged up memories of previous US errors that have made even nighttime trips to the pharmacy a potentially deadly gamble. Senior US officials say they are aware of the risks to civilians and try to mitigate them. “We're not the perfect guys, but we are the good guys,” US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said at a news conference in Kabul on Sept. 28. Even as Afghans criticize escalating US-backed airstrikes and the civilian casualties they cause, they also fear a US pullout could wipe out the gains of the last 16 years. “Everybody admits that without the US, this country will not exist,” said Haroun Mir, an analyst and scholar who once advised the late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, the so-called Lion of Panjshir who fought the Taliban until he was assassinated by al-Qaeda two days before the Sept. 11 attacks. “The only reason we have a semblance of a united front against the Taliban is because we have the backing of the US and the international community. Without the US, this country would derail.”
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News A member of the Afghan National Police outside a building that was used by ISIS as a hideout.
US drones flew overhead as a dozen members of Afghan National Police members led by Lt. Emad Khan-Safi made their way across the fields that lead into the foothills of the mountains separating Afghanistan and Pakistan. Armed with assault rifles, the Afghans peered cautiously from beneath their helmets at the ridges above. Until about a year ago, the Taliban controlled this district, called Kot, at the southern edge of Nangarhar province along the Pakistani frontier. Then insurgents claiming to be ISIS began heading into Afghanistan. In Kot, they pulled down the Taliban’s white flags and raised the distinctive black flag of ISIS. They announced they were the new guys in charge, setting up their own courthouse and a square for meting out punishments. They dragged some local Taliban leaders before the townspeople and beheaded them. Months later, US forces, including clandestine Special Forces operatives, along with Afghan troops swept in. The fighting was fierce, with many Afghan soldiers killed or injured. “It was house to house and street to street,” said Khan-Safi, a 35-year-old father of five with a stern, military bearing.“They fight to the last moment of their life.” Much to the relief of Khan-Safi and his men, the Taliban tolerated the government as temporary allies, allowing Kabul’s forces and even the US to take on a common foe. It’s all part of the confusing and shifting alliances that make up the Afghan conflict. In some areas, the Taliban operate checkpoints by day, while ISIS takes over at night. In others, the government controls the day, while the Taliban rules the night. Territory changes hands quickly and dramatically. In late September along the Gharband River valley, northwest of Kabul, panicked Afghan police and soldiers fled a mountain village called Siagerd to advancing Taliban. The takeover took just minutes. “If you value your life, escape now,” said one Afghan military official, as he fled east in what armed forces later called a tactical withdrawal. Early the next morning, hundreds of Afghan soldiers and national police launched a counteroffensive, backed by US airstrikes that hammered Taliban positions. For local Afghans, clustered in tiny mud-brick houses, it’s those very US planes that inspire the most fear. Along the ridge near the Pakistani border in the Kot district, drones constantly whirred above. Months earlier in a nearby village, a US or US-backed airstrike hit a house at night, killing two civilians and injuring two more, said Ayat-Khan Seyed Rahman, a 58-year-old farmer who proudly recounted how he served security forces as an informant against ISIS when the militants occupied his village. “We are terrified when we hear the sounds of the American planes,” he said. “We are asking the government and the Americans to be more careful." ISIS is the newcomer to the Afghan free-for-all. During the first six months of 2017, ISIS doubled the number of its attacks in Afghanistan to 237 compared to the previous year and now boasts a presence in seven of the country’s 34 provinces, according to the UN. Members include disaffected Taliban as well as recruits from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Arab countries. Diplomats say ISIS pays salaries sometimes triple what the Taliban offer, making it attractive to impoverished Afghans. Just as it has in Syria, Iraq, and Libya, ISIS feeds off broader national discord. “If there is no settlement or compromise between the government and Taliban, ISIS will continue to be a big problem,” said Abdul-Hakim Mujahid, the Taliban’s former envoy to the UN, who now works for the Afghan government. “They can exploit grievances. There is a necessity to make a political settlement with the Taliban to fight ISIS.” But the Taliban themselves have become fragmented. The movement has changed dramatically from its founding by rural Pashtun religious zealots backed by Pakistan, when Taliban followers were educated largely in the madrassas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. “There is a more diverse school- and university-educated generation,” said Borhan Osman, a researcher at the Afghan Analysts Network, a group of scholars who study Afghanistan. “It used to be from rural or southern Afghanistan. Now you have rural and urban fighters in Taliban ranks. The leadership is Pashtun, but there are also Uzbek and Tajik fighters.”
The Afghan media seethes with outrage at signs of rapprochement between the Taliban and Russia and Iran, traditional Taliban foes. Amrullah Saleh, former head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security, the country’s primary intelligence agency, said that he pressed Iranian counterparts in July on why they were cultivating ties with the Taliban, with whom they nearly went to war in 1998, after the group executed 11 employees of Iran’s consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. “Iranians tell me, ‘We are convinced the Taliban is poison, but to neutralize the poison we have to study it,’” he said.
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News A member of the Afghan National Police walks through ruins of a house.
Sorting out who is who in today's Taliban can be mind-boggling. Some Taliban factions are considered amenable to a compromise with the government in Kabul. Others are beholden in varying degrees to Pakistan, Iran, or Russia. Some, such as the Haqqani network, which was behind the kidnapping of a Canadian-American family, are regarded as hardcore ideologues. The Pentagon counts as many as 20 insurgent and terrorist networks operating between Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Yes, we can live alongside the Taliban,” said Gen. Nassir Ahmed Safai, commander of Afghan Police Forces in four eastern Afghanistan provinces, including Nangarhar province. “But which Taliban? They are all going in different directions.” Occasionally tribes or groups identify with the Taliban after they have a falling out with the government or with other locals. “Sometimes people in a district have a vendetta against another group and they join with the Taliban in order to take revenge,” said Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, which includes both Kot and Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s fifth largest city, and abuts Pakistan’s most violent and lawless areas to the south and east. Adding to the overlapping violence is rising criminality. Afghanistan’s ubiquitous poppy fields enjoyed bumper crops in recent years, fueling local opium markets and global heroin trafficking. There also are smuggling rings of other types, including those transporting exotic animals. Earlier this year, Afghan authorities foiled a scheme to smuggle six rare white lions from Afghanistan to Pakistan. Government officials like Khogyani are under constant threat of assassination. They increasingly find themselves barricaded behind an expanding series of blast walls, sandbags, razor wire, and checkpoints manned by gunmen, their worlds shrunk to small, dark offices inside government compounds. “There is the Taliban, Haqqani, but there are also gangsters and mafia,” said Khogyani. “There is kidnapping. They target elites — doctors, lawyers. And this kidnapping may or may not finance the militants, but it definitely lowers trust in the government. So how do you tell them apart, the criminals from the insurgents?” For decades, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar lorded over Afghanistan, battling Russian invaders during the 1980s, fighting fellow Afghans for control after the Soviets pulled out, then fleeing to Iran when the Taliban took over, before joining them in 2003 to oppose the US presence. He was considered an outlaw by the Afghan government and labeled a terrorist by the US State Department. Then, last year, Hekmatyar cut a deal with the government of President Ashraf Ghani, endorsing the political process in exchange for immunity for his alleged crimes. The warlord became a party leader, campaigning as a regular politician, delivering speeches at Friday sermons, and calling on Taliban leaders to cash in their chips and play politics ahead of crucial July 2018 parliamentary elections.
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News An Afghan National Police unit in Kot, a district that was under ISIS control until five months ago.
What happened in September might explain why Taliban leaders are wary of making peace with the government and ending their insurgency. One Friday prayer, as Hekmatyar delivered a speech in the city of Herat, someone stood up and tossed a shoe at him, a gesture of disrespect in Afghanistan. Video and photos of the incident went viral on Afghan social media and the country’s media outlets. The once-feared warlord became a YouTube joke. That humiliation, some say, is what the Taliban fear — and why they can’t stop fighting or temper their demands, regardless of how much military pressure the US brings to bear. And that could unravel the entire US strategy of using airpower and propping up Afghan forces to force the Taliban to peace talks. The Taliban’s envoys and intermediaries sometimes say the group is prepared for peace talks. Zabiollah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said the group now respects Afghan minority groups, has no aspirations beyond Afghanistan, and wants good relations with the outside world. UN officials meet with Taliban envoys in Qatar to voice concerns about civilian casualties and draw the group into peace talks. “The Taliban know they’ll never come to power like before," said Wahid Mozhdah, a former Afghan diplomat who served under the Taliban and continues to maintain contacts with the group. In his speech to the UN this year, Trump called the Taliban a terrorist group and said he’d changed the rules of engagement in Afghanistan to allow for a tougher military response. But the US has yet to officially label the Taliban a terrorist organization and most US national security officials are convinced the Taliban could be drawn to the negotiating table with the promise of an “honorable peace,” said Worden. “They want foreign troops gone,” said Worden. “They want a share of political power in Afghanistan. They want honor and dignity in their communities and immunity when they stop the fighting. They don’t want to be arrested and sentenced for being soldiers.” But others see that assessment as too optimistic. Many Afghan officials and people close to the Taliban say a significant segment of the group’s leadership are convinced they can reclaim the power they had before — while fearing that coming to the negotiating table will immediately lessen their appeal to the public and embolden their critics to throw shoes at them. “My understanding is that military pressure will not work to bring the Taliban to the table,” said Osman, the expert at the Afghan Analysts Network, who regularly speaks with the Taliban. “I don’t think you can pressure a movement like the Taliban which is deeply rooted in parts of society. They have a much higher morale for continuing the war. The preparations for a lengthy war are there. There is a new generation coming along.” There are numerous signs that the Taliban may not be ready for peace. While they agree to talks in theory, their leaders demand to sit at the table with the US, not with the Afghan government. Agreeing to such a condition would undermine the very Kabul government the US seeks to empower.
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News Afghan army soldiers await orders from their headquarters inside a base on the edge of Bagram.
Some suspect the Taliban dangle the promise of peace talks as part of a military strategy that seeks any advantage on the ground and rarely refrains from brutality. “It speaks out of both sides of the mouth,” said one UN official involved in overseeing the distribution of aid throughout the country, accusing the Taliban of publicly welcoming international cooperation while its fighters menace and kill humanitarian workers on the ground. The suggestion of possible peace talks also gives the Taliban time to rebuild their forces and a measure of credibility among those in the international community inclined to blame the US for all of Afghanistan’s troubles. “When the Taliban fights us in the battlefield and the politicians engage in peace talks, it demoralizes our troops and our people,” said Fawzia Koofi, a member of the Afghan Parliament and women’s rights activist. Haroun Mir, the analyst, cited numerous ways Afghanistan has changed since the time of the Taliban’s rule, and wondered how the Taliban would fit into the country today. “We have a free media. Women are free to work and study,” he said. “How many different channels do we have? How many people can criticize the government, even at the very top? Would the Taliban accept this kind of environment? Would it accept this government?” Probably not, according to the Taliban. The Taliban’s spokesman derided Afghanistan’s shaky, fledgling “democracy” as a Western imposition and dismissed the government of Ashraf Ghani as a “slave and puppet of America” set up by former secretary of state John Kerry. “The government of Ashraf Ghani has no value or legitimacy for Afghans and for us,” said Zabiollah Mujahid. “The political system that Afghans sacrificed 40 years to achieve is an Islamic system. We want an Islamic system in our country because our people are Muslim and don’t accept imported foreign systems.” The Taliban now control 45 of Afghanistan’s 398 administrative districts and are contesting another 118, according to the UN. In parts of Afghanistan they control they rarely brook criticism and menace critical journalists. They have occasionally shown pragmatism, allowing girls to attend school when there is widespread public demand. (Mujahid said girls can attend school as long as they’re educated separately and differently than boys.) The Taliban permit international charities to operate, as long as they serve the Taliban’s needs. They collect taxes, provide a simple version of justice, and dispense public services. When someone’s daughter needs surgery and the government can’t pay for it, the local Taliban will kick in, building credibility and goodwill with the population while undermining faith in the central government. The US may not have a lot of time to figure out an acceptable Afghan exit that salvages any gains without further drawing American forces into the conflict. For ordinary Afghans caught between warring sides, life is quickly deteriorating. Saif al-Rahman Muzamel, 38, was watching his 10-year-old son Suhail walk to school when a US or Afghan airstrike hit a suspected Taliban stronghold in Kunduz province in September. Shrapnel from the explosion badly mangled Suhail’s left arm. Muzamel gathered Suhail in his arms, and spent the next few hours struggling to get the boy to a clinic in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. There he was bandaged and treated. Next came the harrowing and expensive days-long journey to the hospital run by the Italian humanitarian aid group Emergency in Kabul, where Suhail is recovering. “You don’t know where they are, neither the Taliban nor the drones,” said Muzamel, sitting by his son at the hospital. The war has displaced millions of civilians, adding to the crushing burden on international relief agencies and the Afghan government. The number of people fleeing their homes in Afghanistan rocketed from 100,000 in 2010 to more than 650,000 last year, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. Many wind up fleeing their ancestral villages for the relative safety of the big cities, creating new social problems. Jan-Agha Mohammad-Khan, 22, was farming opium and wheat in Uruzgan province until eight months ago when fighting engulfed his hamlet. “Life got very hard,” he said, standing with others in a mud-brick shantytown in Kabul that serves as makeshift camp for displaced Afghans. “There was a lot of fighting. The Taliban came. They were on one side. And the soldiers were on another side. Both sides are making trouble for the people.”
Kiana Hayeri for BuzzFeed News Suhail was on his way to school when an alleged drone attack initiated by US or US-backed forces was launched in his area.The NFL fined Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson $10,000 for throwing a punch in the regular-season opener against the New Orleans Saints, a league source told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.
The Packers were penalized 15 yards in the third quarter for Woodson's punch. He was not ejected, and the Packers went on to win 42-34.
After the game, Woodson admitted he took a swing at Saints tight end David Thomas.
"Yeah, I threw a punch," Woodson said following the Packers' victory. "Just got frustrated, the guy was holding me a little longer than I wanted. Nothing was said about it, referee-wise, quick enough, and I reacted. It is what it is, I guess."
Woodson said at the time that he expected a fine from the league.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.Photo
WASHINGTON — In the three years since he left office, former President George W. Bush has largely stayed out of the political arena. He has spent his time mapping out his library, making speeches, hosting injured veterans for Texas bicycle rides and making clear how glad he is to be out of the nation’s capital.
But gingerly, the 43rd president is beginning to add his voice back into the national dialogue. A month ago, he spoke publicly in favor of one of his defining domestic legacies, the tax cuts that still divide the country. Two months from now, he plans to publish a book outlining strategies for economic growth. And on Tuesday, he made a rare return to Washington to promote freedom overseas.
At an event less than two blocks from the White House, Mr. Bush gathered former aides and human rights leaders to unveil the “Freedom Collection” sponsored by his public policy institute, an assemblage of interviews with dissidents who took on autocratic regimes. Along the way, Mr. Bush used the occasion to endorse Mitt Romney for president and to nudge both political parties to do more to support revolutionaries and build democratic institutions around the world.
“America does not get to choose if a freedom revolution should begin or end in the Middle East or elsewhere,” Mr. Bush said in his speech. “It only gets to choose what side it is on. The tactics of promoting freedom will vary, case by case. But America’s message should ring clear and strong: We stand for freedom and for the institutions and habits that make freedom work for everyone.”
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He singled out Syria, where the government of President Bashar al-Assad has killed thousands to squelch opposition. “All of us here today join you in hoping and praying for the end of violence and the advance of freedom in Syria,” Mr. Bush told Ammar Abdulhamid, a prominent Syrian opposition figure invited to speak at the event."Politically savvy... This is a spy thriller for people who don't ordinarily like spy thrillers.... The book is a paranoid's delight."Mystery Scene
"Overwatch doesn't just bring together the legal and espionage genres. It merges family problems with professional ones, swirls in a major helping of murder and mayhem, and with a deft touch, reminds us why politics isalwayspersonal."Brad Meltzer, author of The Fifth Assassin
"The best thriller writers are always storytellers first and Guggenheim is, quite simply, a terrific storyteller. Part legal thriller, part espionage page-turner... If you ever wanted to know what the marriage of Clancy and Grisham would look like, devour Overwatch."Derek Haas, author of The Right Hand
"Over the years I've used many hyphenated adjectives to describe lawyers (i.e., "soul-sucking," "bottom-feeding"). Now, thanks to Marc Guggenheim's debut novel, I can add a new one to the list: "bad-ass." Overwatch is a brilliantly-paced novel with the brains of a legal thriller, the testosterone of an action movie, and white-hot paranoia of a 70s conspiracy flick. Not only is Alex Garnett one of my favorite new heroes, but Guggenheim has also created a seriously warped villain - frightening not only because of what he does, but because you get the sinking feeling he might be alive and working in D.C. right now."Duane Swierczynski, author of Point & Shoot
"Alex Garnett is the perfect contemporary'stranger in a stranger land'a good man trying to maintain a dignified perspective within the moralistic marshes of Washington DC. And now he's also stumbled upon what he believes to be a substrata of lawlessness that makes the Old West look like an afternoon tea party. With a magnificent interweaving of law, history, and good ol' knife's-edge suspense, Guggenheim spins out a gem with Overwatch." Wil Mara,
author of Frame 232 and The Gemini Virus
"It's spy-vs.-lawyer in the tightly drawn thriller Overwatch. Marc Guggenheim knows exactly which laws are broken by the nation's most secretive agencies: all of them. Insider detail, accelerating tension and the highest stakes possible make this novel impossible to put down."Mike Cooper, author of Full Ratchet and Clawback
"Marc Guggenheim is a monster talent, able to go from TV to film to novels with an ease I envy, and the skill of a master storyteller."Ed Brubaker, author of Fatale, Criminal, Captain America, and Sleeper
From the PublisherIn the case of the body on the moor, they have been liaising with DS John Coleman and his team.
Coleman has been a police officer for about 20 years.
Thinking back to December, he says, even when he realised there were not any possessions which showed who the man was, he still had a “realistic expectation that we would identify the male within certainly a matter of days”.
Six months on, he says, in his experience, the case “is unique - I’ve never come across a similar set of circumstances”.
What started as a body on a hillside in the Peak District has become a multi-national investigation.
Coleman says he is now “dependent on the recollections of consultants and hospital staff and on record-keeping in Pakistan”.
He is trying to find out the length of time that records are kept in the 12 hospitals which have used the type of titanium plate found in the man on the moor’s left leg.
If X-rays of serious leg injuries over a number of years can be examined, |
. "We've warned the refs about them. It's just something that I guess you do anything to win, but it's not something that I think our team would do. We'll take them and be as physical and be as mean as they want, but obviously they know there's something wrong with his jaw, so they're going after it."
Getzlaf's jaw was injured in Game 1, when he was hit by a Tyler Seguin slap shot near the end of the game.
"You've got to stay as disciplined as you can, but you've got to protect yourself, too," Getzlaf said. "That's part of the game. Obviously, I never expected them to target my face that much, but that's the way it goes I guess."
Stars coach Lindy Ruff seemed surprised by how upset the Ducks were about the physical play.
Emotions are running high in the Ducks-Stars series. AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
"I don't really know what the Ducks thought, but we tried to play hard," Ruff said. "We tried to play the man. There were a couple of scrums that I'm pretty sure if you watch the scrums our guys got punched in the face a few times in those scrums. When you're getting punched in the face, eventually you are going to punch back. Talk to the team -- playoff hockey is emotional.
"For us, we've got a good skating team and I think we can frustrate [opponents], and part of being physical is you have to get there. I thought our legs were going and I thought there were times they were strong down low and I thought there was a little bit of trade-off in that. I don't think either team really crossed the line. I just thought it was playoff hockey."
Roussel felt things heated up after Getzlaf punched him, catching him a little off guard.
"He's a character guy," Roussel said. "He's such a great player and he gets some aggressiveness, some character that he has. He kind of stands up for himself when it's time, too. I was surprised and not surprised at the same time."
Anaheim leads the best-of-7 series 2-1.
So what's the best way to "deal with it" in Wednesday's Game 4?
"Score goals and win the game," said Getzlaf. "Obviously, we've got to go out and compete harder than they're going to compete within the rules of the game and play hard. It's a tough league. It's tough to win in the playoffs. We know that. We're well aware of what we need to do.
"We need to up our level of our game. We need to compete a little bit harder. Get to that net a little bit harder and create some stuff around their crease so their goalie is not so comfortable. And that involves getting in there, screening, getting second shots."Check your toothpaste, check your hand wash, soap, shampoos and deodorants, if you see this ingredient: ‘TRICLOSAN’ throw it away!
Triclosan is a commonly used antimicrobial agent that is used in many personal beauty products. While it is banned in Europe, Japan and restricted in Canada, the chemical has been around in the US for more than 40 years lurking in everything from hand soaps, cosmetics, deodorants and toothpastes.
Triclosan has the ability to accumulate in the body in fatty tissues and has been linked to hormone disruption, allergies and other endocrine disorders. It is also responsible for creating bacteria resistant to antibiotics.
A study conducted in 2009 found that triclosan decreased thyroid hormone concentrations and enhanced the expression of androgen and estrogen sensitive genes.
A further study in 2000, found that many bacterias were resistant to triclosan, creating controversy on its believed anti-bacterial properties. This was followed up by another study in 2010 by the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety which found that low concentrations of triclosan can “trigger antibiotic resistance in bacteria.”
In a sample study conducted by the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, 75 percent of people tested had triclosan in their urine and three out of five human milk samples also contained the chemical. Levels of triclosan were also found in umbilical cord blood.
After years of consumer pressure the FDA have looked into tricoslan and have found no evidence that triclosan is antibacterial. Despite this evidence, they have failed to issue it’s removal from consumer products.
“New data suggest that the risks associated with long-term, daily use of antibacterial soaps may outweigh the benefits,” states Colleen Rogers, a lead microbiologist at the FDA.
Triclosan also negatively impacts the environment and traces of it, which are highly toxic to aquatic life, have been found in rivers and lakes.
Identifying triclosan is easy, just read the ingredient list on your personal beauty products and anti-bacterial soaps.
If you are looking for anti-bacterial protection try natural essential oils like tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, rosemary or lavender.
Apple Cider Vinegar also makes an excellent antibacterial and anti-fungal cleaning product or sanitizer, just dilute in water and add lavender essential oil for a nice smell.Share 18 Share Shares 18
Pastor/State Representative Greg Stokes Using His Position To Prey On Vulnerable Married Women Who Come To Him For Marriage Advice
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This is Greg Stokes:
He is the senior pastor at the Cornerstone Church in East Windsor, CT. He was also recently elected to represent the town of Enfield as a state representative in the Connecticut State Legislature. It definitely helped that the incumbent he ran against was arrested for not one, but two DUI’s over an 18 month period. After Stokes defeated him his opponent was arrested two days later for another drunken encounter with his father. So basically Stokes was elected because the guy he was running against is the 35 year old town drunk.
Anyway, Greg Stokes is still moonlighting as a pastor, and as a pastor one of his duties is guiding the people at his church when they are in times of need. One of these needs includes listening to people who come to him with issues in their marriage, and guiding them through it with good advice. Well, one of his parishioners, who he married in June, came to him to talk about some minor fight she had with her husband. She trusted he would pray with her and give her some type of advice. But instead of getting advice, according to her husband’s Facebook post, he began to message her later that night, profess how attracted he is to her, and then asked her out to lunch:
Yea, that’s pretty shady. And he had screenshots of his wife’s conversation with Pastor/Representative Stokes to prove it. First Greg Stokes reached out to her, after seeing her prayer request on the church’s website, and was passive aggressively hinting to her that he wanted to turn the conversation around make it about his marital issues:
“I need to keep alone. Never mind.”
Translation – I can’t talk to you anymore, but I want you to ask me why.
So she starts telling him about her problems in confidence, and he wastes zero time once again making it all about him and how lonely he is:
We all have one of those friends. The one who always turns every story into something about them.
Then he told her he couldn’t give her advice because he was attracted to her:
She politely thanked him anyway, he “apologized,” and then right back to hitting on her by telling her how attractive she is:
“Saw you today and I had, well you know.”
No Pastor, I don’t know. Are you implying that you had a boner? Because that’s what it sounds like you’re trying to say without coming out and saying it.
Then he asks her out for lunch, despite already telling her he can’t talk to her or give advice to her because he is too attracted to her:
“I should not be doing this.” Doing what? Dude, if you’re gonna try to have an affair, then try to have an affair. This whole masking it thing is just uncomfortable for everyone. I mean, one minute he’s asking her out and telling her how she’s giving him boners, and the next minute he’s saying “I should not be doing this.” Make up your mind dude.
HAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA!!! Don’t want let you down!!! How will she ever survive? Because I know you she couldn’t wait to drop everything and leave her husband of seven months for this guy:
Then he messaged her again the next day and she finally told him she was gonna have to find a new church:
The bottom line is that this woman, who he JUST MARRIED to another man, came to her pastor for advice and help, and instead of getting help he made it about him by venting about his own loneliness, he hit on her a bunch of times, said he was turned on by her, asked her out to lunch, and then when she was weirded out by it he backed out of their imaginary affair (in his brain) and apologized for “letting her down.”
Say what you want about catholic priests, but this is why I kind of trust them more. Yea, they had that whole child diddling scandal and the fact that they’re willingly agreeing to lifelong celibacy is hard to come to terms with. But I feel like when I’m talking to a catholic priest I am speaking to a machine. Technically they’re human, but the fact that they can’t get married or date anyone completely eliminates the possibility of this happening. But to each their own.
And here’s another thing – I don’t trust any “pastor” who doubles as an elected official. See Sarai “Ti-Ti Ho” Rivera for more background on that. She once tried to use her influence as a City Councilor to get the taxpayers to pay to raze her death trap of a “church” so she wouldn’t have to pay for it herself. Personally, I like my politics and my religion separate.
Anyway, we spoke to another source who claims that his current wife came to him for marriage counseling when he was running a church in another state (he’s pastored at churches in Michigan and Kansas). The woman split up with her husband, he divorced his wife at the time, and he ended up marrying the woman who came to him for marriage counseling. So yea, pattern.
The fact that this guy is an elected official is just icing on the cupcake. As a Republican he is a member of the party that alleges itself to be the party of family values. That in and of itself makes this guy a fraud. More importantly, he’s in a position where he gets to mentor vulnerable women who trust him and come to him with their problems. He took all of five minutes to see this woman’s prayer request on the church website before messaging her and repeatedly telling her how attractive she is. Oh yea, and he JUST MARRIED her to another man!! Something tells me this isn’t the first time this has happened, and if we don’t blog about it then it’s probably not going to be the last time.
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Follow us on Twitter and like us on FacebookLast weekend was Anime Expo in Los Angeles and, as has occurred at past conventions, Viz had a Moon Panel on Sailor Moon Day. One thing which was announced at this panel was the cast for the upcoming English versions of Sailor Moon S The Movie, Sailor Moon SuperS The Movie and the Ami’s First Love special which plays with Sailor Moon SuperS. The films will be showing in theatres in late July and early August. The cast is a mix of new voice actors, a few who are returning after minor roles and some main cast members doing minor roles in the films.
First up is the cast of the Sailor Moon S Movie which has Kakeru, the man who Luna falls in love with, Himeko, an astronaut and part of Kakeru’s love triangle, and Princess Snow Kaguya, the villain of the film.
Himeko is voiced by Claudia Lenz, who also goes by the name of Eden Riegel, who previously voiced Koan in Viz’s new dub of Sailor Moon R and Sailor Moon Crystal.
For the long titled Sailor Moon SuperS: The Nine Sailor Guardians Unite! Miracle of the Black Dream Hole we have a cast which includes Poupelin, Banae and Oranja, the three villain henchmen, Perle, the reformed villain and love interest for Chibiusa, the Bonbon Babies, giant candy looking monsters, and Badiane, the main villain seeking to imprison the Earth’s children into an energy dreaming eternal slumber not unlike The Matrix.
We have a few returning cast members here! Banane is voiced by Ben Diskin who is Umino in the series and the Ami’s First Love special as well as Fiore from Sailor Moon R The Movie. Oranja is voiced by Robbie Daymond who plays Tuxedo Mask in the series and all of these movies. The Bonbon Babies are voiced by Erica Mendez who Sailor Uranus in the series and films and also voiced Reika. Badiane is voiced by Tara Sands who has played a number of single episode roles in Sailor Moon and was also Bulbasaur in Pokémon.
Finally we have the Ami’s First Love short which plays with the Sailor Moon SuperS film. The only new voices here are Bunnun, the voice of the monster, and Mercurius, Ami’s rival.
Both of these actors were also in Sailor Moon SuperS. The voice of Bonnun, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, is also Perle in the SuperS film. The voice of Mercurius, Kyle McCarley, was also Poupelin in the SuperS film.
For show times and a list of participating theatres be sure to check out the Fathom Events web site. The Sailor Moon S movie will be shown with the R movie dubbed on July 28th and subbed on July 30th. The Sailor Moon SuperS movie will be shown with the Ami’s First Love special dubbed on August 4th and subbed on August 6th.
Though the Fathom Events site only lists US theatres Canadians will also have a chance to see these films on those same dates at select Cineplex theatres. Though show times and theatres are not yet listed on their site keep and eye out on their listings for dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon R and S as well as dubbed and subbed showings of Sailor Moon SuperS and Ami’s First Love.
Are any of you going to be able to see these films in your cities? It was a real treat to see Sailor Moon R in theatres a couple of years ago and I hope to be able to get out to see the other films as well!Walmart has removed the Made in USA labels from its website after being investigated by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over deceptive advertising.
Walmart's Made in USA claims were called into question after Truth in Advertising discovered hundreds of products on the website were actually made elsewhere.
The watchdog group filed notice with the FTC after comparing the Made in USA labels against the packaging of the actual products of hundreds of products. Plastic cutlery labelled Made in USA on the website was found to be labelled Made in China on the packaging, while a lotion that the website said was made in the U.S. was found to be made in Mexico.
The FTC closed its probe without laying charges after Walmart agreed to remove all the Made in USA labels from its website.
Two years ago, Walmart made a high-profile pledge to buy an additional $250 billion in Made in USA products, reasoning that patriotism sells.
As part of its deal with the FTC, the retailer must redesign the Made in USA labels on the packaging of many of its products to specify how much of the product was made overseas.
In many cases the so-called domestically made products were only packaged in the U.S. or were made from imported parts.
"We are pleased with the FTC's decision and appreciate its thorough review of our program," Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg said in a statement. "We're committed to reviewing and strengthening our processes to help ensure customers have a great experience on our website and can find the products and information they are looking for."Shane Battier, who said two months ago that he would be retiring after this NBA season barring an “act of God,” has agreed to a multi-year TV deal with ESPN to be a college basketball analyst next season, multiple people told The Big Lead.
It’s unclear yet if ESPN will use Battier, 35, as a game analyst, in the studio, or on the set of College Gameday, which is being revamped. Battier’s agent, Jim Ornstein, didn’t return a call today seeking comment. ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz said the network had “no comment.” The deal isn’t expected to be announced until after the Finals are complete. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been announced.
Battier, who starred at Duke, is in his 13th season in the NBA. Thursday, his Miami Heat will attempt to win a third consecutive NBA Championship. Battier’s contract with the team is up in July. In March, he offered his strongest retirement quote so far:
Yes. Shane Battier is retiring after season. No more equivocating. “It would take an act of God to change it & that act of God hasn’t come.” — Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) March 28, 2014
Battier reportedly had an offer to run for Senate in his home state of Michigan, but passed.
One source joked that if Battier were to join ESPN’s College Gameday, he could sit alongside Jay Bilas and Jay Williams – two other former Duke stars – in an ironic move that would feed the “ESPN loves Duke” cries from fans.
Related: Shane Battier Praises Ass of Shane Battier in Shane Battier Photo
Related: Shane Battier’s High School Yearbook Photo Looks Eerily Similar to Two Other Famous High School Ladies’ Men
Related: Shane Battier Kneed Roy Hibbert in the Balls [Video]Next month, the Tragically Hip will release two videos that chronicle their final days with lead singer Gord Downie. Long Time Running, a feature film documentary about their 2016 Man Machine Poem tour, will come out on Dec. 1. A National Celebration, which documents their final concert, will arrive three weeks later.
Directed by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, Long Time Running takes fans inside the rehearsals for that 15-date tour, which was announced after an announcement that Downie had a glioblastoma multiforme, an incurable brain tumor. With interviews from all five members of the Tragically Hip, it will air on Canada's BellMedia this Sunday (Nov. 12), after which it will be available for streaming on Netflix. The DVD and Blu-ray includes the director's cut and a featurette with 10 minutes worth of interviews from fans like Leslie Feist and Sarah Harmer.
A National Celebration, meanwhile, was recorded on Aug. 20, 2016 at the Rogers K-Rock Centre in Kingston, Ontario, and features all 30 songs the Tragically Hip performed that night. This show, which found Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the audience, was streamed globally via the CBC. The band is releasing the video without overdubs.
Downie passed away on Oct. 17 at the age of 53, only 10 days before the release of a solo double-album, Introduce Yerself. Tragically Hip guitarist Rob Baker praised the work, saying: "To know your time is limited and to say, ‘This is what I’m going to do with the time I’ve got left.’ I thought it was a beautiful legacy project for him, to really hunker down and use his time for something positive, to build some awareness.”If there's one thing that should have been learned by the Democratic Party over the last thirty or so years, it's that running against the base is a recipe for failure in elections. This lesson, however, has been repeatedly ignored by most of the party's politicians. When one goes over the electoral cycles since 1980, it's clear that the DLC's "run-to-the-right" ploy has never actually won an election.
"But," you tell me, "Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996." This ignores the fact that independent candidate H. Ross Perot pulled enough votes away from the Republican nominees those years to swing the elections in the Democrat's favor.
After Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the party was unable to win it back until public disgust with the GOP had grown to such proportions that their defeat in 2006 was inevitable. Since winning back the Legislature, however, Democrats have for the most part continued to piss away any chance they might have had for shoring up their victory and securing a lasting majority. They've kept funding the illegal occupation of Iraq, have continued to rubber stamp the shrub's dismantling of the Constitution—even going so far as to protect him from impeachment for high crimes including treason, and basically let down the public on every issue of importance.
Barack Obama isn't even trying to win vital states such as Ohio; in the heart of the state's Democratic stronghold, the campaign hasn't even bothered to set up telephones for phone-banking—volunteers have to use their own devices to call voters. Furthermore, instead of going after frequently voting Democrats, Obama has his people reaching out to Republicans, most of whom have stated flat out that they have no intention of voting for him. I know this through several Democratic volunteers who've put their efforts into Obama's campaign. They are the eyewitnesses on the ground.
There's a reason Ohio's GOP voters did not deign to put J. Kenneth Blackwell in the governor's mansion: he's technically black. It didn't matter to them that he supported every bug-eyed insane policy and social position they did; his skin color was darker than theirs, so he could not be allowed to become governor. That Obama insists on trying to reach the still-strong bigot bloc, forsaking his own party's base in the process, is absolute stupidity. He's going to blow it for us again, just as John Kerry and Al Gore did before him. McCain will cheat his way to the dictatorship created by the shrub and his gargoyle, all because Obama wants to "play it safe" by running to appease the very wealthy.
How long shall Progressives continue to hold on to the fantasy that we can somehow reform the party from within? Yesterday I happened upon a diary at you-know-where that states flat out what I'm sure a majority of Americans are thinking: that it is foolishness to continue remaining a registered Democrat as long as the party's conservative wing controls it. And make no mistake, Obama is very much part of that conservative wing despite whatever denials his followers choose to engage in.
Sooner or later the Progressive base of the Democratic Party has got to wake up and realize that it is pointless to remain with people who always denounce, marginalize, and campaign against its interests. One might say that now is not the time to dump the Democratic Party, that there is too much at stake. To that I say that it's never going to be the "right time," because there's always going to be "too much at stake." Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said:
The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. The millions who are in want will not stand by silently forever while the things to satisfy their needs are within easy reach. We need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer.
And:
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
I agree with the Kos diarist: it's time for the Progressive base of the Democratic Party to face the unpleasant truth that we cannot and should not continue to waste our energies trying to reform from within a political party that long ago decided it wants to be something that runs contrary to everything we stand for. The stakes are indeed high, but we have to ask ourselves if it's worth another four to eight years of frustration as we watch our beloved country and our world fall further in the hellish pits of fascism and ruin. If Democrats as a whole will not represent Progressives, then we need to break away and form our own party so that our movement has genuine representation. If nothing else, it will send Democrats a wakeup call: they cannot continue to dismiss and ignore their party's base with impunity.
_______
Progressive-Independence.org
About author I'm from Ohio, and a registered member of the Green Party of Ohio.Judges Overturns D.C. Ban On Handguns In Public
Enlarge this image toggle caption Al Behrman/AP Al Behrman/AP
A federal judge has overturned a District of Columbia ban on carrying handguns in public, concluding that the Second Amendment protects a person's right to firearms outside the home.
In a 19-page ruling that was written on Thursday, but only released late Saturday, Judge Frederick J. Scullin Jr. ordered the city to allow residents to carry handguns — a milestone in a case that has been dragging on for five years.
"There is no longer any basis on which this court can conclude that the District of Columbia's total ban on the public carrying of ready-to-use handguns outside the home is constitutional under any level of scrutiny," Scullin of the District of Columbia District Court said. "Therefore, the court finds that the District of Columbia's complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public is unconstitutional."
By way of background, The New York Times notes: "In 2008, the Supreme Court struck down the District of Columbia's all-out ban on handguns on the basis that it violated the right to bear arms guaranteed by the Constitution's Second Amendment. An appeals court in 2011 required handguns to be registered."
The Associated Press says the challenge, Palmer v. District of Columbia, came shortly after the city rewrote its gun laws following the landmark 2008 decision.
AP says: "New rules allowed residents to keep guns in their homes but required that they be registered. Gun owners now have to take a safety class, be photographed and fingerprinted and re-register their weapons every three years. Those requirements have also been challenged in court but were upheld by a federal judge in May."
It was not immediately clear if the D.C. government would appeal the decision.“Nothing is more Western than hatred of the West.” – Bruckner, The Tyranny of Guilt (2010)
Pascal Bruckner is the master of the one-liner. That is, he is quotable even when it is difficult to follow his logic. His prose tends towards the poetic and often seems designed to shock, although it ends up trying to please everyone. He will lambaste those who try to “help” the disadvantaged in the “Third World” (a term rarely used nowadays due to its connotations of hopelessness) only to encourage engagement with the impoverished without specifying how.
The view he presents suggests we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. However, given that his book was written thirty-two years ago, it is hard to fault Bruckner’s lack of a clear political approach to the less fortunate. Today the downtrodden are invading Western shores as never before, and we are hard-pressed to know how to react to them for our own sense of “doom” has been markedly sharpened. Still, Bruckner enhances our understanding of ourselves and alerts us to our cultural weaknesses.
What does Bruckner say? In a nutshell, to quote him, “the much touted compassion of most ‘Third-Worlders’ [liberals] is really a form of contempt, because they use the suffering of others for their own ideological purposes.” Bruckner argues that, since the 1960s, the political Left has used the struggling poor of Third World countries as convenient symbols of capitalist oppression since the Left can no longer find potent symbols of class-struggle within Europe itself. The picture of a bourgeoisie that exploits impoverished workers in Europe no longer holds credibility, so propagandists have promoted a post-colonial narrative of the “White Man” shamelessly exploiting the poor in southern countries. He says the Left lumps all of the Third World together as though cultural differences did not exist, treating people as symbols rather than as flesh and bone humans.
The “Other,” he says, has been reduced to a new underling, manipulated by “white” people who are made to feel “guilty” under leftist propaganda. This has produced a need for “repentance” in some, or a total “indifference” to the impoverished South in others. According to Bruckner, this psychological state originates in Christianity with its image of the Garden of Eden as mankind’s primordial “innocence,” destroyed by contact with evil. More recently, he says, Christopher Columbus’s encounter with the natives of the Caribbean established the myth of native “innocence,” corrupted through colonial exploitation. This narrative sees the White Man as inherently evil and corrupt, while native peoples are all vulnerable and virtuous. According to this logic, if there is evil in the Third World, it came with the White Man.
The myth of the Noble Savage, today, translates as European and American exploitation of the Third World, a notion that conveniently ignores oppressive tribal or caste systems that predate the White Man’s influence. Says Bruckner, in the Leftist view of southern countries, we find “a sort of generalization and sweeping reductionism …one that cannot see subtleties at work.” Nor do we see the advantages of modern technology and science that the West has brought to more traditional societies. In Bruckner’s estimation, the West has created the whip with which it flagellates itself for an inherent sense of corruption that is Biblical in origin.
Bruckner especially lambastes intellectuals like J.P. Sartre who had great influence in the 1960s for elevating Chinese Communism and the Iranian Revolution to models of revolutionary virtue. He notes that the impulse behind this position comes from a disenchantment with Western civilization. European idealists looked to “revolutionary” societies for answers to contradictions in industrialized cultures, but ignored the darkest sides of Maoism and radical Islam. He accuses such idealists of “intellectual laziness” and “intellectual gymnastics” used to repress knowledge of atrocities committed in the name of revolutionary zeal. But, he says, a new sense of reality has destroyed our illusions of purity in places like China and Iran. Now we have become disappointed with revolutionary outcomes and look for new penitential alternatives to our “corruption.” Bruckner writes: “As soon as the Third World refused to be oversimplified, we turned away from it, frightened by the complexity we saw there.”
Bruckner says today “indifference” has replaced fascination, and we have only a “negative sympathy” for impoverished nations left. We have been so bombarded by images of global suffering that we have become inured to it. In fact, he claims, Europeans have become “disgusted” with Third World conditions that remind them of their own past. Yet the sense of guilt remains because “Just enjoying relatively better luck puts us in debt to those who are poorer,” at least according to the Leftist perspective. We wallow in guilt as atonement and celebrate the misfortune of others because it gives us “pretexts for humility.”
To be sure, Bruckner offers a complicated interpretation of what goes on in Western mass psychology. Those who promote the myth of Western guilt, says Bruckner, “are like hemophiliacs in love with human suffering, ready to bleed far any cause; they are the professional mourners of modern history.” He calls do-gooders “cowboy humanitarians,” who hold “guilt [as] a convenient substitute for action where action is impossible.”
The persistence of suffering in the Third World “gives us limitless freedom to berate ourselves for it.” In this view, the failure of countries to help themselves becomes our failure to elevate them from the after-effects of colonial rule. It’s all our fault, and we wallow in guilt like a masochist wallows in pain. In this view, former-colonies need assume no responsibility for their atrocities and failures.
Bruckner considers our attitude towards the rest of the world as self-indulgent and self-delusional – attitudes that excuse inaction. He says Westerners fail to see the peoples of the Third World (the “South”) as individuals whose cultures and economies require deeper analyses in order to deliver help effectively. In this he has a point.
However, what Bruckner does not address – I have yet to find anyone who does so – is the impressions that the Third World holds of the West. We recall Edward Said’s bitter denunciation of Western perspectives of the East (Orientalism), a diatribe that completely ignores how they see us. It is doubtful that Eastern perspectives of Europeans or Americans are any more “true” or realistic than ours have been of theirs, so if there is to be a mutually-respectful meeting of minds, there would have to be a radical re-think of who the “Other” really is. But this may not happen. As Bruckner says in a more recent publication, The Tyranny of Guilt (2010), some nations compete with others over who has suffered most at the hands of the West because “suffering confers one rights… [and is] a way of avoiding introspection.” A re-examination of views would require goodwill and intelligence, both of which are sadly lacking, although current clashes between Islam and the West, for instance, certainly underscores such a necessity.
Pascal Bruckner
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedSeven Pillars of Wisdom is the autobiographical account of the experiences of British soldier T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), while serving as a liaison officer with rebel forces during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks of 1916 to 1918.
It was completed in February 1922, but first published in December 1926.[1]
Title [ edit ]
The title comes from the Book of Proverbs[2] (Proverbs 9:1): "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars" (King James Version).[3] Prior to the First World War, Lawrence had begun work on a scholarly book about seven great cities of the Middle East,[4] to be titled Seven Pillars of Wisdom. When war broke out, it was still incomplete and Lawrence stated that he ultimately destroyed the manuscript although he remained keen on using his original title Seven Pillars of Wisdom for his later work. The book had to be rewritten three times, once following the loss of the manuscript on a train at Reading. From Seven Pillars, "...and then lost all but the Introduction and drafts of Books 9 and 10 at Reading Station, while changing trains. This was about Christmas, 1919." (p. 21)
Seven Pillars of Wisdom is an autobiographical account of his experiences during the Arab Revolt of 1916–18, when Lawrence was based in Wadi Rum (now a part of Jordan) as a member of the British Forces of North Africa. With the support of Emir Faisal and his tribesmen, he helped organise and carry out attacks on the Ottoman forces from Aqaba in the south to Damascus in the north. Many sites inside the Wadi Rum area have been named after Lawrence to attract tourists, although there is little or no evidence connecting him to any of these places, including the rock formations near the entrance now known as "The Seven Pillars".[5]
Speculation surrounds the book's dedication, a poem written by Lawrence and edited by Robert Graves, concerning whether it is to an individual or to the whole Arab race. It begins, "To S.A.", possibly meaning Selim Ahmed, a young Arab boy from Syria of whom Lawrence was very fond. Ahmed died, probably from typhus, aged 19, a few weeks before the offensive to liberate Damascus. Lawrence received the news of his death some days before he entered Damascus.[citation needed]
I loved you, so I drew these tides of
Men into my hands
And wrote my will across the
Sky in stars
To earn you freedom, the seven
Pillared worthy house,
That your eyes might be
Shining for me
When I came
Death seemed my servant on the
Road, 'til we were near
And saw you waiting:
When you smiled and in sorrowful
Envy he outran me
And took you apart:
Into his quietness
Love, the way-weary, groped to your body,
Our brief wage
Ours for the moment
Before Earth's soft hand explored your shape
And the blind
Worms grew fat upon
Your substance
Men prayed me that I set our work,
The inviolate house,
As a memory of you
But for fit monument I shattered it,
Unfinished: and now
The little things creep out to patch
Themselves hovels
In the marred shadow
Of your gift.
A variant last line of that first stanza—reading, "When we came"—appears in some editions; however, the 1922 Oxford text (considered the definitive version; see below) has "When I came". The poem originated as prose, submitted by letter to Graves, who edited the work heavily into its current form, rewriting an entire stanza and correcting the others.[citation needed]
Manuscripts and editions [ edit ]
Some Englishmen, of whom Kitchener was chief, believed that a rebellion of Arabs against Turks would enable England, while fighting Germany, simultaneously to defeat Turkey.
Their knowledge of the nature and power and country of the Arabic-speaking peoples made them think that the issue of such a rebellion would be happy: and indicated its character |
is aimed at functions held by high-ranking officials. Mr Chrisnandi said these events "created an impression of inequality".
"There are high-ranking government officials organising weddings for their children... inviting thousands, causing traffic jams," he added.
The energy ministry has already sent out a list of permitted foods to its staff and has ordered drinks to be limited to coffee, tea and water, as it seeks to clean up its image following recent corruption scandals involving top oil officials.
The moves echo a corruption crackdown launched by China's leader Xi Jinping after he came to power in late 2012, which included banning elaborate fare from official banquets.SALT LAKE CITY — Two sessions of the LDS Church’s general conference will alternate, church officials announced Friday.
In a letter addressed to church leadership, members of the First Presidency, the LDS church's top leadership, said the church will be simplifying its semiannual general conference sessions by alternating the women’s and priesthood sessions, now holding them each annually.
In recent years, the church would host a session solely for girls and women ages 8 and up a week before the rest of the general conference sessions. The following week, men and boys ages 12 and up would attend a priesthood session on Saturday evening, after two general sessions that same day.
Now, the women’s session will be held in place of the priesthood session once a year in October. The priesthood session will take place each April.
Officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said the consolidation of the sessions will help reduce and simplify “the work of the church and the demands made upon leaders and members.”
“We are confident this change will be a blessing in the lives of members throughout the church,” the letter said.
The changes will take effect in April 2018 at the church’s next general conference. The times of each of the general conference sessions will not change, with the exception of the women's session.Set the controls for the heart of every Pink Floyd fan: We’re celebrating Roger Waters’ highly anticipated return with a week of Floydian features that will make you wish you were here forever. Today, Andrew Bloom delves into the significance of the song “Wish You Were Here”.
“Wish You Were Here” opens with a riff that sounds as though it’s from an old recording, crackling out of a weathered car radio. Then the cleaner tones of an acoustic guitar emerge on the track, playing along with that A.M. sound. The interplay between the two conjures the image of a man listening to those sounds from long ago and trying to complement them in the present day. From the very beginning of the track, before a single lyric is uttered, “Wish You Were Here” evokes a sense of reflection, of lingering on something lost that the musician’s trying to recreate, recall, and summon once more back into the here and now.
That is the crux of Pink Floyd’s arguably most famous song — the combination of what was and what is and the contemplation of where you are in relation to where you used to be. The title track off the band’s seminal 1975 release, “Wish You Were Here” is rooted in a specific event and specific figure in the group’s past, one who seems to symbolize the turning point from when the band was young and hungry to when its members became part of the rock and roll machine, wondering how they had arrived at that point and how much it had changed them.
That figure is Syd Barrett, the former member of the band who, after a mental breakdown, left following the release of the group’s first studio album. It fits, then, that “Wish You Were Here” anchors itself on Barrett, the probable “you” in the song’s title. David Gilmour, who sings lead on the track, admitted that while the song has a broader scope than just a tribute to their former colleague, he “can’t sing it without thinking about Syd.” Barrett was the first casualty of the band’s breakthrough, and looking back as then established stars, Gilmour and Roger Waters, the other musician behind “Wish You Were Here,” fixate on Barrett as a symbol of their early idealism, wondering if the aspirations he stood for have curdled into complacency.
Wish You Were Here, the record that shares a name with the venerated tune, is an album-length critique of the music business and an extended rumination on the ways in which it’s affected Gilmour and Waters. The pair collaborated to write the music on the title track, with Waters penning the lyrics and Gilmour singing the lead. That creates a dual confessional quality to the song, a sense in which both men linger on the thought of Barrett as a connection to a time when the band was just starting out, raw and earnest, and consider whether in losing him they eventually lost those parts of themselves as well.
In short, it’s a song about a specific and recurring worry for any artist — the fear that you’ve sold out and lost a vital part of who you were and what spurred you to express yourself artistically in the first place. It’s an idea given life in “Wish You Were Here” by the specter of Waters and Gilmour’s former bandmate, who raged on in the group’s early years but faded away when it started becoming something else. Almost every major musician has a song about an unavoidable insecurity that they’ve lost the ideals they started with and instead given into the limiting strictures and demands of the music industry.
“Wish You Were Here” functions as a reminder, a bulwark against that. Roger Waters has said that the song was meant to encourage him “not to accept at lead role in a cage … to keep auditioning for the walk-on part in the war” because that’s where he hoped and wanted to be. His lyrics are poetic but not opaque, evincing a sense of self-doubt and a nagging question of whether he can even tell the difference between the purity he espoused and admired in the band’s early days and something more sanitized or anodyne.
His words linger on the notion of absence, a theme present throughout the album. The first verse focuses on that self-doubt and the question of whether his ability to discern truth from artifice is gone. The second is a worried self-assessment of whether Waters and Gilmour have let go of their raw passions amid the cold comfort of their success.
But the third is a lament, a simple wish to bring back the person who’s missing and, in that, to recover what may have been lost. Waters and Gilmour are wondering if, despite all their musical success in the years since Barrett’s departure, they have simply been “running over the same old ground,” with little to show for it. That closing cry is a plea both for their departed bandmate, but also for the times when they all were together and their purpose felt truer and less clouded by the demands of commerce and fame.
But the reason that the song is still so resonant and memorable all these years later is that it takes those very specific concerns — about the loss of a friend and brother in arms and the worry that too much time in the music business had started to wear away at them — and frames them in a broader, accessible way. The sense of a person from your past who represents a nostalgic time in your life is a relatable one. The notions of having lost your way and sacrificed the fires of passion for the reassuring ease of the path of least resistance are universal.
That is the beauty of “Wish You Were Here”. Waters has said that while the song means something specific to him about that urge to keep himself fighting and scrapping and not resting on his laurels, he intentionally wrote it to be broader than that, and that whatever different listeners bring to the song or extract from it can be equally valid. By tying his lyrics to very distinct and individualized concerns, there is a vividness and clarity to Waters’ poetry and Gilmour’s pained warbles, ironically enough creating the sort of purity that the pair are worried about losing. And yet, with the earnestness of Waters’ words, and in Gilmour’s rueful performance of them, the track grasps at something larger, a part of all human experience.
Whether listeners find themselves reflecting on love or labor, the sentiments on change and absence and regret still resonate. The wistfulness in “Wish You Were Here”, the ways in which the track captures a particular combination of nostalgic melancholy and self-doubt, speaks to individuals across borders and across time.
But that opening riff, the combination of the static-filled tones in what feels like an older tune blended with the new, fulsome sounds of the acoustic guitar, sets the stage for it all. That musical inflection point is a symbol of the tenuous connection between the rough-edged beauty of the past and the clean but calm longing in the present. It’s a sonic metonym for the larger internal conflict of “Wish You Were Here”, one as striking and poignant when molded to the universal concerns about lost ideals and waning passions as it is when lamenting the absence of a missing friend or when bandmates are worrying not just about how much truth is left in their art, but also in the people making it.The 1963 Shelby Cobra 289- a car quite like no other.
Boasting an unprecedented history, the Shelby Cobra is a revered from both sides of the pond as one of the greatest motoring gifts of all time.
Carroll Shelby started out as a racing driver and quickly forged a stellar reputation for his imitable driving skill, prompting him to travel to Europe to compete against the world’s best. Along the way Shelby managed to set a formidable 16 US and international speed records.
After subsequent explorations and victories at the iconic 24-hour Le Mans race, Shelby turned to Formula 1, which would eventually spell the end of his enigmatic career. Under doctor’s orders to retire due to a congenital heart defect, as a result of the extraordinary physical strain imposed on his body from racing at the pinnacle of motorsport. Consequently, his step away from the wheel spawned one of the greatest cars to ever be conceived; the 1963 Shelby Cobra 289.
Shelby went to work immediately to develop an idea that he always dreamt of, after seeing the AC Ace compete at Le Mans years before. Lacking the power and panache to really capitalise on all race meets, Shelby believed that a muscular American V8 could counteract the problems faced by the AC Ace and dominate racing for years to come.
Emerging from a fairy-tale inspired story, the Shelby Cobra was born; baptised as a major icon for motoring devotees worldwide. Originally fitted with a 260 cubic inch engine, the car was latterly installed with a 289 and 427 cubic inch Ford V8 engine, which gave the Shelby a raw, evocative power that so few cars could rival.
This specific Cobra rolls up to auction via Dorotheum, estimated to earn between $1,000,000 to $1,400,000. The 104th Shelby to built, and just the 29th to use the 289 engine, the special edition Cobra is complete in Guardsman blue- Shelby’s favourite colour.
Showing just a little over 15,000km on the dial, across a total of 52 years, this 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 presents the opportunity to not only own a perfectly conditioned vintage car, but more importantly, a piece of automotive history.Rust monsters are not that dangerous, really. Annoying, potentially very expensive to deal with, and often leaving you terminally unprepared for whatever comes next, sure. But not dangerous by themselves. Some eat metal. Others magic. Not this one, though. This one eats your destiny. You’ll survive the encounter, covered in the rusty flakes of your once-great future.
Fatum phages show up at the most unfortunate time. The closer a hero is to fulfilling their destiny, the brighter they shine in the multi-faceted eyes of these beasts. And if said hero’s One Unique Thing has something to do with prophecy or fate, fatum phages would stop at nothing to get them.
Fatum Phage
Level 8 spoiler [ABERRATION]
Initiative +8
Caustic bite +13 vs. MD (one creature with no unspent story-guide icon relationship rolls)—38 damage, and 10 ongoing acid damage
Natural 16+: the target makes a save or permanently loses one of its icon relationships.
Rusting antenna +13 vs. MD (one creature with an unspent story-guide icon relationship roll of 5 or 6)—22 damage, and the target makes a hard save or decrements one of its story-guide icon relationship dice from 6 to 5, or loses a 5 entirely.
Tasty Tasty Fate: A fatum phage can add the escalation die to its attacks whenever it targets a creature that added the escalation die to its attacks last turn.
Rust’s targets: Icon relationships of creatures with 180 hp or more are not affected by the fatum phage’s ability to weaken or destroy them (they still take damage).
Nastier specials:
Rusted Icons: Pull up the Couatl entry of the Bestiary. Each time a fatum phage affects a relationship roll result or the relationship itself with its rusting antenna or caustic bite attack, it gains a corresponding icon-centric ability as if it was an 8th-level couatl. The fatum phage can only have one such ability at a time, so a new ability overwrites the old one; but limits on ability use such as 1/battle are reset when a new ability is gained.
AC 24
PD 18 HP 144
MD 22
Recovering Icon Relationships
The Archmage probably knows a useful ritual. So may the Elf Queen. The Diabolist likely has a deal she can offer. The Prince of Shadows stole everything there was to steal, maybe he knows how to unsteal some things, too. Point is, many icons can help. But why would they waste their time on someone so clearly insignificant as you?The morning commute between Brighton and Ann Arbor is expected to see a massive change this week.
Work is wrapping up along what’s become known as the US-23 Flex Route. The Flex Route is a new concept for Michigan — during peak traffic times an additional lane will be opened up to curb backups.
“It’s very important,” said Diane Cross, a spokesperson or M-DOT. “Anyone who drives southbound heading toward Ann Arbor knows traffic is always stop and go — in the afternoon we see a lot of that heading north.”
The Flex Route construction along the US-23 corridor attacked a few components: the road has been repaved and a number of bridges were replaced. The biggest change for commuters, however, will be the smart boards that hang above the roadway — they’ll direct people to shift over into a third berm lane during peak travel times. That along should relieve traffic by increasing road capacity by 33-percent — the boards will also give real-time messages on the speed of traffic, and whether a driver should merge if there’s an accident ahead.
“In a lot of areas we can’t expand the roadway whether it’s a financial thing, or the location because environmentally we can’t do that, so we think this is a good solution to the problem: more people than we have roadway,” said Cross.
Construction barrels were still in place early Monday morning, but they are expected to be removed this week — possibly as early as Monday afternoon.
MDOT is educating drivers how the new intelligent boards will work by posting an easy tutorial online for those who will soon be driving the route.CLICK ANY IMAGE ABOVE FOR FULL ARTICLE
The first to volunteer to fight the military's ban on gays, a universal soldier in the fight against AIDS and for full LGBT equality, a loving son, brother, uncle, friend, and inspiration for untold numbers of lives lived out and proud. Upon his discharge in 1975 he said: "Maybe not in my lifetime, but we are going to win in the end."
Launching the First Battle Against the Ban on Gays in the Military
"He was the Charles Lindbergh of the Gay Movement."
- Author & civil rights activist Malcolm Boyd
"The American Revolution continued in the fight
of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich."
- Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett (Ret) "When Leonard Matlovich was on a magazine cover as a war hero, challenging the policy in the military, it began a national discussion on gay rights."
- Unfriendly Fire author Nathaniel Frank
"He had the knack for taking your heart and making it catch for a moment. He seemed to make people want to be braver than perhaps they were."
- Neely Tucker, The PREFIX = ST1? Washington Post
"He will never receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom although he has earned it. If I were in charge of these things, I'd give it to him."
- Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director, SLDN, The Huffington Post
"The epitaph he chose is still as fresh as today's headlines:
When I was in the military they gave me a medal
for killing two men and a discharge for loving one. "
- The Associated Press
Leonard's Story
IN 1975, Tech. Sgt. Leonard Matlovich, United States Air Force, with the guidance of Gay Movement Pioneer Frank Kameny, became the first to bring the government's decades of discrimination against gays and lesbians to national consciousness when he volunteered to tell his superiors that he was gay in order to create a test case. From the front page of The New York Times to the cover of Time magazine, from every major network news program, talk show, and podiums everywhere, he exposed the military's naked bigotry. For despite his 12 years of exemplary service, despite his extraordinary performance ratings, despite the admiration and affection of over a
thousand of his Race Relations Class students,
despite his Bronze Star, his Purple Heart, and his shrapnel wounds, the Air Force demanded his discharge simply because he was gay. He fought them in court for years, securing a ruling that the Air Force had failed to justify their discrimination. NBC dramatized his challenge in the first made-for-TV movie about a living gay person, and his example inspired many others to join the fight against Pentagon prejudice and countless people to come out. Wherever he went, he told audiences:
"I'm intensely proud to be gay and you should be, too. Unless we state our case, we'll continue to be robbed
of our role models, our heritage, our history, and our future."
AFTER BEING ONE of the leaders in Miami's anti-Anita Bryant campaign, he moved to San Francisco where, from his apartment overlooking 18th & Castro, he repeatedly answered the community's call to help fight for LGBT rights once again. He crisscrossed America raising money to defeat Proposition 6, the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gay teachers in California schools, and Proposition 64 that threatened to quarantine people with AIDS.
HE WAS ONE of the leaders of the protests during homophobic Pope John Paul's San Francisco visit, declaring:
"The Pope is wrong. I am not 'intrinsically evil'. We are a moral people! We will do everything we can to make this world a better place. We are letting our love and voices be heard."
He helped force Northwest Airlines to end their refusal to fly people such as himself with AIDS, and tried to establish a permanent memorial to Harvey Milk in Washington DC. He was arrested at San Francisco's Federal Building and in front of the White House itself denouncing the
Reagan Administration's passive genocide by AIDS, and was still speaking out for equality in the rain falling on a Sacramento gay rights demonstration just six weeks before he died on June 22nd, 1988.
The Advocate and Philadelphia's Equality Forum have honored him as one of the Movement's great heroes. On the 20th anniversary of his death then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declared it Leonard Matlovich Day in San Francisco, and a bronze plaque marking where he once lived in the Castro was dedicated honored Legacy Walk
REMARKABLY, A GROWING NUMBER of other out gays, particularly veterans, have since chosen to be buried near him in Congressional Cemetery, while others have been married there. His name and example were echoed again and again in the struggle to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell which was essentially nothing but "old wine in new bottles." Bothand Philadelphia's Equality Forum have honored him as one of the Movement's great heroes. On the 20th anniversary of his death then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declared it Leonard Matlovich Day in San Francisco, and a bronze plaque marking where he once lived in the Castro was. In 2009, four generations of gay rights activistshim in Washington DC, and he is memorialized in Chicago's "outdoor museum" of LGBT history, the
Photo by Leonard's close friend, Brandon Wolf.
Remarks About Leonard by Rear Adm. Jamie Barnett, USNR [Ret] at the 2009 SLDN Dinner
“I WOULD LIKE TO START WITH A STORY, a piece of history. The story starts with a young Catholic man who loved his country so passionately that he enlisted in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, served 3 tours in Vietnam, won a Bronze Star and was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds he received in Da Nang. If you walk through the Congressional Cemetery in D.C. you will find the end of this story. Or is it the end? The tombstone reads: 'WHEN I WAS IN THE MILITARY THEY GAVE ME A MEDAL FOR KILLING TWO MEN AND A DISCHARGE FOR LOVING ONE'.”
prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" / Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich was probably the most famous gay man in the country in the 1970s. His face was on the cover of Time magazine, and NBC made a movie of his story. He declared his orientation in 1975, long before “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and despite his exemplary service, combat tours, and medals, he was discharged six months later with a general discharge. But the bravery which had served him so well in Vietnam served him in a fight with the Air Force for his civil rights, a fight which resulted in dignity, an honorable discharge and a ray of hope for gay service members. So the tombstone was not the end of the story. Sergeant Matlovich’s fight still continues.
So with that story from history, let me ask you a historical question: when did the American Revolution end? It hasn't ended. It is still going on. The American Revolution continued with the Emancipation Proclamation and with the 13th Amendment ending slavery. It continued with Susan B. Anthony and the fight for the right for women to vote. The American Revolution continued with Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.... And the American Revolution continued in the fight of Sergeant Leonard Matlovich. And it continued in the fight of Sergeant Darren Manzella, and CDR Zoe Dunning, and in the fight of so many of you here, including the fight of Major Margaret Witt.
And that is why I am so pleased to give this keynote address. I want to serve my country in this continuing American Revolution. I am proud to stand before you because I am proud to stand with you, the new patriots of the American Revolution, a revolution that exists wherever freedom and dignity are expanded with equanimity and justice....”
REAR ADMIRAL JAMIE BARNETT, USNR (Retired)
November 15, 2010 - Photo by Tracey Hepner Purchase this song sung by the out & outstanding John Barrowman, his CDs, new autobiography, & DVDs of his starring role in the BBC sensation "Torchwood" by clicking on his photo. "Tell my father that his son didn't run or surrender. That I bore his name with pride a s I tried to remember you are judged by what you do w hile passing through. As I rest 'neath fields of green l et him lean on your shoulder. Tell him how I spent my youth s o the truth could grow older. Tell my father when you can I was a man. Tell him we will meet again w here the angels learn to fly. Tell him we will meet as men f or with honor did I die. Tell him how I wore the Blue p roud and true through the fire. Tell my father so he'll know I love him so. Tell him how I wore the blue p roud and true like he taught me. Tell my father not to cry t hen say goodbye." - Murphy/Wildhorn
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.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Hugh Laurie was among the winners on the night
Hollywood musical La La Land has broken the record for the most Golden Globe Awards, winning seven prizes.
It won every award it was nominated for - including best musical or comedy film, best director, screenplay, score and song.
Its stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling also won in the acting categories.
The Globes are seen as pointers to the Oscars. Moonlight was named best drama film, while Casey Affleck and Isabelle Huppert won other acting prizes.
British actors also enjoyed a golden night in the TV categories, with prizes for The Night Manager and The Crown.
Affleck was named best actor in a film drama for his role in Manchester By The Sea and French star Huppert was the surprise winner of the award for best film drama actress.
Her performance in thriller Elle - which was also named best foreign language film - beat contenders including Natalie Portman, who had been considered the favourite for playing Jackie Kennedy in Jackie.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Meryl Streep criticises Donald Trump in Globes speech
Viola Davis was named best supporting film actress for playing a woman in 1950s Pittsburgh in Fences - a role she first played on Broadway six years ago.
The movie is an adaptation of the August Wilson play, which explores race relations in post-war America.
Accepting the award, Davis said: "It's not every day that Hollywood thinks of translating a play to screen - it doesn't scream'moneymaker'. But it does scream art, and it does scream heart."
Image copyright AP Image caption Viola Davis was named best supporting actress in a motion picture
In a surprise result, British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson was named best supporting actor for his role in Nocturnal Animals - a prize that had been widely expected to go to Mahershala Ali for Moonlight.
Zootopia was named best animated feature film at Sunday's ceremony, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
The comedian's opening monologue was less risque than those of some of his predecessors, but he still found time to make light of the divisive year in US politics.
The talk show host joked that the Golden Globes ceremony was "one of the few places left where America still honours the popular vote" - a reference to Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton in the recent US election despite getting fewer votes overall.
He also described grief-stricken film Manchester By The Sea as "the only thing more depressing than 2016".
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Claire Foy won TV drama actress for her role in The Crown
The ceremony featured several references to Mr Trump - not least when Meryl Streep launched an attack on the US President-elect while accepting the Cecil B Demille award for outstanding contribution to entertainment.
Streep referred to Trump's mocking of a disabled reporter and said: "Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose."
There were several British triumphs in the television categories, including wins for Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman for The Night Manager.
Claire Foy also won best actress in a television series for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Netflix's The Crown.
The Golden Globe Awards, which are run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, honour the best in TV and film from the past year.
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.Victor Ijidola
November 16 2017
Consumerism begins in our heads.
“What should I buy?”
“Who’s the best company to buy from?”
“Why should I buy from this brand — can I even trust their service?”
“Oh, their customer service is awesome!”
If you’ll understand your customer’s thought process — through the campaigns you run — chances are high you’ll win their hearts, convert them, and drive growth for your business in no time.
And this isn’t that hard to do.
Sometimes, you only need to see how something affects you to understand how it would impact your target customers. Other times, you might need to send out surveys, study forums to get a feel for what’s pertinent to them, consume research papers, and really spend some time putting together a reliable customer profile.
This article shares four tried and true strategies aimed at understanding your customers’ thought process and winning their hearts.
#1 Start from Market History
Market histories are goldmines.
They hold information about your industry that, if leveraged, can make you an overnight success.
I was once a forex (foreign exchange) trader. And in the forex market, there’s always a lot of volatility (price fluctuations), especially for high-value currencies like the USD, GBP and JPY (Japanese Yen). When prices of these currencies move, it’s either going up or down. Traders are tasked with predicting this movement before it happens. If they predict wrongly, they lose money. If they predict right, they make money.
So how do they predict right? Market history. Traders study how prices moved in the past to predict how they will in the future.
It’s the same for marketing. If you’re able to study how your customers reacted to certain events in the past, you can better position your business to convince them to convert or buy.
Start with market history, and ask yourself the following questions:
Which brands are most successful in this industry?
How can we compete with them?
What methods and strategies have they been using to grow so far?
What keywords are fetching customers and users for them?
There are also tools that can help you answer these questions.
SpyFU, for example, can provide you with keywords that perform best for your competitors. Another useful tool is SurveyMonkey; it helps you run surveys and collect relevant data from your target audience. Alexa is a great tool for competitor analysis; it gives you a background on your competitor’s’ site, visitors’ demographics, gender, education, and more.
In the market for additional services? Here’s an in-depth list of competitor analysis tools.
Now that you’re aware market history can help you make effective decisions in your industry, you can leverage it to tell stories that will grow your business.
#2 Tell Informed Stories
If you’ve been in the marketing space for quite a while now, you’ll have heard of telling stories as a marketing tactic.
What are stories? In marketing, stories are the content you put out that forms your brand narrative. MarketWeek puts it this way: “Storytelling” [is] providing consistent and compelling content to build a picture of a company.”
Image source: Dyslexia
However, mere stories are different from informed ones.
Informed stories are told from understanding of your market’s history. Mere stories, on the other hand, come from what you “think” about your audience — which isn’t as authentic or well researched as content based off of your data.
#3 Demonstrate Value, Don’t Just Explain It
You can make only one of two decisions when you create your stories (or marketing messages/campaigns). You either explain your product or actually demonstrate how it works.
Codeq’s landing page perfectly demonstrates how one of their products helps users reduce the time they spend reading emails.
The tool identifies important emails, promotional emails, personal emails — you get the idea — and separates the mail that is worth your attention from the content that isn’t as important.
But instead of just explaining these features on their landing page, Codeq created a page that demonstrates how the product works. This way, potential users aren’t put off by a wall of words extolling its virtues. Customers get a real feel for what their user experience (UX) will be right from the start.
Now that’s clever branding. Codeq executed storytelling based on customer needs, and created a great way to capture leads all on one landing page.
Lastly, consider what would happen if your product, tool, content, etc. wasn’t available to just anyone. Making your service exclusive could inspire people to sign and find out how it works out of sheer curiosity.
#4 Make it Attractive and Exclusive
Making something exclusive is a play on psychology.
By default, we often perceive what’s hidden or “gated” as super valuable. We fear missing out on them. We desire them even more because they take on a certain mystique of the unattainable — of something only a few will be privileged enough to get close to and enjoy.
Tesla is exclusive to people who can afford its high cost, so we want a model even more
A waiting list is often joined by people who feel, “it must be valuable. Why else would they have a waiting list for it?”
People sign up to a product to be admitted to closed Facebook pages
One mistake many businesses make, however, is that they often pay so much attention to making their value (content, tool, app) exclusive, they forget to make it look attractive.
And attractiveness is what convinces customers your exclusive value would be worth their time, attention and/or resources.
Most people will not be moved by the exclusivity of your product if it’s not presented in the best light. If you gate an ebook, for example, and neglect designing your ebook landing page with your value promise, your sign-ups could suffer. The landing page is what makes people salivate about the info in the book or, on the contrary, makes them feel they don’t need it.
So how do you create beautiful eye-catching products?
First, identify your target audience. Who are the people you’re trying to attract? Understand what gets their attention the most so you can better position your exclusive (or gated) value to attract and convert them.
Who are the people you’re trying to attract? Understand what gets their attention the most so you can better position your exclusive (or gated) value to attract and convert them. Second, flaunt your numbers. Numbers are important in everything we do. They measure our effectiveness, success, wealth, and reach. If you have impressive numbers to flaunt (eg: your thousands of subscribers, customers, etc.), flaunt them. They give your exclusive value Publicize your numerical values and you will drive growth for your business.
And if you don’t have any numbers to flaunt?
Flaunt your other strengths. It could be places you’ve been published or mentioned, or top brands you’re partnering with. Some clever folks are even flaunt fun team trips. Getting into the minds of people online can’t be achieved by just putting out sweet words, you need to look believable by flaunting your dynamic workplace environment, the massive amounts of coffee and pastries you consume on the job, and of course, your achievements.
Wrapping it Up
Here’s a breakdown of how you’ll better understand your customers’ thought processes:
Start from market history. Once you get a grasp of what’s been happening in your market, you’ll understand how to take it from there.
Tell informed stories. Informed stories are always more effective than off-the-cuff tales. Informed stories cost you hours, days, or even months of research. Impromptu stories are pretty much a product of guesswork. Well thought out stories easily sink into the minds of your prospects as they are based on what you’ve found (from research). Another reason to swap the impromptu for research? You’ll sound like a helpful, knowledgeable friend rather than a salesperson.
Telling is different from showing. The example above illustrate how to demonstrate value instead of relying on people’s blind trust.
And finally, look for opportunities to practice exclusivity. It’s a magical tool for driving conversions and growth for your business. The more exclusive your offering is, the more people want it. Or, at least, they’ll want to take a closer look and find out what they may be missing out on.
Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to winning over your customers’ hearts and setting your business up for long-term growth.Related Articles San Jose Earthquakes end home season with 0-0 draw
San Jose Earthquakes fire John Doyle as general manager SAN JOSE — Dominic Kinnear wasted no time jumping into the Earthquakes’ offseason where the operating word is change.
The coach of a playoff-challenged enterprise attended the Cal men’s game against No. 16 Washington on Thursday as the staff began preparing for another reboot even without a permanent general manager.
“There are more questions to be answered this year than there were at the end of last year,” said Kinnear, who evaluated college players in Berkeley.
The Earthquakes are stuck in a four-year MLS playoff drought despite a first-rate stadium, owners willing to loosen the pocketbooks and a 2016 roster that looked as good as any since the team rejoined the league nine years ago.
They finished with a league-low 32 goals, and other than 2014, San Jose had its worst showing since winning the Supporters’ Shield four years ago.
It’s not what Kinnear expected in his second season back in San Jose, a year that saw general manager John Doyle lose his job because of the poor showing.
“With players getting injured and some guys not fulfilling the potential we hoped they would it leaves us in a position where we will have to go out and make some changes,” Kinnear said.
One of those moves includes the release of reserve striker Chad Barrett, who told this news organization Thursday that the team didn’t pick up his option.
The situation is so fluid some speculated that Kinnear also was out when he didn’t appear at the postgame news conference Sunday after the season finale in Kansas City. It turns out the coach didn’t have time to speak because he had to get to the airport for his flight to the Bay Area.
Interim general manager Chris Leitch and Kinnear have started plotting offseason moves as if they will be the brain trust for the team’s future. President Dave Kaval has hired a search firm to identify possible candidates to replace Doyle but has said Leitch is in the mix.
About a half dozen players have guaranteed contracts, including captain Chris Wondolowski, Cordell Cato, Shaun Francis and Shea Salinas.
Team officials almost certainly will want to retain All-Star goalkeeper David Bingham, midfielders Fatai Alashe, Darwin Ceren and Anibal Godoy and defenders Kofi Sarkodie and Marvell Wynne.
But the rest is murky.
As nine-year veteran Salinas said Thursday before his season-ending physical, “Nothing is guaranteed. At least I have a contract.”
San Jose could lose one player in the expansion draft in December when newcomers Atlanta and |
claimed to have bought with cash items found at the Gary home – but she did not have the receipts to prove it. Bell contrasted her words with photos and receipts showing Camacho bought those same items using a city account. Pabey's attorney, Scott King, said no intentional misrepresentations were made, and the serious illnesses of some family members at the time caused a memory lapse. King called the accusations "petty" and "vindictive." But Moody agreed with the prosecutors. "Her language, her demeanor, did not indicate she did not remember things or was confused," Moody said. In arguing for a higher sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said Pabey took advantage of the trust voters had placed in him to end the corruption that had plagued the city for decades. While East Chicago was facing severe budget issues, laying off 50 city employees and forcing others to retire, Pabey gave his friend Camacho a raise and siphoned off taxpayer money to finish his kitchen and put a bar in his basement, Nozick said. To give the case "context" before reading the sentence, Moody read excerpts from a 2005 Times article on Pabey's victory in the mayoral race. Public figures and residents at the time were quoted describing their hopes in Pabey breathing life back into the city. King asked Moody to consider Pabey's life of public service, as well his devotion to family, in determining his client's fate. Moody said he read the 28 letters supporting Pabey but would not give much weight to the good he did while in office because it was expected of him. At the end of the two-hour hearing, Pabey sat expressionless, staring at his folded hands while Moody explained his reasons for the 60-month sentence. In the next 14 days, King said he will file an appeal and request that Pabey maintain his freedom while the case makes its way through the appellate court. "I have a lot of respect for Judge Moody, but I have to say in this particular case I could not disagree more," King said. "We have a great deal of confidence (the case) will be viewed differently in the court of appeals." King has argued Pabey did not know that Camacho used city money on the house or that city employees were working there while on the clock. He said Pabey was paying Camacho with cash or checks to work on the home during off hours, as Camacho did not have a structured day in his 24-hour, on-call position. If Pabey's request to be released pending the appeal is denied, he must report to prison June 1. And while some appeared to cry after the hearing, others said they were happy justice was served. "He ruined the reputation of East Chicago when it could have been restored," said Jesse Gomez, vice chairman of East Chicago's Democratic Party.
Dozier Allen gets 18 months in corruption case HAMMOND | Citing former Calumet Township Trustee Dozier Allen Jr.'s 36-year record of public service and failing physical and mental health, Hammond federal Judge Philip Simon sentenced the 79-year-old fraud convict on Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison. The term falls one year short of the low end of the congressional advisory sentencing guideline range. Allen, who suffers from hypertension, bipolar disorder and an as-yet unclear condition involving blood-clotting, will have 120 days to surrender, an unusually long delay Simon granted because of Allen's medical uncertainty. Allen will split a $143,000 restitution bill with his three co-defendants, two of whom also were sentenced Tuesday. Simon sentenced Allen to two years of supervised release after his prison term closes. Simon sentenced former top deputy Wanda Joshua to 15 months in prison. The judge placed former aide Albert Young Jr., who signed a plea agreement and admitted guilt, to two years on probation. The final former deputy, Ann Marie Karras, is slated for sentencing Wednesday. Defense lawyer Scott King said Allen, who continues to deny criminal wrongdoing, plans to appeal his conviction. King had asked Simon to put Allen on home detention, while prosecutors sought a 30-month sentence. Allen, Joshua and Karras were convicted at a jury trial in April 2009 of two counts each of mail fraud. Prosecutors said Allen, Karras, Joshua and Young intentionally committed fraud by taking checks worth $143,000 from a contract linked to federal welfare-to-work programs. Prosecutors said the defendants routed unearned checks to their own bank accounts without permission of the Calumet Township Board and did not properly disclose their interests in the contract. Defense lawyers argued the defendants were told they could legally take the payments. Allen, noticeably thinner than he was last spring but speaking stridently in full voice, reiterated his disagreement with the jury verdict Tuesday in court. He said he signed the contract hoping to help the poor of Calumet Township. He said he administered more than $300 million in funds during his 32 years as township trustee. He noted he reported the welfare-to-work contract payments to the Township Board. He voiced remorse at his "hasty" behavior and acknowledged his decisions were "flawed," but he denied knowingly committing fraud. "I absolutely did not violate federal law with any willful intent of deception," Allen said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell pointed out that Allen's crime was committed against impoverished residents of Calumet Township. He called the crime, which spanned years, "brazen" and "shocking." King, a former Gary mayor defending a man who was briefly mayor of Gary after King resigned, eulogized Allen's political career in a speech redolent of King's own political experience. He said Allen, a decorated Korean War veteran, entered politics at a time when a black man would not have been welcome in certain Gary neighborhoods. King observed that Lake County Democratic politics set a low standard for cordiality, but he said Allen drew respect from his peers. Allen was "legendary" among local politicians, King said. "You don't get elected that many times unless you can accurately be called a warrior," King said. King said last year's conviction sent Allen into a "spiral." King challenged as "delusional" a Bureau of Prisons doctor's testimony Tuesday that the bureau can appropriately treat Allen's ailments. Simon said court records indicate a pattern of "bizarre behavior" followed Allen's conviction. Allen showed up at church "dressed inappropriately" and "lashed out at his wife," Simon said. King said Allen's record and his deteriorating health justified leniency. "Mercy and justice are coequals in this particular case," King said. Simon disagreed with King's argument that the prison bureau can't appropriately treat Allen. He lauded Allen for his public service, but Simon decried corruption as "corrosive" to the public trust in democracy. Simon described Allen's "cover story" as "ridiculous." "I do think that this was motivated by greed," Simon said. In sentencing Joshua, Simon said he had to balance factors including the support of family and friends -- who turned in an exceptional volume of letters praising Joshua -- with Joshua's prior embezzlement conviction and tax issues discovered by Internal Revenue Service investigators after the criminal investigation started. Joshua pleaded guilty to failing to file tax returns in 2001 and 2002. Joshua plans to appeal, said her lawyer, Karen Freeman-Wilson. Simon said Young, now of Mississippi, was "clearly less culpable" than his co-defendants. Young's plea agreement precludes an appeal.
Cantrell sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison HAMMOND | Blasting Robert Cantrell for using his talents to steal from taxpayers, a federal judge sentenced the former Lake County political power-broker to 6 1/2 years in federal prison. Finishing Cantrell's long-delayed sentencing in Hammond federal court Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano seemed unconvinced by defense attorney Kevin Milner's portrayal of Cantrell, 67, of Schererville, as a benevolent patriarch, good Samaritan and patriot who deserved no prison time for his 11 fraud convictions. FROM THE ARCHIVES: Revisit coverage of Bob Cantrell's 2008 federal fraud trial. RELATED: Read the federal indictment. Milner argued Cantrell's crimes were "victimless" because Cantrell, a former political fixer based in East Chicago, can pay back the $68,000 he took from North Township through contract fraud. Lozano disagreed. He called Cantrell a "blessed" man who stole from taxpayers. "You were ahead of what most people had," Lozano told Cantrell. "But from the evidence in this case, it also appears that you fell into that ditch called politics." Lozano sentenced Cantrell to 78 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lozano also ordered Cantrell to repay the $68,000 to North Township. Cantrell must report for prison May 13. Milner drew smiles and quiet chuckles when he requested Cantrell be sent to a federal prison in Oxford, Wis., a common destination for local public servants convicted of federal crimes. Lozano agreed to recommend to the prison bureau that Cantrell be sent to a jail near Chicago. "There are some people at the (Oxford) facility that are casual acquaintances," Milner said. Milner said outside court he planned to file appeals to Cantrell's conviction and sentence Tuesday afternoon. Cantrell was convicted June 6 of four counts of depriving the public of honest services, three counts of insurance fraud using the U.S. mail and four counts of filing false tax returns between 2000 and 2003. The indictment accused him of taking cash kickbacks from a contract between his then-employer, the North Township trustee's office, and a political ally's company. The sentencing was delayed almost 10 months, most recently so that Lozano could review trial transcripts for evidence relevant to Milner's objections to sentence enhancements proposed in a pre-sentence report prepared by probation agents. Milner argued unsuccessfully that his "friend Bob" deserved a lighter sentence, claiming the township lost no money in the fraud and that Cantrell had no decision-making or supervisory power at the township. Milner pleaded with Lozano to ignore advisory sentencing guidelines that called for a sentence of up to eight years in prison. Assistant U.S Attorney Orest Szewciw asked for an eight-year sentence. "Lake County, Ind., has a history of public corruption, and this case is just one more sordid chapter," Szewciw said. In his statement to Lozano, Cantrell did not apologize. He reminded Lozano of his military service in the Gulf War. "No matter what happens here today, I am proud to be an American," Cantrell said.
Smith, Powell, Harris guilty HAMMOND | A federal jury returned guilty verdicts Thursday night against three political heavyweights -- Lake County Councilman Will Smith Jr., tax collector Roosevelt Powell and Gary attorney Willie Harris. All three were found guilty of filing false tax returns for failing to report a combined $150,000 in "finder's fees" they got for arranging the $200,000 sale of a vacant grocery store in Gary's Miller neighborhood to the Gary Urban Enterprise Association in 2001. Smith, 68, who was president of County Council when he was indicted last year, was convicted of one count of filing a false tax return in 2001. He was acquitted of two conspiracy charges. Harris, 54, and Powell, 63, were convicted of one count each of filing false tax returns, conspiring to defraud the public charity that legally owned the store and conspiring to illegally erase back taxes on the store. They were each acquitted of one conspiracy charge. Smith faces a maximum of three years in prison and Harris and Powell face up to 28 years when they're sentenced in early January, although the sentences are highly dependent on federal guidelines and U.S. District Judge Philip Simon's judgment. "The message is don't take advantage of people and don't abuse your power, because that's what this case was about," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said. "What it affirms is that the U.S. attorney's office is going to continue to fight corruption." None of the defendants showed emotion when the verdicts were read about 7:30 p.m. Thursday. "I think the verdict is fair, based on the evidence," said defense attorney Fred Work, who got Smith acquitted of the charges that could have carried the most prison time. Harris' wife, Dharathula Hood-Harris, had little to say about the trial, in which she took the witness stand as Harris' bookkeeper. "He was not guilty," Hood-Harris said. The jury deliberated for about 16 hours over two days following the seven-day trial. The verdict came about seven hours after the jury of eight women and four men wrote Simon a note Thursday saying they were "hopelessly deadlocked" on eight of the charges. Though the case featured a blizzard of paperwork -- quit-claim deeds, cash receipts registers and profit-loss statements -- Bell said the prosecution's case rested mainly on the testimony of close friends and family members of the defendants. One victim who testified was Dharathula Millender, who is Harris' aunt-in-law and the founder of the Gary Historical and Cultural Society, which owned the grocery store at 6300 Miller Ave. and yet lost 75 percent of the profits of the sale to "finder's fees." Also testifying was Dorothy Ard, a longtime family friend of Harris, who said Harris betrayed her by forging her signature on a GUEA check that made it look as though she took an absurd, twenty-fold profit on the sale of the building at 768-778 Broadway. Harris and Powell also were convicted of fraudulently reducing property taxes on the grocery store by $58,000, telling a judge the building would have to be razed because of poor condition -- on the same day they received their profits from the sale. Prosecutors said the three men deliberately failed to report the income on their 2001 tax returns. Defense attorneys noted that the taxes were paid in 2004, after a civil audit of Powell's taxes uncovered the profits.
Fifes headed to federal prison HAMMOND | A former East Chicago mayoral adviser and his wife are going to prison for hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars of income funneled to him by fellow officials. "One of the hogs at the public trough," was how U.S. District Court Judge James Moody described the crime of 48-year-old James H. Fife III, who must begin next month serving a 47-month sentence. His wife, Karen L. Krahn-Fife, 37, must serve a 24-month sentence for her role in helping hide their income from the IRS through a baffling array of five shell corporations they created to receive under the table payments from former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick and former North Township Trustee Gregory Cvitkovich. The two also must reimburse the IRS a total of $627,000 in back taxes. Moody didn't mince words with Fife when pronouncing his sentence. "This is an egregious crime. You should be ashamed of yourself. You did a disservice to your profession (as a lawyer), the city of East Chicago, your family and friends. Shame on you." Merrillville lawyer Nick Thiros, who defended the couple and is a longtime acquaintance of Fife, said, "The biggest disappointment for Jim is that he feels he dragged Karen into this. Unfortunately, he did wrong by her. That is his biggest shame." Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Kirsch III said Fife was "entrusted to make (East Chicago) better," but instead of stopping others in City Hall from misappropriating public funds Fife "was loading his pockets." Government presented evidence at the nearly four-hour sentencing showing the couple received more than $1 million between 1998 and 2001 when he was a special assistant to former mayor Pastrick. Kirsch said Fife did little if any legitimate work for the dollars, but milked his relationships with former mayor Pastrick and Cvitkovich, a longtime friend of Fife, a political ally of Pastrick and a cousin of Krahn-Fife. Kirsch said Fife was a deal maker. The government alleged Fife received $135,000 from Cvitkovich "for arranging a contract between the city (of East Chicago) and Clark Material Terminals, owned by Dan McArdle, for the removal of sludge." The government alleges that deal was "in violation of the Indiana bribery law." McArdle isn't charged with any wrongdoing. He was a major contributor to Pastrick's campaigns and is best known for owning a tire recycling business that caught fire in 1994 and polluted local skies for many days. Former mayor Pastrick isn't charged with any criminal wrongdoing, although he is defending himself against a civil racketeering suit filed by the Indiana attorney general, which claims Pastrick and others operated the city as a corrupt enterprise. Cvitkovich pleaded guilty last October to tax fraud and was forced to resign as township trustee. He is awaiting sentencing. Kirsch said Cvitkovich and the city of East Chicago would have had to report their payments to the IRS if they had been made personally to Fife and his wife, so instead they took advantage of a loophole in tax law and the payments were made to five sham corporations that didn't have to be reported to the IRS. Thiros argued Fife was disorganized and guilty only of negligence. He said the wife trusted her husband and didn't realize he was committing a crime. Kirsch said the wife had to know because she was benefiting from the illicit income too, drawing out $40,000 out of the sham corporations to buy herself a new Mercedes-Benz. Fife said, "I'd like to apologize to the court, my family and friends. My intention was to help my family." Krahn-Fife said, "I'm deeply sorry for all my wrongdoing. Our marriage was based on love and trust. There was never a reason to question anything." The couple left the courtroom hand in hand. They have a 3-year-old son who will be without his parents beginning next month. Moody said he will recommend sending Fife and Krahn-Fife to the Oxford Federal Correctional Institution, a medium security facility in south central Wisconsin. There they can serve time with Kevin Pastrick, a son to the former East Chicago mayor, Peter Manous, another protege of Pastrick and a former state Democratic party chairman and two other convicted East Chicago officials.
Markovich gets 18 months in sidewalk case HAMMOND | "I'm here, and I'm on time," former Lake County Councilman Joel Markovich proudly told a federal courtroom at his sentencing. U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano rewarded the 43-year-old businessman with leniency -- an 18-month prison sentence -- for his cooperation in the sidewalks-for-votes case and other public corruption investigations. Markovich must repay East Chicago the $755,088 he overbilled the city for work JGM Enterprises, his landscaping and contracting service, did. He also must pay a $6,000 fine. He is scheduled to report to prison May 17. He will be eligible for parole after 15 months. Markovich's sentencing was in sharp contrast to that of Frank Kollintzas, a former East Chicago city councilman, who fled to Greece two weeks ago to avoid an 11-year and four-month sentence as a leader of the sidewalk scandal. U.S. Attorney Joseph Van Bokkelen said afterward that Markovich deserved a break. "He came to us. He received the benefit of cooperation," Van Bokkelen said. He also said Markovich could have received more than double the prison time if he hadn't cooperated. Van Bokkelen said the details of Markovich's cooperation are being kept secret because the information is being used to pursue other public officials. Markovich's firm was one of several that took part in a $24 million windfall ordered by officials of former Mayor Robert Pastrick's administration. They turned a modest sidewalk improvement project into an offer of free concrete driveways, patios, walkways and tree trimming for almost anyone who asked. It was done in the weeks leading up to the 1999 Democratic primary election. Stephen R. "Bob" Stiglich was mounting a serious challenge to Pastrick's re-election. Pastrick beat Stiglich. The FBI launched an investigation of the scandal in 2000. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Bell said Thursday, "Others lied by telling us they didn't know anything or refused to be interviewed, but (Markovich) approached us. We are happy he came to us and told the truth." Markovich pleaded guilty last year to the overbilling and immediately resigned from the county council. "I have made some bad life-altering decisions. I want to apologize to the taxpayers, the IRS, the court, my wife, Sandy, and our six daughters," Markovich said. Lozano said it was public thievery like Markovich's that helped reduce the once-vibrant East Chicago community "to only a shadow."CRESTVIEW — A man was arrested for grand theft after stealing a chainsaw, then returning to the store and stealing suspenders.
According to an arrest report from the Crestview Police Department, on Nov. 29 the man was caught on surveillance video stealing a chainsaw valued at $600 from a Crestview store. The man was observed selecting the chainsaw, placing it by the back door and then walking past the point of sale without paying for it.
Two hours later, the man returned to the store and removed a $60 pair of suspenders from a display shelf and put them in his pants. He then proceeded to pay for some of the items he selected in the store before walking out of the store without paying for the suspenders.
The entire incident was caught on the store’s camera system.
The 26-year-old man was arrested for grand theft greater than $300, a felony, and taken to the Okaloosa County Jail.POLICE have charged one of three teenagers who allegedly forced a boy to strip at knifepoint, cut his clothes and lopped his hair on a Western Sydney train.
Police released images yesterday of three males they wished to speak to over the bizarre and cruel robbery on the Western Line between Quakers Hill and Pendle Hill at 11.30pm on October 2.
Overnight the trio, who are all children, attended police stations across Western Sydney.
A 16-year-old was charged with wielding a knife in public place, using intimidation to unlawfully influence, two counts of common assault, robbery in company and malicious damage at Parramatta Police Station. He was granted bail by police to face a children’s court next month.
Two teens, a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl, attended Fairfield Police Station and spoke to police but were released without charge as inquriries continue.
The trio allegedly attacked the 16-year-old after he boarded at Quakers Hill.
One of the males allegedly forced the boy to strip down to his underwear. They then allegedly used a knife to stab holes in his clothes and cut off a lock of his hair.
Police said they stopped the boy getting off at Seven Hills station before a commuter helped the boy escape, with his torn clothes in hand, at Pendle Hill Station.
“HAVE A CUPPA FOR OUR STEPHANIE”
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The trio then allegedly chased the victim until he sought refuge at a nearby store.
One of the males depicted in the images is wearing a black cap and white singlet with a black Adidas motif, grey trousers, and grey shoes with red laces. He is pictured holding two beer bottles in his right hand.
Another was wearing a black T-shirt with a grey shoulder bag, black pants, and grey shoes with red laces.
The third was wearing a yellow Parramatta Eels singlet, black bucket hat, black shorts, and black and white shoes.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000Earlier today, Germany beat Romania by just about one full point at Länderkampf Kunstturnen in Obersiggenthal, Switzerland, highlighting just how much of a jam Romania could be in at World Championships next month.
Both teams used the athletes who should be set to compete in Nanning, with a few small alterations for Germany. As they are still deciding between two athletes for the sixth spot on their team, they chose to give Worlds team member Cagla Akyol the day off in order to use this meet as a trial for Elisabeth Seitz on bars and Leah Griesser on beam and floor.
Larisa Iordache performed wonderfully, winning the all-around, vault, beam, and floor titles. But she will have to keep up consistent all-around performances in Nanning, putting the bulk of this team’s weight on her tiny shoulders, which could be too much pressure for her.
The team didn’t perform horribly, exactly, and had this been a three count situation like it will be at Worlds (it was four count here), Romania would have defeated Germany by three tenths. That doesn’t inspire much confidence, as two years ago Romania had ten full points over Germany.
Of course, they lost superstars Sandra Izbasa and Catalina Ponor to retirement, Diana Bulimar is injured, and the bulk of their junior talent won’t join the senior ranks until next year, so they’re not officially crying for help just yet. This year is little more than a blip on the radar for them, but it still has the potential to be painful at Worlds, where Germany, Japan, Italy, and especially Great Britain have the potential to outscore them.
Looking at the numbers, Romania has big potential on vault (where they have two DTYs) and beam (where Iordache and Andreea Munteanu have incredible routines). They’re good, if not fantastic, on floor…but their bars is absolutely dismal and brings their event total average down by a full point.
Iordache looks much improved, and earned a 14.45 in the competition today, good enough for third place behind Germany’s insanely talented bar workers. But the next-highest score was Stefania Stanila’s 12.95, and behind her, Ana Maria Ocolisan brought in a 12.4 while Paula Tudorache earned a 10.2.
Not counting that 10.2 would have helped in the team final, so the odds do look better in a three-up situation, but honestly, not by much. They are going to have to do absolutely everything they can in qualifications at Worlds to make sure they’re at the top, though at this point, knowing how much other teams are bringing to the table, it’s not going to be easy for them to stay inside that Big Four bubble.
What about Germany? They’re not exactly without problems, but they have no major margin of error like Romania has on bars. Beam and floor aren’t exactly outstanding, but they can put up three very clean vaults and their bars are fantastic…between Lisa Hill, Kim Bui, and Sophie Scheder, they’re very solid on this event, but possibly having Elisabeth Seitz back just gives them added security.
Seitz didn’t have her best bar routine today, but it was her first routine after a very long time away from competition due to multiple injuries. She must still contend for the final spot on the German World Championships team along with Leah Griesser, who competed today on beam and floor.
The German team needs beam and floor more than they need an additional bar worker, but I’m not fully sold on Griesser. She was fifth out of the five Germans who competed on beam with just an 11.45, and her floor was okay but not enough to save them – she brought in a 13.15, the third best for the Germans behind Bui and Pauline Schäfer. However, Lisa Hill didn’t compete on floor for some reason, and Cagla Akyol wasn’t at this meet. Both can contribute higher scores here than Griesser can.
As it looks, the sixth German to be added will be extraneous. If they go with Seitz, they’ll have possible insurance on bars, but if they go with Griesser, they’ll have a utility player on the two events with which they need the most help. Seitz is older and more experienced, Griesser is younger but won’t get the experience she needs for the future if they don’t use her here. It’s a much more difficult decision than I thought it’d be, though I think at this point I’d go with Griesser if only so Seitz can have some time off to recover rather than putting unneeded stress on her body when she won’t even contribute much more than they already have.
The rest of their team looks to be doing well, even if Scheder had a rough day. Bui and Schäfer were neck-in-neck in the all-around, with Schäfer edging out the German national champion by two tenths to secure the bronze all-around medal. Hill put up a gorgeous FTY, a solid beam set, and a rock star bars routine, winning the title on that event. Had she competed on floor, she would have been right up there with Schäfer and Bui. It’s a very good team, and with the addition of Akyol for Worlds should compete very well in Nanning.
Host team Switzerland came in third here, as expected. Giulia Steingruber took the silver all-around medal with clean and steady performances across all events. Ilaria Käslin proved what a great help she will be on bars and beam, events on which Caterina Barloggio also showed to compete well, if not coming in with the highest difficulty.
Overall, the Länderkampf Kunstturnen meet offered a nice glimpse at what we should expect from these three teams at World Championships. Romania will want to spend the next few weeks really trying to build consistency among their younger athletes, if only because right now Iordache is the glue holding that team together. If something happens with an injury or falls in qualifications, this team will be lucky to make it into the team final. It’s looking that bleak.
All-Around Results
Rank Athlete Nation VT UB BB FX AA 1 Larisa Iordache Romania 14.800 14.450 15.100 14.600 58.950 2 Giulia Steingruber Switzerland 14.450 13.900 14.250 14.100 56.700 3 Pauline Schäfer Germany 14.400 13.050 14.250 13.900 55.600 4 Kim Bui Germany 13.750 14.600 12.600 14.450 55.400 5 Stefania Stanila Romania 13.600 12.950 13.600 14.000 54.150 6 Sophie Scheder Germany 13.800 14.150 13.050 11.750 52.750 7 Stefanie Siegenthaler Switzerland 12.800 12.900 12.950 11.700 50.350 8 Lisa Katharina Hill Germany 14.150 14.650 13.400 —— 42.200 9 Ana Maria Ocolisan Romania 14.600 12.400 13.200 —— 40.200 10 Laura Schulte Switzerland 13.900 12.250 —— 12.550 38.700 11 Caterina Barloggio Switzerland —— 12.900 13.200 12.250 38.350 12 Nicole Hitz Switzerland 13.050 —— 12.650 12.050 37.750 13 Paula Tudorache Romania —— 10.200 12.350 13.250 35.800 14 Andreea Munteanu Romania —— —— 14.450 13.900 28.350 15 Silvia Zarzu Romania 13.750 —— —— 13.450 27.200 16 Ilaria Käslin Switzerland —— 13.300 13.850 —— 27.150 17 Leah Griesser Germany —— —— 11.450 13.150 24.600 18 Elisabeth Seitz Germany —— 13.950 —— —— 13.950
Team Results
Rank Nation Total 1 Germany 220.000 2 Romania 219.050 3 Switzerland 212.400
Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to Deutscher Turner-Bund
AdvertisementsThe Supreme Court has dismissed the Congress party's plea seeking its intervention in the counting of votes for Gujarat Assembly election. Congress, raising doubts over the veracity of EVMs, had asked for an apex court order directing the Election Commission to tally at least 25 percent of the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPAT) with the EVM votes.
The court, however, refusing to intervene, told the party that it can file a "proper plea" seeking reforms in the polling process. Congress leaders and senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi were arguing the case for their party in the top court.
The top court had dismissed a similar plea earlier in November too.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra refused pass any order on a writ petition challenging the discretionary power of a returning officer, who is entitled to refuse counting of the paper trail from VVPAT machines. The apex court said no "advance ruling" can be given in the matter and in case of any dispute over the result of the poll, the challenge can be made by way of a poll petition.
The Gujarat Congress plea had come after it raised concerns over allegations of EVM tampering but the Election Commission had rejected the charges. According to several reports, there were complaints of Bluetooth devices being connected to EVMs. Senior Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia had complained that three EVMs were seen connected to Bluetooth devices and he sent the complaint to the ECI along with screenshots backing his complaint.
The party had earlier too demanded that the counting process in the Gujarat Assembly election should be overseen by a retired Supreme Court judge. Latching on to the reports of EVMs malfunctioning in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls, the party had said that only an independent review of EVMs can ensure fair conduct of elections in Gujarat, adding that the use of VVPAT would not be enough to ensure free and fair poll if the EVMs were "rigged".
Responding to the allegations, the Election Commission had said that an inquiry found that the apprehension about possible EVM tampering through Bluetooth technology, raised by Congress, was baseless.
The device which the complainant's mobile phone detected after putting on Bluetooth was not an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) but a mobile phone, carried by a polling agent, the commission said.
"A polling agent named Manoj Singrakhiya was carrying the mobile phone. He was in the close vicinity of the phone of the complainant...The complainant might have thought that 'EC' in ECO stands for Election Commission," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) BB Swain said.
A senior poll panel official also told PTI that the attachment of a second line of verification through VVPATs to the EVM has "left no rooms for doubts" since voters can physically verify who they vote for.
"With the introduction of VVPAT, nothing is left to doubt because the printed paper slip is like a ballot paper slip," Kumar said.
The BJP also maintained that the allegations by Congress showed they were in "search for an excuse" as it knew that it would bite the dust in the election.
Meanwhile, the talks about EVM tampering also had several voters, especially from the Muslim community. According to PTI, EVM — described as the "devil" by one worried voter — was the hot topic of discussion among the people.
With the circulation of messages on social media sites about EVMs being tampered with, many in the border district of Chhota Udaipur feared their votes might be transferred to other candidates.
“Our vote is the only power we have and if somebody changes it, what are we left with in a democracy?” asked 57-year-old Sayed Mala, a small-time construction contractor.
Educated sections of the people, with access to social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook, were more worried about EVMs than the others. "I know who I will vote for. But I am not assured if it will be counted in his favour. But with a ballot paper, my vote can’t be changed,” said Kalol college student Sultan Hussain.
Another constituent said he was not convinced about the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), a process to verify that the vote cast had gone to the candidate concerned. Farooq Sayeed from Timla village in Chhota Udaipur compared EVMs with the “devil”. "There are so many videos of EVMs being tampered with on social media. My vote can be changed," he said.
The worries about the machines were not largely shared by Hindu voters. Narendra Sinh Bari, a 38-year-old man who runs a mobile shop, said any method could trigger doubts. "We should trust the machines," he said.
With inputs from PTI
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.Media War Toolkit — The Seven Deadliest Weapons Against Establishment Propaganda
Caitlin Johnstone Blocked Unblock Follow Following May 6, 2017
This article will serve as a kind of Part 2 to “How To Fight The Establishment Propaganda Machine And Win”. In Part 1 I described a strategy for taking out America’s unelected power establishment by disrupting public trust in its mass media propaganda machine, and here I’d like to suggest a few solid examples of some specific attacks that we can use in the current political climate.
Unlike the outdated and inefficient control structures of oppressive regimes throughout most of human history, the corporatist oligarchs who have shored up power in America rule not by punishing and executing dissidents, but by creating the illusion of freedom while keeping its subjects enslaved. As Noam Chomsky wrote, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.” By using the mass media to keep the public passive and obedient in this way — manipulating public discourse into an extremely narrow spectrum of debate — the oligarchs have been able to spare themselves the rebellions, uprisings and assassinations that overtly oppressive regimes inevitably find themselves confronting, which has enabled them to amass more wealth and power than any conventional dictator could ever dream |
looming legalization of marijuana has sparked a buzz at Queen’s Park. Prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau won last Monday’s federal election promising to “legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana,” likely opening the door to a new source of revenue for the provincial treasury.
Sarah Stuive, biological control consultant, checks for bugs at Bedrocan Canada, a medical marijuana facility, in Toronto. The cash-strapped Ontario government, which collects more than $4 billion in booze and tobacco taxes annually, is watching Otawa's moves to legalize marijuana closely. ( Darren Calabrese / CP file photo )
The cash-strapped Ontario government, which collects more than $4 billion in booze and tobacco taxes annually, is closely watching Trudeau’s moves on the cannabis front. “It’s going to be a national conversation and I’m not going to speculate about what this will mean,” Finance Minister Charles Sousa said Monday. “The federal government hasn’t even been formed. Once that is established, once they start to proceed, we will be at the table, we’ll listen,” said Sousa.
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“We do know it’s complicated and we know that it’s going to involve a lot of different ministries, activity, jurisdictions, and looking at what happens in other parts of the world,” he said. “So let them formulate, let’s determine what this really means, what’s the social impact as well and we’ll go from there. I see this as something bigger than a provincial issue and we’ll work closely with the federal government to determine how... they’re going to proceed.” The incoming federal Liberal administration has pledged to “remove marijuana consumption and incidental possession from the Criminal Code” and to punish those who sell it to children and teens, or drive under its influence. Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca noted Ontario recently passed legislation to beef up penalties for driving while high on drugs. “They will continue to be tough and we’ll consistently look for ways to make sure that we have the toughest laws in place,” said Del Duca.
“We’re also looking at technology, because we want to make sure that we’re able to provide certainty to those who may be driving under the influence of drugs. That work is ongoing,” he said. Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown said any sale of marijuana must be strongly regulated.
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“We certainly wouldn’t want to see a free-for-all but... there’s going to be an opportunity for experts on all sides, and the government has a duty to listen and make sure that they find the best possible regulation for Canada,” said Brown, who argued in favour of amending pot laws while he was a federal MP. “I would favour decriminalization over legalization. I had the same concern that the chiefs of police have: that it’s not an appropriate use of police resources,” he said. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath emphasized “it’s still very, very early” in the process of legalization to determine how marijuana will be controlled or taxed. “We’ll have to wait and see. It’s going to be a big nut to crack,” said Horwath. The Ontario government collected $1.163 billion in tobacco taxes last year and $3 billion in beverage alcohol levies, including $1.8 billion from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, $565 million from beer and wine taxes, and more than $600 million in the provincial share of harmonized sales tax on booze sales.
Read more about:Jean-Eric Vergne made an immediate impression on his public debut for Techeetah on Wednesday by setting a new Formula E lap record at Donington Park. A fastest lap of 1:29.634 saw Vergne edge out Felix Rosenqvist by 0.085 seconds, making good use of his new Renault powertrain. Sebastien Buemi finished the day third-fastest for Renault e.dams, while Daniel Abt’s fastest time in the afternoon placed him fourth overall for ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport. Check out our full blog of the day below.
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1824 Apologies for the long delay in updates – we’ve just been out checking the new Roborace “DevBot” on its public debut. Sadly, it didn’t go to plan. After three laps with a driver and a 15 minute wait after that, the car finally went away on its own…and then stopped at the final corner. Oh dear. The Roborace people were quick to tell us that the car had intentionally been stopped by marshals. From the looks of it, that’s right, but only because the car was about to launch itself off the track. Still, a very cool looking machine.
1658 The session will not be restarted, so that’s all for day two and it’s Daniel Abt who ends the afternoon quickest.
1657 Three minutes left and that might be it for the day as we’re still under red flags.
1650 Another red flag. Ma Qinghua appears to have stopped.
1649 Prost is P2 with a flying lap, only for Abt to go fastest of all – one-tenth of a second faster than Bird.
1646 Back to green with 14 minutes left. Can anyone beat Bird’s time at the top?
1640 Red flag with 20 minutes remaining after a stoppage for Evans on the main straight. A number of drivers had just exited the pits, so will have to return.
1636 Fast laps are starting to come in. Oliver Turvey rises to P3 for NextEV, while Evans is now P7 in the second Jaguar.
1629 Vergne posts the fastest first sector of the day before his lap tails off. 200kW runs might well be coming up in the final 30 minutes…
1623 While we’ve been out and about, Duval’s risen to second in the timesheets for Dragon. D’Ambrosio doesn’t appear to be going anywhere for the time being after his issues.
1600 Into the final hour. Adam Carroll has just risen to P4 for Jaguar.
1555 Green flag is back out now with d’Ambrosio back in the pit lane. Hourly update coming up in five minutes.
1544 Another red flag. This time it’s d’Ambrosio who has stopped.
Red flag, as Jerome stops out on track. He'll be recovered quickly and hopefully underway again shortly #fetesting pic.twitter.com/cGaKPrb9ob — Dragon Racing (@DragonRacing) August 24, 2016
1538 Sarrazin lifts Venturi up to P3, 1.2 seconds off Bird. Curiously, both Renault e.dams drivers are at the bottom of the timesheets – how long until they go ‘full Buemi’ though?
1529 Green again on-track with Rosenqvist returned to the pit lane. 90 minutes left today.
1528 Just before the red flag, Antonio Felix da Costa put in a stellar lap time to go P2 for Andretti, eight-tenths of a second off Bird’s time at the top. Frijns has been less busy, spending some time up in the media centre chilling out – guessing he isn’t set to run anytime soon…
1523 Red flag – Rosenqvist appears to have stopped on-track.
1520 Big Cat Diary – Jaguar currently occupies P13 and P16, putting in the laps with Carroll and Evans.
Day two of @FIAformulaE testing is well underway and we’re looking just as good as the weather. #JaguarElectrifies pic.twitter.com/h7npcpi3Js — Jaguar (@Jaguar) August 24, 2016
1513 Ma Qinghua has quickly got up to pace for Techeetah. He’s in for the afternoon alongside Vergne, and currently sits seventh.
1511 New fastest lap: this time it’s Sam Bird who’s P1. A blistering effort to go 1.7 seconds clear of the field in P1 for DS Virgin.
1507 We’ve just been for a wander and a chat with our resident tech expert Craig Scarborough, lots of interesting nuggets of information! Here’s the not-quite-hourly update.
1439 Frijns is currently the only driver out on-track. It seems Andretti’s battery issues from this morning have been resolved, so he’s back out on his way. His first flying lap of the afternoon lifts him to 11th in the timings.
1430 Vergne goes quickest again, half a second faster than Bird. After topping the morning session, the Techeetah driver looks to be on a mission to do the same this afternoon.
1423 Breaking news: there’s ice cream in the media centre. Blame our social media-bod Laura.
1407 Busy start to the afternoon with a flurry of cars heading out on-track. Sam Bird is currently quickest with Daniel Abt sitting P2.
1400 Green light on at the end of the pit lane, the second session is now underway. Teams have until 1700 to get in all the running they can.
1355 Five minutes until we’re back running for the afternoon.
1347 The pit lane is now emptying ahead of the resumption of running. Three hours left in the day starting from 2pm.
1335 While the drivers are meeting their adoring public, we’re having a spot of lunch. Our photographers march (and shoot) on their stomach!
1330 The pit walk is now underway for the fans that have come to Donington Park. All of the teams (with the exception of Techeetah, it seems) have their drivers out signing and posing for pictures.
Fantastic to see so many fans out in force for the pit walk! pic.twitter.com/rQ4wf0vfiR — Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) August 24, 2016
1246 While we’re on lunch break, why not give our awesome photographic team a follow on Twitter? @Spacesuit_Media have been getting some brilliant snaps from Donington Park today.
1230 For any fans at the track reading: be sure to head to the pit lane at 1315 for the pit walk and signing session. That will run until 1345 before running resumes at 1400.
1225 Just before the end of the session and Vergne’s late charge, we caught up with Mahindra team principal Dilbagh Gill, who was happy but cautious after its start to testing. “It’s early days yes,” he told Current E. “We’re happy because if we compare to where we were last year, there’s been more than a second improvement in the car, so that’s good. Felix is new to the track, it’s the first time he ever drove yesterday so he’s getting to know the track. From that perspective I think we’re OK, but yeah – I’m not going to read anything into these numbers.
“I think the thing that gives me confidence is that as you know, we’ve supplied components to Dragon also. So to have four cars in the top five, that feels nice. That’s giving me a bit of encouragement as it’s not just us. It’s our sister team also up there. It’s nice to see Sebastien try and get close… It should be good.”
1213 So after the first three sessions of pre-season testing, who has completed the most laps? Here are the numbers:
1. Buemi 58
2. Prost 57
3. Da Costa 57
4. Lopez 54
5. Carroll 54
6. Abt 53
7. Di Grassi 51
8. Bird 51
9. Engel 49
10. Frijns 49
11. Heidfeld 49
12. Sarrazin 47
13. Rosenqvist 44
14. D’Ambrosio 43
15. Piquet 40
16. Ma Qinghua 39
17. Duval 37
18. Vergne 32
19. Lynn 29
20. Turvey 25
21. Evans 20
1200 Checkered flag is now out, that’s the morning session over with. Vergne leads for Techeetah from Rosenqvist and Buemi. All three are below the previous lap record for Formula E at Donington Park.
1156 After the earlier stoppage, Felix Rosenqvist is now heading back out on-track for Mahindra. Four minutes left in the morning.
1152 Not just quick, but putting in more laps than anyone. A good start for Techeetah on Wednesday.
Vergne not only quickest, but also has racked up the most laps (31). A good morning for @TecheetahFE #FormulaE — Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) August 24, 2016
1150 More WEC/FE crossover: Mark Webber is at Donington to see how Mitch Evans is getting on. Webber is Evans’ mentor and manager, so will be gunning for him to get the Jaguar seat.
1147 Just over 10 minutes to go and Vergne has just gone quickest for Techeetah – impressive start!
1114 Buemi improves again – but still can’t take P1. 0.046 seconds behind Rosenqvist now.
1111 Buemi threaten’s to topple Rosenqvist at the top with a purple first sector, but falls two-tenths short with his lap. P2 for the Swiss racer.
1107 We’re now green again. Mahindra have just tweeted out quite a cool gif showing the evolution of its liveries from season one to three. What’s your favourite?
1103 Session is red flagged after another stoppage for Venturi, this time it’s Engel. If you’re at the track and reading, while we’re in a lull, why not send over your pictures to NextEV on Twitter?
Who's at Donington testing today???
? Tag your photos/video of the car in the summer sunshine with #NextEVolution! pic.twitter.com/RGRxTf9qa5 — NextEV Formula E (@NextEVFETeam) August 24, 2016
1100 Here’s the latest hourly update. One hour to go in the morning session.
1050 Back comes Rosenqvist, and we’re back to green.
Rosenqvist returns after his stoppage. pic.twitter.com/NIc1XprAV8 — Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) August 24, 2016
1047 Not the day Andretti wanted. A battery change in order for Frijns has limited him to just three laps.
1045 While we’ve been out snooping, Felix Rosenqvist has shot to the top of the timesheets with a new Formula E lap record at Donington Park – 1:29.719. We’re now under red flag for the Swede stopping, though.
1015 Vergne moves up to third, two-tenths behind Buemi’s time during his first run in the Techeetah.
1013 Duval goes 1.4 seconds faster than anyone to take P1 away. We’re now just half a second off the fastest time from Tuesday. Rapid effort from Dragon.
1005 As a follow-up to the earlier news about the engineer re-shuffle at DS Virgin: it appears that the DS Performance engineer working with Lopez will only be doing so in Hong Kong and Marrakech. After that, Lopez is set to bring in his engineer from WTCC, where he has won the last two championships and is poised to claim a third in 2016. Big experience coming in!
1000 Here’s the timesheets after the first hour of running on Tuesday morning.
0953 A bit of a lull in running at the moment, no cars currently on-track. We’ve just had a quick chat with Sam Bird about superlicence points following the boost of Formula E’s rating for season three – that feature will be coming up in the break between testing and Hong Kong.
0950 Right, time for wander in the pit lane to see what I can see. Will be back shortly.
0949 Mr Lynn, time for your close up.
0948 Mr Felix da Costa showing some love to Spacesuit photographer Shiv Gohil.
0947 Mr Piquet pushing it to the limit. And beyond.
0946 While the cars are sticking in some laps, how about a few more snaps from yesterday?
0937 Yep, I think sticking to that won’t be a problem.
0935 Track has gone quite quiet, just three cars out at the moment. Duval is currently on his first outlap of the day after an impressive Tuesday of running for Dragon. Both Duval and d’Ambrosio ran at the head of the field for most of the day. Can they do the same again on Wednesday?
0924 Bird moves up to P2 for DS Virgin, three-tenths off Buemi and with the fastest final sector.
0922 Testing is all about ironing out problems… although Piquet’s getting a little tired of recurring issues with the radios.
3rd season of @FIAformulaE on the go and MRTC radios still cant get our radios to work!!! — Nelson Piquet Jr. (@NelsonPiquet) August 24, 2016
0920 Fans are now starting to file into the grandstands – beautiful weather for it!
0916 Yesterday saw four drivers turn in a lap in the 1:30s range, with half the grid going quicker than at this point in testing last year. It was Buemi who led the way (as we write, he’s just gone faster again) with Heidfeld second for Mahindra. For a full recap, check out our live blog by clicking here.
0912 Buemi is now on top, going almost two-tenths of a second faster than Engel. We’re already edging closer towards yesterday’s fastest time and it’s not even 9:15am yet!
0908 New boy Maro Engel has just lit the timesheets purple, going P1 for Venturi with a lap of 1:32.547. That’s Venturi’s quickest time of testing so far after a difficult Tuesday filled with problems.
0904 First lap times are already in. Prost leads the way for Renault e.dams with Vergne currently sitting P2. Fastest time from Tuesday was 1:30.143 – expect that benchmark to easily be beaten today.
0900 Day two is GO! First cars are now out on-track as the morning session goes green. Three hours of running coming up before the lunch break. Buemi is the first man out – he has a habit of being first at things…
0858 Today is the first chance for fans to see the season three cars in action. Tuesday’s running was closed off, but they’re queuing up early this morning!
0857 Three minutes or so to go until we’re green. Blue skies and a gentle breeze currently gracing Donington Park, good conditions for running.
0852 We’ve already seen a few a drivers signing on including Mr Vergne. We’ll have a chat with him later about all things Techeetah.
0849 And this is the driver entry list for today:
ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport – Lucas di Grassi/Daniel Abt
Andretti – Robin Frijns/Antonio Felix da Costa
Dragon – Loic Duval/Jerome d’Ambrosio
DS Virgin – Sam Bird/Jose Maria Lopez
Renault e.dams – Sebastien Buemi/Nico Prost
Jaguar Racing – Adam Carroll/Mitch Evans
Mahindra Racing – Nick Heidfeld/Felix Rosenqvist
NextEV – Oliver Turvey
Techeetah – Jean-Eric Vergne/Ma Qinghua (afternoon only)
Venturi – Stephane Sarrazin/Maro Engel
0844 Here are the session times today:
Morning: 0900-1200
Afternoon: 1400-1700
0841 Today is the first day that the sessions are open to the public. Security is notably tighter, there’s a lot more fencing and many, many orange suited marshals bustling about. If yesterday was about installation laps and settling powertrains and drivers, today should be about building on those programmes and extending laps and lap times.
0839 This is kinda how we’re feeling this morning:
0832 The first thing I spotted this morning was that Patrick Coorey, Sam Bird’s former engineer at DS Virgin Racing, was strolling through the paddock with a Jaguar Racing top on with Adam Carroll. That’s a key hire for Jag. Bird will get Jean-Eric Vergne’s engineer from last season while new boy Lopez will be looked after by a DS Performance engineer.
0830 Good morning Donington! (And everyone else, too.) It’s day two of testing ahead of Formula E’s third season and we’re raring to go. I’ll be feeding you live updates all day here so bookmark this page and check back regularly.
Luke SmithThough they have struggled in recent years McLaren can still call themselves Formula 1’s second most successful team, with only Ferrari eclipsing their stellar record in the sport.
Even that description might disappoint the man who orchestrated much of their glory. After all, Ron Dennis was known to dismiss second place as “first of the losers.”
Senna and Dennis enjoyed incredible success together at McLaren | Sutton Images
But with 182 race wins, 155 pole positions and a combined 20 world titles, McLaren's special status is assured. Their list of drivers includes legends of the sport like Senna, Prost, Hamilton and Hakkinen, while Dennis attracted admirers and enemies alike during often-controversial spell at the top. There has been success and scandal in a story that stretches back more than half a century.
BRUCE'S BOYS
McLaren’s origins can be found in New Zealand. Born in Auckland in 1937, Bruce McLaren began racing as a teenager and rapidly made his way towards the international grand prix scene.
McLaren cut his teeth racing for Cooper. | © The Cahier Archive 2017
He got there very quickly. Debuting just shy of his 21st birthday, Bruce raced for Cooper between 1958 and 1965 and took his maiden race win at the 1959 season finale at Sebring. He was world championship runner-up in 1960 and third in 1962
He also earned success in other categories, including Can-Am, sportscars and the Tasman Series. Like many of his contemporaries, Bruce raced whatever he could get his hands on.
Bruce taking it easy between stints in the car. | © Peter Darley
But he was more than just a talented driver: Bruce was a shrewd operator with an excellent engineering brain. And so in 1966, still in his twenties, he set up his own F1 team. Bruce McLaren Motor Racing was born.
The striking orange McLaren, piloted by the team's founder at Silverstone in 1969 | Sutton Images
The first two seasons yielded no success, though in 1966 Bruce won the Le Mans 24 Hours with fellow countryman Chris Amon aboard a Ford GT40.
In 1968 the F1 outfit received a major boost when Bruce was joined by another Kiwi, Denny Hulme, who had just secured the world title for Brabham.
Hulme and McLaren | © The Cahier Archive 2017
This was to be the team’s breakthrough year. Bruce grabbed their first win at Spa before Hulme added two more later in the season, and McLaren ended the year as constructors’ championship runners-up.
The McLaren of Hulme (car #5) accelerates away from the line at Silverstone in 1969 | © The Cahier Archive 2017
In 1969 Bruce was consistent on his way to third in the standings while Hulme won in Mexico. The Kiwi super-team appeared to be the coming force of grand prix racing.
McLaren celebrates his team's first world championship win at Spa in 1968. His legacy in F1 continues to this day. | Sutton Images
But McLaren’s ascent was halted in tragic circumstances. In June 1970 Bruce was killed testing the team's new Can-Am car at Goodwood. McLaren had lost their founder and a world-class driver.
CONQUERING THE WORLD
Following Bruce’s death his business partner Teddy Mayer took over control of the team. McLaren struggled in the first full year after their founder’s death, but in 1972 and 1973 they rallied and were third in the standings.
With Bruce gone Hulme led McLaren on-track. Alastair Caldwell (right) was team manager between 1974 and 1978. | © Peter Darley
Emerson Fittipaldi joined the team for 1974 and clinched the team’s first drivers’ title thanks to wins in Brazil, Belgium and Canada. That same year Marlboro logos first appeared on the car, beginning an iconic sponsorship deal that would last more than 20 years.
Fittipaldi aboard the 1975 McLaren, complete with Marlboro livery | Sutton Images
The good times continued as James Hunt became world champion in 1976, but they didn’t last for long. By 1980 the team had hit a particularly low ebb, scoring no podiums and finishing ninth in the constructors standings. Given the money they were investing, Marlboro were not happy.
Hunt's 1976 title triumph was followed by a decline in fortunes for McLaren, leading Marlboro to force a change within the team | Sutton Images
And so they orchestrated a change. Late in 1980 the team was revamped, with Ron Dennis arriving as the new boss.
A young Ron with designer John Barnard and driver John Watson, who won the first race of the Dennis era at McLaren in 1981 | Sutton Images
RON'S REVOLUTION
The obsessive and incredibly driven Dennis brought about dramatic change at McLaren. In 1982 he tempted two-time world champion Niki Lauda out of retirement, earning almost instant success for the team. In 1984 he paired the wily old Austrian with the emerging Alain Prost and was handsomely rewarded.
Lauda came out of retirement to race for McLaren and was eventually rewarded with his third world title | © The Cahier Archive 2017
Dennis had not just hired shrewdly on the driver front. In 1980 he recruited designer John Barnard, who created a series of innovative and highly successful McLaren grand prix cars.
Lauda won the 1984 championship by half a point, but Prost was the coming man and secured successive titles in 1985 and 1986. McLaren had entered their most successful period – and the best was yet to come.
Prost won three world titles for McLaren. Without Senna, he might have doubled that number. | © The Cahier Archive 2017
Barnard departed in 1986 after falling out with Dennis, but Steve Nichols and Gordon Murray arrived in his place and pushed the team to even greater heights.
Ayrton Senna joined Prost in 1988, giving McLaren by far the most potent line-up in F1, with a new engine partner also arriving in the form of Honda.
Murray, Senna and Nichols study a telemetry print-out. | Sutton Images
The Prost-Senna pairing was hugely combustible, but it drove both men to stratospheric levels of greatness. Senna was champion in 1988 and Prost in 1989, the latter following their era-defining collision at Suzuka.
The McLarens do battle at Monaco in 1989. Senna, of course, leads the way. | © The Cahier Archive 2017
Prost departed for Ferrari, leaving Senna – now McLaren’s unquestioned number one – to secure two more world championships in succession. Dennis and his team could look back on a run of seven drivers’ titles in eight years.
Prost and Senna, wheel-to-wheel again, this time at Imola. | © The Cahier Archive 2017
THE MERCEDES YEARS
By 1994 Senna, Honda and many of the design team that sculpted McLaren’s success had departed. They still had assets – notably the rapid young Finn Mika Hakkinen – but it wasn’t until Mercedes engines arrived in 1995 that they began to return to form.
Their journey was not a simple one. In qualifying for the 1995 Australian Grand Prix Hakkinen crashed heavily. The Finn was severely injured, with only the quick intervention of trackside medical workers saving his life. Fortunately, he would make a full recovery.
Hakkinen at Adelaide in 1993. The Finn was fortunate to survive his huge accident at the track two years later. | Sutton Images
After 1996 McLaren’s long relationship with Marlboro ended and, partly in deference to their new engine partners, the cars adopted a silver livery.
As well as a fresh paint job, McLaren also signed a new young driver around this time. It would be a few years before he found himself behind the wheel of a grand prix car, but it was to prove well worth the wait.
Dennis with 13-year-old Lewis Hamilton, who debuted for McLaren nine years later. | Sutton Image
By the mid-nineties McLaren had been supplanted as F1’s most successful team by Williams, who benefited hugely from the genius of designer Adrian Newey. In classic Dennis style McLaren poached him from their rivals in 1997, and the revival stepped up a gear.
The first true Newey car came in 1998 and it was yet another masterpiece. Hakkinen eventually beat Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher to the title and repeated the feat in 1999. McLaren were back on top, a triumph made all the sweeter by Hakkinen’s recovery.
Hakkinen aboard his title-winning 1998 McLaren-Mercedes, arguably the best car the team has produced post-1988 | © The Cahier Archive 2017
Ferrari eclipsed them as the new millennium dawned but McLaren remained F1’s second team, regularly winning races with star drivers like Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Newey departed after the 2005 season and by 2007 McLaren had reinvented themselves, with reigning two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the car alongside superstar rookie Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton and Alonso were all smiles after the season-opening race. It didn't last long. | Sutton Images
If they were hoping to recreate Prost-Senna, McLaren were successful – to a degree. Though history will remember Lewis and Fernando as all-time greats, the 2007 season was a missed opportunity as the two took points off one another. Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen swooped, stealing the title by a single point.
Angered by what he felt was preferential treatment for Hamilton, Alonso also helped to publicise the illegal passing off technical information from Ferrari to McLaren. McLaren were thrown out of the constructors’ championship and fined a record $100m.
By the Hungarian Grand Prix the Hamilton-Alonso relationship had come to resemble Prost-Senna at its worst | Sutton Images
The dislike for Dennis within the sport was made clear by FIA President Max Mosley, who is reported to have quipped that the fine was “$5 million for the offence, and $95 million for Ron being a tw*t.”
But Dennis had his revenge in 2008 when Hamilton snatched the title from Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in the most dramatic finale in F1 history. McLaren were world champions again after almost a decade.
Hamilton became F1's youngest champion in 2008, though his record was broken just two years later by Sebastian Vettel. | Sutton Images
GOING RETRO, HOPING FOR A REVIVAL
To date, however, that was their final success. They remained competitive for the next few seasons, with the British super-team of Hamilton and Jenson Button winning 18 races between 2010 and 2012. But this brought no titles and the decline accelerated when Hamilton departed for Mercedes in 2013. McLaren haven’t won a race since.
McLaren are winless since Button's 2012 triumph in Brazil. | Sutton Images
In 2015 McLaren began a new era with a pair of old acquaintances, reuniting with engine supplier Honda and – more surprisingly – re-signing Fernando Alonso.
But while they enjoyed great success with the Japanese manufacturer during the eighties and nineties, the modern incarnation of McLaren-Honda has been little short of a disaster, with terrible reliability and a stark lack of power. McLaren are now more than three years without a podium – the longest run in their history.
Alonso has excelled in sub-par McLarens, though he's tended to make his frustrations very public. | Sutton Images
Alonso’s return has been the only bright light, with the Spaniard producing some incredible drives. After the acrimony of his first spell, Fernando has redeemed himself at McLaren.
The team’s latest transformation was completed in 2017, with Dennis forced from the leadership and Zak Brown installed in his place. In a further post-Dennis move, the team reverted to the orange livery first run by founder Bruce McLaren in the sixties.
Brown allowed Alonso to skip Monaco and contest the Indy 500, a very clear break from Dennis' management style. | Sutton Images
The symbolism of this clearly suggests a new beginning that retains old values. But in a sport that moves as fast at F1, there is no guarantee that this once-great team can return to their past glories.
© Peter Darley
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Images from the Cahier Archive can be found in Formula One: The Pursuit of Speed: A Photographic Celebration of F1's Greatest Moments, published by Aurum. Click here for buying options.
Images by Peter Darley can be found in Pit & Paddock: Behind the Scenes at UK and European Circuits in the 60s and 70s, published by Aurum. Buying options can be found here.After trying Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper on for size, clothing retailer Harry Rosen is now turning its eye to a new, slightly younger model for its politically-savvy ads.
Justin Trudeau is the latest in a string of federal politicians to be featured in an ad for the men's clothing store.
The ad shows Trudeau descending the stairs in the foyer of the House of Commons with dozens of reporters and cameras gathered around him.
It features the caption, "I guess you've heard. I've been invited to Harry's Private Sale."
Trudeau's office says Harry Rosen's did not ask permission to use Trudeau's image in the ad, but refused further comment on the flyer that is being sent to customers across the country.
The chairman of Harry Rosen Inc., Larry Rosen, says the company tries to choose people who are "prominent and in the news" for its ads.
Rosen says this is not a partisan act, nor an endorsement. "We're tailors. We sell suits to the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP, you name it."
But, Rosen says, if Trudeau is the current face of the company's flyers, it's because he's "recognizable." He says it's all about celebrating Canadian politics.
PMO took issue with Harper campaign
Some politicans seem to appreciate the fashion nod more than others.
The Finance Minister seemed to take the compliment in stride when he was chosen as an unauthorized model in 2007, but the Prime Minister's Office was not as pleased when its boss landed in an ad.
Harry Rosen used a photo of the prime minister playing a Beatles tune at the National Arts Centre a couple years ago. Given that the photo was not authorized, Harper's office suggested Rosen was going to run out of friends if the store continued to use photos of people without asking their permission.
In response, the clothing store offered to make donations to charities in Flaherty and Harper's ridings. Rosen says the store will happily do the same for Trudeau.I think it is appropriate to start this review by saying that I got this printer at an incredible sale price of $100. I purchased two actually, one of them for a friend, and we both think it was an incredible investment. Would I have bought it at its regular MSRP? Probably not, there are plenty of options out there and this particular model lacks some features that I would have liked to have. However, at the price I got it, I can hardly complain. Keep in mind however that the rating I gave it (4 stars) is independent from the sale price.
Important notes:
- This is in response to the other reviewers: printers (most of them), are sold without Type A to Type B USB cables. I (like many other people) learned this the hard way long ago. So avoid the surprise and add a Type A to Type B cable with your order from Amazon (they're around 6 dollars). Don't go to Best buy or the likes of it where they will charge you at least 15 dollars. Obviously this is only if you plan on using your printer via USB.
- This model has no wireless capabilities AT ALL. The product description is INACCURATE. Before buying, I did some due diligence and learned it only connects to wired LAN. If you want to connect this to a network, you have to do it using Ethernet or share it using the computer it is connected to via USB (the other option is to have a Wi-Fi range extender with Ethernet ports, a Wi-Fi to Ethernet adapter or Powerline).
The good:
- If you have Windows 8 or more recent, set-up is straightforward. No need to use the disk. I set up mine on Ethernet and it got recognized instantly (as Fax, Printer and Scanner) by all computers (Windows 10, macOS Sierra). It was ready to use in 10 seconds.
- The web control interface (if set up on the Network directly) is great and very comprehensive. You can access it by typing the printer's local IP address.
- Printing quality is what you would expect from a standard Laser printer, ie it's good and you'll be satisfied.
- The tray-loader, in addition to the flatbed scanner, is great for scanning multiple pages at once (especially useful if the printer is not in the same room).
The bad:
- Drum and toner are separate consumables and this printer's toners are not noticeably cheaper as a result of this. You won't have to replace the drum until 12000 pages but it's something to keep in mind as it is unusual for a home laser printer.
- Scanner drivers that come with the printer are awful with Windows 10 (probably 8 too). They don't even work actually. The simplest workaround is to use Microsoft's drivers which bars you from using HP's acquisition software. It's not so bad since the software bundled with Windows is quite alright. Haven't tired Mac.
- Scanner resolution could have been better. 300 dpi is barely satisfactory.
- No way to initiate a scan directly from the printer. There has to be a remote action from a computer.
- Somewhat convoluted |
? More like obsextrics! Right? No.
The idea of childbirth being orgasmic rubs some people the wrong way, so to speak, specifically because of the activity you're engaging in. No one likes the idea of babies being anywhere near something sexual. I counter with the idea that anything weighing 8 pounds being shuttled out of your chunnel should give the tingly good-feeling part of your brain pause before it throws itself a party. I feel like the male equivalent of this would be a lazy hand job from the Hulk.
Despite my biologically inept skepticism, apparently it's a pretty simple explanation for the how and why of orgasmic childbirth, especially when you discount C-sections, which obviously won't count, and many traditional hospital births that are often higher stress and complete with epidurals. Natural births, where a woman can relax, have a drink of Kool-Aid, and watch a little Magic Mike, are basically events replete with intense stimulation of the birth canal, cervix, vagina, and clitoris. That's the most mature sentence I've ever written against my better judgment while a veritable cornucopia of hilarious euphemisms danced in my head.
Always on the go but can't get enough of Cracked? We have an Android app and iOS reader for you to pick from so you never miss another article.I write this in the hopes that someone else will benefit from my trial and error. This is not a comprehensive guide by any means and will not explain every detail of working in 3D – I expect you have some knowledge of the subject.
First the results
The first thing I did was found a V1 Kinect on eBay. These are ‘last generation’ items and sell for pretty reasonable prices. I got mine for $25 plus free shipping and it arrived VERY soon after. You also need a power adapter, I got one off of amazon here.
I then downloaded the Kinect SDK V 1.8 and the KinectDeveloper Toolkit.
After these are installed you can plug the Kinect in and there are a lot of amazing tools you can use to play around with it.
In the toolkit, Kinect Fusion Explorer – WPF will create OBJ or STL files. I found them to be a bit dense and the toolset to be a little too complex – however, I think if you spent some time with this toolset you might get better results overall.
I ended up downloading ReconstructMe – grab the developer version off their site. If you plan on doing commercial work, you probably should spring for a licensed copy.
With that app you can do quite nice 3D scans in near real-time. I setup a tripod and put the Kinect at about eye level pointing down slightly. I then slowly rotated – i think this and the mount can be improved – there are several videos on youtube that show various methods of doing this. The scans usually ended up quite clean. I just ran one through Microsoft’s Model Repair Service and think that it will probably only need a tiny bit of work in a 3D program to clean up and then it should be ready to print.
Here is the mesh at this point in the process – this is not the same mesh as the print above, that was done a couple of days ago while I was working on this process. This is a new print I am working on.
From here a little bit of work in the 3D program of your choice should be able to trim off the rough edges on the bottom of the scan and correct the little bit of bad geometry on the top of the head.
After
Ready for a nice base and the printer
Here is the model at the top of this post being printed
I hope this helps someone!Anti-Rent War: Rebellion In The Catskills
We never know when we may be caught up in a vortex of circumstances and events large than our own small world. One day may swallow up the rest of our lives. This was the fate of small quiet farming communities in eastern Delaware County in 1845. The steady, reassuring ritual cycle of plowing, planting, mowing, and harvesting took a back seat to Anti-Rent protest.The Anti-Rent conflict began in 1839 in the Helderbergs in Albany County. Tenant farmers rebelled against oppressive leases under which they labored as little more than serfs of wealthy landlords, without opportunity to ever own the land. They had also begun to question the legality of the landlords’ titles to the land. The outbreak was triggered by the demand of Stephen Van Rensselaer IV for back rents which his father had not collected during economic hard times.
In protest, the farmers refused to pay the rents. When a sheriff’s sale of a farmer’s property, mainly livestock, was held to collect the rent, armed protesters appeared in calico dresses and grotesque masks, calling themselves “Indians” in the spirit of the patriots of the Boston Tea Party.The conflict soon spread to Rensselaer, Columbia, and Schoharie Counties, then to Delaware County, especially Andes, Bovina, Middletown, and Roxbury, where the protest was most intense.
Activities of the Delaware County Anti-Renters, organized in 1844, infuriated Undersheriff Osman N. Steele, who had resolved to root them out personally. The Anti-Renters, in their turn, hated him as an arrogant bully. Their final encounter occurred when he and the landlord’s agent showed up at Moses Earle’s pasture in Andes where the sheriff and the “Indians” were discussing the sale of Earle’s livestock for rent. Ignoring the “Indians’” orders to keep out, Steele readied to jump the pasture bars. Someone shouted, “Shoot the horses.” The “Indians” fired and Steele fell, mortally wounded. It was August 7, 1845.The “Indians” fled. In the turmoil that followed, over 200 men were arrested, under suspicion for the murder of Steele.
In 1994, while researching that tumultuous period in Delaware County history, I realized that few primary sources had survived. Then, local historian Shirley Houck directed me to the transcripts of the Testimony before the Grand Jury convened after Steele’s death. It was as close as anyone could come to interviewing the Anti-Renters themselves. Overwhelmed by fear of hanging for the murder of Steele, most of the Anti-Renters who testified abandoned their oath of secrecy and fidelity to each other, and revealed the inner workings of the Delaware County Anti-Rent Association.In their own words they revealed that the Association was organized in the spring of 1844 at the Andes Presbyterian Church; had a tightly-knit network of officers, committeemen, and committees to coordinate their activities; and met often, either in small “town” groups or with the whole organization. Of meeting-places they had no lack: churches, taverns, private homes, barns, even outdoors on a hill.
Not all Anti-Renters were “Indians.” Some sympathized with the protest but were not involved in any activities. Others joined the organization and sometimes served in leadership positions. The most active members—the “Indians”—wore disguises and appeared at sheriff’s sales armed, “to intimidate foreign bidders & so they would not come.” They were also prepared to shoot any animal on which a successful bid was made.They belonged to tribes, as local groups were called, and were led by a chief and several subordinate chiefs. Sometimes they referred to themselves as “Natives” or “Rocky Mountain boys.” When they rode out in their masks and calico dresses, the “Indians” also wore new identities: Black Hawk, Big Lion, Pompey, Thunderbolt, Red Wing, Jumbo. John S. Davis, a leader in Bovina admitted, “It was said my name was Rainbow.”
A special committee recruited new members. Barbour Stafford, a twenty-year-old farmhand, related how, in the summer of 1844, at Peleg Hilton’s hotel in Andes, “Robert Scott came to me… and wanted me to join…after I signed the pledge H. Scott asked me if I did not want to become a rockey mountain boy I asked him if there was any danger in it He told me no it was nothing but fun and almost every boy was joining it - ….He then administer the oath to me by the uplifted hand by the ever living God.”The text of the oath varied in the accounts given by the Anti-Renters, but essentially, the members swore to support the Anti-Rent cause and not reveal the secrets of the Association. This reinforced the seriousness of their purpose, bound them together with powerful ties, and secured their protection.
Although the oath as probably their strongest defense, the Anti-Renters, especially the “Indians,” devised other safeguards as well. When discussing their activities, they used certain code expressions, for example, “going fishing.” Jotham W. Schudder, father of Warren Scudder, when questioned about his son’s activities the day Steele was shot, replied that his son said he was “going fishing.”In order to avoid revealing themselves to an unfriendly person, the Anti-Renters devised “countersigns,” as they called them, by which they could identify their colleagues or supporters. William Scudder said, “We had a countersign, the word was ‘liberty’ - we also had a motion by which we recognized each other - we put our hands to our face.”
When going out in disguise, they used great care to preserve secrecy even among themselves. Often they would meet at a certain agreed-upon place on the way to a gathering or sale, and each man would go off by himself and dress.The Bovina “Indians” who met on McFarland’s hill to plan for the trip to Earle’s sale “came to the resolution not to see each other dress in disguise - They were to dress after, they got there.”
Women were allowed membership, so it was rumored, if the men did not trust them to keep quiet without the oath of secrecy. Whether or not this was true, the women, to all appearances, stood by their men. They made calico dresses and masks, and cooked and baked for the “Indians” whenever their “excursions” required food. James Blish testified that 7 or 8 dresses [were] made at my house - my wife - others - helped make the dresses.” At Earle’s sale, the “Indians” gathered in the woods near a spring where they found a plentiful supply of food, from rolls and butter to meat and potatoes.Payment of dues of two cents an acre helped support the activities of the Association. When the Anti-Rent movement began in 1839, this assessment was intended to help pay for litigation to challenge the landlords’ titles. The Delaware County Anti-Renters also initially had the same intention.
Whether or not they pursued this plan, they found plenty of immediate uses for the money. It the “Indians” shot a farmer’s animals at a sale, the Association would reimburse him for them. Zadoc Northrup, speaking of Earle’s sale, said it was decided to “Let the sheriff sell and then shoot the property down.”References to the “entertainment” of the “Indians” occur often. One Anti-Renter stated that “when the Indians were called out, their refreshments were paid for out of the funds of the Society.” Early in June 1844, James Blish served dinner for 250-300 “Indians” who met at his house. He added: “The Association paid me.
Money seems to have been generously expended to supply the “Indians” with disguises and weapons. Under orders from the committee, James Blish, the treasurer, spent $30-$40 for calico and $5-$6 for sheepskin. For these purchases and a pair of pistols, he estimated that he spent $100. Daniel Squires also admitted to spending $25 for calico, which his wife and daughters turned into dresses for the “Indians.” Daniel Northrup added that, besides disguises and weapons, the “Indians” were “to be paid for services if there were funds enough in the treasury.” Whether this was ever done is not known.The “Indians” had a motley collection of weapons: fowling pieces, muskets, rifles, pistols, and sword. At Earle’s sale, Warren Schudder, chief of the “Indians,” had a sword and a pistol. “It was a crooked sword, silver plaited I saw Scudder present his sword at Wright [agent for the landlord, who accompanied Steele] and Scudder then drew a pistol.”
The most interesting account of weapons came from Harry Andrus of Kortright who said he made 25 tomahawks for the Kortright-Stamford Anti-Rent Society. “Col. Butts told me to present the bill for the tomahawks,” he said, and the “auditing committee ordered it to be paid-”One “sign of the times” was the Anti-Rent flag. Dr. Stephen Forman related that “at the day of the Sale there was an Anti rent flag raised on the pole.” The flag must have been part of the sprit of many gatherings, too. Jotham Scudder said, “On the 4th of July I went to an Anti rent meeting in my own waggon [sic] with an Anti rent flag over us.”
Nelson K. Dart, who admitted creating flags, testified: “Wickham, Preston & Scudder came this spring with a piece of cloth to paint another flag – they wanted me to put a picture of the possee & the indians. I painted one side as they requested. I told them if they would permit me to put on the other what I was a mind to I would finish it and I put on ‘Victory by the ballot.’”In the end, two men were sentenced to hang for the murder of Steele, though no proof was found to link them to the fatal shots, four to life in Clinton State prison, and others to terms from ten to two years. After an outcry from the public, Governor Silas Wright commuted the death sentences to life in prison. In 1847, Governor John Young pardoned the prisoners, and they returned home in triumph, though the wounds from the whole ordeal would remain with the communities involved for generations.
The real winner was the Anti-Rent cause. The Anti-Renters gained political support and power, and achieved several victories at the State Constitutional Convention in 1847. In Delaware County, the Anti-Rent party became the dominant political party. Though the old leases remained, the power of the landlords had been broken.Sadly, little remains to tell more fully the story of the Anti-Renters in Delaware County. In the confusion and fear following the death of Steele, many valuable sources probably went the way of the books of James Blish, treasurer of the Association. “Some of my family burnt them up,” he said. “I knew they were going to burn them up. I did not object to it.”
The testimony before the Grand Jury, however, does provide pieces of the puzzle and some insight into who these people were and how hard they struggled for the right to own property freely.Fox News' disclosure problem just got worse.
Fox once again turned to businessman Thomas Belesis for commentary without disclosing his position as an official for the New York State Republican Party.
As Media Matters has previously documented, according to the biography on his website, Belesis "is currently Co-Chairman of the New York State Republican Finance Committee." A 2011 press release touted Belesis as a "key backer of the State Party's efforts in the 2010 election and has also been an active supporter of the Republican National Committee over the last election cycle."
On today's edition of Fox's Your World with Neil Cavuto, Belesis attacked the Obama administration as "anti-business" and claimed that a Romney administration, on the other hand, would be "business friendly" and help spur "a lot of economic activity and pent-up entrepreneurial demand that's been on the sidelines." Belesis concluded his analysis by saying, "I think people are going to wait and sit on the sidelines until after or we get close to an eventual Romney win in the White House."
During the segment, Cavuto identified Belesis' as "a CEO, just down on Wall Street" and a caption identified him as "John Thomas Financial CEO," but his Republican ties were never disclosed.
An error occurred with the video embed.
Cavuto's failure to identify Belesis as a Republican official is part of Fox News' longstanding disclosure problem. The network has repeatedly hosted Romney advisers John Bolton, Jay Sekulow, and Walid Phares without acknowledging their participation in Romney's campaign. Fox has also heavily promoted contributor Karl Rove's anti-Obama super PAC, American Crossroads, often without identifying his connection to either American Crossroads or Fox News.It is time for President Obama to offer clemency to Edward Snowden, the courageous U.S. citizen who revealed the Orwellian reach of the National Security Agency’s sweeping surveillance of Americans. His actions may have broken the law, but his act, as the New York Times editorialized, did the nation “a great service.”
In an interview that the Nation magazine is publishing this week, Nation Contributing Editor Stephen Cohen and I asked Snowden his definition of patriotism. He sensibly argues patriotism is not “acting to benefit the government,” but to “act on behalf of one’s country.... You’re not patriotic just because you back whoever’s in power today.... You’re patriotic when you work to improve the lives of the people of your country,” including protecting their rights.
That requires hard choices. When a government is trampling the rights of the people in secrecy, patriots have a duty to speak out. Snowden notes that there is no “oath of secrecy” for people who work for the government. Contract employees like Snowden sign a form, a civil agreement, agreeing not to release classified information, opening themselves to civil or criminal prosecution if they do. “But you are also asked to take an oath, and that’s the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to the Constitution — to protect it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That’s the oath that I kept.”
Snowden’s actions revealed that the National Security Agency was collecting information, without a warrant, on millions of Americans. The revelations properly sparked outrage across the globe, and even in our somnambulant Congress. Countries and companies began seeking ways to curtail the invasion. Two federal judges have ruled that the NSA is guilty of trampling the Fourth Amendment protections of the Constitution. As U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of George W. Bush, wrote, “I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison, who cautioned us to beware ‘the abridgment of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power,’ would be aghast.” Even Obama, who has asserted a sweeping view of the national security prerogatives of the executive, was forced to appoint a commission to review the program. That commission issued a powerful critique of the NSA and called for a fundamental reform of its operations.
Snowden’s revelations came only a few weeks after James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, was asked under oath by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) if the government was collecting data on millions of Americans. “No,” Clapper replied. When the disclosures of Edward Snowden proved that the NSA was in fact doing just that, Clapper begrudgingly admitted that his response was the “least untruthful” he could think of, and later suggested that he “misspoke.”
Today, Clapper, who lied under oath to the Congress, somehow remains in office. Meanwhile Snowden, the NSA contractor who courageously revealed the horrifying and unconstitutional scope of the agency’s surveillance, is in exile and under indictment. This is a clear measure of just how endangered our constitutional liberties are.
Snowden’s revelations embarrassed the intelligence agencies and discomfited the White House. There is no hard evidence that they harmed U.S. security in any fashion. In fact, the revelations clearly have helped to defend our liberties. The new NSA director, Michael Rogers, even admits that he doesn’t see “the sky falling down.”
Obama claims that Snowden could have triggered the same review and debate by taking his charges to his superiors and that he would have been protected under Obama’s whistleblower regulations. But Snowden exposed his concerns to supervisors behind the veil of secrecy and nothing happened. And others like former NSA staffer Thomas Drake have found out, whistleblower laws would have provided Snowden no real protection if the agency decided to retaliate.
Obama campaigned for office pledging to bring the war on terrorism under the limits of the Constitution. He pledged to close Guantanamo, end torture and, in the words of his inaugural address, to “reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.”
We are a long way from the promises and the expectations of that moment, but the president had it right then. Snowden has it right as well when he warns, “when governments go too far to punish people for actions that are dissent rather than a real threat to the nation, they risk delegitimizing not just their systems of justice, but the legitimacy of the government itself.”
In his last months in office, Obama can curtail some of the dangerous executive excesses that have spawned since Sept. 11. A sensible first step would be to fire Clapper for lying to Congress about the secret program trampling Americans’ privacy. And then Obama should offer clemency to Snowden for revealing the alarming truth to the American people.
Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvel’s archive or follow her on Twitter.Let's cut right to the chase here – Moonsorrow wants to make its documentary titled Home of the Wind: A History of Moonsorrow happen and there are only a few days left for the IndieGoGo campaign (which you can donate to here). With a measly 12% left to go on the whole thing, it would be kind of ridiculous to let a fantastic band's story slip through the cracks when it was so damn close to coming to fruition.
Don't let me spoil the whole thing for you though, check out the trailer!
If you're still not sure about this whole thing, I'll hit on some of the high points as to why you should care about this documentary.
Moonsorrow is a fucking fantastic band that is incapable of making bad music.
Moonsorrow kicked off in 1995 and immediately forged a unique sound, one we would all eventually come to know as that classic Scandinavian pagan metal sound.
Home of the Wind: A History of Moonsorrow is being approached like a cinematic film with a beginning, middle, and end. It'll be a journey with great attention to detail and beautiful imagery, not to mention the music of Moonsorrow.
There are some really cool perks, like packages of the DVD with an exclusive shirt, poster, and digital copy of the movie, or even packages of everything the band has ever done on CD (signed)!
Did I mention Moonsorrow is fantastic? Seriously, if you're not familiar with the band or aren't really sure if you've heard them before, check out a song (and a Rotting Christ cover) off the band's breathtakingly good new album Jumalten Aika.
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Related PostsWhen Yahoo disclosed in December that a billion (yes, billion) of its users' accounts had been compromised in an August 2013 breach, it came as a staggering revelation. Now, 10 months later, the company would like to make a correction: That incident actually exposed three billion accounts—every Yahoo account that existed at the time.
On the one hand, this new information doesn't really change things in a practical sense, because the initial billion account estimate was already enormous—you could safely assume you were impacted—and Yahoo took protective steps for all users in December, like resetting passwords and unencrypted security questions. On the other hand, three billion accounts.
"They are as big as it gets," says Jeremiah Grossman, who worked as an information security officer at Yahoo for two years in the early 2000s and is now the chief of security strategy at SentinelOne. "Maybe Google or maybe Facebook, but the next mega-breach is not going to be orders of magnitude bigger.""
In this case, it took Yahoo three years to discover and disclose the breach, and almost four years to complete the investigation. And let's not confuse all of that with a separate Yahoo breach perpetrated in late 2014, and not disclosed until September 2016, that impacted 500 million accounts. That alone still holds as the second-biggest known breach of all time, in terms of impacted users. (One could argue that the recent Equifax breach, which impacted 145.5 million people, will ultimately have greater negative overall impact because of the particular sensitivity of the data involved.)
The most recent disclosure also comes after Yahoo's recent acquisition by Verizon and subsequent merger with AOL. Disclosing two enormous breaches back to back at the end of 2016 put a strain on the acquisition process, and even reportedly led Verizon to demand a price reduction.
Even though three billion sounds like a dramatic number, Grossman argues that it shouldn't come as a surprise. "To everybody on the outside, it looked to us when we originally read all the information that [the breach] must have impacted all the accounts," he says. The attackers "got so deep in the system, I couldn’t imagine why certain accounts would have been affected and not others."
Yahoo published information about the revision on its Account Security Update page, attempting to clarify the timeline of events. "Subsequent to Yahoo's acquisition by Verizon, and during integration, the company recently obtained new intelligence and now believes, following an investigation with the assistance of outside forensic experts, that all Yahoo user accounts were affected by the August 2013 theft," the company wrote.
The update from Yahoo is a new high—that is to say, a new low—in terms of mega-breach scale. Think of it this way: On Monday, Equifax faced warranted criticism when it revised the number of people affected by its massive data breach from 143 million to 145.5 million. Yahoo's adjustment weighs in at 800 times that. The silver lining, one imagines, is that it quite literally can't get any worse.Editor's update for Sept. 28, 2:41 am ET: The supermoon total lunar eclipse wowed sky-gazers with a moon spectacle. See our full story here: 'Supermoon' Total Lunar Eclipse Thrills Skywatchers Around the World / Awesome Eclipse Photos
On the evening of Sept. 27, the moon will once again become immersed in the Earth's shadow, resulting in a total lunar eclipse — the fourth such event in the last 17 months,
As with all lunar eclipses, the region of visibility for Sunday's blood-moon lunar eclipse will encompass more than half of our planet. Nearly 1 billion people in the Western Hemisphere, nearly 1.5 billion throughout much of Europe and Africa and perhaps another 500 million in western Asia will be able to watch as the Harvest Full Moon becomes a shadow of its former self and morphs into a glowing coppery ball.
You can watch the harvest moon lunar eclipse live in a webcast by the Slooh Community Observatory. You can also watch the total lunar eclipse on Space.com, courtesy of Slooh. The lunar eclipse will also feature the "biggest" full moon (in apparent size) of 2015, since the moon will also be at perigee on the very same day ─ its closest point to the Earth ─ 221,753 miles (356,877 km) away. [Visibility Maps for the Supermoon Lunar Eclipse (Gallery)]
The Sept. 27 event is therefore being called a "supermoon eclipse." The last such eclipse happened in 1982, and the next won't occur until 2033.
This graphic shows the areas of the Earth where viewers will see the lunar eclipse of Sept. 28, 2015, including much of North America, South America, Africa and Europe. (Image: © NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Visibility zone
Almost everyone in the Americas and Western Europe will have a beautiful view of this eclipse. The moon will be high in a dark evening sky as viewed from most of the United States and Canada while most people are still awake.
The only problematic area will be in the Western United States and West-Central Canada, where the first partial stage of the eclipse will already be underway when the moonrises and the sun sets on that final Sunday in September. But if you have an open view low to the east, even this situation will only add to the drama, for as twilight fades, these far-Westerners will see the shadow-bitten moon coming into stark view low above the landscape. And by late twilight, observers will have a fine view of the totally eclipsed lunar disk glowing red and dim low in the eastern sky.
The reason the moon can be seen at all when totally eclipsed is that sunlight is scattered and refracted around the edge of the Earth by the planet's atmosphere. To an astronaut standing on the moon during totality, the sun would be hidden behind a dark Earth outlined by a brilliant red ring of all of the world's sunrises and sunsets. [How Lunar Eclipses Work (Infographic)]
Alaskans will also see the moon rise during the eclipse; much of eastern Alaska will see the moon rise while immersed in the Earth's shadow. For Hawaiians, moonrise unfortunately comes after the end of totality, with the moon gradually ascending in the sky and its gradual emergence from the shadow readily visible. Western Europe and Africa also will get a good view of the eclipse, but at a less convenient time: before dawn on Monday morning (Sept. 28).
Eclipse schedule
The eclipse will actually begin when the moon enters the faint outer portion, or penumbra, of the Earth's shadow. The penumbra, however, is all but invisible to the eye until the moon becomes deeply immersed in it. Sharp-eyed viewers may get their first glimpse of the penumbra as a delicate shading on the left part of the moon's disk about 15 minutes before the start of the partial eclipse (when the round edge of the central shadow, or umbra, first touches the moon's left edge). During the partial eclipse, the penumbra should be readily visible as a dusky border to the dark umbral shadow.
The moon will enter Earth’s much darker umbral shadow at 1:07 a.m. on Sept. 28 by Greenwich, or Universal time, which is 9:07 p.m. on Sept. 27 in the Eastern time zone, 8:07 p.m. Central time, 7:07 p.m. Mountain time and 6:07 p.m. Pacific time (before moonrise). Sixty-four minutes later, the moon is entirely within the shadow, and sails on within it for 72 minutes until it begins to find its way out at the lower left (southeastern) edge.
The moon will be free of the umbra by 9:27 p.m. Pacific time or 12:27 a.m. (Sept. 28) Eastern time. The vaguer shading of the inner penumbra can continue to be readily detected for perhaps another 15 minutes or so after the end of umbral eclipse. Thus, the whole experience ends toward 1 a.m. for the East (with the re-brightened moon now sloping down along the arc it describes across the sky) or during the mid-evening hours for the West.
For Europe and Africa, the midpoint of this eclipse occurs roughly between midnight and dawn on Sept. 28, and the moon will therefore still be well placed in the western sky. At the moment of mid-totality (2:48 a.m. GMT), the moon will be directly overhead from a point in the Atlantic Ocean a couple of hundred miles to the north of Belém, Brazil.
Below we present a timetable of the key phases of the eclipse. Times in p.m. are for the calendar date of Sept. 27; those in a.m. are for Sept. 28.
This timetable for the supermoon total lunar eclipse of 2015 lists the times of major events for the Sept. 27-28 lunar eclipse by time zone. You can use this guide to know when the eclipse will start in your city. (Image: © Joe Rao/Space.com)
In Europe, most countries currently observe "summer time," in which clocks are either one hour ahead of Greenwich time (London, Lisbon) or two hours ahead (Paris, Rome).
For the Canadian Maritime provinces, clocks run one hour ahead of Eastern time, except in Newfoundland, where it's one and a half hours ahead.
Notable cities in the Eastern time zone include New York, Jacksonville, Florida and Atlanta; in the Central time zone, Chicago, Memphis, Tennessee, and Houston; for Mountain time, Salt Lake City, Denver and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and in the Pacific Time Zone, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In the United States, Daylight Saving Time is not observed in Arizona. Clocks there read similar to Pacific time. For most of Alaska, clocks run one hour behind Pacific time; in Hawaii two hours.
Editor's note: If you capture an amazing view of the supermoon lunar eclipse or any other night sky view that you would like to share with Space.com for a possible story or gallery, send images and comments to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.The third preseason game typically serves as a regular-season dress rehearsal for teams league-wide -- but not in Buffalo.
Saddled with a banged-up, suspension-addled roster, coach Rex Ryan used Friday night's tune-up against the Redskins as a chance to rest the majority of his first-stringers, while yanking other key players after just two possessions.
"I'm doing what's best for our team," Ryan told the club's television broadcast at halftime, per Mike Rodak of ESPN. "We want to show up at the starting game of the regular season."
Ryan notably pulled Tyrod Taylor after just two drives that saw the starting quarterback absorb a sack and another punishing hit, leading the coach to question if Taylor should have dressed at all.
"Looks like a stupid decision to play him," Ryan said, "because I never expected him to get hit."
With rookie passer Cardale Jones battling shoulder soreness, the Bills were forced to play backup EJ Manuel the entire way after Taylor exited.
While Ryan can take comfort in how his starting defense played against the Colts and Giants, Buffalo is hardly operating at full speed as Week 1 fast approaches.
With Reggie Ragland (knee) out for the year and fellow rookie linebacker Shaq Lawson sidelined after shoulder surgery, the Bills are also planning to be without veteran D-lineman Marcell Dareus, who faces a four-game suspension.
Who can blame Rex? Buffalo's wacky offseason has shoved the beleaguered coach behind the eight ball long before September. If Ryan can overcome all the summertime chaos, 2016 could be viewed as his best coaching job yet.However, when individual suburbs are compared with Canberra as a whole, the preferences of each suburb's drivers become clear. Dickson residents are 6.6 times more likely to own a Hyundai i30 compared with other Canberrans. The car is also the most relatively popular vehicle in Civic and Weston. Toyota Camrys are the car of choice for Gungahlin residents, drivers in nearby Amaroo are more than two times as likely as other motorists to own a Subaru Impreza, and a Toyota Yaris is twice as popular in Forde than it is across the ACT. The inner north appears to be the home of Subaru Foresters, which are the most relatively popular car in Ainslie, Downer, Hackett, Lyneham, O'Connor and Watson. There are 12 times as many Camrys registered in Parkes compared with the ACT average, likely because they are owned by government departments.
The preferred car in the industrial centres is the Toyota Hilux, which is the most relatively popular vehicle in Fyshwick, Hume, Mitchell and Symonston. Volkswagen Golfs dominate the inner south, having far more registrations in Kingston, Forrest, Yarralumla, Red Hill, Barton and Deakin than the average suburb. Golfs are more than three times as popular in these suburbs than elsewhere in the ACT. The registration data also reveals Belconnen drivers are almost three times as likely to own a Honda Civic than other car owners. The Civic is also the most relatively popular vehicle in neighbouring Hawker, as well as the Gungahlin suburbs of Franklin (3.1 times as likely) and Palmerston (2.1 times).
Tuggeranong suburbs are best represented by the Holden Commodore, with Conder, Kambah, Richardson, Chisholm and Gilmore listed among the areas where it is most popular. Overall, while the Mazda 3 is the ACT's most popular model of car, the Corolla came in a close second, accounting for more than 6 per cent of all Canberra cars. It was closely followed by the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore, with the top-four most-popular models making up nearly 25 per cent of all models registered in the ACT. The top 10 models overall across the ACT were rounded out by the Camry, Mazda 2, Golf, Hilux, Mitsubishi Lancer and the Forester.In January, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the trade group of US investor-owned utilities, released a singularly amazing report that the press missed at the time, says David Roberts at Grist. The report is a blueprint for the financial collapse of the North American utility industry—and all of it at the hands of solar panels.
The summary: When people and communities start producing their own power via solar panels, four things happen:
1. Electricity utility companies sell less electricity. Right now solar panels provide less than 1% of the power used by the US grid. But Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that by 2020, in some parts of the US, they could provide 10%.
2. As a result, rates for electricity will go up—a lot. Utility companies’ long-term investments in fossil-fuel power plants—with payoffs that can span 30 years—must be repaid. So if people are using less power, the cost of those power plants must be spread across fewer customers. The EEI estimates this trend could increase rates for electricity by 20% or more. Using Bloomberg’s timetable for the growth of solar power in the US, that could happen as soon as 2020.
3. What’s worse, solar panels supplant the most profitable kind |
to go through the ground rules again, we’ll have about half an hour of discussion. Then, by 4:00, please have your questions submitted. Then I will take those questions and ask the director. At the end of that, at 4:30, I ask that you remain seated or standing so the director can move out safely, and then we’ll conclude the event. OK? Thank you.
If you don’t know, I’m Juan Zarate, senior adviser here at CSIS.
Director Pompeo, it’s quite a declaration on your part in terms of not only an indictment of WikiLeaks, but also a declaration that there are non-state intelligence services, you know, actively working against U.S. interests and working with our adversaries potentially. Why – in your first remarks, why talk about this? Are you worried that this is kind of the new phase of counterintelligence and intelligence work? Are you worried that the Russians are continuing to exploit WikiLeaks? Are you worried that other adversaries, like the Iranians or the North Koreans, are beginning to look at this model as an effective model? Why focus on this issue?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So I had intended to make my first remarks sometime in June of 2019. (Laughter.) That’s one of the great graces of this new role. But having now had the chance to observe the risk that is presented by these non-state hostile intelligence agencies, I wanted to make sure that the American people understood the threat that they pose to us.
They may be small – and I mentioned one particular character a few times – but it’s much bigger than that. It’s much broader and deeper than that. And frankly, I think the United States government has not done nearly enough to protect our nation, our cyber infrastructure, all the things that are at risk from those threats.
We have spent a lot of time looking at hard targets, nation-state actors, but now have this new threat sitting out there, which behaves in a slightly different way but has as its motive the destruction of America in the very same way that those countries do. And they have now found, as you suggested, a model, a model that says we will actively go out and work. We will recruit. We will do all the things that intelligence agencies that are hostile to us do, and then align ourselves with other nation-states that might well have a vested interest in that.
It is dangerous. And I wanted to make sure that I clearly articulated that the intelligence community, and I think the United States government in its entirety, have an obligation. And I’m confident this administration will pursue them with great vigor.
MR. ZARATE: Director, we can have an around-the-world discussion in 60 minutes. We can do sort of topic of the day. We can do what’s your top 10 threat list. You know how these discussions go. Let’s do a little bit of a mix of all of that, because I know there’s a lot of interest in the room on a whole host of topics.
But let’s take this idea of non-state actors. And you mentioned al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, learning from WikiLeaks. What are you most worried about in terms of terrorist adaptation? And what can you tell us about the fight against ISIS? And, frankly, what comes next? We know that we’re preparing to attack the capital in Syria, Raqqa. We know – we’ve seen the attacks in Europe, most recently in Germany, St. Petersburg, Stockholm.
Where is the terrorist threat going? And what’s our strategy to go after it?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So they – the threat from radical Islamic terrorism is real and continuing and going to be around certainly for as long as I’m in this position. We’ve made great strides in Iraq, taking back a great piece of the physical caliphate, so-called caliphate. We’re making great strides in Syria collectively, not just the United States. But this threat continues to change, to transmogrify in ways that are difficult.
We’ve seen it in their cyber operations. We’ve seen it in their capacity to inspire threats here inside our own country. We frankly spend a lot of resources attacking this problem and have made great progress, frankly, in the 15 years, 16 years now on, from 9/11. There’s no doubt about that. We have the capacity to identify these in many, many instances. But you’ve got to achieve perfection to keep people safe, and that is an enormously challenging goal.
I do worry about what comes after, where these terrorists will go. The Europeans – I just literally returned from London this morning early, and our European colleagues are very worried about where these folks go to. They’re much closer to them and much easier place to travel. And so we collectively – not just the United States, but all of our allies – have to continue to stay one step ahead of these terrorists. We’re making progress, but the fight is continual.
MR. ZARATE: Director, do we have the allies on the ground to do this work? The question in Syria whether or not we’ve got the right partners, whether or not there is even the relevant force not only to take on ISIS but to deal with the reconstruction afterward, what happens in Iraq. Do we have the partnerships that you, as the CIA director, need, but also as the country needs, to deal with these non-state actors?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah, I appreciate the question. I tend not to focus just on ISIS. They are – they’re important. They are big. They had a good run, almost up and through Baghdad and Irbil. But this threat is so much bigger than al-Qaida. You saw what happened today in Afghanistan against the ISIS-Khorasan threat. We have to actively engage it everywhere, and I think we do. I think we have a good set of partners.
And I think, frankly, this administration has done a pretty good job of encouraging our Gulf state partners to work alongside us in ways that they have not previously been prepared to do. And that will provide an important bulwark for us as we begin to fight what will be the next phase against al-Qaida and ISIS and the Taliban in the places we find them.
MR. ZARATE: Director, your first trip abroad was to Turkey and to the Gulf. Why did you go there first, and what did you hear?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: We have important intelligence partners there who help America each and every day stay safe. And I wanted to thank them for that. But I wanted to talk to them about the fact that I expect more, that we need increased assistance in those pockets still that remain in those places that are funding terror, who are educating terrorists in their mosques. I wanted them to know that this was an administration that wanted them to think about that differently and to be true partners in this defeat of terrorism in the Middle East.
And I got a great reception. I had good conversations with my colleagues from the Gulf states, the intelligence chiefs from the Gulf states, who redoubled their commitment to helping the United States achieve what’s frankly in all of our joint best interests.
MR. ZARATE: Are you worried about developments in Turkey? Obviously, they have a very big election there this coming weekend.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yes.
MR. ZARATE: (Laughs.) What worries you? What worries you in Turkey?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So they’re a NATO partner, and we need them to behave as such. We need them to be a partner. And there’s lots of dimensions, right. You think about issues that are related to intelligence, but more broad – finance flows. They frankly have done better work as of late in preventing foreign terrorists from going to Syria, although it’s a lot less exciting to go there these days than it was for a couple of years too. So there have been pockets where they’ve helped us, but there have been places where they’ve not always been the most productive ally. They’re great. They let us – they let us participate in exercises that are very, very important. But we need them to be full-fledged partners against this threat.
MR. ZARATE: With respect to the Gulf partners, certainly I’ve heard, I know others who have, you know, relationships and contacts in the Gulf, have sort of been thirsting for a resurgence of American leadership and strength in the region. Is that something that you heard in the Gulf when you met with your partners there?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yes. And I would say that I wouldn’t confine it to the Gulf.
One of the things that has surprised me in my new role is how much time I spend with our liaison partners. It consumes a good deal of my day, often. And what they all are demanding is American leadership. It’s not – they’re not looking for the 82nd Airborne, right? They’re not – they’re not looking for us to invest enormous amounts of American treasure. But it is often the case that in a dangerous world America is the only country that can present the leadership that can solve many, many problems, and they are – they are thirsty for that. And I fully expect this administration can deliver that leadership.
MR. ZARATE: Let’s turn to Syria, because in some ways Syria represents a change, perhaps, in the foreign policy of the administration. You may argue differently. But at least the perception of a change, and certainly the perception that the U.S. is willing to enforce red lines in the context of the use of chemical weapons. I’m going to ask you a couple questions here, but I think one interesting question that hasn’t been commented on too much is the speed and rapidity of the – of the assessments that were made. With some much baggage with the intel community around past failures and the need to get the assessments right, how was this done? I mean, take us – take us behind the scenes, if you can, around the intel assessments and how that played into the decision-making of this administration.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Well, so – (chuckles) – let’s see, where to begin? You can – you can imagine that the very first minutes the question was: What happened? To the extent we know what happened, who did it? Can we prove that? How confident are we the scope of nature of what it was they undertook, and under whose authority they took it? I may have missed a question in there, but there were a series of questions that immediately came to the intelligence community.
And in remarkable order, one of the most impressive things about the place that I work is we were able to develop several hypotheses around that, and then to begin to develop fact patterns which either supported or suggested that the hypothesis wasn’t right. And we were in relatively short order able to deliver to our president a high-confidence assessment that, in fact, it was the Syrian regime that had launched chemical strikes against its own people in Idlib.
It took I don’t want to say exactly how long, but we were good, and fast. (Laughter.) Not me, our team. And I don’t mean just the CIA; the entire intelligence community was good and fast, and we challenged ourselves. I can assure you we were challenged by the president and his team. We wanted to make sure that we had it right. And there’s not much like when the president looks at you and says, Pompeo, are you sure, when you know that he’s contemplating an action based upon the analysis that your organization has provided. And we got it right, and I’m proud of the work that the team did to help the president have the opportunity to make a good decision about what he ought to do, again, in the face of this atrocity that took place.
MR. ZARATE: What do you – what do you then make of the Russians’ disputation of those conclusions? Bashar al-Assad just now – you know, in the last 24 hours – calling this a fabrication, the entire event. What do you say in those terms? In part because it’s a – it’s a battle of legitimacy and of proof.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah.
MR. ZARATE: How do you – how do you deal with that?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So, there are challenges. There are things that we were able to conclude – or use to form the basis of our conclusion that we can’t reveal, so that’s always tricky. But we’ve done our best, and over time I think we can reveal a bit more. Everyone saw the open-source photos, so we – (chuckles) – we had reality on our side, too.
You know, Russia has – I think they’re on their – I can’t remember, it’s their sixth or seventh story now, none of which have an ounce of truth to them. And I would – for anyone who for a moment thinks that this is a credible man, I’ll remind you what he said about the airplane that was shot down, the Malaysian airplane. Go look at his initial quotes. Go look at what he said about the fact that there were no “little green men” in Ukraine, and the fact that he later actually said himself that, in fact, it was his team. And I think to this day he continues to claim that there are no Russians in eastern Ukraine. This is a man for whom veracity doesn’t translate into English.
MR. ZARATE: Do we think the Russians knew about the chemical attack or maybe even were complicit in it?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So I don’t have much to add. The White House put out a statement. I don’t have much to add to that today.
MR. ZARATE: OK. Maybe one more question on Russia and Syria. Do you think the Russians feel cornered at this point? Are you – are you assessing that the Russians are more likely to lash out? Or is this a moment of opportunity for diplomacy, perhaps, given what’s happened?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Well, as the intelligence provider, we’ve presented the president alternative scenarios for how lots of parties there might respond – the Russians, the Iranians, the Syrians themselves, the Syrian chemical weapons program more particularly, what other options folks might take there in Syria. I don’t know what the Russians will conclude. I’ve had a chance to see a little bit about how the meetings when there in Russia yesterday. I certainly hope it’s the case that the Russians join the rest of the world community in condemning the attacks that took place there. We haven’t seen that yet, but as a CIA director, one has to live in hope.
MR. ZARATE: You mentioned Iran. Iran, obviously a player in the Syrian context, but more broadly a concern to the United States. When you were a congressman you talked critically about the JCPOA. During your confirmation hearings, you talked about moving away from the role of being critical and more as an assessor of whether or not Iran was complying with the terms of the nuclear deal. What’s your sense of both that – is Iran complying with the terms of the nuclear deal – and more broadly, how do you see the Iranian threat on a regional or even a global basis?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: I don’t want to say much about their compliance with the agreement. I’d prefer to present that to the president. I’ll let him communicate that. You should know, we’re actively engaged in a lot of work to assist the president, making sure he has an understanding of where the Iranians are complying and where they might not be. We should all be mindful, given what took place in Syria, and go back and read that JCOPA and what it talks about in terms of the declared facilities and undeclared facilities and how much access the IAEA will have to each of those two very distinct groups. And so that might suggest to you whatever level – what level of certainty we could ever hope to present to the commander in chief.
And with respect to the Iranians, they’re on the march. Whether it’s enormous increased capacity to deliver missile systems into Israel from Hezbollah, their increased strength in and around Mosul with the Shia militias, the work that they’ve done to support the Houthis to fire missiles against the Saudis – the list of Iranian transgressions has increased dramatically since the date that the JCPOA was signed.
MR. ZARATE: And do you see the Iranians trying to use non-state proxies as a force of influence?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Certainly, in each of – in each of those places. Yeah, right, the Shia crescent is close to being developed. And that is not in America’s best interest to permit that to happen.
MR. ZARATE: What do we do to push back or to deal with that?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So I always start with making sure that we understand that we have to have our partners be enormous assets in assisting us in doing that, whether it’s the work that the Emirates can do in certain pockets, the places that Israel can help us, the places that the other Gulf states can provide assistance. Not always simply focused on kinetic assistance. When people think of assistance, they often think of can they put a battalion or two in the field. These are – these are nations with great treasure and great wealth and great capacity to reach into places that America can’t always reach. And we also have other allies, the Europeans, for whom the threat from Iran is great. And I’m confident that they can assist us as well. I would also argue that something like the activity that was undertaken last week in Syria would have to have been noticed by the Iranians.
MR. ZARATE: Very good. (Laughter.) Let’s also talk about another party that may have paid attention to that, North Korea.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: I want to clean that one up a little bit. (Laughter.) But not much. I may double down into trouble, so here we go. (Laughter.)
What I mean by that is this was a decision-making process that was decisive, thoughtful and truly based on a factual understanding of the geostrategic importance of the things that are facing our nation today. We had someone violate the chemical weapons treaty, right? This is – this is not insignificant. And so I do think the Iranians ought to take note of the fact that this administration that is prepared to engage in activities that are different from what America has been doing these past few years.
MR. ZARATE: Director, was there a calculus to do this at a time when there was a meeting with the Chinese leadership at Mar-a-Largo? (Laughter.)
DIRECTOR POMPEO: (Laughs.) You know, how much more time do we have? (Laughter.) No. No this – I’ll be honest, the decision-making process, it takes a little bit. It took – it took the intelligence community a little bit to develop its assessment. And so, no, I think – I think that’s a too cute. I think in fact, this was – this was something that we worked as quickly as we could to respond in a way that was connected to the threat that had been presented. I think both in the trimming and in the target selection, were all intrinsically connected as both a tactical, operational, strategic matter to the threat we were attempting to push back against.
MR. ZARATE: Shifting to North Korea, the administration has talked about the strategy of strategic patience being over. Concerns about the development of the ballistic missile program, continued development of the nuclear program, the potential – as we’re reading in the press – of another nuclear test based on the anniversary – 105th anniversary of the founder of North Korea’s birthday. What concerns you most about North Korea? And why has that become such a hot-button and central issue for the administration?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah, it’s just progress, right? Multiple administrations have tried to deal with the threat of a(n) intercontinental ballistic missile capable of putting a nuclear warhead into the United States, and we’re simply closer now than we have ever been at any time in North Korea’s history. And so if you said what’s different, what’s unique, what’s new, maybe nothing other than each step along the way – each test, each effort – as the knowledge base increases and the capacity to deliver that increases and draws closer, it both reduces the option set to prevent it and makes more likely that you get a bad decision on a tough day from the leader of North Korea.
MR. ZARATE: What are intelligence gaps? Is it largely about intent? Certainly, we’re witnessing capability. What concerns you about intelligence gaps as you try to provide the best intelligence to the president?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah. You know, I don’t want to speak about that specifically.
But, boy, I spend a lot of my time worrying about exactly that. Indeed, it’s great. We’ll produce great product. We’ll provide really good, sound information to the president. But I worry every day about something we miss, something we didn’t have access to, some pocket that we didn’t go pick. And so, yeah, it’s that – it’s that we don’t have a complete enough understanding of all that’s taking place, and I wouldn’t limit that to North Korea. I would put that in all of the activities that we undertake.
MR. ZARATE: The Israelis talk about this a little bit in the context of the Iranian nuclear program. This was during the negotiations. They talked about a zone of immunity, a concern that the Iranians would reach a certain degree of capability and a point at which nothing could be done about the program, in a sense. Are we reaching a zone of immunity with respect to North Korea?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Look, it’s certainly the risk. We have to all keep in mind, as an intelligence matter, we understand that this is not only a nuclear threat, right? It’s not unidimensional. You might have a nation that developed an intercontinental ballistic missile that has been developed in a way that could deliver a nuclear weapon. Well, we’re talking about a pretty significant military, conventional forces, that can do enormous harm to a major city in the world that’s not very far off from the place they have their weapons systems. So it is a very complex problem. It’s the reason it’s such a hard nut to crack and why previous administrations have, frankly, not done so. But it’s fallen to us that we’re at this time where they’re close, and President Trump has said very clearly we have an obligation to prevent that from occurring.
MR. ZARATE: Let me – this is kind of the final call for questions, by the way, so if you –
MR. : We’ll come to the side.
MR. ZARATE: OK, got it. So I’ll take those in just a second. But let me ask kind of a series of three questions that are more sort of Washington-centric.
First, I just came from a panel earlier today talking about the tension between the White House and the intelligence community, and where that’s going. You’ve obviously been a very important bridge and a leader, obviously, at the CIA, but a trusted member of the White House team in the early days of the administration. How do you describe where the relationship is between the White House and the intelligence community?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: It’s fantastic. (Laughter.) No, don’t laugh; I mean that. I can only give you my observations. This morning at 10:30, I was in the Oval Office presenting the president his daily brief. I do it nearly every day. When I’m out of town, my deputy is there. The team’s there. The vice president, there almost every day, too, when he’s in-country. They are voracious consumers of the product we develop. They ask really hard questions. I think that’s the sign of a good relationship. I always remind people that when you stop talking it’s not a good thing. So we get lots of hard questions about the product, and how we developed and how we sourced it, and are we sure. That seems completely appropriate. I literally just left another gathering where there were lots of activities underway, but almost all of them hinged on our capacity to deliver the president the intelligence that he needed. And he asks me all the time, and we do our best to deliver against it.
The relationship is, in my sense, fantastic, the word that I used, because the president also is completely prepared to hear things that run counter to the hypothesis. You should know that happens to me, too. I have a hypothesis about a situation, and my team presents data, and I ask really hard questions before we deliver it. It seems quite natural in the intelligence process that this would happen. And so we see that. And, I don’t know, we deliver to him each day our best analysis of what it is he’s most interested in on that given day and the things that we think he needs to know.
MR. ZARATE: There’s a lot of interest in Washington about how he consumes information, the president that is. Does he like more visual information? Does he like videos? Have you adapted the way he consumes information? Everyone, you know, consumes information in different ways, right?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yes. This issue consumes Washington too. (Laughter.)
MR. ZARATE: Yeah. (Laughs.)
DIRECTOR POMPEO: So I – it won’t surprise anyone that after my nomination I spent a fair amount of time trying to understand how you deliver that product to that various audiences. It’s not just the president. Certainly he’s our first customer, but we deliver information to the Department of Defense every day, their most senior leaders, and to H.R. McMaster and his team. So it a broad audience that is reading the product that comes off the press each morning at 3:30 and is delivered throughout the day as well.
And so what we have – so my reading made very clear to me that every individual, including every president, has consumed their information in different ways. They’ve taken it different times, for different durations, with less or more consistency than other presidents. You know, I guess I’d just say this: So we deliver the president his product each day. He consumes it. There have been days when I thought we were there, ready to give the brief. I thought there’s no a chance we’re getting in today. It was a very busy day on a subject unrelated to national security. And you know, each day we’re there.
It’s like clockwork. It’s – and it’s important, because sometimes we only need just a few minutes, and sometimes we need a great deal more of the president’s time. And in every case, he has permitted myself and the DNI and all of the intelligence community to have the window we needed to make sure that we were broadly able to help him understand what was – we thought was going to be very important to him.
MR. ZARATE: Right. You mentioned the DNI, the director of national intelligence, Senator Coats. He’s now on board.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Praise the lord.
MR. ZARATE: Yeah, how do you see that relationship? There’s a lot of controversy.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah. I was the second-happiest person when he was confirmed. His acting director was the most happy, I think. (Laughter.) Look, I’ve known – I knew Senator Coats. I think the relationship’s going to be great. We each have plenty to do. Different spaces, different domains. And I am thrilled to have him on board, beginning to help make sure that the broader IC, the dozen-odd intelligence agencies, are delivering a comprehensive product to the president. And not just a CIA product, or an NSA product, or an NRO product, but a comprehensive product that makes sense for the president.
MR. ZARATE: Before we turn to the question, and we hope to get those in a second, we like to end on a positive note. You know –
DIRECTOR POMPEO: That wasn’t positive?
MR. ZARATE: No, that’s – no, that’s super. (Laughter.) No, I mean, thematically. Thematically. That’s super positive and fantastic. No – (laughs) – you know, the CIA obviously, you know, presents information about threats, analysis around terrible events like the chemical attacks. But it also presents potential opportunities. Where do you see potential opportunities, not only for the intelligence community but for U.S. national security moving forward? There’s a lot of threats in the world. We’ve just sort of scratched the surface. Where are some opportunities that you and the team at the agency have looked at and maybe even briefed the president about?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah. I can think of – there’s more than a handful. Two or three that come to mind: Along with General Kelly, we presented the president some options where we think we can do some really good work against the counternarcotics threats in Mexico and in Central America. I think not a lot of resources but a lot of focus can do some real good there. And I think we’re going to head down that path.
There are real opportunities in Africa as well, places where I think, in the same way, that we can – along with our partners – begin to develop a set of relationships. There’s a big counterterrorism threat there, and one that we’ve done a mediocre job at addressing. And I think we can – if we present a more organized solution, we can come up with very, very good outcomes. And then I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful with respect to some of the larger threats that we’ve talked about, with China and Russia we can get to a place where we can find places where we are not constantly in conflict. And I think there’s a handful of those as well.
MR. ZARATE: Let me – let me just take that last threat, on China, because I think it’s worth asking. Do you think there’s hope that the Chinese will exert more influence on the North Koreans to either slow or to suspend their nuclear program?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: I’m counting on it.
MR. ZARATE: OK. All right.
I’m ready for the questions. Thank you. And while I’m doing this, let me – let me also not only thank CSIS, but let me thank the Transnational Threat Project, led by the late Arnaud de Borchgrave. Alexandra de Borchgrave is with us in the front seat. Judge Webster is the chair of the steering committee, now run ably and expertly by Tom Sanderson. For those who don’t know TNT, they do remarkable work. I was fortunate enough to be part of a three-year study with Tom and his team on the arc of instability, looking at the evolution of militancy. They do great work. So I just wanted to thank you, Tom, for hosting.
Alexandra, thank you.
And we always think of –
DIRECTOR POMPEO: You got a couple more here.
MR. ZARATE: Oh my gosh. All right, here we go.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: All right, I’m going to settle in. We got – there we go.
MR. ZARATE: (Laughs.) Yeah.
All right. I have to ask this one, I guess. Russia. As the investigations proceed, this person’s curious, what are the big outstanding questions for you? What would you like to know that you don’t? And is there any actual evidence that Russia continues to try to interfere or to use active measures to interfere in the U.S. democratic process?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Well, I don’t have any comment on the investigations. They’ll run their course. We’ll do our duty and provide those who ask and have a right to see it, we’ll give them the information that they need so that they can conduct their investigations. I think that’s the agency’s appropriate role.
But with the threat of Russian active measures, yes, it – (chuckles) – it will continue, and I would use as proof of that the fact it’s been going on for decades. This is not a new problem.
I was in – I was in Europe this weekend, and they’re very worried about it in their own elections. They’re seen it. It’s not that they’re worried it’s not imaginary. It’s real. And it’s going to take an enormous amount of creativity. It is, frankly – it is, frankly, with respect to these active measures, it is harder in a democracy, right? There are some tricky – important and tricky issues in a democracy to push back against these information wars, the set of active measures. But we’ve got to redouble our efforts to do so. We have to preserve the American democracy against this threat – this threat of misinformation and propaganda and the like that poses a real risk to our democratic values.
MR. ZARATE: And a lot of our allies are worried about that.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: They’re all very worried about it.
MR. ZARATE: All right. Let me – I’ve got two here that relate to, you know, sort of bureaucratic questions, but they’re important ones.
One relates to whether or not there’s a plan to restructure the intelligence community, as reports indicated that the White House had hoped to do.
Related to that, let me ask this. Director Brennan had launched a large reorganization of the CIA. Some thought that it took the operational focus away from the agency. The question here is, do you plan to stand by the reorganization or revert back to the more traditional model?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah, I’m not going to comment on the second one. I’d certainly tell my workforce before I tell all of you, as much as I dearly love you. (Laughter.)
But I’ll comment this way with respect to the transition that took place at the agency over the past couple years. I did this twice when I ran small businesses. I did things that you would call a modernization or reorganization. In neither case did we nail it. In neither case did we get it right the first time. And so we took a look at it, tweaked it, made it better. In neither of those cases did we get it right the second time, either.
Look, these are continuing processes. When you’re operating in an agile space, organizational structure changes to meet the evolving set of threats. And I certainly intend to make sure that the agency gets to the right place so that we can meet those threats.
And with respect to the review of the structure of the DNI, there’s been no policy decision made yet. I have been – and I don’t have to hide it, because I wrote about this in some of your newspapers – I have often stated that I believe that now, 10 years plus on from the creation of this structure, it’s worthy of a review, given how the threats have evolved. And so I would welcome that kind of review to make sure we have it right, that we’re not back to where we were or that we’ve not gone to a place that doesn’t deliver the intelligence the president needs. A once-a-decade scrub of the structure of the intelligence community might seem to me, at least, like a useful undertaking. That’s just me. We’ll see. I don’t – not foreshadowing what the administration may or may not do.
MR. ZARATE: Yeah.
This is a related question, but it is about the CIA directly. In the changing global threat environment, what will the agency prioritize in attracting the next generation of CIA intelligence professionals? Is it diversity, expanding the size of the CIA, et cetera?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: One more time? Is the question about what kind of people or what –
MR. ZARATE: What kind of – what’s the next generation of CIA pros? Recruitment, are you looking for diversity? What are you looking for?
DIRECTOR POMPEO: No, I’m looking for some brave young men and women who want to go do really cool stuff. (Laughter.)
In that sense, Juan, it’s – this agency has a fabulous history, remarkable people. And those are the kinds of people that we’re looking for: smart people, agile people, people who are willing to sacrifice an enormous amount of their lives to go do really hard things on behalf of the American people. And we’ll find them and take them from wherever we – wherever we can. We need to make sure we have the languages so that we can make sure we understand what others are doing and come from a cultural context.
And by the way, those languages include machine language so – right? – so that we have the capacity to do some of the things that I suggested in my remarks, that is, we have to be cutting-edge with respect to our technology as well. But the core skillset is willingness to work really hard, to be really smart and to be an enormous patriot.
MR. ZARATE: I’m going to take the prerogative. I’m going to ask a follow-on question to this. And it relates to your – to your remarks. Is there – is there a role for non-state actors to play a bigger role in advancing U.S. interests? We often talk about the negative side of the ledger. Obviously, your remarks touched on it. We talk about terrorists. We talk about hackers. But there’s also ethical hackers. There are also those that are trying to promote U.S. values and interests, NGOs and others. What’s your view of the role of non-state actors in a positive way? And the reason I ask it is because that question about what are you looking for, both internal, it’s a – there’s an external question to that as well.
DIRECTOR POMPEO: Yeah, yeah. You know, I haven’t given much thought to that in the cyber realm and the hacking realm. I haven’t given it much thought. It is the case today already that we have great partners all around the world who are non-state actors, who are helping America do good things in places all around the world, and we deeply appreciate that assistance.
I’d say this too. I had a question. I think it was a week or 10 days ago I was asked – it was about something some world leader had said that was just clearly false, and I was asked, well, what are you doing to disprove that. And this was a journalist who asked me the question. And I said, well, tell me what you’re doing to disprove that, right? I mean, you’re the fact-finders. This is – this is a central theme that we hear from journalists all across the world, is they are truth-tellers extraordinaire. So I’m hopeful that we will get some of the truth-telling from these people, who will go out and do their own independent fact analysis about what all of us say, whether it’s our own government, where |
I did get married. However, when I spent time around my friends’ kids I noticed….it wasn’t fun. I wasn’t having that “oh aren’t they cute” feeling. The feeling I got was, “no thanks, I think I’ll pass” and “how soon can I leave?”
When I mentioned this to people, they comforted me by saying “Oh, just have them – you’ll feel different when they are your own….I hate other people’s kids but I love mine”. Everyone spoke about how wonderful they are – sweet, cute, how everything is new to them, how it makes you appreciate life.
What worried me about this scenario was that babies are permanent. It’s not like a dress that I could return if it just wasn’t working for me. Maybe I just needed to try on a baby before buying?
Being an auntie seemed like a good compromise. You know, enjoy all the good parts and then reap the financial benefits of being childless. So I tried. I spent time with babies, with little kids and bigger kids, with ADD kids and “good kids”.
But the more I tried, the less I enjoyed them. I didn’t find babies cute – they were just uninteresting. I didn’t enjoy the crying, the smells and the random smears of what might be chocolate or poop. With the older kids, the sweetness that sometimes surfaced was quickly drowned out by the mood swings from happy to angry to tears every 10 minutes. The wonder of all-things-new was swamped by the incessant noise of toys, TV and questions about everything under the sun. Conversations, shopping trips or a visit to the bathroom were punctuated with interruptions, disagreements and whining.
My experiences with other people’s kids proved to me I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t enjoy being responsible for someone else’s entertainment, feeding needs, bathroom needs and emotional needs. The good parts did not come anywhere near compensating me for what I was giving up to be with them.
In the end, I just didn’t like them. I far prefer quiet, order and predictability. I enjoy offering my gifts of love, nurturing and compassion to adults, who are often in need of those very gifts.
So technically, children have made me appreciate life…the life I have without them.
Interesting…provocative…well-said. Comments?What is a currency war? Currency wars are also referred to as "competitive devaluations." They occur when a number of nations seek to deliberately depreciate the value of their domestic currencies. The goal is to stimulate their respective economies. You see, a weaker currency will make a nation's exports more competitive in global markets and simultaneously makes imports more expensive. Higher export volumes increase economic growth, while more expensive imports encourage consumers to shift to local alternatives instead of imported products.
While currency devaluation is a common occurrence in the foreign exchange market, the hallmark of a currency war is that a number of nations engage in devaluation attempts simultaneously. Presently, more than 20 countries have reduced interest rates or implemented measures to ease monetary policy from January to April 2015. And in August, China – the world's second-largest economy – jumped on board in a major way, placing a strain on the world reserve currency, the U.S. dollar…
China fired a shot heard 'round the world Aug. 11, stoking fears of what could become the ugliest of all currency wars. In a surprise move, the country massively devalued the yuan 2% – its biggest one-day devaluation in 20 years.
Chinese officials were quick to play down the devaluation. Ma Jun, the chief economist at the People's Bank of China, said the Chinese government had "no intention or need to participate in a currency war."
But, as is often the case, actions speak louder than words.
"China is no longer an average player in the global economy. They're the second-largest economy in the world. And when you have the devaluation of 2% right off the bat automatically – you're going to have a higher cost burden on the exports from the United States to Asia, and to one of our largest export markets, to say nothing of the impact it's going to have on the region," Jon Huntsman, former U.S. ambassador to China, told CNN on Aug. 16. "So when you look at the immediate import that it had on currencies – you get a sense as to why people are very, very frustrated with China."
Indeed, the Chinese currency devaluation sent shockwaves through financial markets on Aug. 11…
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 212 points (1.2%) that day. Companies with exposure to China country suffered most, including General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), which declined more than 3%. The Nasdaq dropped nearly 1.3%, with tech giant Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) cratering more than 5%. And the S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX), the market's fear gauge, surged more than 12% on the day.
China's move will have more than just that immediate impact – it gives the country unprecedented, long-term control over the U.S. dollar…
Currency Wars: China Has U.S. Dollar on Puppet Strings
Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro Pacific Capital and best-selling author of "Crash Proof," issued a warning about currency wars and an impending U.S. dollar collapse. He spoke to Newsmax TV on Aug. 11:
"We're on the verge of a much worse financial crisis than the one we went through in 2008, and it's going to take the form of a currency crisis. You're talking about currency wars. America is going to win the currency war, which is a race to the bottom, and you don't want to win a currency war because a currency war is different from most wars in that the object is to kill yourself and unfortunately, we're going to succeed."
You see, no other country has had this much impact on the U.S. monetary policy in quite some time – or arguably, ever. The U.S. Federal Reserve must now reconsider the dollar's role in foreign exchange markets as it decides whether to raise interest rates this year.
"It is very possible that we could see a 10% to 15% drop in the exchange rate against the U.S. dollar in the next week or two," Duncan Innes-Ker, of the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Guardian on Aug. 13.
In an Aug. 13 report, Morgan Stanley analysts Hans Redeker, Ian Stannard, and Sheena Shah said China has exported "deflationary pressure" for global central banks to depress their countries' own exchange rates. "This is not a marginal event, given China's economic weight."
The Fed was expected to raise rates as early as next month. It has said it wants to be "reasonably confident" inflation is returning to its 2% target before enacting a rate change.
But a weaker yuan would reduce the price of Chinese goods. That, in turn, would depress the already low U.S. inflation rate of 1.3%.
Currency wars are only one of the ways China aims to take down the U.S. dollar… In fact, there are five dangerous catalysts that could destroy the dollar and trigger a massive U.S. economic collapse. Continue here to find out how these five "flashpoints" will trigger the U.S. dollar demise…
Follow us on Twitter @moneymorning.Hugh Jackman Will Be Back As Wolverine In X-Men: Days Of Future Past By Eric Eisenberg Random Article Blend
There is no surprise in this news:
The interesting thing about having Wolverine around for Days of Future Past is that he can fit anywhere in the film's multiple timelines. Hopefully we'll get to see him as the older, grey-streaked version of the character in the apocalyptic future timeline where mutant-hunting Sentinels are on the loose as well as the period setting that will establish it as a strict First Class sequel.
The Wolverine will be in theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past will be released July 18, 2014. X-Men: First Class proved it: you just can't have an X-Men movie without Wolverine. Despite rumor denials during production that said Hugh Jackman was not on set and wouldn't appear in the new movie, he was front and center in a humorous scene featuring Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) in First Class, keeping his streak of five X-Men movies going strong. Jackman will stretch the record further next summer when The Wolverine is released and guess what? He's still not done.There is no surprise in this news: THR is reporting that Jackman is now in talks to reprise his long-running role as Wolverine in Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past. He will be joining both Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, who Singer recently revealed will also be coming back for more X-Men fun. As for the stars of First Class, the only confirmed returning stars are McAvoy, Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult. The performance will also extend Jackman's record for having played a single live-action superhero character the most times on screen with six (X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine).The interesting thing about having Wolverine around for Days of Future Past is that he can fit anywhere in the film's multiple timelines. Hopefully we'll get to see him as the older, grey-streaked version of the character in the apocalyptic future timeline where mutant-hunting Sentinels are on the loose as well as the period setting that will establish it as a strict First Class sequel.The Wolverine will be in theaters July 26, 2013. X-Men: Days of Future Past will be released July 18, 2014. Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topFernando Niño de Guevara, Grand Inquisitor of Spain, 1600-02, by El Greco (1541-1614) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]
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(1998; Addendum added on 11-2-03)
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The following is from my Apologetics/Ecumenism discussion list. My opponents’ words will be in blue:
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There is a fairly obvious example of a moral teaching that the church, from the apostles onward, got stunningly wrong, and which was not corrected by Christendom until the mid-19th century. I refer to slavery.
This is factually incorrect. I have links on my Catholic “Scandals” Page (and further documentation below) which show beyond dispute that the Catholic Church opposed slavery, especially the wicked, New World variety. American history is not synonymous with Church history!
Slavery is condoned in the New Testament by the two preeminent apostles, Peter and Paul, and nowhere is it condemned as evil.
This is an extremely complicated ethical/social question. Suffice it to say here that there is a large similarity between slavery as practiced in antiquity and indentured servanthood, which was a common practice, especially in pre-capitalistic societies. The latter is not necessarily “evil,” provided the servant was treated with dignity, and not like an animal (as indeed many forms of slavery were reduced to). In fact, one might say such “slaves” were treated better than, say, West Virginia Coal Miners or laborers on the railroads or the Panama Canal in the early 1900s (all under a capitalist system). So I don’t think it is as clear-cut as you present it.
The biblical approval of slavery was used as rhetorical ammunition by apologists for the Confederate cause in the Civil War in the 1860s. Christian churches throughout the south defended slavery from their pulpits. Slavery had by then been outlawed in Europe, I believe, but that took over 18 centuries to accomplish.
But this was an example of a sort of slavery which was not merely indentured servanthood. As is often the case, a corrupt and evil practice was defended by an abusive interpretation of the Bible. I can’t speak for Protestants, but the following excerpts from my links about slavery illustrate the view of the Catholic Church:
As early as 873 A. D. (DS 668) Pope John VIII ( to the princes of Sardinia) taught:
There is one thing about which we should give you a paternal admonition, and unless you emend, you incur a great sin, and for this reason, you will not increase gain, as you hope, but guilt. … many in your area, being taken captive by pagans, are sold and are bought by your people and held under the yoke of slavery. It is evident that it is religious duty and holy, as becomes Christians, that when your people have bought them from the Greeks themselves, for the love of Christ they set them free, and receive gain not from men, but from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Hence we exhort you and in fatherly love command that when you redeem some captives from them, for the salvation of your soul, you let them go free.
In the Middle Ages slavery, properly so called, no longer existed in Christian countries; it had been replaced by serfdom, an intermediate condition in which a man enjoyed all his personal rights except the right to leave the land he cultivated and the right to freely dispose of his property. Serfdom soon disappeared in Catholic countries, to last longer only where the Protestant Reformation prevailed. (Catholic Encyclopedia)
The Catholic Church unhesitatingly condemned racial slavery as soon as it began. In 1435, six decades before Columbus sailed, Pope Eugene IV condemned the enslavement of the black natives of the Canary Islands, and ordered their European masters to manumit the enslaved within 15 days, under pain of excommunication. In 1537, Pope Paul III condemned the enslavement of West Indian and South American natives, and explicitly attributed that evil, “unheard of before now,” to “the enemy of the human race,” Satan.
In May 1537 (DS 1495) Pope Paul III wrote to the Archbishop of Toledo:
It has come to our ears... that Charles [V] the [Holy] Roman Emperor … to repress those who, eager for gain have an inhuman attitude to the human race, has prohibited by public edict that anyone should presume to reduce to slavery the Western or Southern Indians. … we give orders that... to all and each one of any dignity whatsoever … you give strict orders under penalty of automatic excommunication … that they must not in any way presume to reduce the Indians we mentioned into slavery …
Papal condemnations of slavery were repeated by Popes Gregory XIV (1591), Urban VIII (1639), Innocent XI (1686), Benedict XIV (1741), and Piux VII (1815). In 1839, Pope Gregory XVI wrote,
We, by apostolic authority, warn and strongly exhort… that no one in the future dare to bother unjustly, despoil of their possessions, or reduce to slavery Indians, Blacks or other such peoples.
So who was more “enlightened”?: the slave-holding, Unitarian Thomas Jefferson, or the Catholic Church (popes) of 873, 1435, and 1537? Once again, the truth is far different from the myth. You can blame the early Protestants, perhaps (and this might explain the late maintenance of the evil in the Baptist / Methodist / Presbyterian Bible Belt South), but your argument against the Catholic Church falls flat.
I agree with you that we are not, or should not be, “isolated, atomistic individuals,” and I would like to believe in the spiritual solidarity you perceive in the Church. However, when I look at the history of the Church, I am not so impressed with its accomplishments. If God abandoned control of the Church enough to permit the Crusades and the Inquisition and the rampant anti-Semitism, why should I believe God would ensure doctrinal infallibility in the Church? I dare say that moral behavior ranks a little higher than doctrinal purity in God’s scale of values. Don’t you agree?
Both are important. I think it is easier to understand the rightness of love, as opposed to figuring out all the orthodox teachings (since we have the moral law within us), but neither is optional at all, in the biblical and apostolic perspective. You make my own former argument. This is the battleground in which I fought for my evangelicalism in 1990. :-) But the “sin argument” ultimately fails, for the simple reason that we are all sinners, and our institutions (even if indeed divinely-established) necessarily reflect that.
The examples I always use are King David and Paul and Peter:
David was a murderer and adulterer, yet God – knowing all things – made a covenant with him, for the Messiah to be born in his family line. He was a key figure in Jewish history, wrote many of the Psalms, and was a precursor and type of the Messiah. He truly repented, and that is the thing to remember.
Paul killed Christians, but God converted him, and he went on to write much of the New Testament, and was the first major missionary.
Peter denied Christ three times, yet Jesus (knowing he would do that), made him the Rock (read, pope; head of the Church :-) and gave him the keys of the kingdom.
God clearly uses sinners, because that’s all He has to work with! If it were up to us, this wouldn’t be the case. If I said I had murdered someone because I impregnated his wife (and repented, of course), would you accept me even as a moderator for this list? :-)
The original rationale for the Crusades and Inquisition can be defended (though very meekly by myself — I am not fond of them at all). It is very difficult in our day and age to comprehend a culture in which spiritual errors and transgressions were considered as dangerous and subversive as mere civil infractions. We execute (or imprison for life) some people today for killing someone’s body, yet think nothing about them (in effect) killing someone’s soul and causing them to be damned for eternity, as a result of accepting false teaching. Which is worse?
We slaughter innocent preborn children today and call it “choice,” yet we look down at our noses at medieval Christians who believed it was their duty to fight against the infidel and the heretic, in order to save future generations of children. At least they had some sort of noble motive (flawed though the whole concept was – especially in practice), whereas the abortionist and all his religious apologists have none whatsoever except the Almighty Dollar, being “with it,” personal expedience, and a radically feminist and hedonist social agenda.
But the bottom line with regard to infallibility, is that it is not dependent on impeccability or sinlessness. If it were, I agree we would be in very rough shape! :-) There are a host of myths about the Inquisition(s) and Crusades, far beyond the scope of this reply. Even the BBC admitted in a TV special that the Spanish Inquisition was vastly more fair and just (especially compared to Spanish government courts) than what we hear about from anti-Catholic propaganda, such as the “Black Legend” of Spain.
[Name] offers a fairly decent counter-argument, yet I would point out that the principle of the existence of viewpoints which are heretical has never changed. What changed was an increased understanding of personal culpability, the nature of good faith and sincerity, psychological and social barriers to a correct perception of true Christian teaching, etc. So I would say that the essence hasn’t changed, but the practice and understanding of relative culpability has. This is particularly true relative to the sad scandal of historical anti-Semitism in the Church.
I would say that the Church’s repudiation of slavery as immoral was a sheer reversal of its policy from the apostolic epoch until the 19th century.
Except that this is factually incorrect, as has been clearly shown above.
I believe in progressive revelation. That may be similar to some extent to the Catholic concept of development of doctrine.
Indeed it is, as I have argued in some of my papers on development.
The real issue is whether it is credible that God would care more about keeping the Church free of theological error than he cares about keeping it free of egregious moral error.
We need not make that choice. But you must distinguish between the Church’s moral teaching, and flawed and corrupt moral practice of individuals: which you have not sufficiently done.
Since the latter has not been done, I very much doubt the former.
God didn’t promise to keep us free from sin. That is up to us. He promised to keep the Church free from doctrinal error, just as most Protestants accept an infallible Bible, despite the fact that sinful persons wrote it.
If God cares more about the issue of contraception than he cares about the persecution of Jews and heretics and the slaughtering of infidels, then something must be terribly wrong with the whole concept of the Church.
Again, this is a false dilemma. But even so, the Catholic Church has far and away the finest humanitarian record and history of tolerance, compared to any other institution in world history. Everyone knows our sins and flaws, but we hear little about the overwhelming number of good things we have done and produced: stuff like hospitals, universities, science, the finest art and architecture, Pope Pius XII’s saving of over 850,000 Jews in WWII (estimate of Pinchas Lapide, a Jew himself), etc. But then Jesus said “you would be hated by all for my name’s sake,” didn’t He?
It appears that one would have to believe that slavery in the first century Roman world was morally tolerable if one is committed to the infallibility of the Bible.
This is a fair point to raise, but one (unfortunately) which I don’t have the time to pursue at present (especially in the depth that it deserves). I will have to refer you for now to my links on the subject on my Catholic “Scandals” page, particularly the articles in the Catholic Encyclopedia, which are fairly in-depth. The evangelical New Bible Dictionary has four lengthy pages on the subject, if you can locate that respected reference work somewhere. I’m sure there is much written on it, and I would encourage you to pursue this on your own, as it is “extremely interesting” to you.
I realize this, which is why I was tried to make the case that the Church in its official and supposedly infallible capacity was on the wrong side of some moral issues such as slavery.
I tried to show that it was on the “right” side, at the same time recognizing that it is an exceedingly complicated issue. The Apostles sought neither to be political nor social revolutionaries, although the effect of the gospel was indeed just that. But there is a distinction to be made between a flat-out (NT, apostolic) demand for the end of slavery at that time, or the end of the Roman political and social system, and the establishment of Christianity, which would in time inevitably transform these institutions, and the world. That, in a nutshell, is the rationale behind an evangelical defense of Scripture with regard to slavery. But I wouldn’t presume to know all the ins and outs of the thinking on this.
It’s a typical Christian response to criticism to point out that we are all sinners, etc, which is why I refuse to engage in pointless discussions of how terrible this or that group of Christians has been.
:-) There is a knee-jerk form of that answer, but also a reasoned one, which I hope mine was...
My concern is with the two churches (Catholic and Orthodox), each of which purports to be the One True Church which has maintained correct moral and doctrinal teaching throughout its history. At the moment I’m focusing on the Catholic rather than Orthodox church because you’re a Catholic, and also because so far I know less about the history of the Orthodox church in terms of any moral disasters in which it may have had a hand.
I believe that the moral record of the Catholic Church (warts and all) is superior to any other religious or secular institution in world history. Now, granting the foregoing as true for the sake of argument, wouldn’t that be at least one reason to both respect and to join it, whether or not you deem it as totally “acceptable” by your own standards or not? One can despair of all human institutions, I suppose, even those purporting to be divinely-established. It takes faith to believe that the Catholic Church is what it claims to be. Mere historical and ethical analysis of it will not be enough to compel anyone’s assent and obedience.
I have to admit that your quasi-sympathetic explanation of the Crusades and Inquisition makes me very uncomfortable, so conditioned is my reaction of horror to these episodes in history.
I don’t have to defend the practices (certainly not in their actuality – much of which I find appalling and reprehensible, especially some of the atrocities of the Crusades). As a medievalist of sorts myself, I was simply trying to explain the theory and thinking and the medieval mind. It is always good to try to understand a viewpoint from the “inside.” This is very difficult for us moderns, accustomed as we are to the totally-loaded derogatory terms and ways of thinking suggested by Dark Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, etc. All of these, by definition, suggest that the Church was repressing thinking and righteousness, until those things were released or rediscovered by the valiant humanists and atheists.
Of course this is sheer nonsense, but it is assumed uncritically. I submit that this is the baggage that you and I and virtually all of us carry with us as we approach “loaded” episodes such as the Inquisition and the Crusades. But don’t you think the average person of the Middle Ages would recoil in horror and disbelief at what has taken place in the 20th century? That works both ways, most assuredly. Our century is exponentially worse than all the centuries of the Middle Ages put together. That can hardly be argued. And that was directly the result of a renewed paganism or secularism or Communism, not because of Christianity.
You point out correctly that the medieval culture was one “in which spiritual errors and transgressions were considered as dangerous and subversive as mere civil infractions [because they risked] … killing someone’s soul and causing them to be damned for eternity, as a result of accepting false teaching.” But the logic of orthodoxy and eternal damnation is such that the medieval rationale for the Inquisition really does make sense, does it not? How can you compare any finite suffering in this life to the infinite misery of damnation? They are incommensurable, as the church reasoned when it controlled Europe.
The logic hasn’t changed; what changed is simply that the church lost its temporal power over life and death. If you believe (I assume a consistent Catholic must believe this) that heresy can lead to damnation, then on what moral basis can you repudiate the Inquisition? To me, the Inquisition has always been a reductio ad absurdum of the church’s official belief in damnation and the tendency of heresy to lead there. But if you start from the premise that heresy constitutes a risk of damnation, the Inquisition would seem to be justified. If not, why not?
Interesting. This would follow as a matter of course if all people were equally subjectively culpable for their false beliefs. In other words, all false belief would be considered identical to willful and obstinate unbelief (i.e., refusal to believe the truth which is known), the type which God will ultimately judge at the end of time. But this is precisely where we have improved upon the understanding of the medievals (one of the rare instances :-).
ADDENDUM
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The Spanish Inquisition, in spite of wildly inflated estimates of the numbers of its victims, acted with considerable restraint in inflicting the death penalty, far more restraint than was demonstrated in secular tribunals elsewhere in Europe that dealtwith the same kinds of offenses. The best estimate is that around 3000 death sentences were carried out in Spain by Inquisitorial verdict between 1550 and 1800, a far smaller number than that in comparable secular courts.
Respected non-Catholic historian Edward Peters, in his work,(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, p. 87), states:
Edward O’Brien writes:
Fray Tomas de Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor whose very name is now a symbol of ruthless cruelty, actually checked the excessive zeal of the earlier inquisitors in many ways, including the limiting and mitigating of torture. Walsh thinks that torture under Torquemada was no worse than that used by American police in the 1930s. Also, under Torquemada’s entire tenure as Grand Inquisitor (1483-1498), 100,000 prisoners passed before his various tribunals throughout Spain. Of this number, less than 2% were executed. In Barcelona, from 1488 to 1498, “one prisoner out of 20 was put to death” (23 executions). Torquemada is not the monster of the Black Legend; still, he was responsible for, as an estimation, between 1,000 and 1,500 deaths. And by burning, the common method for those times.
(A New Look at the Spanish Inquisition)
Likewise, Ellen Rice comments:
The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition, a 1994 BBC/A&E; production... is a definite must-see for anyone who wishes to know how historians now evaluate the Spanish Inquisition since the opening of an investigation into the Inquisition’s archives. The special includes commentary from historians whose studies verify that the tale of the darkest hour of the Church was greatly fabricated.
In its brief sixty-minute presentation, The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition provides only an overview of the origins and debunking of the myths of torture and genocide. The documentary definitely succeeds in leaving the viewer hungry to know more. The long-held beliefs of the audience are sufficiently weakened by the testimony of experts and the expose of the making of the myth.
... In 1567 a fierce propaganda campaign began with the publication of a Protestant leaflet penned by a supposed Inquisition victim named Montanus. This character (Protestant of course) painted Spaniards as barbarians who ravished women and sodomized young boys. The propagandists soon created “hooded fiends” who tortured their victims in horrible devices like the knife-filled Iron Maiden (which never was used in Spain). The BBC/A&E; special plainly states a reason for the war of words: the Protestants fought with words because they could not win on the battlefield.
The Inquisition had a secular character, although the crime was heresy. Inquisitors did not have to be clerics, but they did have to be lawyers. The investigation was rule-based and carefully kept in check. And most significantly, historians have declared fraudulent a supposed Inquisition document claiming the genocide of millions of heretics.
What is documented is that 3000 to 5000 people died during the Inquisition’s 350 year history... As the program documents, the 3,000 to 5,000 documented executions of the Inquisition pale in comparison to the 150,000 documented witch burnings elsewhere in Europe over the same centuries.
... Discrediting the Black Legend brings up the sticky subject of revisionism. Re-investigating history is only invalid if it puts an agenda ahead of reality. The experts – once true believers in the Inquisition myth – were not out to do a feminist canonization of Isabella or claim that Tomas de Torquemada was a Marxist. Henry Kamen of the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona said on camera that researching the Inquisition’s archives “demolished the previous image all of us (historians) had.”
(The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition)
Even Henry Charles Lea, the first major American Inquisition historian and no fan of the Catholic Church, says of the calculations of victims:
There is no question that the number of these has been greatly exaggerated in popular belief, an exaggeration to which Llorente has largely contributed by his absurd method of computation….
(A History of the Inquisition of Spain, volume 4, 517)Illustration by Stephen Doyle for The Chronicle
Books reveal themselves. Whether they exist as print or pixels, they can be read and examined and made to spill their secrets. Readers are far more elusive. They leave traces—a note in the margin, a stain on the binding—but those hints of human handling tell us only so much. The experience of reading vanishes with the reader.
How do we recover the reading experiences of the past? Lately scholars have stepped up the hunt for evidence of how people over time have interacted with books, newspapers, and other printed material.
"You're looking for teardrops on the page," says Leah Price, a professor of English at Harvard University and the author of How to Do Things With Books in Victorian Britain (Princeton University Press, 2012). "You're looking for some hard evidence of what the book did to its reader"—and what the reader did with the book.
Price's work perches at the leading edge of a growing body of investigations into the history of reading. The field draws from many others, including book history and bibliography, literary criticism and social history, and communication studies. It looks backward to the pre-Gutenberg era, back to the clay tablets and scrolls of ancient civilizations, and forward to current debates about how technology is changing the way we read. Although much of the relevant research has centered on Anglo-American culture of the last three or four centuries, the field has expanded its purview, as scholars uncover the hidden reading histories of cultures many used to dismiss as mostly oral.
It's a tricky business. A bibliographer works with hard physical evidence—a manuscript, a printed book, a copy of the Times of London. A scholar seeking to pin down the readers of the past often has to read between the lines. Marginalia can be a gold mine of information about a book's owners and readers, but it's rare. "Most of the time, most readers historically didn't, and still don't, write in their books," Price explains.
But even a book's apparent lack of use can be read as evidence. "The John F. Kennedy Library here in Boston owns a copy of Ulysses whose pages—other than a few at the very beginning and very end—are completely uncut,” she says. “This tells us something about the owner of the copy—who happens to be Ernest Hemingway."
"The history of reading," Price says, "really has to encompass the history of not reading."
Anyone who has ever displayed a trophy volume on the coffee table knows that people do many things with books besides read them. A book can be deployed as a sign of intellectual standing or aspiration. It can be used to erect a social barrier between spouses at a breakfast table or strangers on a train. It can be taken apart and recycled or turned into art. Price's recent work recreates Victorians' many extratextual uses of books.
Earlier work involving reader-reception theory and book history helped point the way toward current investigations of readers and reading. In 1984, a prominent literary critic and cultural-studies professor, Janice Radway, published a groundbreaking study, Reading the Romance, which investigated how reading genre novels helped a group of contemporary women in the Midwest cope with the demands and strictures of their lives. Radway, a professor of communication studies at Northwestern University, went on to write A Feeling for Books, about the Book-of-the-Month Club and middle-class literary sensibilities, and co-wrote a volume of a multipart history of the book in America.
Since Reading the Romance, the ethnography of reading has taken off among scholars. Radway points to Forgotten Readers, Elizabeth McHenry's study of African-American literary societies, Ellen Gruber Garvey's Writing With Scissors, about scrapbooking, and David Henkin's City Reading, about signage in the urban environment, as strong examples. "People have become very creative about trying to figure out how groups of readers interact with the text as it's embodied in various forms," she says.
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Historians of the book have had a substantial influence on the development of the history of reading. For instance, in 1996, Robert Darnton, a historian of 18th-century France, published The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France, in which he argued that surreptitious reading of banned books helped set off the powder keg of the French Revolution. Darnton, now the director of libraries at Harvard University, has published a number of other influential works on publishing history and the uses of books.
In 2001, Jonathan Rose, a professor of history at Drew University, upended assumptions about what nonelite Britons did and didn't read in The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes. Rose, who co-founded the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing, is now at work on a study of Winston Churchill's reading, how it shaped him, and how reading Churchill in turn influenced younger politicians, including John F. Kennedy.
Scholars have also been moving the history of reading beyond the Anglo-American context. In 2003, Isabel Hofmeyr, a professor of African literature at the University of Witwatersrand, in South Africa, published The Portable Bunyan, which examined Pilgrim's Progress as a "transnational book" that found readers around the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa. This year Archie L. Dick, a professor of information science at the University of Pretoria, published The Hidden History of South Africa's Book and Reading Cultures (University of Toronto Press).
While the history of the book is well established, the history of reading has really come together in the last two decades, according to Shafquat Towheed, a lecturer in English at the Open University in Britain and director of the Reading Experience Database, or RED. "We're beginning to get students studying it as an option at the graduate level and the undergraduate level," Towheed says.
The existence of online resources such as RED has helped push the field along. The brainchild of Simon Eliot, another influential figure in the history of reading, RED dates back to the 1990s but was revamped as an online resource in 2006.
The Bridgeman Art Library
Its scholarly team has trawled libraries and archives for mentions of reading recorded in published works and in manuscript materials. The database draws on letters, diaries, commonplace books, published accounts such as biographies and memoirs, and less obvious resources such as prison and court records. The researchers have asked authors' societies for help in finding references to specific writers. Since the database moved online, they've thrown it open to crowdsourcing, asking volunteers to contribute records, too.
The open-access database collects accounts of British reading experiences from 1450 to 1945, and has gathered about 31,000 records so far |
killed at that scene,” said Wozney. "Right now it's being treated as a suspicious death."
Police say an autopsy on the body will be conducted on Thursday.Cheese ball road-rager appeals murder verdict
Updated
A Sydney woman who fatally ran down a man for throwing cheese balls at her car is appealing against her murder conviction and sentence.
Sarah May Ward was found guilty in 2010 over the death of Eli Westlake in June 2008.
Mr Westlake had been walking home with his brother and friends when they got into an argument with Ward in Sydney's north at St Leonards.
The 21-year-old was run down after throwing cheese balls at Ward.
Ward had drunk two bottles of wine and taken drugs, including cannabis, ecstasy and valium, before getting behind the wheel.
She is appealing against her conviction and sentence to spend at least 18 years and nine months in prison.
Today the defence told the court Ward was denied a fair trial because the trial judge erred while giving the jury directions.
Justice Roderick Howie told the jury that Ward was at least guilty of manslaughter, ruining any chance the jury may have considered that Mr Westlake's death was an accident.
Topics: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, st-leonards-2065
First postedTo outsiders, it seems at first glance incomprehensible that the veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell now finds himself an apparent enemy of student activists. Yet that is the current situation, after Fran Cowling, the National Union of Students’ LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) officer, refused to speak at a university event on 15 February unless Mr Tatchell’s invitation was withdrawn.
Mr Tatchell is more used to protesting than being the subject of protests. As the Labour candidate in the 1983 Bermondsey by-election against Simon Hughes, he was subject to a despicable campaign based on homophobia. He has twice attempted a citizen’s arrest of Robert Mugabe and received reprisal beatings from the Zimbabwean dictator’s henchmen. He was assaulted by Russian neo-Nazis for his support of the Moscow Pride festival. Confronted by Ms Cowling’s condemnation, Mr Tatchell would be forgiven for recalling Lear’s anguish at his thankless child.
What is the case against him? Ms Cowling objected to Mr Tatchell because he was a co-signatory last year of a letter opposing the increasing use of “no-platforming”, in which student societies are ordered to deny speaking invitations to certain individuals. One of those affected is the radical feminist Julie Bindel, who believes that gender is a social construct, not an innate essence, a stance that has brought her into conflict with transgender activists. Ms Cowling claimed that by supporting the right of Ms Bindel and others to speak at universities, the letter supported the incitement of violence against trans people. She also claimed that Mr Tatchell is racist. (Needless to say, he denies both claims.)
The latest phase of “no-platforming” has spread far beyond its original targets: overt racists such as members of the British National Party, who often arrived on campus with a retinue of thugs. Instead, it is older feminists and gay rights campaigners whose views are deemed unacceptable to their successors in these progressive movements. Last year, more than 3,000 people petitioned Cardiff University to rescind an invitation to Germaine Greer, citing her “trans-exclusionary views” and asserting that to host her lecture would be “dangerous”. A year ago, Goldsmiths in London cancelled a comedy performance by Kate Smurthwaite (her theme, as it happens, was freedom of speech), because her opposition to the decriminalisation of sex work upset many students.
For students to kick against their elders is understandable and, in opposing the liberal free-speech consensus, they are certainly generating attention. But young radicals should be aware that “no platform” originally died out not because of heavy opposition to it but because it did not work. Sunlight killed the BNP: Nick Griffin’s odious appearance on Question Time in 2009 caused his support to evaporate. In fact, the party received less than 2,000 votes nationwide in last year's general election.
Some will be tempted to dismiss this incident as mere student politicking; of feverish interest to those involved but of no greater significance. That is incorrect. What is at stake here is not free speech – Mr Tatchell was heard on 15 February – but free debate, the process by which good ideas trump bad ones. Nowhere is this more vital than in our universities. To no-platformers, a campus should be a “safe space”, where people are not exposed to views that they may find upsetting. This relies on a bizarre elision of physical safety with intellectual isolationism. The free interchange of ideas must win out, or else many more good people such as Peter Tatchell will find themselves traduced.
A grandstanding tour of Europe
David Cameron’s renegotiation reaches its inevitably farcical conclusion this week. We have many questions about the European project – such as how to tackle the wastefulness of the European Commission and the remoteness of the European Parliament – but
Mr Cameron’s deal will provide few answers, because it never attempted to confront these concerns. The Prime Minister’s odyssey around Europe has been an act of party management rather than a serious effort to tackle the European Union’s woes. Even the great prize he has long trumpeted – the ability to limit benefits to newly arrived migrants – is no prize at all. Immigrants come to Britain not to claim but to work. If Mr Cameron is concerned about the effect of mass migration on wages, he should do more to regulate business at home, not grandstand abroad.Since 2012, Top Gear has been in the Guinness Book of World Records as ‘The Most Widely Viewed Factual TV Programme’.
Over 200 different territories around the world broadcast the show.
In 2014, estimates had weekly viewer numbers at around 350 million.
I love the show. I take it on face value. It’s a light entertainment show that happens to be full of the world’s most exquisite cars. It’s also a good laugh.
Some people take what the presenters say as gospel, though. That’s probably more a reflection on society than the presenters themselves.
And that brings us to one of the hosts, Jeremy Clarkson. He’s been in trouble before for jokes about lorry drivers and prostitutes and for using racial slurs in a number of segments.
This time he’s in hot water over a ‘fracas’ with a producer. They might sack him. He might quit. I don’t care really.
I like him. He’s a buffoon and a s***-stirrer. And he’s divisive. That’s what you want in a TV host — someone that says what they think and doesn’t give a stuff about what anyone says. I like that.
But if you take everything Clarkson says as gospel, then you need your head checked. He gets it wrong…a lot. And a few episodes back he absolutely got it wrong again.
Will your car kill you, or the two pedestrians?
Two episodes ago, Clarkson started talking about self driving cars. Now this is something I’ve got a pretty tight grasp on.
Clarkson began his discussion as, ‘philosophy news’. And this is what he said next:
‘Driverless cars are coming as we know. And somebody pointed out…that they will have to make from time to time, ethical decisions. ‘You’re heading towards an accident; it’s going to be fatal. The only solution is to swerve onto the pavement. But there are two pedestrians there. What does the car do? ‘Basically you will have bought a car that must be programmed in certain situations to kill you. And you’ll just have to sit there…and there’s nothing you can do. ‘These driverless cars, everybody goes ‘oh aren’t they clever they can stop at red lights’. They are going to have to face all sorts of things like who do I kill now. [Humans] are programmed to look after ourselves and these driverless cars are going to be programmed to do the maths, and say, lots of people over there, I’m going to kill you.’
Now you might think he’s got a point. Based on that argument, self driving cars will take the less devastating route in an ‘ethical decision making process’. And when it’s your life on the line, I’m pretty sure you’d want to stay alive.
But this argument has a fundamental flaw. So if you think Clarkson has a point, I’m about to tell you why he’s wrong…again.
The ultimate in road safety
In a world where cars talk to each other, there are no fatal accidents. This is because the network they connect to won’t allow it.
Right now new cars come with lots of safety technology. There’s lane departure, blind spot monitoring, active cruise, automatic braking.
These are just some safety features. Other companies are using infrared, night vision, and sensor technology to differentiate between animals, cars, cyclists and pedestrians.
That means as a car drives along, it will monitor the road ahead. As it does so, it picks up all the objects it sees. It then categorises them into various groups. It’s able to determine the speed, travel path and likelihood of interaction with the car.
It can see more things at one time than humanly possible.
Now imagine every car in traffic having that capability. Furthermore, imagine that information feeding back in real time to a network. This network communicates with all the other cars in the vicinity.
This is how a self-driving car network will exist in the coming future…
Imagine you’re in traffic. But it’s moving along nicely. Your self-driving car is doing a reasonable 80kph on the freeway. All of a sudden a car a good 10km away punctures a tyre and has to pull over to the side of the road.
The instant that car detects the puncture, it sends that information and its GPS location straight to the network.
Then, every other car within 10 kilometres instantly receives that information from the network. Because all cars are travelling at safe distances and speeds, there is no threat of an immediate accident.
As this happens you instantly find your car slows down by 10kph to 70kph. And a bit further ahead you see that cars are beginning to merge from three lanes to two.
Then you see why. You see the car on the side of the road ahead. The driver is out of the car changing the tyre. He is on the hard shoulder, but there are no other cars in the immediate next lane. It’s as though there’s a quarantine zone around the driver and car.
Once 500m past the incident, your car accelerates back to 80kph. And the traffic again evens out across the lanes.
All this happens automatically, and well before you’re even near the accident. That’s how self driving cars will work. They always pay attention. They always know what’s happening 10km in front, 10km behind and everything that’s happening inside and outside the car.
Source: Continental Corporation
Click to enlarge
This isn’t some pipedream. Companies right now have this technology. They are working on it. Testing it in real world scenarios. They are testing and testing and testing. And they will continue to do so for the next five years or so, as we work towards self-driving cars on the road.
Technology companies like Continental AG [ETR:CON], Ericsson [STO:ERIC-A], IBM [NYSE:IBM], Volvo AB [STO:VOLV-A], Microsoft [NASDAQ:MSFT], Intel [NSADAQ:INTL] and NVIDIA [NASDAQ:NVDA] are all working on this.
Add in major car companies and you’ve got every car and tech giant in the world working on self-driving cars and a connected car network.
The future is self driving cars, and those companies will benefit from it.
With their tech, your car will make decisions on the road faster and better than humans ever could.
Don’t see that in a negative light. See it as a safer world for you and for generations to follow.
Self driving cars stop at red lights because they know the light sequence and when the light will turn red. They don’t skip through amber lights. They never run a red. They don’t speed. They manage traffic flow to get you to your destination on time in the absolute most efficient way possible.
As humans, we make split second decisions based on split second information. Self driving cars will make nanosecond decisions based on terabytes of data.
And that’s why Clarkson’s analogy is wrong. Self driving car won’t choose who to kill. Fatalities simply won’t happen. And that’s why this coming technology will have a monumental impact on society.
Sam Volkering,
Technology Analyst, Revolutionary Tech Investor
Ed Note: The above article was originally published in Tech Insider.
From the Port Phillip Publishing Library
Special Report: The Golden Game Plan: Something strange and exciting is happening in the gold markets right now…and if you understand it, you stand to make a fortune.Home Daily News 61 percent of IRS employees who violated…
Tax Law
61 percent of IRS employees who violated tax laws got to keep their jobs, report says
The Internal Revenue Service allowed 61 percent of its employees who violated tax laws to remain on the job, according to a report by the service’s inspector general.
The report (PDF) considered the fate of 1,580 IRS employees found to have willfully violated tax laws over a 10-year period beginning in 2003, report the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, UPI, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and TaxProf Blog. Thirty-nine percent resigned, retired or were fired. The others got lesser penalties such as suspensions and reprimands.
Some of those who didn’t comply with the laws overstated expenses, claimed a credit for first-time home-buyers even though they didn’t buy a house, and failed to file returns on time.
In a sample of 34 cases, the report found that employee penalties were inconsistent, and individuals with significant violations were not necessarily fired.
The agency said its employees have a tax compliance rate of more than 99 percent, but it agrees it can improve its disciplinary system.Hyderabad: Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is very keen to replicate his signature cyber towers/Hi-tec City dream in Andhra Pradesh as well.Towards this end, the government is planning to come up with three such towers in the port city of Visakhapatnam, temple town of Tirupati and Rayalaseema’s farthest corner of Anantapur. The idea to have one such towering IT structure in Mangalagiri was dropped at the last minute as the capital city region will have other iconic buildings.The biggest of them all will be the Millennium Towers with a built-up area of five lakh sq ft in Madhurawada in Vizag.These new towers will be in addition to the Signature Towers that the government had planned to build in the port city. “Tenders will be called for the Millennium Towers later this month. We have released Rs 80 crore for the Vizag towers, while works on one of the two towers in Rayalaseema will be kickstarted soon,” G S Phani Kishore, special secretary, IT, told TOI. The Andhra Pradesh Industries Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) has been tasked with building all the three towers. While the site for the tower at Anantapur is yet to be finalised, the Tirupati tower will come up near Renigunta airport with a built-up area of one lakh sft. Names like Balaji (for Tirupati tower) and Krishnadevaraya (for Anantapur) are doing the rounds.With Mangalagiri losing out in the race, the IT department has sought 500 acres from CRDA to develop IT sector in the capital city region.McKinsey & Company will be the strategic consultant for development of IT in the capital city area. The IT department will take over one lakh sft area in a commercial building to be built by APIIC for other purposes in Mangalagiri. Notwithstanding the government’s renewed focus on IT, the effort is to draw investors and IT companies to ensure a level-playing field across various regions in AP.“The state needs more than 30 lakh sft space for IT companies to do business. For now, we are providing 8 lakh sft area,” explained a senior official. Senior officials said that emphasis is being given to Vizag as it is the largest city in the state with a turnover of Rs 1,500 crore in IT sector and a growth rate of 20 per cent. Turnover from rest of the state is around Rs 150 crore. “This turnover is nothing in comparison to Hyderabad. Apart from cyber towers, Hyderabad’s stock had gone up thanks to international airport and other infrastructure. The government must replicate them in Vizag, Tirupati and Anantapur also so as to invite investments,” observed K Shankar, who owns an IT firm in Vijayawada.With public-private partnership (PPP) mode not bearing fruit, the government had decided to entrust the work to APIIC, sources said.Demand for Stonewall’s rainbow laces passes the 100,000 mark – and laces are even on their way to the Westboro Baptist Church in the US
The UK’s LGB equal rights charity Stonewall has announced that it has seen a surge in support for its Rainbow Laces campaign this year, with requests from the public for pairs of the laces passing the 100,000 mark – far exhausting the charity’s stocks of 50,000.
Launched last year, the Rainbow Laces campaign coincides with the beginning of the England soccer season. The campaign aims to highlight the issue of homophobia in soccer, and is a joint venture between Stonewall, Paddy Power and the Gay Football Supporters’ Network.
GayStarNews is working with Stonewall to promote the campaign by running adverts on its site.
Following the success of last year’s campaign, this year’s campaign has really caught public interest. On Monday, free morning newspaper Metro run a special issue dedicated to the campaign, and #RainbowLaces has trended on Twitter both in the UK and worldwide.
High-profile figures in the world of soccer have spoken out in support of the campaign, including Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who said this week, ‘The fight against homophobia and any discrimination is very important and we have that responsibility.’
Pairs of laces have been sent out to all the professional soccer clubs across England, and Stonewall is asking players to wear them in their boots for fixtures taking place this weekend.
‘The response from clubs, players, fans, celebs and the public has been incredible,’ says Richard Lane, Stonewall’s Media Manager.
‘It’s up to the players now – the ball is in their court. We hope they recognize the thousands of voices calling for the game to change and lace up this weekend.’
In separate news, campaign sponsors Paddy Power revealed on Twitter that they had sent some of the laces to the Westboro Baptist Church in the US – an organization famed for its notoriously anti-gay stance.
Latest batch of #RainbowLaces ready to go across the pond… pic.twitter.com/gellV73Xvt — Paddy Power (@paddypower) September 10, 2014
The letter accompanying the laces began, ‘Dear hate-filled vermin’, and went on to say; ‘There is no hell so we cannot take any satisfaction in the eventual damnation of your souls.
‘The only consolation is that your odious doctrine of hate is on an inevitable road to defeat at the hands of the truly important human values of compassion, reason and love.
‘One day, your poisonous bile will be long forgotten, the world will continue to turn and your descendants will be blissfully unaware of the enmity you once peddled due to a misguided interpretation of God’s will. And quite possibly, they’ll be in gay relationships. Suck on that.
‘Please find enclosed some Rainbow Laces should you decide to abandon your futile efforts before their inevitable demise.
‘Lots of (heterosexual, homosexual, platonic and all the other kinds of) love, The Rainbow Laces Campaign x’A detective with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office was injured and a man was killed in a shootout near a Parker middle school Friday afternoon.
Sgt. Derek Castellano, a spokesman for the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, said their department got a call about a “suicidal party” at about 2:30 p.m. from a home near North Dixon Drive and East Lookout Drive.
Castellano said that as deputies arrived, a man was leaving the home in a recreational vehicle and that deputies followed. The sheriff’s impact unit was nearby and responded to assist.
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock, said the man shot at officers, striking Detective Dan Brite, a member of the impact unit.
Brite underwent surgery Friday evening and was transferred to ICU, the sheriff’s office said at about 10:30 p.m. Spurlock asked for prayers saying, “he is going to need every bit of that.”
After Brite was wounded, the suspect continued to flee in the RV. Castellano said the suspect drove the vehicle into a commercial parking lot just across from the Parker Adventist Hospital and crashed.
Officers engaged in another shooting with the suspect, killing him. The suspect has not been identified, but Spurlock said at an evening press conference that the suspect was known to the sheriff’s office.
Emergency dispatch traffic recorded on Broadcastify.com captured the incident just after Parker police officers and Douglas County sheriff’s deputies were surrounding the home and watching as the man got into the RV.
After a few minutes of observing his actions, law enforcement moved in.
“Let’s not let him get back in the house,” an unidentified officer called out.
“Guys, we don’t know if he has a weapon or not,” another said.
A few seconds later, action erupted over the radio.
“Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired!” an officer yelled. “Man down! One of ours!”
As medical personnel rushed in to where the law enforcement officer was wounded just outside of the home, the dispatch archives show, the suspect drove the RV away from the area and into an open field.
Police are investigating this camper after taking into custody a man with a gun.https://t.co/StnTU4z0Qq pic.twitter.com/5u8fKjo8LG — Denver7 News (@DenverChannel) September 2, 2016
“He is driving around in the field east of the house!” an officer said into the radio.
More gunshots were then heard being fired.
Spurlock did not have information on the type of weapon the suspect used.
Spurlock said Detective Brite has been with department for two and a half years. His wife is a sergeant with the department. She and their children were at the hospital Friday night.
Randy Barber, a spokesman for the Douglas County School District, said there were about nine schools on lockout for a short time, but all were returning to normal operations by 4 p.m.
Barber said students at Sierra Middle School were being dismissed at the time that police asked them to lock their doors, so students were ushered back inside and, due to a miscommunication, were on lockdown for the first few minutes, until it was clarified that the threat was outdoors — at least a block and a half away, Barber said — and the school modified to go on lockout.
No children or schools were involved in the incident.Image zoom Courtesy
If you’ve looked at a Clinique Chubby Stick and thought it looked almost identical to your favorite childhood coloring tool, we have a feeling you’ll be incredibly satisfied with Clinique’s latest product launch.
The beauty brand has teamed up with Crayola for a new, limited-edition line of Chubby Moisturizing Lip Colour Balms inspired after the names and colors of actual crayons—shades, we might add, that'll definitely get you feeling a little nostalgic.
The collaboration consists of 10 different sticks, including color-matched hues like Mauvelous, Razzmatazz, Mango Tango, and yes, even Tickle Me Pink. Not to get off topic, but wasn't a broken or lost Tickle Me Pink a tragedy back in the day? Salmon was close, but not quite right. Another one that has our eye? Pink Sherbert, which is a pale peachy color that will surely become a staple.
Image zoom Courtesy $17 Clinique Clinique SHOP IT
RELATED: The Best Long-Wear Lipsticks
You can pick up each one individually at Clinique counters or online at 17 bucks a pop, a set of four minis for $25, or a set of eight just under $50.Senate Passes Plan To Keep Post Offices Running
Enlarge this image toggle caption Robert F. Bukaty/AP Robert F. Bukaty/AP
The U.S. Postal Service is so much a part of this country, it's in the Constitution. And yet with so much written communication now delivered via email, text messages and the Internet, the Postal Service is steadily losing business and operating in the red.
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has given Congress until May 15 to find a way to keep the Postal Service solvent or he will start closing possibly hundreds of its facilities. The U.S. Senate passed legislation Wednesday aimed at shoring up the Postal Service while delaying proposed cutbacks. Now the issue moves to the House.
The post office delivers more than 500 million pieces of mail every day, six days a week, to 150 million addresses. Still, that's about a 20 percent drop in the volume of mail it handled just five years ago.
Though the Postal Service is supposed to be entirely self-financed, it's had to borrow $13 billion from the Treasury over the past two years to stay afloat. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a chief co-sponsor of the Senate bill to save the Postal Service, says a failure by Congress to act fast could amount to a death sentence.
"The Postal Service later this year will have great difficulty even meeting its payroll if we do not act," Collins said. "The Postal Service will max out on its credit that it can borrow from the Treasury if we do not act."
Urban Vs. Rural
Senators were divided over the bill less by party than by the strength of their ties to rural America.
The "postmaster general originally was talking about shutting down 3,700 rural post offices in every state in this country," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont. "And I hope that members understand that a post office in a rural town is more than just a post office. [If that] post office disappears — in many cases, that town disappears."
Too bad, said critics of the bill, who dismissed it as a futile attempt to preserve an institution overtaken by technological change.
"I hope that my colleagues understand we are looking at basically a dying part of America's economy," said Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain.
His colleagues rejected a plan he offered that's similar to one being considered by the House. It would let a bipartisan commission draw up a list of postal facilities to close, which Congress would then vote on. McCain warned that the Senate's bill won't fix the problem.
"I do know that if it passes, it will be strongly opposed in the other body, in the House of Representatives. If it is passed and signed into law, we will be back on the floor within two years addressing this issue again, because this is not a solution," McCain said. "This isn't even a Band-Aid."
But Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, said the bill "isn't a Band-Aid — this is a real reform."
Though Lieberman and McCain are close friends, the two were sharply at odds over the postal bill, which Lieberman co-sponsored. It would help the Postal Service raise revenues by inaugurating delivery of beer and wine. It would limit executive pay. It would refund to the Postal Service an $11 billion retirement overpayment and direct it to use some of that money to persuade 100,000 postal workers — 18 percent of the workforce — to retire. And Saturday mail delivery, Lieberman noted, would continue, at least for now.
"We do it without an immediate move from six days of delivery to five days, because that's a tough one for a lot of people," he said. "We've given the post office two years to essentially prove that it can get back in balance."
Putting Off Closures
Polls indicate more than two-thirds of Americans favor stopping Saturday mail delivery as a way to save money. But only 12 percent want to see their local post offices closed. By voice vote, the Senate approved an amendment extending the current moratorium on post office closings that is set to expire next month. It was offered by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
"It is going to prevent any closings for one year while the reforms that are embedded in this bill have a chance to begin to work," she said. "It then sets some clear standards for potential closures."
The Senate bill would shut down three of the five post offices serving Capitol Hill. And unless the House acts as well to rescue the Postal Service, and President Obama signs a bill into law, closures of other postal facilities could begin in three weeks.The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Congress intended the more lenient sentences it created for crack-cocaine offenders to begin immediately, even for those who committed their crimes before the law was signed.
The court’s 5 to 4 decision settled a question that Congress seemed to leave open when it passed the Fair Sentencing Act. The law narrowed the discrepancy in punishment between those convicted of crack-cocaine violations, who tend to be black, and those with powder-cocaine offenses, who tend to be white.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the more lenient penalties apply to the thousands of people who violated the law before President Obama signed it on Aug. 3, 2010, but who were not sentenced until afterward.
The decision came on a day the court also made it harder for public employee unions to extract special fees from nonmembers.
The court was clearing the deck for decisions next week on two of the most important cases of the term: the constitutionality of Obama’s health-care law and Arizona’s attempt to toughen laws against illegal immigrants.
The Fair Sentencing Act changed a system that essentially treated one gram of crack cocaine as the equivalent of 100 grams of powder cocaine. It reduced that ratio to about 1 to 18, raising the amount of crack cocaine necessary to trigger mandatory sentences.
Congress did not expressly say in the new law that it applied retroactively. And an 1871 statute seemed to indicate that such an affirmative statement was required.
But Breyer said that “six considerations, taken together, convince us that Congress intended” for the more lenient penalties to apply more quickly.
Among them were a belief that Congress could not have wanted a sentencing scheme it was overturning to continue in place even for a short time; no indication that it envisioned a delay in implementing the new sentences; and a finding that a failure to use the new sentences could make the disparities worse.
Breyer was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Justice Antonin Scalia said Breyer’s complicated test only pointed out that Congress did not expressly say the sentences should apply retroactively. “In the end, the mischief of the court’s opinion is not the result in this particular case, but rather the unpredictability it injects into the law for the future.”
He was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.
The two cases from Illinois are Dorsey v. U.S. and Hill v. U.S.
Union activists angered
In the union case, Kennedy joined the conservative justices to make it harder for public-
employee unions to get nonmembers to pay special fees for political action.
The case involved a unit of the Service Employees International Union in California, where all employees of an “agency shop” are represented by the union. Non-members must pay an annual fee to cover the costs relative to collective bargaining but may receive a refund of fees used for lobbying and political activities with which they disagree.
Seven justices found that the SEIU did not properly give non-members a chance to opt out of a special fee in 2005. But the conservative members of the court said nonmembers should not have to pay the fees unless they opt in for the political spending.
“This aggressive use of power by the SEIU to collect fees from nonmembers is indefensible,” Alito wrote for the majority, calling it an intolerable impingement on First Amendment rights.
Sotomayor agreed that the union did not take proper steps in collecting the fee. But she said her colleagues went far beyond what was required by implementing the “opt-in” requirement, which she said had not been addressed in briefs and oral arguments.
“The majority breaks our own rules and, more importantly, disregards principles of judicial restraint that define the court’s proper role in our system of separated powers,” Sotomayor wrote.
Conservative activists said the majority was defending the rights of those in states where nonmembers were required to be represented by a union. But union activists were livid.
“Unfortunately this decision continues the attack on the right of public-sector workers to act collectively to impact their workplace on important issues,” said Jim Herron Zamora, spokesman for SEIU Local 1000.
The case is Knox v. SEIU.
Deciding maximums
Twelve years ago, the court ruled that juries, rather than a judge, must determine facts that can increase a defendant’s maximum potential sentence. On Thursday, it extended that same rule to companies facing criminal fines.
The ruling came in the case of a natural gas distributor that owned a company that stored mercury at a facility in Rhode Island. When the hazardous material found its way into the community, Southern United faced a fine of $50,000 per day. A jury convicted the company and a judge fined it $18 million.
But the company appealed, saying the jury had not determined the actual length of the company’s violation, and thus the fine was too high. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit said a judge could make that determination, because the same rules that applied to criminal defendants did not apply to companies facing criminal fines.
Sotomayor wrote the 6 to 3 ruling that disagreed. “While the punishment at stake” is different, she wrote, “we see no principled basis... for treating criminal fines differently” than imprisonment or a death sentence.
The case is Southern Union v. U.S.Donald Trump appears to have a straightforward definition of fake news: Stories that are critical of him or his presidency are “fake,” while those that praise him are “real.”
On the surface, the logic doesn’t hold up. But at the same time, the way Trump thinks about fake news points to a key reason why it works.
In my recent research, I’ve been reverse-engineering fabricated news articles from the 19th century to analyze their logic, and I’ve discovered that fake news is effective because it tells you something about the world that you, in a way, already know. This may sound counterintuitive. But a look into the work of a 19th-century fake news writer helps explain this phenomenon — and what’s going on today.
The fake foreign correspondent
Fake news flourished in the 19th century. During that period, newspaper and magazine circulation skyrocketed due to innovations in printing technology and cheaper paper. Professional news agencies set up shop in major cities all over the world, while the telegraph enabled messages to be rapidly sent across continents.
Reporting became increasingly standardized, with newspapers generally covering the same topics, adopting the same formulaic language and presenting stories in the same formats. Competition in this emerging, fast-paced news business was tough, and with growing standardization, editors needed to figure out ways to stand out from the crowd.
One strategy involved sending foreign correspondents abroad. The idea was that the correspondents could provide stories and analysis from a personal point of view that readers might find more appealing than the standard, impersonal reports that emerged from news agencies.
However, sending a reporter abroad was expensive, and not every paper could shoulder the cost. Those that couldn’t found a creative and much cheaper solution: They hired local staff writers to pretend they were sending dispatches from abroad. By the 1850s, the phenomenon was so widespread in Germany that it had become its own genre — the “unechte Korrespondenz,” or “fake foreign correspondent’s letter,” as people in the German news trade called it.
How to make a 19th-century fake news story
One such fake correspondent was Theodor Fontane, a German pharmacist-turned-journalist who would go on to write some of the most important German Realist novels. (If you’ve never heard of Fontane, think of him as the German Dickens.)
In 1860, Fontane — struggling to make ends meet — joined the staff of the Kreuzzeitung, an ultra-conservative Berlin newspaper. The paper assigned him to cover England, and for a decade, he published story after story “from” London, spellbinding his readers with “personal” accounts of dramatic events, like the devastating Tooley Street Fire of 1861.
But during the entire decade, he never actually crossed the English Channel.
The stunning thing — and the part that resonates today — is how Fontane pulled it off. Fontane’s story about the Great Fire illustrates his process. By the time he decided to write about the fire, it had already been raging for days, and reports about it were in virtually all the papers.
Fontane sifted through these existing accounts to get a sense for what readers already knew about the catastrophe. He cut up the old articles, picked out the most relevant passages, and glued them together for his own account — this becomes clear from mapping his piece onto these sources. Then, to elevate the drama, he wrote some new passages with details and characters that were completely fabricated, such as a “companion” with special privileges who allegedly helped him cross the police cordon roping off the burning area.
The Tooley Street fire of 1861.
Fontane then reported what he “saw”: (what follows is a translation from his German article):
I went to the scene today, and it’s a terrible sight. One sees the burned buildings like a city in a crater […]. Fires live on eerily in the deep, and at any moment a new flame can burst forth out of every mound of ash.
His readers probably believed him because his story confirmed a lot of things they already knew from prior press coverage. Fontane was careful to use familiar imagery, stereotypical descriptions and well-known facts about London. Meanwhile, he dressed up these familiar elements to make them more entertaining.
His own piece was styled in such a way that it fit right in with what traveled through the 19th-century mass media communications circuit.
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Yet even though the overall picture is sharper, it now centers on the two most mysterious contests of the year.
If all of the candidates currently leading in the polls go on to win, which is not at all assured with so many close races and still 45 days to go, then the party that wins two from the list of Iowa, Alaska and Kansas will win the Senate. But Alaska and Kansas pose unusual challenges for election analysts and forecasters. It’s possible that one party has a clear advantage in the fight for the Senate, and that we just don’t know it yet.
The race in Kansas is unusual: It’s barely underway, and it’s not even clear which candidates will appear on the ballot. The Democratic candidate Chad Taylor withdrew from the race on Sept. 3, setting up a potential one-on-one contest between Greg Orman, an independent, and Pat Roberts, the embattled Republican incumbent.Facebook is arguing that it should be exempt from campaign ad disclosure regulations. | AP Photos | AP Photos Facebook: Exempt us from FEC rules
Facebook, the company that has helped put so much of what was once private out in open on the web, is looking for a sort of corporate privacy setting of its own — the company is looking to ensure that it is exempt from federal election rules requiring campaign advertisements to include disclosures of who paid for them.
In a request to the Federal Election Commission made late last month, lawyers for the social networking powerhouse argued that the small ads on Facebook’s website should not have to include disclosures because of the limited amounts of room for text.
Story Continued Below
While it’s easy to include disclosures on a television ad, billboard or email, Facebook argues, it’s more difficult with the tiny ads posted along the side of its webpages. “With some mediums … - e.g. bumper stickers, buttons, pens, T-shirts, concert tickets, and text messages - it is inconvenient or impracticable to include a disclaimer,” three lawyers from the Washington office of the firm Perkins Coie write in their request for an advisory opinion from the FEC.
The company says it has made a conscious decision to keep the ads on its site small and less obtrusive to the user experience, and does not want to take away from that experience or penalize campaign advertisers. “Facebook gives a wide range of candidates and causes a voice where they would otherwise not be able to afford one through more traditional political advertising,” spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement to POLITICO. “We encourage the FEC to consider these benefits and other fundamental differences between some online ad formats and newspaper and TV advertising.”
Facebook’s request comes after the FEC ruled last year that short political ads purchased through Google’s AdWords service did not need to include disclosure of who bought them. At the time, Facebook offered its support for Google, using the same argument put forth in the new advisory opinion request.
An FEC spokeswoman said the agency’s commissioners could consider the request at a future public meeting.Last year we asked you all of you to help us build the perfect FPS. We mixed up the most popular ideas you submitted in our reader survey, and the steampunk post-apocalyptic WW2 game called "Rising Dark Shadow: Apocalypse Protocol" emerged from the chaos. And since that method produced something memorable the first time, we decided to do it again.
We loved this fan-made Overwatch character by Mario Manzanares so much that it inspired us to make our own. So we created another Google survey to ask all of you what you want the next Overwatch character to be like. Over 5,200 people offered their character design expertise.
We mashed the top results together, and hired the fantastic Esther Smisdom —artist behind another one of our favorite fan-made Overwatch Heroes, Cyrille —to bring them to life. Even if this isn't exactly the character you imagined, it is indicative of larger trends that the Overwatch community may be craving.
So without any further ado, we present the next Overwatch hero, as designed by the PC Gamer community, Venus.
Click the image to see the high-res version.
Summary
Venus is a Canadian ex-scientist who began experimenting with plants, inevitably leading them to take over and mutate parts of her body. She is a melee Offense hero that uses AoE vine attacks at a close range and has a bad attitude.
The basics
What's their role?
Starting simple, 40.6% of you voted for an Offense hero, with second place being Tank at 28.3%, that’s a pretty big victory. Unsurprisingly, Support did the worst at 12.4%, which makes sense given a support was just added to the game.
Human beat out omnic by about 9%, though our somewhat jokey answer of ‘Genetically modified plant’ even did better than omnic. ‘Genetically modified animal’ did the worst at 16.8%, sorry Winston.
We asked you to pick their color scheme from a list of 10, and the clear winner was green with 23.1%, followed by black at 16.1% and then red at 14.6%. As a result, green became her primary color, black her secondary, and we added red for some extra detail.
When asked about the ability theme for our hero, things started to fall into place. The top choice for weapon and ability theme was ‘Plants’ with 15.7% of the vote—in a category with 18 options, that’s a resounding win. Second place was ‘Hand-to-Hand’ with 13%, which we’ll come back to later.
The top character theme for most of the contest was ‘Mystical,’ but that was beaten out by just 17 votes on the last day by ‘Mutant-Animal Hybrid.’ This close race, combined with the clear ‘Plant’ ability theme and surprisingly strong showing for ‘Genetically modified plant’ in the species question meant we decided to mix all these idea together a bit, and a magical genetically modified plant-hybrid person that you see above was the result.
The character details
Believe it or not, Venus was actually the most suggested name—well, after Sombra and Harambe—and we thought it was perfect. Sorry, Harambe.
What's their background?
Another clear trend is that Venus is definitely from Canada. In a short answer response question (meaning people had to physically type an answer in), Canada got an unbelievable 8.5% of the almost 4,300 responses. How is that even possible? Take note, Blizzard.
The ‘Scientist or Doctor’ background won out with 21%, followed by ‘Criminal’ at 17%. That second part comes somewhat in handy, because when asked to rate the attitude of our hero on a scale of 1-5 (one being edgy like Reaper, five being cheery like Tracer) Venus came in at a 2 with 35.5%.
Have they come back from the dead?
We also asked you who her closest friend and biggest enemy was, but apparently the Great White North is a solitary place, because the answer was ‘no one’ for both, with 13% of the vote each time. For laughs, Bastion was the second place for friend with 11.7%, and Reaper was second place for enemy with 9%.
Also, 59.1% of you think she hasn’t come back from the dead. 22.5% just can’t be sure.
Click the image to see the high-res version.
The abilities and playstyle
After we asked about her background, we decided to get into her abilities and playstyle, which is a bit harder to poll. But even so, a pretty clear image appeared of what Venus would be like to play. The ability image above is a sampling of suggestions you gave that fit into the most popular themes and ability effects.
In question allowing you to check multiple answer boxes about what playstyle she had, there were three big winners: Close up at 36.9%, Crowd Control at 32.8%, and AoE at 26.5%. The next answer drops to 13%, and those three are actually pretty coherent.
Her basic attack being a melee vine whip seemed fitting to both the theme and the general playstyle suggestions. It was recommended a few times across various answer boxes, and just really seems to go well with the rest of her ability kit.
Venus’ ‘Shift’ ability is clearly a movement mechanic, with 26% of the the vote. The vine pull ability highlighted above seemed like a cool way to incorporate the plant theme, and though may be a little bit similar to Widowmaker, it would also be used as sort of a reverse Roadhog hook to pull Venus toward an enemy. A couple other common and cool suggestions were placing vines on a wall that all allies can climb and burrowing into the ground.
Her 'E' ability was more of a split decision, but ‘AoE’ came out on top at 17.6%, followed by ‘Defensive’ at 15.5%. The AoE win goes nicely with the playstyle question above, and the AoE spore cloud heal suggested by one responder seemed like a nice fit to tie all these ideas together, and to keep her alive if she’ll be jumping into a fight. A few other cool suggestion were blurring enemy vision, poison spore clouds, dropping trees on people.
Venus’ ultimate also had a pretty clear winner to it, with ‘Disrupts the enemy team in a big way’ winning with 28.1% of the vote, followed by ‘Massive AoE damage’ at 24.4%. Our favorite suggestion with an AoE immobilization, basically putting every nearby enemy into a Junkrat trap-like effect with roots coming out of the ground. It synergizes well with her entire kit, was suggested a couple times, and just sounds awesome.
Wrapping up
In the end, I’m pretty amazed with how well Venus turned out. She’s a strange character, that’s for sure, but the internet hivemind that is our readers actually managed to create a somewhat coherent design across theme, abilities, naming, and even color scheme!
We also asked for voice line suggestions, and by far the most common suggestion was "Grow up!" A few other good ones were: "Man and Machine may rule the Earth now, but one day Plants will dominate the land," or "(To Mei) - You have to let it grow," and simply "[Banana noises]."A few years ago, Elif Bilgin, now 16, began thinking about slimy, used banana peels in an entirely new light. She knew that mango skins could be used to make more environmentally friendly plastic, so why not banana peels, too?
But the peels proved a slippery subject, Scientific American writes:
Bilgin spent two years toiling away on her project to develop a bioplastic from discarded banana peels, enduring 10 failed trials of plastics that weren’t strong enough or that decayed rapidly. … Finally, in her last two trials, she made plastics with the features she sought, and it did not decay.
The plastic she made could be used to coat electric wires, for instance, in place of oil-derived plastic. And her patience paid off: She won a $50,000 award in this year’s Google Science Fair. Because there’s always money in the banana (-based plastic) stand.WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy held its second public hearing on Monday, listening to testimony from several Western Massachusetts mayors, a prominent addiction specialist and citizens concerned about how Beacon Hill will handle the legalization of marijuana.
The committee is tasked with considering dozens of bills that would alter the state law passed by voters in November. Monday's hearing at West Springfield High School was a chance for the 17 state House and Senate members to hear ideas from the general public.
Several members hail from the Pioneer Valley, including Rep. John Velis, D-Westfield, and Sen. James Welch and Rep. Michael Finn, both Democrats from West Springfield. The committee is led by Rep. Mark Cusack, D-Braintree, and Sen. Patricia Jehlen, D-Somerville.
West Springfield Mayor Will Reichelt said a majority of the town's voters opposed the ballot initiative, called Question 4, and there is concern that the Town Council cannot stop retail pot shops from opening. The law requires a ballot initiative in each town that wants to opt out.
"I'm not aware of any other zoning that has to go on the ballot to opt out," said Reichelt. "If (retail) is allowed in the community, make sure we have the ability to zone it in a way that's good for our community."
As written, the law allows the state to overrule a local retail marijuana zoning ordinance, a dynamic Reichelt said was not fair. He added that the current tax structure does not provide enough revenue to municipalities.
Right now, a town or city cannot impose a tax higher than 2 percent, while the state can add another 3.75 percent.
"If a community wants... to increase it, I think that should be in our hands," said Reichelt.
Mayor Alex Morse of Holyoke was a vocal supporter of Question 4. He told the committee that retail marijuana will put a big dent in street sales, but only if taxes are kept low.
"If we raise it too high too soon, it won't have the intended consequence of driving out the black market," Morse said. "If you want to raise the tax at all, just raise the portion that would go directly to the local communities (instead of) an increase in the overall tax."
Morse disagreed with Reichelt about local control of the industry, saying town officials should not have the authority to ban pot shops, framing the issue as a matter of personal choice.
In November's election, 54 percent of Massachusetts voters approved the ballot measure that allows adults to possess, use, grow and gift marijuana, with some restrictions. Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill, passed by just a few legislators in late December, delaying the opening of retail pot shops until July 2018.
"Please don't hold up or delay the process any longer," said Morse to a round of applause from several dozen people in attendance.
Local officials from Amherst said some of the language in the law is too vague and the committee should clarify certain sections, while residents of Easthampton and other towns said the law should be left alone entirely, considering it was passed by popular vote.
The committee heard detailed testimony from Dr. Ruth Potee, a Greenfield physician and addiction specialist who speaks at local schools about the dangers drugs pose to young people's brains. She said the minimum age to legally purchase marijuana should be 25, the age at which the brain is done developing.
She said people under 25 tend to believe that marijuana is not addictive or harmful, that it alleviates anxiety and insomnia, and is preferable to alcohol and tobacco. There is a vast "chasm of belief" between those ideas and "what we think as scientists," said Potee.
"I actually think alcohol and marijuana are similar substances in the fully adult brain, and I think they need to be regulated in a similar fashion," said Potee.
She called for the committee to limit the psychoactive chemical THC in retail marijuana to 15 percent at most. Some marijuana edibles and concentrates are 90 percent THC.
"How high do you need to get? Honestly," said Potee.
Echoing a representative of the anti-drug West Springfield CARE Coalition, Potee encouraged the committee to ban sugary treats that look like candy, which she argued are specifically designed to entice teenagers.
In written testimony, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno pointed out several "ambiguous" areas of the law and drew the committee's attention to the case of Mary Jane Makes Your Heart Sing, a short-lived business that charged a $20 cover and gave customers "free" marijuana.
Sarno said it will be difficult to allocate "scarce resources to monitor and enforce future attempts to circumvent the law." At this point, it remains impossible to tell if a 2 percent local tax would be enough to cover such costs, he said.
The committee is accepting written testimony from the general public. Two public hearings are scheduled for next month. The first is at 11 a.m. on April 3 at the Statehouse in Boston. The second is April 10 at 4 p.m. at Shrewsbury High School.Oct 11 (Reuters) - Tempted by a chocolate bar? Maybe indulging every so often is not a bad thing — especially if it’s dark chocolate.
According to a Swedish study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that looked at more than 33,000 women, the more chocolate the women said they ate, the lower their risk of stroke.
The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health, but they aren’t a free pass to gorge on chocolate.
“Given the observational design of the study, findings of this study cannot prove that it’s chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke,” said Susanna Larsson from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, in an email to Reuters Health.
While she believes chocolate has health benefits, she also warned that eating too much of it could be counterproductive.
“Chocolate should be consumed in moderation as it is high in calories, fat and sugar. As dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less sugar than milk chocolate, consumption of dark chocolate would be more beneficial.”
Larsson and her colleagues tapped into data from a mammography study that included self-reports of how much chocolate women ate in 1997. The women ranged in age from 49 to 83 years.
Over the next decade, there were 1,549 strokes among the group. The more chocolate women ate, the lower their risk.
Among those with the highest weekly chocolate intake, more than 45 grams, there were 2.5 strokes per 1,000 women per year. That figure was 7.8 per 1,000 among women who at the least, less than 8.9 grams a week.
Scientists speculate that substances known as flavonoids, in particular so-called flavanois, may be responsible for chocolate’s apparent impact on health.
According to Larsson, flavonoids have been shown to cut high blood pressure, a risk factor for strokes, and improve other blood factors linked to heart health. Whether that theoretical benefit translates to real-life benefits remains to be proven by rigorous studies, however.
Nearly 800,000 people in the United States suffer a stroke every year, with about a sixth of them dying of it and many more left disabled.
For those at high risk, doctors recommend blood pressure medicine, quitting smoking, exercising more and eating a healthier diet -- but so far, chocolate isn't on the list. SOURCE: bit.ly/qhsaZ0Tomato & Vegetable Blossom Set Spray is rated 3.4 out of 5 by 16.
Rated 4 out of 5 by SamTheGardenFiend from Works well I had decided to use this on half my plants this year so I can see the difference. While the ones that were sprayed didn't grow faster or more, I didn't have any problems with blossom rot with them. I did lose a few peppers that weren't sprayed. So while I wouldn't call it "miraculous" it definitely didn't hurt
Rated 5 out of 5 by Cheryl Joy from Works great! I’ve used this product for about 4 years now and love it! It increases my tomatoe and cucumber productivity without fail. Yes, the pump does have a tendency to clog but I just pour the remaining contents into the next bottle. Or, rinse out after each use by holding the pump in clean water and pump a few times. Annoying, but the increased production is worth the effort.
Rated 2 out of 5 by DeeJ from Works good, bad pump Works wonders for setting pepper fruit in our cool costal climate. The problem is that the thumb pump only works for half the bottle then quits. It does it every year, and every year I have to transfer to a better sprayer. Seems to me, for the price paid, improvements could be made to the pump.
Rated 1 out of 5 by Pmiejunot from No Results This stuff didn't work for me. I noticed no difference in production of flowers or fruit.
Rated 4 out of 5 by Mimi5 from Spray Bottles, Spray problem is easy to solve. Empty contents in a spray bottle from the dollar store. Cheaper than going back to the store or returning it by mail.
Rated 1 out of 5 by jjtisch from Spray problems I just tried this for the first time yesterday and am having the same problem as most on this site: The sprayer doesn't work half the time. What's with that? One would think the problem would be solved by now. What am I going to do with this stuff? Anyone have a solution? Don't buy it until they get the sprayer problem fixed
Rated 4 out of 5 by emacco from Worked like a charm! I used this spray last season for the first time on my tomatoes and peppers and had a bumper crop, picking the last of my peppers in November! I would have given it 5 stars but the pump, as mentioned by others, can be temperamental. And when you have 50 new blossoms to spray every few days, it can become quite tedious and tiring. Would love to see an improvement on the application of this spray, especially the ability to spray from any angle.Lynne Sladky/Associated Press
Xavier Rhodes is entering a pivotal stage of his career.
The former first-round pick of the 2013 NFL draft is entering his third season in the league. He became a full-time starter for the Minnesota Vikings last season, after playing in 13 games as a rookie. Rhodes received plenty of plaudits for his play in 2014, but it may be premature to call it a breakout season.
As a second-year cornerback, inconsistency is to be expected. It is a position that regularly requires a development period after the draft that can stretch on for multiple seasons. In recent years, players such as Jimmy Smith and Kareem Jackson have struggled early before later establishing themselves as quality starters.
In his third and fourth seasons, Rhodes will be expected to consistently play to his potential and establish himself as a high-quality starter.
Despite playing so little, some already consider Rhodes a high-quality starter. At least one analyst, Bleacher Report's own Matt Miller, already considers Rhodes as a top-10 player at his position:
As with most on-field aspects of the Vikings these days, the positivity and optimism is becoming overwhelming. Because of his relative youth, who he plays for and the stage of his career he is entering, Rhodes is one of the more fascinating young players in the NFL.
Considering that, he is a prime candidate to undergo the Pre Snap Reads cornerback analysis.
Explaining the Process
Qualifying Plays
Plays that count
Every snap that has the cornerback in man coverage no matter where the ball is thrown.
The above includes sacks, quarterback scrambles and plays where the defensive back has safety help.
Every snap in zone coverage where a one-on-one situation is naturally created. For example, a sideline route from a wide receiver who lined up directly across from the cornerback when that cornerback is covering the deep third in Cover 3.
Plays that don’t count
Screen plays. Even if the receiver isn't part of the screen, these plays do not count.
Plays where either the receiver or cornerback doesn't follow through his whole assignment.
Zone plays that don't create one-on-one situations. Any ambiguity in this area will disqualify a play.
Any prevent coverage situations.
Receptions in the flat without a route run.
Running plays, including designed quarterback runs.
Failed Coverages
The ball does not have to be thrown in the defensive back’s direction for the coverage to fail. This is not an analysis of how many completions the cornerback allowed (that can be found elsewhere)—this is an analysis of how good his coverage is on any given play.
Failed coverages can come at any point of the route, but it is subjective to where the players are on the field in relation to the quarterback. Typically, defensive backs must be within arm's reach for underneath/intermediate routes. On deeper passes, there is greater leeway given to the defender.
Failed coverages can be subjective. They must be determined by the situation considering the length of the play and other such variables.
In Position
This is the opposite of a failed coverage. In order to be "in position," a defensive back has to be in a position to prevent a relatively well-thrown pass to his assignment.
Individual Matchups
Rank Player Successful Snaps/Total Snaps % 1. Brandin Cooks 6/7 86% 2. Kelvin Benjamin 7/9 78% 3. Davante Adams 12/16 75% 4. Pierre Garcon 6/8 75% 5. Aaron Dobson 3/4 75% 6. Jeremy Ross 3/4 75% 7. Kenny Stills 3/4 75% 8. Vincent Jackson 5/7 71% 9. Alshon Jeffery 13/19 68% 10. Eric Decker 10/16 63% 11. Sammy Watkins 6/10 60% 12. Corey Fuller 3/5 60% 13. Roddy White 3/5 60% 14. Chris Hogan 4/7 57% 15. Julio Jones 4/7 57% 16. Mike Wallace 7/13 54% 17. Corey Brown 2/4 50% 18. Brian Quick 2/4 |
interview.
Pelosi was taken aback by Moore's suggestion that Democrats have not "capitalized" and asked her what she meant before responding to her question.
"We have beaten them in appropriations," Pelosi said. "We've won every fight. The president's numbers are in the high 30s, which is for a new president remarkable to be so low. He is making his own case. The American people see for themselves that he does not share their values and that he does not—some who may have voted for him are now rethinking and others are just digging in their heels."
Pelosi went on to discuss the efforts of Democrats trying to take back Congress in the 2018 midterm elections by touting their new economic message that was rolled out in late July.
"We hope to get Republicans to join us in our Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Pay, Better Future," Pelosi said.
Pelosi claimed that Democrats "won every fight" against Republicans, but she never mentioned the four special elections that Democrats spent $35 million on, only to lose to Republicans candidates. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Democratic candidates lost in Georgia, South Carolina, Kansas, and Montana, the Washington Free Beacon reported:BOSTON (CBS) – Millions of dollars collected from MBTA riders end up at a nondescript brick building in Charlestown, the agency’s so-called “money room.”
But a new security assessment released by the transit agency reveals some alarming lapses when it comes to keeping all that cash protected.
The report found holes in fences, missing keys, disabled cameras, a door kept together with duct tape, and other doors throughout the building left propped open. One photo included in the report showed an open door with a taped sign that read, “This door should remain shut at all times.”
Security consultant Shellie Crandall, who conducted the assessment, told WBZ-TV by phone there is a real danger to the 70 MBTA employees who work at the “money room.”
“Without having the right protocol being followed, these employees are in harm’s way,” Crandall said. “We’re not carrying around loaves of bread. It’s cash. It’s something that everyone else wants.”
MBTA leaders say they have already addressed the immediate safety concerns revealed in the report, adding enhanced security and doing things like installing new locks.
Read: MBTA Money Room Security Report
Four of the top managers at the facility are no longer in those positions, the MBTA added.
“While the MBTA believes it has addressed any significant threats to security, a major investment would still be necessary to correct all the problems identified in the audit,” said Brian Shortsleeve, the agency’s general manager.
The report comes as the MBTA considers outsourcing the jobs at the “money room,” and decides whether it should be in the business of handling all that cash. According to figures, the employees help count nearly $200 million per year.
The president of the Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, which represents those MBTA workers, fired back about the report. James O’Brien said employees are being scapegoated, blaming the problems on insufficient oversight and lack of investment.
“The fact that MBTA leadership remains committed to moving forward with outsourcing without first addressing these problems is proof they will seek privatization at any cost,” O’Brien said.
On Tuesday, Governor Charlie Baker reacted to details of the report, telling WBZ-TV the MBTA should stick to its strengths.
“It’s not that unusual for most transit systems to have someone else manage their money room because that’s what they do and that’s what they’re good at,” Baker said.
Fresh off a fare hike, some riders at the Sullivan Square station expressed disgust about details of the security assessment.
“If there are no cameras and no accountability, then who knows what could happen with all that money?” said Mitzi Hollinsworth.
“You say there are doors open and keys missing? Then yes, it’s time to privatize,” said Mark Galloway.
Expect for the topic to be debated at upcoming meetings for the MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board.
Ryan Kath can be reached at rkath@cbs.com. You can follow him on Twitter or connect on Facbook.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Carl Stevens reportsBefore I go in on this I would just like to warn anyone who hasn't watched this show, not to. Unless, you can deal with extreme heart ache and forever questioning why they stopped making it after only one season!
This space-western takes us 500 years into the future after a universal civil-war, on board Serenity a small transport ship with a renegade crew who will take any job and don't much care what it is. Surviving out on the habitable fringes of the star system, Firefly takes you on an adventure of love, friendship, betrayal, companionship and discovery. Each character compliments one another and often brings out the best and worse in each other, giving the show an important and steady balance. These elements combined make this show an instant classic partnered up with great story telling.
This is with out a doubt not only a show not to miss but also to be missed once you watched it even after the third time. I can't urge people to watch this show enough whatever I have to say doesn't do it justice because it is that good. I've seen documentaries of grown men crying over how good it is and I can't blame them, it's more than just a show to some people, much more.
Joss Whedon (creator) is well known for Buffy, Angel and The Avengers film franchise but Firefly is his masterpiece.
: Undefined index: keywords inon lineA lexandr S olzhenitsyn A World Split Apart delivered 8 June 1978, Harvard University Plug-in required for flash audio Your browser does not support the audio element. [ AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio English translation] I am sincerely happy to be here on the occasion of the 327th commencement of this old and most prestigious university. My congratulations and very best wishes to all of today's graduates. Harvard's motto is " VERITAS." Many of you have already found out, and others will find out in the course of their lives, that truth eludes us if we do not concentrate our attention totally on it's pursuit. But even while it eludes us, the illusion of knowing it still lingers and leads to many misunderstandings. Also, truth seldom is pleasant; it is almost invariably bitter. There is some bitterness in my today's speech too, but I want to stress that it comes not from an adversary, but from a friend. Three years ago in the United States I said certain things which at that time appeared unacceptable. Today, however, many people agree with what I then said. The split in today's world is perceptible even to a hasty glance. Any of our contemporaries readily identifies two world powers, each of them already capable of entirely destroying the other. However, understanding of the split often is limited to this political conception: that danger may be abolished through successful diplomatic negotiations or by achieving a balance of armed forces. The truth is that the split is a much [more] profound [one] and a more alienating one, that the rifts are more than one can see at first glance. This deep manifold split bears the danger of manifold disaster for all of us, in accordance with the ancient truth that a kingdom -- in this case, our Earth -- divided against itself cannot stand. There is the concept of "Third World": thus, we already have three worlds. Undoubtedly, however, the number is even greater; we are just too far away to see. Any ancient and deeply rooted, autonomous culture, especially if it is spread on a wide part of the earth's surface, constitutes an autonomous world, full of riddles and surprises to Western thinking. As a minimum, we must include in this category China, India, the Muslim world, and Africa, if indeed we accept the approximation of viewing the latter two as compact units. For one thousand years Russia belonged to such a category, although Western thinking systematically committed the mistake of denying its autonomous character and therefore never understood it, just as today the West does not understand Russia in Communist captivity. It may be that in past years Japan has increasingly become a distant part of the West. I am no judge here. But as to Israel, for instance, it seems to me that it's been the part from the western world, in that its state system is fundamentally linked to religion. How short a time ago, relatively, the small, new European world was easily seizing colonies everywhere, not only without anticipating any real resistance, but also usually despising any possible values in the conquered people's approach to life. On the face of it, it was an overwhelming success. There were no geographic frontiers [limits] to it. Western society expanded in a triumph of human independence and power. And all of a sudden in the 20th century came the discovery of its fragility and friability. We now see that the conquests proved to be short lived and precarious -- and this, in turn, points to defects in the Western view of the world which led to these conquests. Relations with the former colonial world now have turned into their opposite and the Western world often goes to extremes of subservience, but it is difficult yet to estimate the total size of the bill which former colonial countries will present to the West and it is difficult to predict whether the surrender not only of its last colonies, but of everything it owns, will be sufficient for the West to foot the bill. But the blindness of superiority continues in spite of all and upholds the belief that the vast regions everywhere on our planet should develop and mature to the level of present day Western systems, which in theory are the best and in practice the most attractive. There is this belief that all those other worlds are only being temporarily prevented (by wicked governments or by heavy crises or by their own barbarity and incomprehension) from taking the way of Western pluralistic democracy and from adopting the Western way of life. Countries are judged on the merit of their progress in this direction. However, it is a conception which develops out of Western incomprehension of the essence of other worlds, out of the mistake of measuring them all with a Western yardstick. The real picture of our planet's development is quite different and which about our divided world gave birth to the theory of convergence between leading Western countries and the Soviet Union. It is a soothing theory which overlooks the fact that these worlds are not at all developing into similarity. Neither one can be transformed into the other without the use of violence. Besides, convergence inevitably means acceptance of the other side's defects, too, and this is hardly desirable. If I were today addressing an audience in my country, examining the overall pattern of the world's rifts, I would have concentrated on the East's calamities. But since my forced exile in the West has now lasted four years and since my audience is a Western one, I think it may be of greater interest to concentrate on certain aspects of the West, in our days, such as I see them. A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party, and, of course, in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course, there are many courageous individuals, but they have no determining influence on public life. Political and intellectual bureaucrats show depression, passivity, and perplexity in their actions and in their statements, and even more so in theoretical reflections to explain how realistic, reasonable, as well as intellectually and even morally worn it is to base state policies on weakness and cowardice. And decline in courage is ironically emphasized by occasional explosions of anger and inflexibility on the part of the same bureaucrats when dealing with weak governments and with countries not supported by anyone, or with currents which cannot offer any resistance. But they get tongue-tied and paralyzed when they deal with powerful governments and threatening forces, with aggressors and international terrorists. Should one point out that from ancient times declining courage has been considered the beginning of the end? When the modern Western states were created, the principle was proclaimed that governments are meant to serve man and man lives to be free and to pursue happiness. See, for example, the American Declaration of Independence. Now, at last, during past decades technical and social progress has permitted the realization of such aspirations: the welfare state. Every citizen has been granted the desired freedom and material goods in such quantity and of such quality as to guarantee in theory the achievement of happiness -- in the morally inferior sense of the word which has come into being during those same decades. In the process, however, one psychological detail has been overlooked: the constant desire to have still more things and a still better life and the struggle to attain them imprint many Western faces with worry and even depression, though it is customary to conceal such feelings. Active and tense competition fills all human thoughts without opening a way to free spiritual development. The individual's independence from many types of state pressure has been guaranteed. The majority of people have been granted well-being to an extent their fathers and grandfathers could not even dream about. It has become possible to raise young people according to these ideals, leaving them to physical splendor, happiness, possession of material goods, money, and leisure, to an almost unlimited freedom of enjoyment. So who should now renounce all this? Why? And for what should one risk one's precious life in defense of common values and particularly in such nebulous cases when the security of one's nation must be defended in a distant country? Even biology knows that habitual, extreme safety and well-being are not advantageous for a living organism. Today, well-being in the life of Western society has begun to reveal its pernicious mask. Western society has given itself the organization best suited to its purposes based, I would say, one the letter of the law. The limits of human rights and righteousness are determined by a system of laws; such limits are very broad. People in the West have acquired considerable skill in interpreting and manipulating law. Any conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the supreme solution. If one is right from a legal point of view, nothing more is required. Nobody will mention that one could still not be entirely right, and urge self-restraint, a willingness to renounce such legal rights, sacrifice and selfless risk. It would sound simply absurd. One almost never sees voluntary self-restraint. Everybody operates at the extreme limit of those legal frames. I have spent all my life under a Communist regime and I will tell you that a society without any objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale than the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulses. And it will be simply impossible to stand through the trials of this threatening century with only the support of a legalistic structure. In today's Western society the inequality has been revealed [in] freedom for good deeds and freedom for evil deeds. A statesman who wants to achieve something important and highly constructive for his country has to move cautiously and even timidly. There are thousands of hasty and irresponsible critics around him; parliament and the press keep rebuffing him. As he moves ahead, he has to prove that each single step of his is well-founded and absolutely flawless. Actually, an outstanding and particularly gifted person who has unusual and unexpected initiatives in mind hardly gets a chance to assert himself. From the very beginning, dozens of traps will be set out for him. Thus, mediocrity triumphs with the excuse of restrictions imposed by democracy. It is feasible and easy everywhere to undermine administrative power and in fact it has been drastically weakened in all Western countries. The defense of individual rights has reached such extremes as to make society as a whole defenseless against certain individuals. It's time, in the West -- It is time, in the West, to defend not so much human rights as human obligations. Destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society appears to have little defense against the abyss of human decadence, such as, for example, misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, such as motion pictures full of pornography, crime, and horror. It is considered to be part of freedom and theoretically counterbalanced by the young people's right not to look or not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil. And what shall we say criminality as such? Legal frames, especially in the United States, are broad enough to encourage not only individual freedom but also certain individual crimes. The culprit can go unpunished or obtain undeserved leniency with the support of thousands of public defenders. When a government starts an earnest fight against terrorism, public opinion immediately accuses it of violating the terrorist's civil rights. There are many such cases. Such a tilt of freedom in the direction of evil has come about gradually, but it was evidently born primarily out of a humanistic and benevolent concept according to which there is no evil inherent to human nature. The world belongs to mankind and all the defects of life are caused by wrong social systems, which must be corrected. Strangely enough, though the best social conditions have been achieved in the West, there still is criminality and there even is considerably more of it than in the pauper and lawless Soviet society. The press too, of course, enjoys the widest freedom. (I shall be using the word press to include all media.) But what sort of use does it make of this freedom? Here again, the main concern is not to infringe the letter of the law. There is no true moral responsibility for deformation or disproportion. What sort of responsibility does a journalist or a newspaper have to his readers, or to his history -- or to history? If they have misled public opinion or the government by inaccurate information or wrong conclusions, do we know of any cases of public recognition and rectification of such mistakes by the same journalist or the same newspaper? It hardly ever happens because it would damage sales. A nation may be the victim of such a mistake, but the journalist usually always gets away with it. One may -- One may safely assume that he will start writing the opposite with renewed self-assurance. Because instant and credible information has to be given, it becomes necessary to resort to guesswork, rumors, and suppositions to fill in the voids, and none -- and none of them will ever be rectified; they will stay on in the readers' memories. How many hasty, immature, superficial, and misleading judgments are expressed every day, confusing readers, without any verification. The press -- The press can both simulate public opinion and miseducate it. Thus, we may see terrorists described as heroes, or secret matters pertaining to one's nation's defense publicly revealed, or we may witness shameless intrusion on the privacy of well-known people under the slogan: "Everyone is entitled to know everything." But this is a false slogan, characteristic of a false era. People also have the right not to know and it's a much more valuable one. The right not to have their divine souls [stuffed with gossip, nonsense, vain talk.] A person who works and leads a meaningful life does not need this excessive burdening flow of information. Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic disease of the 20th century and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press. Such as it is, however, the press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislative power, the executive, and the judiciary. And one would then like to ask: By what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible? In the communist East a journalist is frankly appointed as a state official. But who has granted Western journalists their power, for how long a time, and with what prerogatives? There is yet another surprise for someone coming from the East, where the press is rigorously unified. One gradually discovers a common trend of preferences within the Western press as a whole. It is a fashion; there are generally accepted patterns of judgment; there may be common corporate interests, the sum effect being not competition but unification. Enormous freedom exists for the press, but not for the readership because newspaper[s] mostly develop stress and emphasis to those opinions which do not too openly contradict their own and the general trend. Without any censorship, in the West fashionable trends of thought and ideas are carefully separated from those which are not fashionable; nothing is forbidden, but what is not fashionable will hardly ever find its way into periodicals or books or be heard in colleges. Legally your researchers are free, but they are conditioned by the fashion of the day. There is no open violence such as in the East; however, a selection dictated by fashion and the need to match mass standards frequently prevent independent-minded people giving their contribution to public life. There is a dangerous tendency to flock together and shut off successful development. I have received letters in America from highly intelligent persons, maybe a teacher in a faraway small college who could do much for the renewal and salvation of his country, but his country cannot hear him because the media are not interested in him. This gives birth to strong mass prejudices, to blindness, which is most dangerous in our dynamic era. There is, for instance, a self-deluding interpretation of the contemporary world situation. It works as a sort of a petrified armor around people's minds. Human voices from 17 countries of Eastern Europe and Eastern Asia cannot pierce it. It will only be broken by the pitiless crowbar of events. I have mentioned a few traits of Western life which surprise and shock a new arrival to this world. The purpose and scope of this speech will not allow me to continue such a review, to look into the influence of these Western characteristics on important aspects of a nation's life, such as elementary education, advanced education in the humanities and art. I t is almost universally recognized that the West shows all the world a way to successful economic development, even though in the past years it has been strongly disturbed by chaotic inflation. However, many people living in the West are dissatisfied with their own society. They despise it or accuse it of not being up to the level of maturity attained by mankind. A number of such critics turn to socialism, which is a false and dangerous current. I hope that no one present will suspect me of offering my personal criticism of the Western system to present socialism as an alternative. Having experienced -- Having experienced applied socialism in a country where the alternative has been realized, I certainly will not speak for it. The well-known Soviet mathematician Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism ; it is a profound analysis showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death. Shafarevich's book was published in France -- Shafarevich's book was published in France almost two years ago and so far no one has been found to refute it. It will shortly be published in the United States. But should someone ask me whether I would indicate the West such as it is today as a model to my country, frankly I would have to answer negatively. No, I could not recommend your society in its present state as an ideal for the transformation of ours. Through intense suffering our country has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive. Even those characteristics of your life which I have just mentioned are extremely saddening. A fact which cannot be disputed is the weakening of human beings in the West while in the East they are becoming firmer and stronger -- 60 years for our people and 30 years for the people of Eastern Europe. During that time we have been through a spiritual training far in advance of Western experience. Life's complexity and mortal weight have produced stronger, deeper, and more interesting characters than those generally [produced] by standardized Western well-being. Therefore, if our society were to be transformed into yours, it would mean an improvement in certain aspects, but also a change for the worse on some particularly significant scores. It is true, no doubt, that a society cannot remain in an abyss of lawlessness, as is the case in our country. But it is also demeaning for it to elect such mechanical legalistic smoothness as you have. After the suffering of many years of violence and oppression, the human soul longs for things higher, warmer, and purer than those offered by today's mass living habits, introduced by the revolting invasion of publicity, by TV stupor, and by intolerable music. There are meaningful warnings which history gives a threatened or perishing society. Such are, for instance, the decadence of art, or a lack of great statesmen. There are open and evident warnings, too. The center of your democracy and of your culture is left without electric power for a few hours only, and all of a sudden crowds of American citizens start looting and creating havoc. The smooth surface film must be very thin, then, the social system quite unstable and unhealthy. But the fight for our planet, physical and spiritual, a fight of cosmic proportions, is not a vague matter of the future; it has already started. The forces of Evil have begun their offensive; you can feel their pressure, and yet your screens and publications are full of prescribed smiles and raised glasses. What is the joy about? Very well known representatives of your society, such as George Kennan, say: We cannot apply moral criteria to politics. Thus, we mix good and evil, right and wrong, and make space for the absolute triumph of absolute Evil in the world. On the contrary, only moral criteria can help the West against communism's well planned world strategy. There are no other criteria. Practical or occasional considerations of any kind will inevitably be swept away by strategy. After a certain level of the problem has been reached, legalistic thinking induces paralysis; it prevents one from seeing the size and meaning of events. In spite of the abundance of information, or maybe because of it, the West has difficulties in understanding reality such as it is. There have been naive predictions by some American experts who believed that Angola would become the Soviet Union's Vietnam or that Cuban expeditions in Africa would best be stopped by special U.S. courtesy to Cuba. Kennan's advice to his own country -- to begin unilateral disarmament -- belongs to the same category. If you only knew how the youngest of the Kremlin officials laugh at your political wizards. As to Fidel Castro, he frankly scorns the United States, sending his troops to distant adventures from his country right next to yours. However, the most cruel mistake occurred with the failure to understand the Vietnam war. Some people sincerely wanted all wars to stop just as soon as possible; others believed that there should be room for national, or communist, self-determination in Vietnam, or in Cambodia, as we see today with particular clarity. But members of the U.S. anti-war movement wound up being involved in the betrayal of Far Eastern nations, in a genocide and in the suffering today imposed on 30 million people there. Do those convinced pacifists hear the moans coming from there? Do they understand their responsibility today? Or do they prefer not to hear? The American Intelligentsia lost its nerve and as a consequence thereof danger has come much closer to the United States. But there is no awareness of this. Your shortsighted politicians who signed the hasty Vietnam capitulation seemingly gave America a carefree breathing pause; however, a hundredfold Vietnam now looms over you. That small Vietnam had been a warning and an occasion to mobilize the nation's courage. But if a full-fledged America suffered a real defeat from a small communist half-country, how can the West hope to stand firm in the future? I have had occasion already to say that in the 20th century Western democracy has not won any major war without help and protection from a powerful continental ally whose philosophy and ideology it did not question. In World War II against Hitler, instead of winning that war with its own forces, which would certainly have been sufficient, Western democracy grew and cultivated another enemy who would prove worse, as Hitler never had so many resources and so many people, nor did he offer any attractive ideas, or have a large number of supporters in the West as the Soviet Union. At present, some Western voices already have spoken of obtaining protection from a third power against aggression in the next world conflict, if there is one. In this case the shield would be China. But I would not wish such an outcome to any country in the world. First of all, it is again a doomed alliance with Evil; also, it would grant the United States a respite, but when at a later date China with its billion people would turn around armed with American weapons, America itself would fall prey to a genocide similar to the in Cambodia in our days. And yet -- no weapons, no matter how powerful, can help the West until it overcomes its loss of willpower. In a state of psychological weakness, weapons become a burden for the capitulating side. To defend oneself, one must also be ready to die; there is little such readiness in a society raised in the cult of material well-being. Nothing is left, then, but concessions, attempts to gain time, and betrayal. Thus at the shameful Belgrade conference free Western diplomats in their weakness surrendered the line where enslaved members of Helsinki Watchgroups are sacrificing their lives. Western thinking has become conservative: the world situation should stay as it is at any cost; there should be no changes. This debilitating dream of a status quo is the symptom of a society which has come to the end of its development. But one must be blind in order not to see that oceans no longer belong to the West, while land under its domination keeps shrinking. The two so-called world wars (they were by far not on a world scale, not yet) have meant internal self-destruction of the small, progressive West which has thus prepared its own end. The next war (which does not have to be an atomic one and I do not believe it will) may well bury Western civilization forever. Facing such a danger, with such splendid historical values in your past, at such a high level of realization of freedom and of devotion to freedom, how is it possible to lose to such an extent the will to defend oneself? How has this unfavorable relation of forces come about? How did the West decline from its triumphal march to its present sickness? Have there been fatal turns and losses of direction in its development? It does not seem so. The West kept advancing socially in accordance with its proclaimed intentions, with the help of brilliant technological progress. And all of a sudden it found itself in its present state of weakness. This means that the mistake must be at the root, at the very basis of human thinking in the past centuries. I refer to the prevailing Western view of the world which was first born during the Renaissance and found its political expression from the period of the Enlightenment. It became the basis for government and social science and could be defined as rationalistic humanism or humanistic autonomy: the proclaimed and enforced autonomy of man from any higher force above him. It could also be called anthropocentricity, with man seen as the center of everything that exists. The turn introduced by the Renaissance evidently was inevitable historically. The Middle Ages had come to a natural end by exhaustion, becoming an intolerable despotic repression of man's physical nature in favor of the spiritual one. Then, however, we turned our backs upon the Spirit and embraced all that is material with excessive and unwarranted zeal. This new way of thinking, which had imposed on us its guidance, did not admit the existence of intrinsic evil in man nor did it see any higher task than the attainment of happiness on earth. It based modern Western civilization on the dangerous trend to worship man and his material needs. Everything beyond physical well-being and accumulation of material goods, all other human requirements and characteristics of a subtler and higher nature, were left outside the area of attention of state and social systems, as if human life did not have any superior sense. That provided access for evil, of which in our days there is a free and constant flow. Merely freedom does not in the least solve all the problems of human life and it even adds a number of new ones. However, in early democracies, as in the American democracy at the time of its birth, all individual human rights were granted because man is God's creature. That is, freedom was given to the individual conditionally, in the assumption of his constant religious responsibility. Such was the heritage of the preceding thousand years. Two hundred or even fifty years ago, it would have seemed quite impossible, in America, that an individual could be granted boundless freedom simply for the satisfaction of his instincts or whims. Subsequently, however, all such limitations were discarded everywhere in the West; a total liberation occurred from the moral heritage of Christian centuries with their great reserves of mercy and sacrifice. State systems were -- State systems were becoming increasingly and totally materialistic. The West ended up by truly enforcing human rights, sometimes even excessively, but man's sense of responsibility to God and society grew dimmer and dimmer. In the past decades, the legalistically selfish aspect of Western approach and thinking has reached its final dimension and the world wound up in a harsh spiritual crisis and a political impasse. All the glorified technological achievements of Progress, including the conquest of outer space, do not redeem the 20th century's moral poverty which no one could imagine even as late as in the 19th Century. As humanism in its development became more and more materialistic, it made itself increasingly accessible to speculation and manipulation by socialism and then by communism. So that Karl Marx was able to say that "communism is naturalized humanism." This statement turned out not to be entirely senseless. One does see the same stones in the foundations of a despiritualized humanism and of any type of socialism: endless materialism; freedom from religion and religious responsibility, which under communist regimes reach the stage of anti-religious dictatorships; concentration on social structures with a seemingly scientific approach. This is typical of the Enlightenment in the 18th Century and of Marxism. Not by coincidence all of communism's meaningless pledges and oaths are about Man, with a capital M, and his earthly happiness. At first glance it seems an ugly parallel: common traits in the thinking and way of life of today's West and today's East? But such is the logic of materialistic development. The interrelationship is such, too, that the current of materialism which is most to the left always ends up by being stronger, more attractive, and victorious, because it is more consistent. Humanism without its Christian heritage cannot resist such competition. We watch this process in the past centuries and especially in the past decades, on a world scale as the situation becomes increasingly dramatic. Liberalism was inevitably displaced by radicalism; radicalism had to surrender to socialism; and socialism could never resist communism. The communist regime in the East could stand and grow due to the enthusiastic support from an enormous number of Western intellectuals who felt a kinship and refused to see communism's crimes. And when they no longer could do so, they tried to justify them. In our Eastern countries, communism has suffered a complete ideological defeat; it is zero and less than zero. But Western intellectuals still look at it with interest and with empathy, and this is precisely what makes it so immensely difficult for the West to withstand the East. I am not examining here the case of a world war disaster and the changes which it would produce in society. As long as we wake up every morning under a peaceful sun, we have to lead an everyday life. There is a disaster, however, which has already been under way for quite some time. I am referring to the calamity of a despiritualized and irreligious humanistic consciousness. To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging everything on earth -- imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes which had not been noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life. In the East, it is destroyed by the dealings and machinations of the ruling party. In the West, commercial interests suffocate it. This is the real crisis. The split in the world is less terrible -- The split in the world is less terrible than the similarity of the disease plaguing its main sections. If humanism were right in declaring that man is born only to be happy, he would not be born to die. Since his body is doomed to die, his task on earth evidently must be of a more spiritual nature. It cannot be unrestrained enjoyment of everyday life. It cannot be the search for the best ways to obtain material goods and then cheerfully get the most of them. It has to be the fulfillment of a permanent, earnest duty so that one's life journey may become an experience of moral growth, so that one may leave life a better human being than one started it. It is imperative to review the table of widespread human values. Its present incorrectness is astounding. It is not possible that assessment of the President's performance be reduced to the question how much money one makes or of unlimited availability of gasoline. Only voluntary, inspired self-restraint can raise man above the world stream of materialism. It would be retrogression to attach oneself today to the ossified formulas of the Enlightenment. Social dogmatism leaves us completely helpless in front of the trials of our times. Even if we are spared destruction by war, our lives will have to change if we want to save life from self-destruction. We cannot avoid revising the fundamental definitions of human life and human society. Is it true that man is above everything? Is there no Superior Spirit above him? Is it right that man's life and society's activities have to be determined by material expansion in the first place? Is it permissible to promote such expansion to the detriment of our spiritual integrity? I f the world has not come to its end, it has approached a major turn in history, equal in importance to the turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It will exact from us a spiritual upsurge: We shall have to rise to a new height of vision, to a new level of life where our physical nature will not be cursed as in the Middle Ages, but, even more importantly, our spiritual being will not be trampled upon as in the Modern era. This ascension will be similar to climbing onto the next anthropologic stage. No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward. Book/CDs by Michael E. Eiden |
dynamic of radicalisation, militarisation and Islamisation was triggered. It was foreseeable that people who were previously not radical would become radicalised. Many without a particular reputation for piety became Islamists over night. And let′s not forget the external factors: the masses of petrodollars from states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, not to mention the Salafist networks in the Gulf. The current situation in Syria is the ideal environment for Salafist jihadists to prosper.
Interview conducted by Emran Feroz
© Qantara.de 2017
Yassin al-Haj Saleh is a well-known Syrian dissident and author, who spent 16 years in prison under Hafiz al-Assad. He is regarded by many as the ″conscience of the Syrian Revolution″. His books include ′Syria in the shadows: Glimpses inside the black box′ (only available in Arabic)Bethesda has said it will reveal why it worked to unban Fallout 3 in Germany "in a couple of weeks," suggesting that a re-release of the 2009 RPG shooter might soon be on the cards.
IGN Germany reports that Bethesda "initiated a difficult and rarely-successful trial" with the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Minors (BPjM) in order to de-list Fallout 3 three years before the end of its statutory ten-year sentence.
In a process involving detailed application letters, costs of up to several thousand Euros and scrutiny from a 'Big Council' of 12 delegates made of German community organisations, State Assessors and BPjM Group Members, the publisher won its case to remove the ban
"In the case of Fallout 3 the request for de-listing was granted even though only seven years passed since the game was banned," the BPjM said in a statement. "The Big Council decided at its meeting on February, 4th that Fallout 3 will be removed from the list because its content is no longer classified as harmful to minors from today's perspective."
IGN Germany asked Bethesda for comment and received the following response; "We cannot give a statement at the moment, but will answer your questions in a couple of weeks."The ultra-Orthodox soldier who was attacked on Wednesday in Mea Shearim is certainly not the first. Haredi soldiers have been experiencing outspoken hostility for months, including verbal and physical assaults as the imminence of the draft approaches, and as haredi campaigns against enlistment gain momentum.
There is a lack of appropriate response from law enforcement agencies as the issue heats up on the haredi street. Violent incidents are reaching an all-time record high, as the situation deteriorates and a disturbing reality makes itself obvious.
Ynet has heard a range of haredi soldiers' stories over the past few days, which offer a glimpse into the lives of ultra-Orthodox men serving in the IDF in 2013.
'Suddenly he threw a big rock at me'
D., a haredi soldier, will not forget his visit to the city of "Torah and the pious," Bnei Brak, for a long time. “It began as usual,” he said, explaining the routine that was part of his life for the last few weeks. “Kids ran after me and screamed, ‘Hardak (derogatory term for haredi soldiers used within their own communities), predator,' 'Hardak, get out’ and things like that. With time you learn to accept it humourously. They are children, after all.
"Suddenly I notice one of them picking up a large rock sitting on the side, and throwing it at me. I see the rock in time and duck, but it easily could have ended differently.”
Were there adults around?
“Yes, it was in the late afternoon. There were many adults who stood near the spot; everyone was silent and no one did anything.”
Are you in uniform now?
“Yes.”
Are you worried?
"Of course, but what can you do? Give in to it? I don't understand what they are waiting for. Will they only wake up once someone is killed? No rabbi will support the boy or youth who kills someone, so why is no one speaking up and stopping this?"
' Adults watched and did nothing'
"In the end, every haredi who enlists chooses to do so without the influence of politics. This effects his personal life, regardless of the fact that they wish to draft yeshiva students and whether this is good or not. As long as these incidents increase and get worse, the haredim will only lose through the media. There are dozens of incidents like this… No one speaks of them and no one complains. People are frustrated and don't think it will help."
'They stole my uniform off the laundry line'
B. is a soldier from Beitar Illit. He has been living through an ordeal which began a year ago when he started his IDF service, experiencing swearing and name calling on a daily basis. "They did not beat me, but everything else has been done," he said. B.’s daily routine until recently included one main concern: When could he change from haredi civilian clothes into IDF uniform, and when could he change back.
"I get up early and put on civilian clothes for morning prayers. It's impossible to go to minyan (quorum) anymore in uniform. They yell at me and throw me out. Then I hurry back home to take the uniform, which I put on while on the bus, because you can’t at home. There is some distance to go before you reach the bus station, and if I wear the uniform they attack and shout. When I return from base, I change again. I need to shop, to pray, and you cannot do so in uniform. I just got permission to wear civilian clothes, so I have stopped being a target.”
The escalation in the reactions against him is something he felt only recently. "But it quickly became intolerable: Hostile looks, yelling, crowds gathering everywhere I go, just a nightmare. They stole a pair of uniforms from the clothesline. What is more surreal than that?”
"The locations that are most prone to rioting are streets, especially from children and young yeshiva students. They attack, but sometimes adults join them too. All the soldiers in Beitar Illit suffer greatly, and that's why we got permission to wear civilian clothes."
Does anyone comment or stop when an attack like this occurs?
"Nothing. That is what is most infuriating. They act as if nothing is happening. I expect to have an adult tell a child that you do not talk like this, certainly not to adults, but they are silent. Their parents ignore it as well. They prefer to turn their heads the other way. Most of them are against it, of course, but they are a silent and passive majority who do not want to take sides."
B. says that he expects members of the United Torah Judaism party to be vocal on the issue, "They received thousands of votes from soldiers, our votes, and they are not willing to protect those who voted for them. With the behavior of the silent majority we have already made our peace, but them? At least protect against incitement and violence."
'Writing on my door'
H., a resident of Modiin Illit and a career officer, is not at home enough to get a "warm reception." Youth from the neighborhood have found an original way to let him know exactly what they think about his military service by marking his door with graffiti on a daily basis.
"It was not a physical injury, but damage to property," he said. "At first they hung notes, and after that when it did not affect us enough in their eyes, they moved to the door itself – carving statements and curses on it. It always happened in the afternoon, at the hour when my wife returned from work – straight to this reception. Once I even stayed home hoping to catch them red-handed, but it didn’t happen."
Derogatory messages left on door
H. learned the identities of the children behind the incidents when their school principal approached him. "He came to me on his own initiative and told me what happened, and also that in response he had forced them to write a letter of apology, which they gave me. It was clear to me that this is not a real apology, and all of it came under threat from the principal.
"These children hear all sorts of things at home, and this is the result. It shows what is going on in the haredi street, what the feelings are, and the feelings are ones of hate."
'Insults have become routine'
A. is newly enlisted, and lives in a community in the north of the country, where there is a high concentration of haredim. To his “delight,” the first incident occurred less than a month ago.
"I walked through a street in a haredi neighborhood, and suddenly kids began chasing me and yelling," he says. "The first time it was really annoying, I felt terrible afterwards. But in the end, you get used to everything and you get used to this too. I have already stopped turning back every time someone calls me a 'Hardak' or other annoying things. The annoyance has passed, but I was torn. You see people who are like you, from your community, who go out like that against you – it's very difficult.
.
“I remember that in the beginning, when the first Hardakim posters appeared, it was an attraction. Other soldiers and I looked at it as a joke. We laughed at the idea. It was funny – until there were the first cries on the street, and then you understand that someone has taken it seriously. In most cases, it is children, but it is still hard to take, again and again, when you get that reception on your street.
Attack in Mea Shearim
“Two temples were destroyed because of hatred and civil war, and I ask why? I serve in the army not in order to fight my people, but to protect them. If you have any complaints to Yair Lapid, turn to him. What do you want from me? What happened in Mea Shearim really shocked me. Now I never go to Jerusalem in uniform."
We're talking about the capital, where there is a huge concentration of haredim.
"I have no choice. If I come, it is always with my wife and child, and I would not want to risk their lives and make myself a target, as much as this sounds painful."
'They literally terrorize me'
M. lives in Bayit Vegan, a Jerusalem neighborhood considered solid and moderate, but recently his life has become a living hell.
"The haredim serving in the military were always looked at a bit askance, but it was something unspoken. Today it has become true terror. I have been spit on countless times when I was in uniform. Once even in the presence of my wife and child. She did not believe me that this is the case, until she saw it herself. Until then, she was sure I was exaggerating.
"Daily life has become unbearable. I am a 'Nazi,' 'Lapid,' 'infidel,' of course with spitting and screaming everywhere. It starts in the morning, when I wait for the bus – and ends only when I return at night. Recently I got permission to wear civilian clothes, and since then the situation has calmed greatly."
Who are the attackers?
“In my situation, it is mainly young men, aged 17-18, and every time I go out of the house in uniform, and they are not in yeshiva, it starts anew. One yeshiva head who saw me on the street asked me to put the tallit (prayer shawl) under my uniform, because he said I was 'giving authorization' for haredim to enlist, and once I enlisted, to him I was no longer haredi."
M. also lodged a police complaint and civil suit for defamation against the cartoonist of the 'Hardakim' campaign.
"I complained against Avishai Chen. This is the guy responsible for some of these horrible caricatures. After this, I got harassing phone calls. In three months time, there will be a discussion on the issue. Currently the attorney general is reviewing the complaint, to see whether it falls under freedom of speech or not.
"Meanwhile, the rabbis are silent, the IDF is passive, and our life has become a nightmare. Where are the haredi MKs? We're not getting any response from them. Nothing. We are abandoned by both sides."Pope Francis delivers his Sunday Angelus prayer from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St Peter's Square in the Vatican on August 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli)
Pope Francis on Tuesday launched an extraordinary Catholic Jubilee year of mercy by opening a “Holy Door” in the walls of St Peter’s, embracing a 700-year-old tradition as he urged his Church to reach out to the modern world.
“This is the door of the Lord. Open to me the gates of justice,” the Argentinian pontiff said before being helped up three marble steps to push the giant bronze doors open.
In a break with tradition that reflected Francis’s modernising instincts, the order to open the doors was delivered in Italian rather than Latin.
The 78-year-old then paused on the threshold of the renaissance basilica for two minutes of silent prayer before walking inside in an act to be carried out by millions of pilgrims before the Jubilee closes next November.
Francis was followed gingerly through the door by his frail predecessor, the now-retired Benedict XVI, 88, and by hundreds of cardinals, bishops and male and female members of religious orders.
Clutching a walking stick in his right-hand and looking extremely pale, Benedict, 88, was helped into the basilica on the arm of his assistant Georg Ganswein.
Amid heightened security following recent terror attacks around the world, the Vatican said 70,000 pilgrims had packed into St Peter’s square and surrounding streets to watch Francis open the usually bricked-up wall in the facade of the renaissance basilica.
Many had tears rolling down their cheeks or eyes clenched shut in prayer as Francis ordered the door open for the first time since the last Jubilee, in 2000.
Among them was Cecilia Koo from South Korea. “This pope says he is here to serve. He is one of my favourites,” she said.
Polish friends Teresa and Carolina were returning to Rome after coming for John Paul II’s Jubilee 15 years ago.
“What will I change to mark the Jubilee? I think I’ll give some change to a homeless beggar that I usually ignore,” confided Teresa.
Francis used his homily to underline the significance of his decision to start the Jubilee on the 50th anniversary of the end of the second Vatican Council, a gathering of bishops credited with a modernisation of the Church that Francis is attempting to emulate.
Francis said the 1960s council had allowed the Church to emerge from self-enclosure.
“It was the resumption of a journey of encountering people where they live: in their cities and homes, in their workplaces,” he said.
“Wherever there are people, the Church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the gospel.”
For Francis’s predecessor, the German-born Joseph Ratzinger, Tuesday’s ceremony represented a rare public outing.
The Emeritus Pope, as he is officially known, has lived in seclusion within the Vatican since retiring in 2013 as failing health left him incapable of running an institution beset by the clerical sex abuse scandal and internecine bickering in its upper echelons.
Tuesday’s celebrations will conclude in the evening when images by some of the world’s greatest environmental photographers will be projected onto the facade of Saint Peter’s in an initiative linked to the ongoing global climate conference in Paris.
– Mercy not judgement –
The Jubilee, which runs until November 20, 2016, was called by Francis with the express goal of changing the way the Church is perceived by the faithful, lapsed believers and the rest of the world.
“How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy,” he said on Tuesday.
“We have to put mercy before judgment … Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved.”
In a surprise move reflecting that aim, Francis announced in September that for the duration of the Jubilee, priests would be given special dispensation to absolve women who have had abortions.
In addition, some 800 priests around the world are to be designated “missionaries of mercy” tasked with encouraging higher levels of confession amongst believers.
Those involved have been selected for their ability to preach well, understand human frailty and ensure the confessional is not experienced “like a torture chamber” as the pope has put it.
Francis’s push for a less judgemental, more understanding Church has encountered fierce resistance from traditionalists opposed to any relaxation of teaching on hot-button subjects such as homosexuality, divorce and unmarried cohabitation.
Traditionally, Catholics were expected to make a pilgrimage to Rome to benefit from the indulgences on offer to the faithful who pass through the Holy Doors during Jubilee years.
Francis has effectively done away with this custom by ordering cathedrals around the world to open their own Holy Doors. That will happen on Sunday, when Francis himself opens the door at one of Rome’s major churches, St John Lateran.By Amy Sherman for PolitiFact
Poll workers in Birmingham, Ala., allowed 3,000 invalid votes to benefit Democrat Doug Jones in his Senate race against Republican Roy Moore, according to a fake news article on Facebook.
"Alabama State Police arrest 3 poll workers in Birmingham" stated a headline on the American Revolution website.
Facebook users flagged the post as being potentially fabricated, as part of the social network's efforts to combat fake news. There is no truth to this article.
We saw no disclaimer on the American Revolution website, but the same story was posted on reaganwasright, a website that identifies itself as satire and is a frequent purveyor of fake news.
Jones beat Moore in the Alabama U.S. Senate special election Dec. 12. The Washington Post reported in November that Moore, while in his 30s, initiated sexual encounters with several teenagers, according to the women interviewed by the newspaper. There have been multiple fake news reports related to the election.
This article on the American Revolution website contained no details explaining the supposedly fraudulent votes and contains some fictional details such as stating that Birmingham is in Applevale County -- it is located in Jefferson County.
It stated that the three poll workers -- Wanda Werkmeister, Olivia Pertuiary and Maureen Brown -- will all face felony charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $1 million in fines.
The article includes a quote by Fox News host Sean Hannity, but we found no evidence he said this:
"Without that inner-city ghetto vote, Doug Jones doesn't have a chance. It doesn't make much sense why someone from the city's vote is so much more important to Democrats, who swear they aren't at all racist."
The article stated that Hannity made those comments on Dana Loesch's show Guns God and Grits. A Fox News spokeswoman told PolitiFact that Hannity did not make the statement and Loesch, who hosts a conservative radio show, told PolitiFact that she hadn't had Hannity on her show in a few years and doesn't have a show with that name.
The American Revolution website linked to the Facebook page for Special News USA. We sent a message to Special News USA via Facebook and a person replied stating, "I do not know whether or not the news is correct or not, but I distributed it to get the feedback of other people."
We found no news reports that poll workers were arrested in Birmingham.
Robyn Bradley Bryan, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokeswoman, told PolitiFact that the agency did not arrest any poll workers.
A spokesman for the Alabama Secretary of State, John Bennett, told PolitiFact that there were no poll workers with the names in the article.
A headline stated "Alabama state police arrest 3 poll workers in Birmingham." There is no evidence that such a crime occurred.
We rate this headline Pants on Fire.
PolitiFact is collaborating with AL.com journalists to bring its Pulitzer Prize-winning, fact-checking services to Alabama, thanks to a grant from the Knight Foundation.[Rating K9][Crime][Action/Adventure][Humor][Heist][Crossover][Complete]
Delightfully in-character with a tone that can shift from intensely personal to at times uproariously funny (and everywhere in between), “Of Heists and Hustles” is a deftly told crossover tale that predominantly fuses the worlds of Zootopia and the Sly Cooper video game series. That’s not all, though; along the way, you’ll find characters from The Lion King, Kung Fu Panda and more. But don’t mistake this for some ill-conceived mish-mash of different intellectual properties thrown together just for the hell of it; “Of Heists and Hustles” weaves its worlds into an infectiously entertaining heist story rife with clever dialogue, endearing characters and a particularly charming take on the partnership of Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps, both professionally and personally. Unfamiliar with the non-Zootopia titles used? Don’t fret. A few chapters in and you’ll barely recall ever minding. – YFWE
Author: IronicSnap
Description :
The world’s largest gemstone has arrived in Zootopia! Sly wants to steal it. Judy wants an adventure. Nick just wants his partner to survive to the end of the week. Things are complicated by a foxy Interpol inspector and a rival gang led by a dangerous, shadowy mastermind. As new relationships are forged, old ones begin to strain.
Of Heists and Hustles
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Additional Tags: Crossovers, crossovers everywhereAs if the bragging rights that come with making an ace in competition weren’t enough, a European Tour event added nearly 300 beers to the prize pack.
Miguel Angel Jimenez will take home 288 bottles of Mahou beer after making an ace on the par-3 eighth hole during the second round of the 2015 Open de España in Barcelona.
Jimenez has more to celebrate than just a fully-stocked fridge: he also tied Colin Montgomerie’s record for most aces on the European Tour, with 9 apiece.
Jimenez has a knack for winning imbibable prizes. In 2013, he won 100 bottles of SEXY wine after holing another ace at the Portugal Masters.
If there was ever any doubt about whether this man really is the Most Interesting Man in Golf, well … he’ll drink to that.
For more news that golfers everywhere are talking about, follow @golf_com on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube video channel.If they cared about black kids' futures, the NAACP would be begging more charter schools to open as fast as possible, not demanding the opposite.
Despite public resistance by black leaders across the political spectrum against this impending decision, the NAACP Saturday released yet another resolution condemning school choice and calling for a nationwide ban on new charter schools.
“The NAACP opposes privatization of public schools and public subsidizing or funding of for-profit or charter schools,” the organization said in a statement. “Privatization of public schools” is survey-tested union talk attempting to manipulate people into disliking the idea of a more diverse ecosystem of publicly funded education through mechanisms such as vouchers, education savings accounts, and charter schools. These allow all families to have the same opportunities to attend schools of choice, as rich families do.
A coalition of 160 black leaders pointed this out in an attempt to get NAACP to back off this resolution when it was first proposed this year: “A blanket moratorium on charter schools would limit Black students’ access to some of the best schools in America and deny Black parents the opportunity to make decisions about what’s best for their children.”
Unlike many Americans, of course, and particularly unlike African-Americans because of their higher levels of poverty, wealthy families can afford to pay taxes for public school plus tuition to private school, or buy their way into high-performing public school districts. The NAACP insists it instead wants all Americans to pay the eye-popping property and other taxes the rich do to fund local schools of comparable extravagance, and therefore black kids should be held hostage in poorly performing public schools as leverage to push for this political arrangement.
All increases in spending equate to tax increases, either immediately or later if contracted through debt. So NAACP here is effectively demanding tax increases to increase education funding nationwide: “The NAACP has been in the forefront of the struggle for and a staunch advocate of free, high-quality, fully and equitably-funded public education for all children,” said Roslyn Brock, NAACP’s national board chairman. “We are dedicated to eliminating the severe racial inequities that continue to plague the education system.”
This stance is a head-scratcher on myriad counts. For one, the United States already boasts the highest-funded public education system in the world, at an average cost (not including public debt, typically for facilities costs, which is massive) of $12,000 per student per year. The districts where black students are concentrated tend to spend even more — Washington DC, for example, spends approximately $25,000 per child per year, Baltimore spends $15,000 per student, and Detroit $14,000. U.S. education spending has quadrupled since the 1970s while student achievement has stagnated, and seems to have had little effect on black kids particularly (once raised above segregation-era pittances).
Now, the average charter school — which is a fully public school that local citizens can apply to run as independent boards following public transparency laws — spends approximately $7,600 per student per year. Despite the huge cost savings charters offer, quality studies show their students learn at least as much, and often more, than their peers in traditional public schools.
In fact, the children who seem to academically and socially benefit the most from enrolling in a charter school are the very children NAACP claims to represent: poor, minority children. For example: “Black and Hispanic students who attended charter schools in [New York City] for eight years closed the achievement gap with affluent suburbs like Scarsdale by 86% in math and 66% in English,” found a National Bureau for Economic Research study. “Public charter middle schools in Boston cut the black-white achievement gap in math by as much as half in a single year.”
Massachusetts charters close the racial achievement gap on half the funding of traditional public schools — and charters are legally forbidden from refusing any student for any reason. They have to take low performers, English learners, and disabled kids. Closed the achievement gaps between white and minority students! That’s practically the Holy Grail of education reform! And at half the cost! What more could you want?
Let’s just hold for a minute here and look at that achievement gap, because it’s distressing. Keep in mind that black children disproportionately attend some of America’s worst public schools, which poorer families cannot escape unless they can pay higher rent or mortgages to live in a better school district or private tuition fees. For a national overview of that problem, let’s start with latest federal high-school graduation stats:
What do we see? Almost 18 in 20 white kids graduate high school. Only about 15 in 20 black kids does.
Next, the latest national reading and math stats, because graduation rates are easier to juke (just pass kids whether they can read or cipher or not). Look at the proficiency rates of students about to graduate from high school, at grade 12. Just 7 percent of black kids are proficient in math when they graduate, and just 17 percent proficient in reading.
Notice how the white kids’ average quadruples or triples black kids’ proficiency rates. Closing the gap between these two — bringing the black kids’ average up that far — is crazy awesome. If they cared about black kids’ futures, the NAACP’s board would be begging more charter schools to open as quickly as possible, not demanding the opposite.
Results like this are probably a major reason black parents support charter schools and voucher programs at massively high levels. A national poll out this month showed that, if they could pick any schools they wanted for their kids, a plurality of 44 percent of black Americans would choose a private school. Obviously their preferences are not in line with NAACP’s stance against “school privatization” and supporting only traditional public schools.
Just a quarter of African-Americans would pick public schools if they had a choice in the matter; and 20 percent would pick a charter school. In that same poll, a whopping 74 percent of black respondents favored charter schools, and two-thirds supported vouchers and tax-credit scholarships. Clearly, the NAACP doesn’t represent most black families on this matter.
Enrollment patterns show a similar reality. According to the latest federal data, 27 percent of charter school students are black, more than double their proportion among the general population of 12 percent. About a million African-American children attend charter schools exclusively because of their parents’ choice to enroll them in those environments.
NAACP is telling these black parents they’ve made bad choices, that their individual success is a threat to their peers. That sounds like a more polished rendition of the “acting white” slur that says black kids who study hard and make something of themselves are somehow betraying peers who don’t make those choices.
In reality, again, the opposite is true. School choice not only gives poor and moderate-income parents education buying power and thus leverage equal to that of wealthy families, it cultivates the social capital and infrastructure money can’t buy, which is a far more fundamental precursor to success and ability to withstand adversity. Andy Smarick wrote movingly about this recently:
For instance, assigning students to schools by rote can undermine individual agency. Explicitly creating highly similar schools (PS 1, PS 2, PS 3, etc.) can be seen as homogenizing cities with vast diversity. Allowing only one public body to run schools, and then centralizing key decisions in its large bureaucracy, can inhibit the initiatives of neighborhood leaders. And empowering a citywide elected board enables the priorities and values of the majority to take precedence over those of discrete communities and neighborhoods… Families, no longer merely told where to send their children to school, have collaborated to push for new types of schools and directed the evolution of existing schools. Educators, no longer merely assigned to a school by a district central office, have teamed up with colleagues to found new schools. A recent study on D.C.’s charter-school governance found that chartering has given hundreds of citizens (parents, lawyers, neighborhood leaders, business executives) an opportunity to participate more fully in schooling through seats on governing boards.
Black families are among those worst injured by poor public schools and our nation’s system of ZIP code-assigned schooling. Their choice to better their family and children is not made at the expense of other kids. In exercising these choices, black parents are creating better futures both for their children and for their communities. They should be celebrated, not condemned, for taking individual responsibility for their families and communities in this way.
This is yet another signal that organizations that purport to represent African-Americans often actually represent the opposite of what these citizens themselves think will give them a hope and a future. The NAACP’s refusal to represent not only the best interests but the expressed desires of a vast majority of their supposed constituents is a major strike against their credibility.Last month, members of /r/Dogecoin, a subreddit dedicated to the meme-inspired cryptocurrency, helped raise more than $50,000 for NASCAR driver Josh Wise
Only a month ago, Josh Wise was a Nascar driver that struggled with a lack of sponsors until he was noticed by a dogecoin community, who saw the chance to get promotion.
Members of /r/Dogecoin, a Doge meme-inspired digital currency, raised over USD 50,000 for Josh Wise. His number 98 race car will spot a Dogecoin image during the Talladega Superspeedway race on May 4th.
An illustration of Shiba Inu dog logo features on both the hood and rear bumper of the vehicle.
Besides Shiba Inu dog face, the car features a rocket ship and the phrase “To the moon”, which are used for the popularity of Dogecoin.
Phil Parsons Racing tweeted photos of the finished Dogecar yesterday.
According to Ben Doernberg, a member of the Dogecoin Foudation, fundraising for the sponsorship was done in record time. It is the largest fundraisers they have done to date.
Doernberg said: “We are all about fun and goofiness. At the same time, we want to make sure that digital currency is really giving back to the world. We do feel like this is a technology that can make the world a better place, and we want to put that into practice by doing fundraisers.”
The dogecoin community has built a reputation for unusual fundraisers. It also helped Olympians from India and Jamaica to participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics this year. The community has also raised cash for a drought-stricken region in Kenya to set up new water wells.
An ethical coffee shop and creative space has recently received help from Manchester dogecoin community in the UK. Moreover, Banksy-like character known as “Hood” has given thousands of dollars in dogecoin currency to address social injustice in California.
The stunning exterior design of the race car is forecasted to attract more attention to dogecoin.
If Josh Wise receive enough support from the public, the Dogecar is likely to make an appearance at the Spirit Cup Series All Star race. Participation in the competition is allowed for the previous year’s winners, two finishers from a qualifying race and the driver with most of fan votes.
The dogecoin race car will be made into a die-cast 1:24 scale car as part of the agreement between Nascar and Lionel Racing Collectibles. Nascar’14 video game fans will be able to race the dogecoin car for themselves after it is added in the DLC pack.
Ed Martin, developer of the video games, expects to see more technology-oriented partners involved in Nascar. In addition, it will bring more attention to Nascar.The main impact of US intervention in the Middle East has been to destabilize, polarize, and radicalize the region. Especially, it has fomented a vast, multi-country, new sectarian civil war between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. On each side, the most sectarian forces have gained from the conflict. And benefiting the most have been fanatically intolerant and murderous Salafist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Recent events show this pattern continuing apace.
In Iraq, the town of Ramadi, capital of Anbar Province, fell to the Islamic State in mid-May.
In Syria, the last government-held town in Idlib province fell to that country’s branch of Al Qaeda (Jabhat al-Nusra) on Friday.
In Libya, the town of Misurata, plus the bombed-out Gardabya air base, were abandoned to the Islamic State after a deadly suicide bombing, as it was revealed on Sunday.
In Yemen, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized an airport and an oil refinery in April.
Even in Saudi Arabia, the Islamic State suicide bombed a Shiite mosque on Friday (the second such deadly attack in recent weeks).
It is important to remember how we got to this point.
The 2003 US invasion of Iraq and complete dismantling of the Iraqi government completely destabilized the country, leading to a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites. The US entirely took the Shiite side, and in particular backed the most sectarian and pro-Iran Shiite factions, which were then installed as the new government, following the ethnic cleansing of Sunnis in Baghdad.
The war raised the prestige and expanded the operations of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s organization, which later became Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), and ultimately the Islamic State. The Sunni tribes were only willing to ally with AQI because the brutal US forces and the virulently anti-Sunni Shiite brigades had proven to be an even worse threat. However, in 2006 the Sunni tribes turned on AQI, which then became marginalized.
However, the very next year the US, the Saudis, and their regional allies launched the “Redirection,” a strategic shift toward Sunni insurgents to counter the perceived “Shia Crescent” stretching from Iran to Syria that the US-installed Shiite government in Baghdad had filled in. This was largely at the behest of the Sunni Saudis and Israel, both of whom hate Iran.
After the Arab Spring emerged in 2011, the Redirection chiefly meant backing the revolutionaries then seeking to overthrow the secular government of Bashar al-Assad (a member of the Shiite Alawite sect) in Syria. The chief fighters in that insurgency were fanatic Salafist groups like Jabhat al-Nusra (Syrian Al Qaeda) and AQI/Islamic State. Backing the rebellion meant empowering those groups. As Justin Raimondo recently wrote:
“The policy of the Obama administration, and particularly Hillary Clinton’s State Department, was — and still is — regime change in Syria. This overrode all other considerations. We armed, trained, and “vetted” the Syrian rebels, even as we looked the other way while the Saudis and the Gulf sheikdoms funded groups like al-Nusra and al-Qaeda affiliates who wouldn’t pass muster. And our “moderates” quickly passed into the ranks of the outfront terrorists, complete with the weapons we’d provided.”
As a recently surfaced Defense Intelligence Agency report shows, the US government was fully aware of these realities even while it was pursuing this policy.
All this is what led to the expansion of Syrian Al Qaeda we are seeing now.
The US also co-opted the Arab Spring in Libya by backing the revolution there against Moammar Gadhafi with military aid and airstrikes in 2011. Here too, the insurgency was rife with Islamist mujahideen, and here too they were empowered by US support.
Another DIA report has confirmed that a rat line of arms shipments to the Syrian rebels was running out of the Libyan city of Benghazi, watched over (if not directed) by the CIA. This ended around the time the US embassy in that city was sacked in 2012 and the US Ambassador was killed by the very Islamists Washington had been backing, many of whom were later photographed enjoying the embassy swimming pool. Since then, Libya has been mired in a many-sided civil war.
All this is what led to the expansion of the Islamic State in Libya we are seeing now.
Eventually, the support for the Syrian insurgency made AQI/ISIS strong enough to stage a conquest of Sunni Iraq in 2014. This was combined with territory already conquered in Syria to form the Islamic State’s “Caliphate.” By this point, the US-backed sectarian Shiite government in Baghdad had alienated the Sunni tribes so much that they put up little resistance to coming under the |
course with you my friends, the listeners.
As Bob Plant said, "Been a long time since I rock and rolled."
Thanks as always for your kindness and thoughtfulness.
Your friend and mine,
loochIn preparation for going public, Zynga's taking proactive measures to improve how it deals with privacy issues. As TechCrunch notes, the gaming company was sued last year for a privacy breach, and mentioned the "p word" as a challenge in its S-1 IPO filing last week. The company is garnering praise then for its newest game: PrivacyVille, which allows Zyngites to wander through a virtual town and find out about Zynga's privacy policies.
On the plus side, it's more fun than reading the standard privacy policy. On the negative side, it's not a very fun game. There are no thrills, chills, zombies, or privacy gardens in need of tending. You just click on different buildings in the town and get pop-ups telling you about what information Zynga collects from you, your computer and your mobile devices and how it will use that info. At the end of the tour of the town is an insultingly easy five-question quiz, which is more a veiled promotion for Zynga than a test of a user's understanding of Zynga's privacy policy. (Sample question: "How much game data does Zynga process every day?" Tip: Neither "40 Bushels" nor "5 Balloons" is the right answer.)
Zynga, you hooked a million people on Farmville. You know how to make dynamic, engaging, addictive games -- why is this one so flat?
"Anything that moves beyond a privacy policy and into engagement is a step forward," says Jules Polonetsky, founder of the Future of Privacy Forum, who applauded the effort. "It's hard to make privacy fun."
(Well, invading it can be fun...)
When I posted the news to Google Plus, privacy guru Lorrie Cranor of Carnegie Mellon expressed disappointment, calling it a "good idea but not well-executed." I, for one, wish it took some cues from educational games like Carmen Sandiego or Oregon Trail, with challenges rather than just a quiz at the end: "Whoops! You gave your credit card number to a spoof site! Water buffalo stole your identity. Lose life points."
Go "play" Privacyville here.When Porsche Design Group (the design company rooted in sports car history and not the sports car company) announced the launch of its first real-estate property in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, it was safe to expect car-related features catered to wealthy car fans. But beyond the relatively expected amenities such as a game room with two-car interconnected virtual racing simulator and a “Car Concierge” that takes care of residents’ vehicle, the design company helped create a first-of-its-kind car elevator lift system that turns the Porsche Design Tower into the world’s first automated drive-in residential skyscraper.
In September, the residential tower will unveil a penthouse that can accommodate up to 11 cars on the 56th floor. And as the gem of the $560 million beachfront development, here are a few things you must know about this $32.5 million penthouse.
Like all the other residents in the building, you can access the penthouse through a patented, glass-enclosed car elevator system—named the “Dezervator” after the Tower’s developer, Gil Dezer. With an 8,000 lb capacity, the elevator can smoothly and securely transport you and your car at passenger elevator speed directly to the sky garage adjacent to the unit.
Once reaching the penthouse level on the 56th floor, you’ll see a 2,200 square-foot garage space that can either be arranged as a gallery with three cars plus a living area with bar and billiard table for entertaining friends, or holding up to seven vehicles instead. With all that plus two two-car sky garages on the same floor, this means you could have enough room for 11 vehicles in this penthouse altogether.
Expectedly, there are the stunning panoramic views from the penthouse that stands on the 56th to 59th floor. Coupled with floor-to-ceiling glass windows throughout the unit plus dramatic 20-foot-high ceilings, residents of this 19,403 square-foot penthouse could likely enjoy those views from any of the four bedrooms (which can be converted into six bedrooms and two dens or flex rooms), plus six and a half bathrooms.
As for outdoor space, there are two private pools—one on the rooftop and one on the terrace, two balconies, and two summer kitchens, where residents could take advantage of the coveted oceanfront lifestyle in Florida.
With only six units (including this penthouse) out of the luxury tower’s 132-units remaining unsold, it’s evident that Porsche Design’s foray into residential real estate has been a success so far. But for people who have never lived in a drive-in residential skyscraper (that would be everyone), there would naturally be concerns such as: How would security be assured? And what happens if your car flat tires in the elevator?
According to Dezer, only unit owner-registered vehicles will be granted access by being scanned (RFID) and identified at the threshold to the garage and again at the entry or exit rooms prior to loading onto the elevator. As for being stuck in your elevator—whether it’s a flat tire or other reasons, maintenance personnel are always just a phone call away. With six passenger elevators and three car elevators, an on-site mechanic for the elevator, plus a car concierge that's always ready to help in repairs, the Porsche Design Tower seems set to run like a well-oiled machine.Editor’s note: George Takei, best known for his role as Mr. Sulu in "Star Trek," was gracious enough to speak with Geek Out for nearly an hour and a half. We discovered that he had more than one story to tell. Check back with us next week to see more of Takei's heroism at work.
When you talk to people about George Takei, they often begin with a sigh and follow up with, “I just love George.”
It’s the kind of love that anyone involved in a fanbase or subculture can relate to – supportive, intuitive and unconditional.
When Takei expressed his wish that I'd “live long and prosper” and tossed in a nice “Oh, my!” for good measure during our conversation, I could feel my heart tingle a bit. Takei is so amicable that you immediately feel as though you’re receiving the confidences of an old friend.
But I wanted to know: Why exactly do we love Takei so much? Brokering “Star Peace” after William Shatner and Carrie Fisher began a "Star Trek" vs. "Star Wars" social media feud is just one feather in his cap.
Is he a geek hero? Fan Dorinda Paige says, "Amen to that!”
Paige first encountered Takei on TV reruns of The Original Series and then followed helmsman Sulu in the first six films of the "Trek" franchise. Even in Sulu's early days on the Starship Enterprise, Paige could identify with his character. He piloted a massive starship, but he was considered a supporting character.
“Sulu wasn’t the main focus of any episode really, but he was always that cool guy in the background that you could identify with,” Paige said. “If you aren’t the main one on stage, there is always someone in the background that is important and represents the glue that holds everything together, and he did that for me.”
“She is very discerning and has high standards and good taste,” Takei told me, laughing. “But she has also got to have a keen eye and ear, because I didn’t get that many opportunities to shine. I was more one of those art deco reflective globes. You can’t say Sulu is a shining character.”
Paige continued to see “Sulu” everywhere. When he showed up on the TV series “Heroes” as Hiro’s dad, Kaito Nakamura, it was all Paige could do to keep from “squeeing like a fan girl.” The show referenced "Star Trek" on several occasions while Takei was part of the cast, even showing his character’s license plate as “NCC1701,” referring to the Starship Enterprise.
“Heroes” revealed a different side of Takei’s acting range, and what Paige calls a “forceful side to Sulu that we never saw.” She also believes that other actors would have shied away from obvious references to their previous work.
As Trekkers, we love Takei because he returns that affection wholeheartedly, which isn’t always the case when we encounter our favorite member of Starfleet in plainclothes. To find someone who recognizes the importance of what he is associated with, and not only understands but embraces it, is a gift. It is an affirmation that we made the right choice, falling in love with a show or a character.
“I love Shatner and Nimoy, but you get the idea that, at times, they wanted to distance themselves from 'Star Trek,'” Paige said, which ends up a hurtful experience for fans.
“What we want to tell them is, ‘You don’t seem to get that I love you for who you were in this role.’ I think George Takei gets that. He always seems to truly appreciate the fans and their enthusiasm for the show, his role and him, personally.”
Takei doesn’t understand “biting the hand that feeds you.” “'Star Trek' has fed me this wonderful opportunity to do and talk about the issues that I’m passionate about,” he said.
During his time on "Trek," Takei could appreciate show creator Gene Roddenberry’s boldness. No one else was exploring the allegorical implications of the turbulent 1960s on television.
“Gene felt that television was a medium that was being wasted,” Takei said. “It was a time when there was such anger, confrontation and anguish, and he wanted to look on the better angels within us and project that into the future - to say that all of these issues we’re struggling with are overcome-able.”
At convention after convention, fans have approached Takei and shared thousands of inspiring stories with him about what Sulu did for them. Takei’s character didn’t fall into a stereotype – he spoke without an accent and didn’t represent “a villain or a servant,” as media had previously treated Asian-Americans. "Trek," and Takei, have taught acceptance where there was none.
“What makes that starship so engaging and powerful is its diversity, finding strength in that diversity and making our collective strength even better,” Takei said.
Trekkers everywhere have connected with Takei’s accepting nature. He isn’t afraid to be enthusiastic and optimistic (“It’s the optimists that get things done”) and although Takei doesn’t identify himself as a geek, he’s completely happy being himself, and encourages others to follow suit.
“I consider myself to be me. I embrace everything! There is no need for us to wear labels - we are capable of so many things.”
Takei maintains his fanbase by respecting fans' integrity as well as his own.
"Because of someone like George Takei, it’s OK for us nerds, geeks and Trekkers to be out there,” Paige said. That's a good reason to be thankful.James Butler owns Shaircraft Solutions, which negotiates terms for travelers who want fractional ownership of a private jet. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
Speaking of air travel, there is an alternative to putting up with the pat downs, long lines, constant waits, cancellations and the passenger mistreatment you’ve been reading about recently.
But it will probably cost you thousands of dollars per hour.
We’re talking about fractional ownership in private jets.
James Butler is an attorney with a one-man shop in Bethesda called Shaircraft Solutions. Butler, 58, has created an enviable, 20-year niche negotiating contracts on behalf of the one-percenters who can afford to own a piece of a private aircraft. Think Flexjet, NetJets and others.
Butler’s dozens of clients include big-time financiers and sports-team owners; business executives; professional golfers such as Scott Hoch and Bob Tway; retirees; people with two homes; and just plain wealthy individuals who want to smooth out some of the rough edges in their lives.
“It’s a time machine,” Butler said of private air travel. “You can leave in the morning, fly directly to Aspen. Ski all afternoon, ski the next day, and ski the last day until 3 p.m. You can turn a three-day weekend into a five-day vacation compared with commercial travel.”
One couple hired him for a fractional deal just so their dog could fly with them in the cabin.
Private air-travel contracts run can from $1.8 million to tens of millions. But the legal piece is a field inhabited by only a specialized few.
“Most aviation attorneys handle [Federal Aviation Administration] regulations or air-crash litigation,” said Butler, a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School. “This really is too small potatoes for them. But on the scale I operate, it’s a nice niche. It scales to the way I want to work.”
[Why people will keep flying United even if they don’t want to ]
But there is plenty of money at stake.
“These are big-dollar deals,” Butler said. “Say you are buying 50 hours on a midsize jet. Fifty hours a year for five years, you can end up spending more than $1 million just to purchase the share. So you own an asset.
“Then, over five years, you pay a monthly fee of over $10,000 a month. Then you pay an hourly operating charge when you are in the plane. That can be from $5,000 to $25,000 an hour.”
Butler helps with the contract in a few ways. He negotiates the deal so the jet providers do not “round up” a 40-minute flight from D.C. to New York into an hour.
“We negotiate so you get billed from wheels up to wheels down, and six minutes on either end for taxiing,” he said. “This is only one example of the many adjustments that we negotiate.”
One interesting part of this exercise was the economics of the private-jet provider. The jet companies are lucky to break even while they fly their customers around the world.
“Running the jets is equipment intensive, labor intensive,” he said. “You have demanding customers and you are subject to things you can’t control, like weather. They try like heck to make money on that end of it, but it’s hard.”
Where they can make their profit, Butler said, is in selling the jet share at the outset and buying back the share at the end of the deal. (Usually, five years.)
Let’s say a provider charges $1 million for a share. Because of its market-buying power, in buying that aircraft, the provider may have only paid the equivalent of $800,000 for that share. Then at the end of the investment, the provider is obligated to repurchase that share at its fair market value. But all too often, providers attempt to offer a buyback price that may be below that.
“Most of my clients don’t have the knowledge and ability to contest the redemption price,” Butler said. “They just say, ‘Forty cents on the dollar is too bad for me.’ What we try to do upfront is to get them the best fair residual value.”
Butler showed me one analysis of a contract from several years ago for 120 hours of private jet service over four years. When the hourly operations, the fuel, the management fee and the deduction for the residual value of the share price of the jet all were calculated, the customer was paying $6,569 per hour.
It’s still a lot less expensive than having a jet that’s all your own, which includes a big purchase price, payments to a management company to run it for you (pilots, hanger storage, maintenance, fuel, et cetera), insurance and taxes.
“We did a deal with a company that had several jets,” he said, “and decided that rather than maintain a flight department and pilots and infrastructure, they would sell their jets and go into fractional.”
[The dentist who became one of the richest people in Washington]
Butler grew up in the Washington area, the son of successful parents. His dad is a real estate developer and his mom is an artist.
He attended Colorado College, then earned a master’s degree in government from the London School of Economics before graduating from law school in 1985.
After clerking for a federal judge and then handling various business transactions at Arnold & Porter, he wanted out of the 24/7 path of corporate law.
Like most small-business owners, he was willing to take a risk for the sake of independence.
“I wanted my future in my own hands,” he said. “I figured if I worked as hard for myself as I was working for the law firm, that I could make a decent living. When I did the math, I thought it added up. The benefit is I could see my kids grow up, coach them, raise my family.”
So in the early 1990s, he hung out his shingle. Real estate and business deals came his way. After a few years, his connections with local sports agents brought some inquiries from professional golfers who needed an attorney to help them navigate the customer end of fractional jet ownership, which was growing in popularity.
“My first client, professional golfer Scott Hoch, came to me in 1997 through a referral from a sports agency that was a client of my law practice,” he said. “Scott was investigating a newfangled way to fly privately, called fractional.”
Fractional jets are perfect for professional golfers.
“Unlike other athletes, they don’t travel on a team plane,” Butler said. “They have to find their own transportation to tournaments and back. They need reliable service so they get to where they need to be.”
United overbooked — by one scorpion
Butler researched the topic for a year and that concluded it was a growth business in which an attorney with expertise could ride its arc upward. He eventually launched Shaircraft Solutions, combining legal and aviation expertise and solely representing private fliers.
Like any job, it can be stressful. Take the family celebrating its father’s 70th birthday with a cruise out of Mexico.
They booked “commercial, but the airline canceled the flight and the cruise ship was going to leave whether they got there or not,” Butler said. “In the course of a couple of hours on a Sunday morning, we booked them a last-minute charter and they made the sailing.”
Then there is the attorney who faced commercial delays followed by an arduous red-eye flight from Los Angeles to D.C., only to grab baby poop in a soiled diaper when he dipped his hand into the seat pouch in front of him.
The attorney called Butler the next day, saying that he would never fly commercial again.
Butler likes his niche. He invents his work schedule, lives with his schoolteacher wife in Bethesda, a short drive from the office, and has helped raise their two now-grown children — all while being his own boss.
He earns a comfortable, six-figure income, but is it enough to fly private aircraft?
His answer: “Not unless somebody takes me on their jet.”
Read more:
The story behind Atlantic owner David Bradley’s ‘biggest business failure’
Tesla’s ‘crazy’ climb to America’s most valuable car companyUntil about 20 minutes ago, we’ve known precious little about this summer’s super-secretive, J.J. Abrams-directed, Steven Spielberg-produced Super 8. Previous teasers have spilled few details: an exploding train here, a felled telephone pole there. But now, thanks to the brand-new trailer that just debuted during the Super Bowl, we finally have some details. Judging from the all-too-quick spot, the movie looks very Spielbergian in tone and mood. The wondrous music, the small-town Americana, the kid riding his bike through a field. “Do not speak of this. If you do, they will find you.” What else? Elle Fanning looks tall next to that kid. And Kyle Chandler stares intensely at… what?
In other trailer news, Captain America also premiered. How does Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers feel after turning into Captain America? “Taller.”
And here’s Thor.
What did you think of the trio of new trailers for these summer ’11 blockbuster hopefuls?
Read more:
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Xtina vs. Lea: One flubbed her lines, but who did better?
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20 Top Post-Super Bowl Shows
Super Bowl: 10 Halftime Classics
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16 NFL Stars in MoviesLIEGE, Belgium (Reuters) - A man hurled grenades at a bus stop in the Belgian city of Liege and sprayed gunfire at crowds of Christmas shoppers and children on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding 123 before fatally shooting himself in the head.
It was not clear what his motive was, but Belgian officials said there was no indication it was an act of terrorism.
Witnesses said the gunman, Nordine Amrani, 33, began his attack near a bus stop at Place Saint Lambert, a central shopping area and the site of the Christmas market and main courthouse - sending shoppers scattering to flee the bullets.
Amrani, freed from jail about a year ago after a conviction for possessing weapons and drug offences, ended it by shooting himself in the head with a handgun, the witnesses said.
“He had a bag. He got a grenade out of his bag. He threw the grenade at the bus stop. Then he had a Kalashnikov (rifle). He shot in all directions. Then everyone ran to try to save themselves. Then he got a revolver out and put a bullet in his head,” one witness told RTBF radio.
The victims were a 15-year-old boy, who died at the scene, a 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman who died in hospital. A justice official said 123 had been wounded.
Related Coverage Italian kills two Africans in apparent racist attack
Liege’s mayor, Willy Demeyer, said the two boys had been taking school exams nearby just before being caught in the attack.
Shattered glass and blood stains were scattered across Place Saint Lambert. The square and surrounding roads remained closed on Tuesday evening, with police blocking access. The street of Amrani’s former house in a quiet part of northern Liege was also sealed off.
At Amrani’s most recent address, an apartment block near the scene of the attack, Johan Buron said he was surprised to learn of his neighbor’s crime.
“He was calm, every time I met him in the corridor he was very friendly and said ‘Hi’,” he told Reuters. “If my memory serves me right he was a welder.”
Random killings of this kind are relatively rare events in Belgium. Most recently, in January 2009, a man stabbed to death two infants and a woman, and injured 13 at a nursery in the town of Dendermonde.
Liege, Belgium’s fifth largest city and once dominated by the steel industry, last made grim headlines in January 2010 when a five-storey building collapsed, killing nine people.
Police officers surround a dead body at the Place Saint Lambert square where a man threw explosives in the city center of the Belgian city of Liege December 13, 2011. REUTERS/Thierry Roge
Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for a local Liege newspaper, was in the square moments after the attack.
“We saw people with bullet wounds in their shoulders, their hands,” he said, adding that he had seen one body. “I see people completely scared, people are crying, everyone is on their phones.”
Justice officials said Amrani had been summoned in the morning to appear before police, an appointment he did not make.
He was convicted in 2008 for the illegal possession of arms and for growing a huge field of cannabis.
“He has no history of terrorist acts,” prosecutor Daniele Reynders told a news conference in Liege.
A spokesman for Belgium’s crisis response centre also said there was no indication that it was a terrorist attack. It was not clear whether Amrani was Belgian.
Prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarme told Belgian television that Amrani had been jailed several times since his youth and said that police searching his home had not found any further weapons or suspicious items.
Slideshow (4 Images)
Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo expressed horror at the attack and travelled to the city, 90 km (55 miles) east of Brussels. Belgium’s king and queen also visited.
The police closed down the city centre for a number of hours, with helicopters circling overhead and ambulances arrived from as far away as neighboring the Netherlands.
A museum on the square said it had taken in injured people.WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday rolled back rules regarding environmental reviews and restrictions on government-funded building projects in flood-prone areas as part of his proposal to spend $1 trillion to fix aging U.S. infrastructure.
U.S. President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn after arriving via Marine One at the White House in Washington, U.S. August 14, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Trump’s latest executive order would speed approvals of permits for highways, bridges, pipelines and other major building efforts. It revokes an Obama-era executive order aimed at reducing exposure to flooding, sea level rise and other consequences of climate change.
“It’s going to be quick. It’s going to be a very streamlined process. And by the way, if it doesn’t meet environmental safeguards, we’re not going to approve it - very simple,” Trump said at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York.
President Trump promised in his election campaign to press for widespread deregulation to spur business spending. The former New York real state developer has complained that it takes too long to get permits for big construction projects.
Business groups praised the streamlining of regulations, while environmental groups and others criticized the order, saying it would lead to riskier projects, waste taxpayer dollars and result in a “climate catastrophe.”
The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement that the order reflects recommendations the oil industry lobby group submitted to the Commerce Department in March. The National Association of Home Builders also praised the Trump administration’s move, saying the flood rules had raised the cost of housing.
But the environmental group Oil Change International said the order would silence local communities that have safety and environmental concerns about major projects like pipelines.
“If Trump has his way, we’ll be facing a fossil fuel buildout that locks America into climate catastrophe,” said Janet Redman, U.S. Policy Director at Oil Change International.
The order would set a two-year goal for completing permits needed on major infrastructure plans, and create a “one Federal decision” protocol that would appoint a lead federal agency to work with other agencies to complete the environmental reviews and permitting for infrastructure projects.
The Trump administration has issued dozens of rules and orders to reverse Obama-era regulations addressing climate change and its consequences such as rising sea levels and more severe storms.
The administration proposes $200 billion in government funding over 10 years as part of a goal of getting $1 trillion in public and private infrastructure spending.
The Obama-era standard required that builders factor in scientific projections for increased flooding and ensure projects can withstand rising sea levels and stronger downpours.
It required all federal agencies apply the standard to public infrastructure projects from housing to highways.
Rafael Lemaitre, former director of public affairs at FEMA who worked on the Obama-era order, said Trump is undoing “the most significant action taken in a generation” to safeguard U.S. infrastructure.
“Eliminating this requirement is self-defeating; we can either build smarter now, or put taxpayers on the hook to pay exponentially more when it floods. And it will,” he said.cover the Jarawa Tribe of the Andaman Islands
An Unbroken Lineage
written & edited by Kendall F. Person
In a world unlike ours, they wear no fancy clothes and have never heard of cars. Their homes are barely shelters, perhaps leaves held up by bamboo, providing little if any cover. They dance along the beach, until all hours of the night, rituals and celebrations are just their way of welcoming the night. When the sun slides across the moon, and the daylight takes its turn, they retreat into the jungle. where no one not like them, has dared to ever tread. Savages, has long been how they are referred, and because they have black skin, more than likely worse, but the mongers will never tell. A few photographs prove they exist, and a caring nation assures they are not extinct. No matter what picture the civilized world decides to paint, the people of North Sentinel Island have proven they are no cowards and their way of living is a choice, not a random, natural mistake.
In the Bay of Bengal, off the tip of India’s shores, lies the Andaman Islands, an archipelago combined with the Nicobar Islands, that remains an Indian territory. Undiscovered, vast and naturally beautiful, making it a unique region, scarcely matched anywhere else on Mother Earth. But a tiny, speck of an island, 25 miles off India’s territorial shores, sits a nation so small, who but the Sentinelese would ever call it home.
A mere 27.8 square miles, (72 km) North Sentinel Island is just a tad bit larger than the entire city of Providence, Rhode Island. The indigenous population, known formally as the Sentinelese, have ruled this tiny nation, for more than 60,000 years. Ancestors arrived from Africa, on a voyage to a new world, somehow finding paradise and making their claim to their own little world. The descendants have remained unchanged, from their height to their hair, and their ebony colored skin. If the homogeneous colony were not rare enough, they have made no advancements, living the exact same way, hunting and gathering, content with a devout pureness, oblivious to the techno savvy world.
However, the outside world was not content without having the tiny speck. So they staked a claim, under the guise of righteousness, by falsely claiming they were less than human and needed some help.
First contact proved disastrous. Storming the island, kidnapping a portion of the clan, then taking the captives on a voyage to a scary and mysterious land. A violent illness quickly sickened the adults, as they were introduced to diseases they had developed no immunity to fight. Yet, civility would make an appearance, sparing the last uncontacted tribe from complete annihilation The Indian Government would order the stronger children to be returned home, leaving the weak and sickened adults to die, alone and afraid in a world that made no sense. The deaths to the adults, would sear deep into the hearts and souls of the Sentinelese people, who would use, what we would call, primitive markings, to denote in their history, as the time and place, the outside world had declared war.
Peace would remain for a few years, allowing the Sentinelese to retreat into the forests, governing a country, not quite like ours. The nation of India would force their control, announcing that North Sentinel belonged to them, and with a profound sense of grace, allowed the Sentinelese to remain independent and governors of their own fate.
In early February 2006, a boat containing two drunken fisherman, was picked up by ocean swells, drifted through the protective zone, crashing into the island itself. Loin cloths covering their groin, long spears grasped in their hands, the Sentinelese men, now an army, numbering between 15 – 100, charged out of the jungle, primitive some say, they were actually soldiers, protecting their women, children and their nations’ shores.
A helicopter arrived some days later, to search for the bodies of the fishermen to take back to their countries, so their families could lay them to rest. But under the swelter of an Indian Ocean sky, this time, it was the Sentinelese army, that struck the first blow. Hurling spears at the strange machine. that flew in the sky, shouting with threatening gestures, using all the weapons in their arsenal, but in reality, they are a tender but helpless people, for even against a single helicopter, they would have never stood a chance.
Taken like lambs once before, decimating their already small numbers, this brave group of human beings, perhaps direct descendants of Adam or Eve, who trace their lineage through a single, straight line, for thousands of generations, made a vow, that if the intruders ever came again, they would fight to the death, then be captured and made into one of them.
written & edited by Kendall F. PersonA New Orleans school principal was fired Thursday after online video and a podcast surfaced in which he spoke in support of the city’s Confederate monuments and was seen wearing symbols often associated with white supremacy.
The head of the state-run Recovery School District released a statement Thursday afternoon saying the principal, Nicholas Dean, would not be allowed back at Crescent Leadership Academy, an independent charter school that serves students who have been expelled elsewhere.
"The children of New Orleans should be able to trust that educators value their humanity, respect them as individuals, and will treat them with a sense of fairness and equality," RSD Superintendent Kunjan Narechania said.
"Educators are role models, and they should prioritize this sacred role above all else. Any educator who is unwilling to prioritize and respect the humanity of all children has no place in schools."
Dean had been suspended from his post earlier in the week after a photo circulated showing him in the vicinity of a Confederate flag near the Robert E. Lee monument hours before it was removed May 19.
At that point, Dean insisted in an interview that he was at Lee Circle only to witness the event, not to protest, saying he wanted to “see history in the making.”
He said the photo was taken “out of context.”
Later, however, a video surfaced showing that he had been interviewed earlier this month adorned with symbols often associated with white supremacy and the Nazis.
Narechania said she had spoken with the nonprofit board that governs Crescent Leadership Academy, which made the decision to remove Dean.
"While the circumstances surrounding this decision are regrettable and damaging, I appreciate the board making a swift decision so that the school can move forward and so that our community can continue to heal," she said.
The charter management operator and board chairman for Crescent Leadership Academy, Warren J. Atkins Jr., confirmed the news in a statement. Atkins said the school “will continue to work in the best interest of all students.”
The video in question was posted to YouTube and Facebook by a photographer named Abdul Aziz, who said Dean was interviewed ahead of what he called the "Battle of New Orleans" on May 7, a reference to dueling protests that ended at the Lee monument.
Dean was wearing rings depicting the Iron Cross, a German military decoration, and a skull. He wore a baseball helmet, carried an American flag and brandished a wooden board emblazoned with a symbol of ancient Sparta and the words “come” and “take.”
The latter is an apparent reference to a remark supposedly made by the Spartan king Leonidas before the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., when he told the Persians that if they wanted the Spartans’ weapons they could “come and take them.”
Mark Pitcavage, of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said Spartan symbols are often used by right-wing extremists, though he added that the video alone in this case was not enough to conclude Dean has white supremacist or Nazi leanings.
He expressed some doubts that Dean’s skull ring was actually a reference to the so-called Totenkopf, an old German symbol made up of a skull and crossbones that was often used by the Nazis. And he said the Iron Cross is not necessarily used as a hate symbol.
In the podcast interview, conducted two weeks prior to when the video was shot, Dean went under the name Nick Andrews. He spoke with the host of "Guerrilla Radio: the official podcast of The Revolutionary Conservative.”
A few minutes into the interview, Dean mentioned that he worked “as a mentor” and “a leader” for a charter school that educates mostly African-American students.
The podcast host then asked, “So it’s probably fair to say then, that you’re not a white supremacist or, you know, some crazy KKK member from the Confederate past?”
Dean answered ambivalently, saying “not by my definition, absolutely not — but by others, most certainly."
During the nearly half-hour interview, Dean called the decision to take down the monuments "a movement to erase history,” and he referred to Take 'Em Down NOLA, a group that supported removing the statues, as a "revisionist movement."
"It’s a replacement movement,” Dean said. “It’s a black supremacy movement. It’s a black nationalist movement."
Dean matter-of-factly referred to the monuments in question as “symbols of white supremacy,” but he added that removing them would not solve the city’s problems, such as crime. “There’s a civil war going on in this city,” Dean said, apparently referring to gun violence. “A heavy black-on-black war.”
Reached by phone Thursday and asked about the newly surfaced video and podcast, Dean said he had no comment.
Legal experts said the charter organization that employed Dean was probably justified in dismissing him, despite potential First Amendment concerns.
Tulane University law professor Joel Friedman said free-speech rights don't necessarily protect workers from the actions of employers in the private sector.
While there’s been debate over the public or private nature of charter schools, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation notes that if an employee is hired by a management company, the person is likely a private-sector employee.
Keith Werhan, another law school professor at Tulane, said that while an employee can’t be penalized because a public entity “disagrees” with the “content” of his or her speech, the state also has a “greater interest” in restricting educators’ speech than with “ordinary citizens.”
“It seems fair to say that the state has a legitimate interest in deciding that a public school principal who publicly espouses white supremacy would have great difficulty in leading and managing his school,” Werhan said.
Can't see the video below? Click here.Frugal living is pretty trendy right now, but how frugal is too frugal? Should you clip coupons, wash and reuse your tin foil? Where do we draw the line?
Being frugal is a good thing. But frugal living can be taken too far and sometimes even cost you more in the long run. Walk the fine line without crossing over.
Is there such a thing as being too frugal?
At its core, |
_OFFSET – 4N
The higher offset in the chunk that r0(=STATIC_ADDRESS) points to, the more we have to subtract to make the expression:
STATIC_ADDRESS + GADGET_BUFFER_OFFSET – 4N points to GADGET_BUFFER.
No matter to which offset in the chunk r0 points to, dereference it would give us the current address of GADGET_BUFFER.
But where do we get if we dereference the other addresses in the chunk?
As farther as we go above r0, the farther the dereference would bring us below GADGET_BUFFER.
Now that we have a valid working spray, let’s go back to analyzing the assembly.
ldr r4, [r0, #4] mov r0, r4 blx <android_atomic_dec ()> cmp r0, #1 1 2 3 4 ldr r4, [ r0, #4] mov r0, r4 blx < android_atomic_dec ( ) > cmp r0, #1
So to overcome the second constraint – in which refs->mStrong must contain 1
ldr r4, [r0, #4] --> r4=[STATIC_ADDRESS + 4] --> r4 = GADGET_BUFFER-4 1 ldr r4, [ r0, #4] --> r4=[STATIC_ADDRESS + 4] --> r4 = GADGET_BUFFER-4
[r4] should contain 1, hence [GADGET_BUFFER – 4] should contains 1.
Now, after atomic_dec return value is indeed 1, we should overcome the other dereferences to get to the blx opcode.
cmp r0, #1 bne.n d1ea r4=GADGET_BUFFER - 4 ldr r0, [r4, #8] r0 = [GADGET_BUFFER - 4 + 8] <-> r0 = [GADGET_BUFFER + 4] mov r1, r6 ldr r3, [r0, #0] r3 = [[GADGET_BUFFER + 4] + 0] <-> r3 = [[GADGET_BUFFER + 4]] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 cmp r0, #1 bne. n d1ea r4 = GADGET_BUFFER - 4 ldr r0, [ r4, #8] r0 = [ GADGET_BUFFER - 4 + 8 ] < -> r0 = [ GADGET_BUFFER + 4 ] mov r1, r6 ldr r3, [ r0, #0] r3 = [ [ GADGET_BUFFER + 4 ] + 0 ] < -> r3 = [ [ GADGET_BUFFER + 4 ] ]
Note in order to succeed with this dereference, [GADGET_BUFFER + 4] should contain a KNOWN valid address.
We arbitrarily chose the known address – STATIC_ADDRESS.
ldr r2, [r3, #12] r2 = [GADGET_BUFFER + 12] blx r2 1 2 3 ldr r2, [ r3, #12] r2 = [ GADGET_BUFFER + 12 ] blx r2
So now we can build the GADGET_BUFFER as following:
ROP CHAIN
We chose to run the “system” function with a predefined command line.
In order to control the r0 register, and make it point to the command line string, we should use some gadgets that would manipulate the registers.
We got only one function call, so to take control on the execution flow with our gadgets, we should use a stack pivot gadget.
Therefore, the first function pointer is the preparations for the stack pivot gadget:
Where r5 equals to the original r0 (STATIC_ADDRESS) as one can see at the beginning of decStrong.
mov r0,r5 - Restoring r0 to its original value. ldr r7, [r5] r7 = [r5] r7=[STATIC_ADDRESS] r7 = GADGET_BUFFER ldr r2, [r7,#0x54] r2 = [r7 + 0x54] r2 = [GADGET_BUFFER + 84] blx r2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 mov r0, r5 - Restoring r0 to its original value. ldr r7, [ r5 ] r7 = [ r5 ] r7 = [ STATIC_ADDRESS ] r7 = GADGET_BUFFER ldr r2, [ r7, #0x54] r2 = [ r7 + 0x54 ] r2 = [ GADGET_BUFFER + 84 ] blx r2
Call to the next gadget – which should be 21(=0x54 / 4) dwords from the beginning of GADGET_BUFFER
This gadget does the Stack Pivoting.
SP register points to r7 – therefore the stack is under our control and points to GADGET_BUFFER.
Ret to the next gadget that should be kept 8 dwords from the beginning of GADGET_BUFFER
(Note the pop {r4–r11,pc} instruction, which pops 8 registers off the stack before popping pc).
r0 = [r0 + 0x38] r0 = GADGET_BUFFER - 0x38 (As explained before about the spray) 1 r0 = [ r0 + 0x38 ] r0 = GADGET_BUFFER - 0x38 ( As explained before about the spray )
Now r0 points to 56 (0x38) bytes before GADGET_BUFFER, so we have 52 command line chars, excluding the “1” for atomic_dec.
Ret to the next gadget that should be kept 10 dwords from the beginning of GADGET_BUFFER (2 dwords after the current gadget – pop {r3,pc})
That is the last gadget where we call system!
Here is an updated layout of the memory for this to happen:
Android and ARM
There are two important issues we should keep in mind when choosing the gadgets addresses.
There is an ASLR mechanism on Android, and the addresses wouldn’t be the same on each and every time. In order to know the correct address, we use the fact that both system server process, and our app are forked from the same process – ZYGOTE, meaning we share the same modules. So we get the address of the necessary modules in system server process, by parsing the maps file of our process. ‘maps’ is a file in /proc/<pid>/maps which contains the memory layout and the loaded modules addresses.
On ARM CPU, there are two modes of opcode parsing: ARM (4 bytes per opcode) and THUMB (variable bytes per opcode – 2 or 4). Meaning that the same address pointed by PC, could be parsed differently by the cpu when running in different modes. Parts of the gadgets we use are in the THUMB mode. In order to make the processor change its mode when parsing those gadgets, we change the pointer address from the actual address, to (address & 1) – turning on the LSB, which make the cpu jmp to the correct address with THUMB mode.
PAYLOAD
As described before, we use the “system” function to run our command line. The length of the command line is limited, and actually a command line can’t be used for every purpose. So we decided to use a pre compiled elf, that being written to the file system, as an asset of our app. This elf can do anything with uid 1000 (the uid of system server). The command line we send as an argument to system is simply –
“sh -c ” + file_path
CONCLUSION
Android has some common security mechanisms such as ASLR and DEP which should make an exploitation of vulnerability harder to achieve.
Moreover, every application runs in its own process, so the IPC communication could be validated, and making guesses on memory layout shouldn’t be intuitive. On the other hand, the fact that every process is forked from the same process makes ASLR irrelevant for vulnerabilities within zygote’s sons and the binder connection from every process to system server could lead to heap spray as seen on this post. Those issues appear to be inherent in the Android OS design.
Palo Alto Networks has been researching an Android security solution that based on our lab testing would have blocked this exploit (as well as other exploits) with multiple exploit mitigation modules. We hope to share more details in the coming months.That topless scene in Poldark turned him into a national heart-throb, but Aidan Turner doesn’t know what all the fuss is about. He talks about lies, laziness, and why his hair has its own Twitter account
If there is one bit of entertainment gossip that never goes away, it is the question of who will play the next James Bond. Even when a new Bond is announced – and four films ago we were given Daniel Craig, whose quizzical eyebrows have now haunted the face of the MI6 assassin for a decade – there is always the question of who’ll take over when that one gets too old for all the shooting and shagging. Will it be Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender or Tom Hiddleston? Rather suddenly, the smart money is now on Aidan Turner, who stars in the hit BBC1 period drama Poldark. Bookmaker William Hill has made a statement about Turner’s impressive chances, with the Sun backing up its “staggering 6/4 odds he’ll nab the role”.
BBC orders Poldark series three starring Aidan Turner Read more
It’s such a hot topic that I am told, before interviewing Turner, he will not speak a word about it, which sort of suggests that it is true. Or that he’s trying not to put a foot wrong and say anything that might ruin his chances. Fortunately, our photographer has not been given this warning, and happily asks Turner if he’s going to be the next James Bond. A fixed grin takes over Turner’s face, and he chuckles awkwardly. “I didn’t ask that,” I point out cheerily, my dictaphone sitting between us. “And I’m not going to answer it,” he replies. We are in the photographer’s sunny flat in west London, where Turner’s been happily tussling with a dog (he’s called Hank, and belongs to the photographer’s sister) and chatting to the assistants about how he was a ballroom dancer when he was a kid (he competed at a professional level in Ireland).
But when I ask him about the dancing, he says he doesn’t want to talk about that stuff, doesn’t want people digging up his past. He seems to find it embarrassing that, long before he was a TV star in London, he was a dancer in Dublin. I’m slightly surprised, but, given that he’s still grinning, we proceed to other subjects. Turner’s screen career began with a couple of uncredited lines in the first episode of The Tudors in 2007, followed by various Irish arthouse films, and the bigger role of Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the BBC2 costume drama about the pre-Raphaelites, Desperate Romantics. He then stopped being a human being for some time, casting off his earthly shackles to play a vampire in Being Human, a dwarf in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit film trilogy, and a werewolf in the action film Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. His return to our DNA saw him make Poldark – a conflicted 18th-century Cornish posho, who has lost his family wealth in the tin-mining recession – into an unlikely national heart-throb.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I don’t think Poldark knows where he’s at half the time.’ Photograph: Bella Howard for the Guardian
One particular scene – where he is topless in the fields, hacking away with a scythe, rugged hair falling about his muscular shoulders – sent the swoonometers racing. Twitter went crazy. In a Radio Times readers’ poll, it was voted the best telly moment of the year. “He single-handedly made scything sexy,” says a Turner fan website, run by people clearly besotted with him.
What do you love about Cornwall? Share your stories and photographs Read more
Soon after, he appeared in a BBC adaptation of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. At one point he appeared in just a towel, adding to the hype. So who are all these fans? “Poldark is one of those shows,” Turner says in his soft Irish accent, “that people my age might say, ‘Oh, yeah, my mum loves the show,’ or ‘My auntie loves the show, but I’ve never seen it. But then they seem to know quite a bit about it, all the same…” He laughs. “And they’re the person who has recognised me, and I’m just some guy with a beard, walking down Carnaby Street or whatever. I used to get that with The Hobbit a lot, somebody would say, ‘Oh, my little brother’s really into The Hobbit. I mean I can’t stand it, but would you sign all these photographs I have in my bag?’ And I’d go, ‘Who do I make it out to? Julie? Oh, OK, your brother’s called Julie, fair enough.’”
He sits on the sofa, always moving, a bit like a puppy waiting to get off its lead. Today, the flowing Poldark locks are scraped back into a man-bun and he looks like any young fashionable guy you’d see in Soho, where he is living.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest With Dean O’Gormon in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar/New Line Cinema
The cast are about to start filming the third series, while we are about to start watching the second. Adapted from Winston Graham’s novels, the action follows the ruggedly handsome Captain Ross Poldark returning to his native Cornwall after fighting in the American War of Independence, to take over his father’s mine. His family’s fortunes have plummeted because tin is now cheaper elsewhere: this is the start of globalisation. The people of Cornwall are starving, and Poldark is caught between them and his wealthy cousins. He is also caught between two surprising love affairs, again straddling the class divide. The man is compelling viewing because he doesn’t give a damn about the things he is supposed to.
I ask Turner if he intentionally makes his character so hard to read. “Well, it struck me that Ross is a real man – not a heroic, legendary guy who comes into town and is the people’s hero, like Robin Hood. There’s a lot wrong with Ross, which is what I love about him – that he’s a multitude of ups and downs and rights and wrongs. And I don’t think he knows where he’s at half the time.” Poldark begins in love with Elizabeth, his childhood sweetheart, but she marries his cousin and (spoiler alert, if you haven’t caught up with season one) he begins a relationship with his mysterious maid, Demelza.
Horse riding is a confidence game, like everything. It’s just blagging.
“Emotionally, he’s way more comfortable being a soldier and being with the lads than he is with Demelza and his baby, Julia. Love is a complete mystery to him. He can’t quite figure that out – does he still fancy Elizabeth, is he still in love with Elizabeth? Does he feel betrayed? Was it her fault? All these questions are still there in the second series. And they’re real questions.”
It has recently been revealed that, in the novels, Ross rapes Elizabeth, but the television programme has turned that moment into consensual sex. Turner suggests that this might have been overblown. “There’s very little in the book, just two lines. I think he just picks up Elizabeth and sort of frogmarches her up the stairs. We don’t do it that way at all, really. I mean Ross kind of – well, you’ll see. I think it’s well-measured. I think if we had taken it literally from the book, it wouldn’t have seemed like Ross.”
If this causes any kind of public outcry, there’s a chance that Turner won’t even know about it, as he claims not to read anything written about the programme. “When a show that I’m in goes out, I don’t really watch it. I don’t Google it or tune into any of the press.” He doesn’t search for mentions of his own name on Twitter? “Oh my God, no. Can you imagine? I’d have a nervous breakdown. My friends and family even know not to send me stuff. The agents won’t send me the ratings, either. None of that matters a great deal to me.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘You freak yourself out sometimes, thinking: what if I forget my lines?’ Photograph: Bella Howard for the Guardian
He thinks about this. “Mind you, they’ll send me funny stuff now and again.” Like what? “Like, ‘Poldark’s hair has its own Twitter account. Check out what your hair is saying this week.’” Head hair or chest hair? “Probably both. I mean, I was talking about the head hair, but the chest hair had something else going on over the summer, so God knows, these days.”
He’s laughing a lot, but he does seem rather appalled. “Social media isn’t really my bag. I don’t do it.” He doesn’t even have a secret Facebook account? “I don’t! Not because I’m an actor and I want to protect my profile or whatever that means. It’s just not for me. I literally don’t care about it. I email people, I text people, and even that I have trouble keeping up with. There is shit that I really need to get done that I don’t get done, so imagine me on Facebook or Instagram – ah, it would just be a disaster. I was an hour and a half late to this interview today, for Christ’s sake! What would I be like if I was on Facebook?”
I don’t know what it is about actors but some of us are inherently lazy
I get the strong impression that he doesn’t want to discuss being a heart-throb, or the debate around objectifying men that opened up in the wake of Poldark’s topless imagery. I bring it up and a half smile/half grimace appears across his face. He doesn’t speak. I say, “Do you just want to say that you’re sick of it, then we can move on?”
“I’m sick of it,” he says. “Let’s move on.”
Turner grew up in Dublin. His mother, Eileen, is an accountant and his father, Pearse, is an electrician. In his early teens, Turner sometimes accompanied his dad to work. “He used to call me the Little Apprentice. I used to pop around with him and do odd jobs. But that kind of manual labour… I don’t have it in me. My dad loves what he does and he’s still intrigued by it. He’ll show me how neat that last job is, the spotlights he has just put up or whatever it might be. But I just don’t get that buzz at all.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Radio Times best TV moment of 2015, in Poldark. Photograph: PA/BBC
But can he look at the spotlights in this room and instantly know what they are? “Oh, yeah. In fact,” he says, glancing at the ceiling, “they’re the same 60 watt kind I have in my house. But after that I worked in a cinema for two years, while I was at school. I was an usher for a while, then I worked selling popcorn. Never got allowed in the projection room – that would have been asking for trouble. But maybe that was where it started – I used to go and watch movies when I should have been working. I used to sneak around and check out all these films. I remember American Beauty was on, Fight Club was on…” Ah, that halcyon bit of the 1990s when Hollywood started getting good again. He nods, “I’ve seen both those films more than a dozen times each. I was a terrible usher. You’re only supposed to go in for five minutes to check the screen is right and everyone’s OK. I totally took advantage. But,” he reflects, with a touch of irony, “that was my entrance into the movie world.”
Aged six Turner took up dancing, didn’t like it until he got good and then his competitive streak kicked in; he actually represented Ireland in ballroom and Latin American dancing for 10 years. He didn’t ever ride horses, but when auditioning for Poldark he lied and said he had, then quickly took lessons. “Horse riding is a confidence game, like everything,” he says. “It’s just blagging.”
He tells me about Poldark’s steed. “He’s an Irish horse! He was picked up at Smithfield market in Dublin, weirdly enough. Seamus is about as Irish as you can get, for a horse’s name. He doesn’t stand still. He’s so smart, when he sees the clapperboard and hears it he wants to take off. So they can’t say ‘action’ on set. I think he may have been Tom Cruise’s horse on The Last Samurai.”
Did he not tell him for definite? “Seamus? No, he just mentioned something.”
At the age of 17, Turner took his first drama class and realised he was more than happy to give up other academic pursuits. Had he hated education? “It was more that the acting thing just happened. In my last eight months of school, I realised that this was what I wanted to do. I was very lucky to know – I mean, so many friends of mine, of my age, are still hopping around doing different courses, career changes. I realised early on.”
I ask if acting was a normal activity among his friends. “Well, it wasn’t really normal for me. I didn’t really care what people thought. If you tell people you want to be an actor, they say, ‘Jesus. Best of luck.’ I think everyone was quite surprised because I wasn’t a theatre kid, I never went to see plays. I didn’t do puppet shows in the living room for my grandparents, no, no. My brother did. But I was never an attention-seeker – I’d rather people didn’t look at me.” Well, apart from the dancing that he doesn’t want to talk about.
After school he went to one of Dublin’s two drama schools, the Gaiety School of Acting. “I’d realised I was still young enough to get away with not knowing anything, and drama school gives you this platform where you can fail all the time. You can constantly fuck up. That’s the luxury of going to drama school because, if you make those mistakes professionally, then it’s not quite the same; people aren’t so forgiving.”
He went straight from graduation to a job at the Abbey Theatre, Ireland’s national theatre, and remained there, as a stage actor, for five years because play after play came up, and he was always in demand. Not that he didn’t still have the fear. “You freak yourself out sometimes, thinking: ‘I don’t know this well enough. What if I go dry? What if I forget my lines in the middle of that monologue?’ But when you walk on stage, that’s how you know if it’s for you. There is clarity. Your body is good at kicking into gear and knowing why you are there, what part of your brain to use.”
After auditioning for The Hobbit, his friends assumed that he would at least read the book. “And I thought, fuck that, I’m not going to read it unless I’m cast in it!” He says the filming schedule for Poldark is intense, “but you wait for months and months to work, and then you get given the shooting schedule and you go straight through it, circling your days off. I mean, I don’t know what it is about actors but some of us are inherently lazy.”
He clearly isn’t lazy at all these days, though it’s hard to get to the bottom of who he really is. On the one hand, he keeps joking about being a layabout, on the other, he’s desperate to be taken seriously as an actor, and only that. When I try to ask about other areas of his life, he puts up wall after wall. He will talk about Brexit and the possibility of Irish reunification off the record, but has to “steer clear of politics” when the tape is running “so I don’t get shot when I get home”.
He doesn’t want to give me anecdotes from his life, because that is “trivial”, and says he is worried that “you just slip into that celebrity bullshit and people don’t give a fuck about what you’re doing with the show. And I’ve noticed it’s happened – you stick on a tuxedo at an awards ceremony and people then start saying things, there are rumours of other things, you take a top off, and then it’s madness. I’d like to be casual about it, but I just can’t. Things blow up, you know? It’s interesting what people care about.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Turner in the BBC miniseries And Then There Were None, based on the Agatha Christie novel. Photograph: Robert Viglasky
A couple of weeks later I speak to him again for a catch-up call. He is back home in Dublin, recovering from a stag do with old schoolfriends he hadn’t seen for 15 years. They leased a boat and sailed down the river Shannon for two days. Fifteen years seems like a really long time. “I know. I don’t know what kept us,” he says, “it was only an old email address that sort of reignited it. One of the boys, in a last-ditch effort, said, ‘Hey dude I’m getting married, if you’re around.’ I just went, ‘Holy shit, that’s James.’ He was using the email address I had when I was a kid. It was just one of those occasions of serendipity, where everything comes together.”
So they sailed a boat down an enormous river, got quite lost, “and there wasn’t a phone charger between 10 of us, it was desperate times,” he laughs. “At one stage we were floating around and we didn’t know where we were, it all got a bit crazy for a while. It was brilliant.” Did he take a turn at being captain? “Oh, I certainly didn’t take the helm. I had way more important things to do than that,” he says. “Like boozing, and the general craic.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samuel Barnett as John Millais, Sam Crane as Fred Walters, Aidan Turner as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Rafe Spall as William Holman Hunt. Photograph: BBC/Laurence Cendrowicz
He has a few Irish friends in London – including three women who live on a houseboat, where he often stays, even though it moves round the Regent’s Canal every couple of weeks as they don’t own a fixed mooring. He doesn’t take the helm there, either, “They shout at me a lot, and I can’t do it. They’re well capable and don’t need my help; they’re three powerful women.” When he first moved to London, he lived in a flat above Mornington Crescent tube station, he says. What, I say, over that little minicab office?
“That’s right!” he says, with the greatest enthusiasm I’ve ever heard from him. “The one with the yellow sign!” But that is basically a traffic island on a big London junction, with a massive nightclub across the road and a tube station rumbling underneath. “I know! It was right before Being Human. I shared with a friend and it was my first experience of London. Living in Camden, at 24 – I was loving every bit of it. It was a madhole! It was crazy, but I loved it and that was my vibe back then.” I rather wish it was his vibe now. But I suspect it still is, when the journalists aren’t watching.
• Poldark is on BBC1 on 4 September.Trigger warning!
The following article might be triggering for some people depending on past experiences. Please read with caution, go back to the home page, or look at something nice.
“ In the 1980s, TERFs successfully brought an end to trans health care access. One TERF operative wrote the government report which led the the revocation of trans medical care under government programs and soon thereafter, private insurers followed suit. ” —theterfs.com[1]
[2] Trans Exclusionary Radical "Feminists", by Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls
Trans-exclusionary radical feminism (or TERF) is a subgroup of radical feminism characterized by transphobia, especially transmisogyny,[3] and hostility to the third wave of feminism. The phrase and acronym were coined by tigtog in 2008 in order to delineate the parts of radical feminism that she thought were ideologically transphobic.[4][5][6]
TERFs believe that the only real women are those born with a vagina and XX chromosomes.[7] They wish to completely enforce the classic gender binary, supporting gender essentialism.
The term "TERF" is not usually used by those in the group, who consider it a slur, and think of themselves as radical feminists (and, indeed, the only thing that should be called "feminism").[8] Notwithstanding, some radical feminists, second wave feminists, and lesbian feminists/political lesbians (groups known to contain TERFs) have spoken out against transphobia and transmisogyny within their ranks.[9][10]
TERFs (and SWERFs) are a tiny subset of feminism,[11] but an unduly influential one: legislators seeking feminist input will often get an academic TERF, who will then get transphobia into law.[12] Their doxxing,[13] trolling,[14] picketing,[15] and generally abusive behaviour has earned them the title of "Westboro Baptist Church of feminism"[16]; because they are to feminism what the WBC is to Christianity.[17] They are, in short, a hate group that by no means represents mainstream feminism.[18]
TERF dog whistles
Trans Identified Man ( TIM ): What TERFs call a trans woman.
( ): What TERFs call a trans woman. Trans Identified Woman ( TIW ): What TERFs call a trans man.
( ): What TERFs call a trans man. Trans Rights Activist ( TRA ): What TERFs call a trans person (often one who partakes in activism).
( ): What TERFs call a trans person (often one who partakes in activism). Gender Critical: What TERFs call themselves.
TERFs and gender
“ doing the patriarchy’s work and calling it feminism: the TERF ” —erica, ascendant[19]
Transphobic radfems seem to almost universally reject the concept of cisgender privilege, and even the term "cisgender" itself, as somehow demeaning to "women born women" (another controversial term in LGBTQ+ circles that is usually understood as a transphobic shibboleth). In other words, TERFs go so far as to reject gender being anything other than a synonym for biological organs or chromosomes.[7] Thus (re)defining their own movement as that "of women to liberate women from oppression, and that female biological reality is a defining aspect of women's experience of oppression."[20]
Academic radical feminism is premised upon the idea that gender is entirely a social construct (and further, that it must be destroyed). Some transgender people maintain, on the other hand, that gender is to some extent intrinsic (that is, even though they were raised as one binary gender, they have always identified as the other,[21] and further, they often, but not always, want bodies to match). As frequently happens when ideology runs up against someone else's lived experiences, ideologues respond by trying to hammer the problem flat until it fits with what they already believe. As such, there has been,[22] and continues to be,[23][24] a rich current of anti-trans bigotry underlying much radical feminist thought on the issue of gender and transgender people in general.
While not all radical feminists would agree, those that critique — "I'm not transphobic, I'm trans critical!"[25] — transgender people's existence maintain (generally contrary to both what trans people themselves have said about their own identities, and the medical consensus on gender dysphoria) that trans women are nothing more than "effeminate men" who have been relegated by the patriarchal gender binary to the status of women (whereas trans men, when they bother to mention them at all, are just women trying to claim'male privilege' for themselves). Thus they slam transgender people in general for "reifying the gender binary." Considering the transgender population is about 1 in 30,000, accusing the transgender community of reifying nearly any oppressive construct is patently absurd and this is obvious to anyone with the most basic understanding of math and group dynamics. There is no out, however, for transgender people who do not embody the stereotypes of their adopted genders either; lesbian trans women, for example, are dismissed as men who only transitioned in order to infiltrate women's-only spaces.
Cathy Brennan, for example, literally believes not only that trans women are men, but that they are therefore de facto animals who cannot control themselves (all typos in original):[26]
transgender woman are in fact men using an artificialy constructed feminine apperance to exert patriarchy from the inside of feminism and believe it or not, to gain access to womans bathrooms in order to rape them.
Because no logical argument can be made that maintains their beliefs, they instead make memes.[27] All of this is highly ironic, since by doing all this they are objectifying women's bodies and saying men are not to blame for their actions because "instincts". Never mind the actual numbers, of course, which show that trans women are one of the groups most likely to be abused and raped.[28][29]
Against the third wave
TERFs loathe the third wave of feminism. For a number of reasons, partly their authoritarianism, partly their demographic myopia, and partly because they represent a partial embodiment of every stereotype thrown at feminists over the last century and a half, this particular group of radfems have been roundly rejected by nearly every demographic they claim to represent, including, but not limited to, women of color, sex workers, kinksters, most male allies, and, at long last, most every feminist who's come after them. This is in part due to their inability or unwillingness to understand intersectionality.[30]
They also seem to deeply resent that the third-wavers have taken their best ideas — understanding and fighting patriarchal structures and rape culture, the fight for reproductive rights and women's health care — and carried them forward, while leaving the dogmatism and one-size-fits-all theorizing behind, rendering the majority of them irrelevant.
For sex workers, the reason for rejecting that form of feminism is, in large part, because although many sex workers are exploited (especially in developing countries and anywhere with a strong culture of machismo), not all are, and some even enjoy their work and find the conflation of sex work and slavery to be insulting. Sex educators generally agree and in addition feel that such attitudes deny the agency of people to seek their own pleasure, hiding an underlying puritanism behind concepts like false consciousness.
Back in the 1980s, TERF ideas were at the absolute pinnacle of the tree of ideological soundness and political correctness (early enough that that term was only used approvingly by those supporting it); they can't quite understand how the same ideas — let alone their actions — in the 2010s are considered odious bigotry.
TERFs and conservative Christianity
[31] Such an easy mistake to make!
TERFs have been known to collaborate with the Religious Right. Notable instances include Cathy Brennan's collaboration with the Pacific Justice Institute in order to harass a trans woman via death threats, and generally acting as their mouthpiece;[32] and when Sheila Jeffreys said she aligned with the "radical right" regarding transgender legislation.[33]
Their particular transphobic rhetoric also owes a lot to wingnut homophobia in its structure, showcasing the same homosexuality-as-a-choice; when Jeffreys noticed RadFem2012 was cancelled and labelled a hate group, she said:[34] (emphasis added)
Criticism of the practice of transgenderism is being censored as a result of a campaign of vilification by transgender activists of anyone who does not accept the new orthodoxy on this issue.
The bolded part is eerily similar to what the radical right have said about homosexuality; specifically, it resembles a quote about such by neo-Nazi Paul Fromm:[35] gender identity as choice instead of something a person is, as well as a massive persecution complex.
TERFs have advocated reparative therapy for transgender people, e.g. Janice Raymond, in her paper Technology on the Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery:
Nonsexist counseling is another direction for change that should be explored. The kind of counseling to “pass” successfully as masculine or feminine that now reigns in gender identity clinics only reinforces the problem of transsexualism. It does nothing to develop critical awareness, and makes transsexuals dependent upon medical-technical solutions. What I am advocating is a counseling that explores the social origins of the transsexual problem and the consequences of the medicaltechnical solution.[36]
This is exactly the same rhetoric used by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH),[37] an anti-LGBT group dedicated to lobbying reparative therapy.[38]
Sex worker exclusionary radical feminism
See the main article on this topic: Sex worker exclusionary radical feminism
Street art grouping opposition to TERF SWERF, and fascist ideologies because they often go hand-in-hand.
Sex worker exclusionary radical feminism (also known as SWERF) is another tiny sliver of feminism that promotes socially conservative attitudes toward sex and sexuality. The term was coined to match that of TERF, as their memberships overlap.[39] Their ideology also overlaps as both subgroups follow a prescriptive, normative, approach to feminism, i.e., telling women what to do — TERFs with their gender, and SWERFs with their private parts.
There is nothing "radical" about SWERF puritan attitudes toward sex and sexuality — they are positively reactionary.[40] Of course, not having an interest in certain sexual acts or types of sex is fine in most feminisms, and usually part of the third wave. But SWERFs take their perspective a step |
overview page:
Analysis results in Webpack Analyzer
Source Map Explorer
The Source Map Explorer is a tool I discovered just recently which helps me a lot getting a clear understanding of my minified bundle.js in terms of file size. It determines which file each byte in your minified bundle came from.
Unlike Webpack Visualizer and Webpack Analyzer it has to be installed globally on your machine via NPM:
npm install -g source-map-explorer
Or via Yarn:
yarn global add source-map-explorer
Now you have to provide your bundle.js and the corresponding Source Map file bundle.js.map to the tool to get a nice responsive treemap of your bundle:
source-map-explorer bundle.js bundle.js.map
Module treemap of Webpack bundle generated with Source Map Explorer
Conclusion
I think that there is no “one analysis tool to rule them all” since every tool gives a different perspective on your bundle.
I personally use the Webpack Visualizer a lot during development when I introduce new packages to the project. The circular graph gives an instant feedback about the proportions regarding size.
For a much more comprehensive overview regarding file size in the minified bundle I use Source Map Explorer.
The Webpack Analyzer has its use cases too but I don’t use it regularly.
Thanks for reading my first medium blog post 💚 Feel free to comment with suggestions and questions. I’d love to hear it!
Or follow me on Twitter if you like: @joeclever0 Shares
As noted prior, Seth Rollins suffered a legitimate knee injury on RAW this past week. The injury was to the same knee that forced him out of action for 2015 and a good chunk of 2016. His previous injury kept him out of Wrestlemania 32 and his status for Wrestlemania 33 is now in question.
So how long will Seth be out for? Seth was in Birmingham, Alabama getting his knee evaluated this week.
Dave Meltzer posted an injury update on F4WOnline.com. He says that Seth apparently tore his MCL. This makes his return timetable very interesting.
Early word is that Rollins will likely be out for around 8 weeks if everything in his rehab goes to plan. This is great news that the injury won’t keep him out for several months but it puts his Wrestlemania status in serious jeopardy. Wrestlemania is about 8 and a half weeks away.
Meltzer notes that Rollins will likely want to do everything in his power to make sure the match with Triple H still happens. The problem is that WWE has tightened their stance recently in throwing their talent into the ring so quickly after injuries due to legal reasons.
[irp posts=”20424″ name=”Seth Rollins Releases Statement On His Knee Injury And Status”]
It will be interesting to see what happens. If Rollins is out until the week of Wrestlemania, this doesn’t leave much time for WWE to build up the match. It also depends entirely on Rollins and his rehab, if he has a set-back or if his recovery is a week later than it would throw off WWE’s Wrestlemania plans. It will be interesting to see what WWE decides to do and if they want to take the risk. We will have to wait and see.
As noted prior, Seth Rollins noted in his statement about the injury that: “And for me, fighting and defeating Triple H is the only way. I will work harder than I ever have and push myself beyond what I know”
We are pulling for you Seth!
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.Several economic myths have surrounded the legalization of marijuana. This has maintained the illusion that it would be a bonanza for federal and provincial treasuries because of the supposed enormous tax revenues that legalization would generate.
The Parliamentary Budget Office in Ottawa is to be congratulated for blowing up some of these myths in its report, published this month, on projected marijuana tax revenues following legalization in Canada in 2017 or 2018.
The first myth is that legalization would “create” a market value of over $20 billion. This number was offered in a recent Deloitte Canada report, taking into account investment, marijuana tourism, induced economic activity and so forth.
Well, in consumption terms, relatively little will be “created.” An illegal market may largely transform itself into a legal market, with only a small increment in total consumption. Legalization will bring about a displacement of production from private smaller-scale growers to licensed industrial-scale growers that operate in heavily regulated environments.
This may turn out to be market enhancing because of labelling requirements, and a greater degree of certainty regarding pharmaceutical content. It will also lead to the employment of PhD graduates in chemistry, students with MBAs, lawyers and marketing specialists. Some security jobs will migrate from enforcers to Garda employees. But if the legal market is to supplant the illegal market, it will at the same time create unemployment among the existing growers and distributors.
Indeed, the rents that will accrue will be spread differently — away from small operators and organized crime and toward individuals whose retirement portfolios hold MJ stocks.
The published report from the PBO finds that total tax revenues from legalized marijuana would actually come to only about $600 million, with large confidence boundaries around this central number, meaning that it’s just a ballpark estimate.
In contrast, some private-sector commentators have been projecting tax revenues in the billions. The key element in the PBO analysis is its recognition that buyers are price sensitive — a big price premium for the legal product could lead users to stick with their pre-existing dealer, whom they may have known for years.
This modelling assumption is based upon a careful scrutiny of existing economic research in the area. The Canadian illegal market is already very well developed: Product quality is high and it is readily available. The PBO simulates projected revenues on the basis of many different price differentials. It concludes that if the legal market price is only a dollar or two higher than the illegal price, most buyers will migrate to the legal market. But a larger price differential would lead to a low legal market share and therefore lower tax revenues.
Experience from two U.S. states highlights the importance of price. In Washington State, the initial tax was almost 100 per cent. As a result, shop prices were $28 per gram, compared to $9 on the street. Unsurprisingly, only 18 per cent of sales went through licensed vendors. In contrast, Colorado applied a lower rate— about 35 per cent. The shop price was $15 per gram, and about 65 per cent of the estimated market migrated to licensed sellers. Shop prices are slowly declining further, and the share of black market activity is now minimal. Almost all illicit cultivation is bound for out-of-state markets, where the street price is higher.
Notwithstanding the many challenges facing the legalization process, the PBO has gotten this process off to an excellent start, with its sober assessment, professional statistical modelling and avoidance of exuberance. The government should use this assessment to craft a law that takes its conclusions into account and avoid the pitfalls experienced in Washington State, and not fall for the illusion that billions of dollars will suddenly fall in its lap.
Ian Irvine is a professor of economics at Concordia University and an associate researcher with the Montreal Economic Institute.Veteran outfielder Justin Ruggiano has opted out of his minor league deal with the Giants, tweets Alex Pavlovic of CSN Bay Area. The 35-year-old had been playing with the team’s Triple-A affiliate. San Francisco also bumped reliever Reyes Moronta from Double-A to Triple-A, and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that the righty, who is already on the 40-man roster, could get a look later this season.
Ruggiano appeared in 19 games and made 63 plate appearances with the Giants earlier this season, hitting.217/.238/.333 with a couple of home runs. He was outrighted earlier this year and accepted the assignment, but he’s yet to return to the Majors despite a solid.280/.325/.478 slash through 169 plate appearances with Triple-A Sacramento. He’ll now presumably look to latch on elsewhere — likely on another minor league pact.
Ruggiano is a career.256/.318/.434 hitter through 1478 plate appearances across parts of nine Major League seasons. A right-handed bat, Ruggiano is most valuable as a weapon against lefties, as evidenced by his lifetime.273/.336/.515 slash when holding the platoon advantage. He spent most of his time in Triple-A playing center field, but he hasn’t posted positive marks there in the Majors since his 2012 campaign with Miami.Last week, the Hollywood Reporter broke this story explaining that long time Criminal Minds Casting Director Scott David was released from his position after the publication featured an investigation about the casting director workshop industry.
No matter what you think of the fairness or function of CD workshops (or Scott’s situation specifically), I think we can all agree that this news has raised a lot of questions and caused many of us to think long and hard about our opinions of workshops.
In an ideal world, Casting Directors would have the time and energy and budget to take general meetings, attend live performances, and meet actors more organically.
But that’s not the nature of the business today in 2016.
Should it be? Maybe. But it isn’t.
And this is actually good news because the nature of the business has changed. Today it’s about relationship building more than just being “spotted”. Luckily, it’s not just about being in the right place at the right time or having familial connections anymore. You can actually build strong connections thanks to things like social media, self-producing and consistent marketing on your own behalf.
Workshops are an outgrowth of this new Relationship Culture. And while they’re an awesome way to connect live and in person with industry professionals, not every workshop experience is a positive one.
I think Scott’s firing highlights the tough position you are in as an actor. Your reps might encourage you to attend workshops. You might feel like it’s the only way to be seen. On top of that, your friends are probably doing them and too many workshop services tap into your fear of missing out when promoting their classes.
So, whether workshops are being run by the book or not, it’s easy to feel powerless. Especially considering that, according to the article, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office has not prosecuted one case since the Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act was turned into law more than six years ago.
But I am here to tell you that you do have options. You also have a voice. There are countless workshop studios (especially in LA!), and they cannot operate without you. So, if you don’t like how a particular company does business, stop giving them your hard-earned money.
If you get the sense that a particular CD, agent or manager is not there to actually teach you, make a connection and help, let the workshop service know and stop attending workshops with this person.
Making empowered decisions and standing up for yourself through how and where you invest is an extraordinary way to shift away from being at the mercy of the system and into actually driving the system forward in a more ethical, actor-friendly way.
Full disclosure: I do believe in workshops when they’re run ethically. I teach workshop strategy in my Actor’s Business Blueprint course. Many, many of my students have booked meaningful work thanks to the relationships and trust they’ve built through workshops. They did not magically book work straight out of one class. It was a process, an investment, and a business move.
So, if you choose to leverage workshops, you can make the most of them with the right strategy. Here are some tips to help you do that.
Tip One: Change Your Perspective
We covered this, but it bears repeating. This is not a ‘paid audition” but it also isn’t an acting class. It’s a networking opportunity. If you’re attending any Women In Film, Paley Center, Film Independent, or other networking organization, you have to pay to attend.
Casting Director workshops are essentially the same thing. You’re paying a registration fee to attend a networking event where you have access to relationships you may not have had access to otherwise.
Tip Two: Do Your Due Diligence
Before throwing down a chunk of change to register for an agent workshop, take the time to contact each agency to find out whether or not they’re actually taking on new clients.
I can’t tell you how many actors I know who have invested in a workshop with an agent, or an agent showcase, and one of the first things out of the agent’s mouth is, “I’m not taking on any clients right now.” — Cue the disappointment and feelings of being cheated!
But the reality is: you didn’t do your due diligence.
The same applies when you’re meeting a CD. Rely on The Workshop Guru to get the inside scoop on how particular workshops services run and how specific casting directors operate inside the workshop system.
Workshop Guru functions like Yelp, and actors are encouraged to share constructive, real-person feedback on the site. What a great way to make sure ahead of time that you’ll be investing in a workshop that will actually teach you, inspire you and move your career forward.
Tip Three: Remember the Big Picture
Last and most importantly, if you decide to invest in casting workshops, make sure you’re maintaining an ongoing dialogue with the casting directors and agents that you meet.
Too many actors attend workshops thinking that they’re going to knock it out of the park and get called in the next day. Then, when they’re not brought in right away, they feel frustrated, confused, and discouraged.
But that’s not how it works…
Workshops give you the opportunity to showcase different sides of your talent and give you rare face time with people in the business that you respect and admire most.
You’ll build a strong connection with these industry members that converts into meetings, auditions, and bookings, only when you maintain ongoing marketing through mailings, social media, email and content creation.
Workshops are NOT a magic pill. And thankfully they’re not the only way to take your career to the next level. But, they are a powerful aspect of the new Relationship Culture inside the industry. And if everyone involved does their part to maintain high ethics and reasonable expectations (that means you too!), I believe they can become a truly educational, empowering, career-shifting experience for you.
—
I’d love to hear your thoughts… If you could improve the Workshop system, what one change would you make? Share your ideas in the comments box below.
But please don’t use this blog as a forum to just complain or make personal attacks. I want to encourage a constructive conversation here.The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) is urging President Trump’s spokespeople to allow the daily press briefing to be broadcast on radio and television.
WHCA President Jeff Mason said he met with White House press secretary Sean Spicer and his deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, on Thursday to convey the reporters’ concerns about the increasing number of off-camera briefings.
“We have urged the White House not to replace on-camera briefings with ‘gaggles,’ not-for-broadcast question & answer sessions,” Mason said in a statement.
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“We believe strongly that Americans should be able to watch and listen to senior government officials face questions from an independent news media, in keeping with the principles of the First Amendment and the need for transparency at the highest levels of government,” he continued.
Media organizations are ramping up pressure on the White House to drop new restrictions on press briefings that have angered reporters — and even some Trump allies.
Spicer on Friday will make just his eighth appearance before the media since Trump came back from his first international trip in late May, an unusually low number for a press secretary.
The White House has held just three on-camera briefings over the past three weeks. Spicer has also delegated briefing duties more frequently to Sanders, amid reports of an impending shakeup of the communications staff that could lead to a new role for Spicer.
Mason said he’s asked the White House to allow networks to broadcast audio of all briefings, which wasn’t permitted on several recent occasions.
White House officials say the changes could help the administration assert more control over its message, while also hindering reporters they say are merely trying to get famous.
“There’s a lot of them that want to become YouTube stars and ask some snarky question that’s been asked eight times,” Spicer said in an interview this week.
Mason said the off-camera setting does not serve the media, or the White House, well.
“Though they are useful and can play an important role in informing the press and the public, gaggles are not a substitute for the open back-and-forth between reporters and administration officials that regular televised briefings allow,” he said. “We are not satisfied with the current state-of-play, and we will work hard to change it.”Washington (CNN) The U.S. Air Force aims to develop an unmanned flying weapon by 2023 that would travel at least five times the speed of sound and might transform the nature of warfare.
"The key thing is, hypersonics go really fast," outgoing Air Force chief scientist Mica Endsley told CNN Thursday, after announcing the target date for the new aircraft last week.
The Pentagon has been experimenting with unmanned hypersonic aircraft for years, launching them from bombers over the Pacific with limited success.
For a vehicle to be considered hypersonic, it must travel at least at Mach 5 -- five times the speed of sound, or about 3,800 mph. That's fast enough to travel across the U.S. in around 30 minutes.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello last year called hypersonic technology a potential "game-changer" that will transform the nature of warfare.
Read MoreTwo Sundays ago, nearly an hour after completing a dubious debut as the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator, Jim Caldwell waited outside the visitors' locker room at M&T Bank Stadium, hoping to get a few words with Peyton Manning.
When the Denver Broncos' future Hall of Fame quarterback learned that Caldwell, his close friend from their decade together with the Indianapolis Colts, was in the hallway, he had a team official escort the 57-year-old coach into a small, adjacent room, where the two men spoke for nearly 15 minutes.
Afterward, as he walked to the team bus outside the stadium, Manning talked about the awkward position into which Caldwell had been placed. After Baltimore suffered consecutive defeats to slip to 9-4, offensive coordinator Cam Cameron was fired, reportedly at the urging of owner Steve Bisciotti. And though Cameron's replacement had been the head coach of the Colts' 2009 team that lost to the New Orleans Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, Caldwell had never called plays on any level.
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"That is not easy to do," Manning said, referring to Caldwell's Week 14 job change. "Jim's the most loyal coach I've ever met. I can assure you that is not the [ideal] position … he and Cam are very tight.
"He's a great football coach. I guarantee you, when some of these head jobs come open this year, Jim Caldwell ought to be a head coach, in my opinion."
In the meantime, as the Ravens (10-5) prepare for a fifth consecutive postseason appearance under coach John Harbaugh, Caldwell is a man bucking a troublesome trend: He is the lone minority to serve as an offensive play-caller for an NFL team.
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Though there has been tremendous progress during the 21st century in terms of diversification of job opportunities traditionally dominated by Caucasians, the offensive guru pool is almost exclusively white.
While five of the league's 32 head coaches are African-American, and the Panthers' Ron Rivera is Hispanic, all six of those men come from primarily defensive backgrounds. And though the number of African-American starting quarterbacks is roughly the same (currently: Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson, Michael Vick, Colin Kaepernick and Josh Freeman), only Caldwell is truly running an NFL offense.
"We are very, very conscious of this issue, and it's something that needs to be addressed," said John Wooten, the chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an organization charged with promoting equality of job opportunity in NFL coaching and front office staffs. "We have alluded to it and spoken to it directly, and we feel our only course of action is to push more people up the pipeline."
Complicating matters for Wooten and the legions of aspiring minority offensive coordinators is that the pipeline is also disproportionately dry.
"Really, the reason why there aren't a lot of guys calling plays is that you have to have people ascending to quarterbacks coach and jobs that lead to coordinator positions. And that's simply not happening," said Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. "There are a lot of good coaches who aren't getting those opportunities."
Right now, the NFL's only other African-American offensive coordinator is the Buffalo Bills' Curtis Modkins, who doubles as the team's running backs coach. However, Bills coach Chan Gailey is the team's de facto offensive coordinator and primary play-caller. Only two African-Americans, the Houston Texans' Karl Dorrell and the Minnesota Vikings' Craig Johnson, are quarterbacks coaches, the position-coach job which most frequently leads to offensive-coordinator opportunities.
[More: Playoff seeds | Y! Sports' NFL playoff scenario generator]
"This is the biggest travesty that's taking place in this league, and every black coach is well aware of it," said one anonymous African-American assistant for an AFC team. "They don't promote you from running backs coach or receivers coach to offensive coordinator. When guys do get coordinator titles, they have to be position coaches at the same time, and they don't get paid as much as other coordinators, because they're not the play-callers. And in a lot of cases, guys believe they're really there for locker-room reasons, to 'take care of' the minority players."
Though the rare minority assistant has broken through to become his team's primary play-caller in recent years, most notably current Bengals assistant and recent Oakland Raiders head coach Hue Jackson, most have been stonewalled by a system that has some glass-ceiling characteristics.
Clarence Shelmon, the San Diego Chargers' offensive coordinator for the previous five seasons, announced his retirement last January, apparently frustrated by the lack of advancement. A longtime NFL running backs coach who was promoted to coordinator after helping to produce LaDainian Tomlinson's record-setting 2006 season in San Diego, Shelmon had no play-calling responsibilities because those duties were handled by Chargers coach Norv Turner, who is known for his prowess in that area.
However, despite the Chargers' success early in Turner's tenure, no NFL team felt compelled to offer Shelmon a chance to assume that role. Shelmon did not return voice and text messages seeking comment.
"He decided to go home, and I don't blame him," Wooten said of Shelmon. "There comes a time when you just have to throw up your hands and go home."
Another veteran coach who has seemingly been victimized by the system is Atlanta Falcons wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie, who also declined comment. Robiskie, an offensive coordinator with the Raiders from 1989-1992, was twice installed as an interim coach for teams in the midst of lost seasons: The 2000 Washington Redskins, for whom he coached the final three games after Turner was fired, and the 2004 Cleveland Browns, for whom he coached the last five games after having served as Butch Davis' offensive coordinator.
Following that season, Romeo Crennel was hired to replace Davis and Robiskie remained as the Browns' wide receivers coach, a post he has since held for Cleveland, the Miami Dolphins and Falcons.
"Look at what Terry Robiskie has brought to the game," Lewis said. "He understands offense, and he gets guys to respond. His receivers will knock your [expletive] off. [Mohamed] Massoquoi's best years, Braylon Edwards' best years, were with him in Cleveland."
To Lewis, it makes little sense that receivers and running backs coaches aren't regarded as viable candidates to ascend to play-callers by more of his peers. Having served as a minority-coaching intern under the Bill Walsh-coached San Francisco 49ers in the '80s, Lewis developed an appreciation for the way the late Hall of Fame mentor integrated his position coaches into the strategic fabric of the offense.
"Bill Walsh was very forward-thinking," Lewis said. "Denny Green was his wide receivers coach, and that was an elite position on the offensive staff, because of the understanding he had to have of adjustments in the passing game. I know on our staff, [receivers coach] James Urban has to be well-versed in route-adjustments, run-blocking responsibilities based on coverage and so many other wrinkles.
"The guy in that role has to be forward-thinking, innovative and think outside the box."
Wooten also cites Walsh, who spearheaded the minority-coaching fellowship program that now bears his name, for understanding the need to increase the pool of aspiring coaches by exposing them to the duties assumed by coordinators and head coaches.
"The whole thing we have to do in terms of building this pipeline is make teams more conscious of the fact that [position coaches] want to get involved," Wooten said. "I tell these running backs, receivers and quarterbacks coaches, 'Go to the head coach and general manager and tell them you want this as an opportunity to learn.' You learn by being in gameplan meetings, when plays are being installed. You listen and learn."
Yet it still requires a head coach being willing to give an opportunity to an untested position coach, something that isn't always as easy as it sounds. For Jackson, who was given some play-calling responsibility while working for the Redskins (as Steve Spurrier's offensive coordinator in 2003) and Falcons (as Bobby Petrino's offensive coordinator in 2007), another breakthrough came in 2008, when Harbaugh hired him as the Ravens' quarterbacks coach.
After two years in Baltimore earned him positive reviews, Jackson attracted the attention of Raiders owner Al Davis, the man who hired the first African-American head coach (Art Shell, in 1989) of the modern era. Davis brought in Jackson as Tom Cable's offensive coordinator, giving him full control on that side of the ball, and the results were striking.
[More: Potential dream matchups in first round of NFL playoffs]
In the two previous years, the Raiders' offense had finished 29th and 31st, respectively, in the league rankings. Under Jackson in 2010, the Raiders ranked 10th, more than doubling their point total from the previous year. Davis then fired Cable after an 8-8 season and gave Jackson the head-coaching job, and Oakland's offense continued to flourish, ranking ninth at season's end. No team rushed for more yards (4,604) than the Raiders during the 2010-11 seasons.
However, Davis died during the 2011 campaign, and after missing the playoffs with an 8-8 record, Jackson was fired by the late owner's son, Mark. Jackson interviewed for the St. Louis Rams' offensive coordinator position last January but ultimately returned to Cincinnati, the team for which he'd served as receivers coach from 2004-06, as an assistant secondary and special teams coach.
"He's an invaluable member of my staff," Lewis said of Jackson, who declined to be interviewed. "Not only does he have a great ability to relate to players, but he's so gifted when it comes to looking at and attacking a defense and exploiting its weaknesses. We're seeing it now when he helps us gameplan against opposing offenses, and it pays off."
Wooten said his organization will push Jackson, a recent finalist for the Cal coaching job that went to Sonny Dykes, as a candidate for upcoming NFL vacancies. "We view Hue as a head coach," Wooten said. "We think that's where he belongs."
Another African-American Wooten regarded as a prime NFL head-coaching candidate, David Shaw, recently asked to be taken off the list after signing an extension with Stanford, having taken his alma mater to the Rose Bowl in his second season at the helm. In terms of cultivating minorities with the potential to become play-callers at the NFL level, the college ranks hold a great deal of promise, with Shaw, Stanford offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin and recently hired Purdue coach Darrell Hazell all having specialized on the offensive side of the ball.
In NFL circles, however, there is still work to be done. Wooten cites Redskins running backs coach Bobby Turner, one of two offense-oriented minorities (along with the Chiefs' Maurice Carthon) to hold "assistant head coach" titles, as a natural candidate for offensive coordinator.
[More: Fair or not, Robert Griffin III's legacy could be cemented Sunday]
Turner, who spent 15 years as the Denver Broncos' running backs coach, has reunited with Washington coach Mike Shanahan, whose son, Kyle, is the Redskins' offensive coordinator and play-caller.
"He knows that offense inside and out," Wooten said of Turner. "Look at all those running backs he had in Denver, who weren't necessarily supposed to thrive on the NFL level, and how they performed. Look at what [rookie] Alfred Morris is doing in Washington now. He should be a coordinator, and we truly believe he's ready to be a head coach."
Wooten, however, stops short of recommending that the Rooney Rule, which requires at least one minority to be interviewed for head coaching, general manager or director of football operations posts, be extended to include coordinators.
"I just feel that the head coach has to have the right to select his people," Wooten said. "If they can't see who's the best out there for them, they're gonna perish anyway."
So, for now, Caldwell is carrying the torch for a quiet crusade that nonetheless generates a lot of noise in minority coaching circles. And, following his unit's dismal performance in that 34-17 defeat to the Broncos, he gave that frustrated community something to cheer about last Sunday.
Caldwell, who’d joined the Ravens as quarterbacks coach after being fired in Indy last January, altered his approach before Baltimore gained 533 yards in a 33-14 thrashing of the New York Giants, employing a fast-paced attack that kept the visitors off balance.
"It seemed like they had 13 guys on the field, and then two would run off," New York linebacker Chase Blackburn told the Baltimore Sun afterward. "So we were in a messed-up personnel, especially early. And then we basically had to stay more vanilla at times, because personnel were coming in so late."
[More: Tim Tebow criticism takes ugly turn]
Caldwell also frequently moved quarterback Joe Flacco on rollouts and sprint passes, which neutralized the Giants' pass rush, and attacked the middle more aggressively than Baltimore had in previous games. His head coach, for one, was impressed.
"The main thing to me is that Jim is an excellent football coach," Harbaugh said. "He understands the game and people and he is a very good teacher."
If Caldwell can continue to stimulate the Ravens' attack, and if Baltimore can make some noise during the playoffs, it should bolster his résumé and, perhaps, create some opportunities for aspiring minority play-callers down the road.
"That would be nice," said the unnamed AFC assistant. "So far, it's been a rough road, for a whole lot of people."
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• Y! News: Police investigating NBC anchor for holding high-capacity ammo magazineIn three recent posts, I have mentioned and stated support for the People’s Budget, produced by the 75 Democrats on the House Progressive Caucus. It has some unique features. It actually cuts the deficit, and it does not do so on the backs of poor and middle class Americans. Here are some of the details.
The 75-member House Progressive Caucus has put out its own budget to counter Paul Ryan’s Medicare-gutting GOP plan.
This is more than a fantasy document. It’s sound policy. The conservative Economist magazine has called the budget "courageous." As a conversation-starter, it shows that the path out of our debt and deficit quagmire is not as steep as most imagine, and that getting America’s fiscal house in order isn’t incompatible with making critical investments in jobs and infrastructure.
The budget has more of what Americans say they want — new taxes on the rich and cuts to defense — than either the GOP’s or the president’s budget. And it has none of what Americans say they hate: changes to the social compact that’s guided America from the days of the New Deal and the Great Society.
The Progressive budget would slash $5.6 trillion in deficits on the way to generating a small surplus in 2021—reaching a balanced budget two decades in advance of Paul Ryan’s plan.
Here, some highlights:
New Investments (Cost: $1.7 trillion)
• Job-creating public investments, largely infrastructure – highways, public transportation, high-speed rail; $1.5 trillion spent in the first five years to combat high unemployment
Defense Cuts (Savings: $2.3 trillion)
• Cuts off funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars… [more – click through]
Increased Taxes (New revenue: $2.8 trillion)
• Revokes the Bush tax cuts — for everybody — in 2012, with the exception of a few, targeted tax credits/fixes for married couples and families with children. Extension of Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest — a highlight of the lame-duck budget deal — is rescinded
• Taxes capital gains and dividends as normal income. Ends preferential tax treatment of investment income… [more – click through]
Safety Net (New revenue: $1.2 trillion)
• Raises the maximum income subject to Social Security payroll taxes to $170,000
Health Reforms (Savings: $308 billion)
• Creates a ‘public option’ in health care exchanges… [more – click through]For Stevie Johnson, the first day of 2012 felt a lot like his final afternoon as a member of the Buffalo Bills.
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Sitting on the visitor's bench at Gillette Stadium last Jan. 1, having been sent there by coach Chan Gailey for the balance of the Bills' season-ending defeat to the New England Patriots following a New Year's-themed touchdown celebration, the elusive, flamboyant wideout pondered a future far from the Rust Belt.
A native of San Francisco who grew up in the shadow of Candlestick Park, Johnson's rookie contract was set to expire at the start of the new league year in March. As he sat there on that cold afternoon in Foxborough, Mass., watching the Bills blow a three-touchdown lead and lose by 28 points, Johnson stewed about his situation and daydreamed about signing with the 49ers as an unrestricted free agent. He figured his first-quarter benching was a sign that the Bills were fed up with his on-field antics and that the franchise was prepared to move on without him.
"At that point I was thinking I was done with Buffalo," Johnson recalls. "I was like, 'They benched me? Really?' I figured I'd go back to Hunter's Point [to play for the 49ers]. But the [Bills] stepped up and paid me. And it felt so good to be wanted."
Johnson, who signed a five-year, $36.25-million deal with Buffalo shortly before the March deadline for teams to use the franchise tag, now regards the Bills as "no longer just a regular team to me. We're family."
[Jason Cole: Mario Williams, Peyton Manning not only stars on rebound]
And as training camp approaches, the fifth-year standout is ready to evolve his role as the talented but exasperating son. Later this week he and other Bills veterans will report to St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, N.Y., which can't come soon enough for Johnson.
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"I'm ready to go, because the walls are closing in at home," he says.
After landing the defensive prize of unrestricted free agency, former Texans defensive end Mario Williams, the Bills believe they're poised to end a 13-year playoff drought. Thanks to the Lions' 2011 postseason appearance, the Bills' stretch now stands alone as the NFL's longest.
"For the most part, the guys who've been Bills the last couple of years, they know that stat," Johnson says. "Seeing the Lions play last year, the way they used to get kicked around and now were the ones doing the kicking, it was motivational. We feel like, 'Now, it's our turn.' I don't mean, 'It's gonna happen,' but if we grind and play to our capabilities, it can happen."
Johnson, fresh off the first back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons in franchise history, wants to make a conspicuous contribution to the cause while avoiding flags and fines.
It's a line he's had trouble walking in the past, but one he feels obligated not to cross in 2012. The fact that the Bills, when negotiating Johnson's new deal, never brought up his late-season benching or his previous end-zone transgressions was a demonstration of faith he plans to honor.
"I want to do right by them," Johnson says. "I want to prove I can celebrate without getting penalties. I work hard to get in the end zone. My attitude is, 'Why can't I have some fun when I get in there?' But I have to do it in a way that doesn't hurt the team."
Johnson's quirky bravado is a product of his personality, but it's also a testament to his perseverance. A seventh-round draft pick out of Kentucky in 2008, Johnson was handed nothing, and he treats his unlikely success as an achievement worthy of continuing celebration. He's also making a calculated effort to uplift the spirits of a struggling franchise and its long-suffering fan base.
"It's way more than just me," Johnson says. "When I say we're gonna handle our business and have fun, that means we're gonna score touchdowns and dance afterward and say what we want. That's what I'm trying to bring to Buffalo.
"[Former Patriots defensive end] Mark Anderson signed with us and he told us that after we won our first three games last year, they were all saying, 'It doesn't mean anything. It's still the same old Bills.' This year, we've got to really dominate these teams on and off the field to change that. If we're doing that, and I'm hyping it, then people might look and say, 'Maybe this is the new Bills.' "
Johnson has done his part to uplift the organization on the field, using his pinpoint route-running and quickness after the catch to frustrate defensive backs. "There aren't a lot of guys who can cover him one-on-one," says Bills middle linebacker Nick Barnett.
[Bills camp preview: Which player is on the hot seat?]
"He means a lot to our team – and to me," Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick says. "If I see him in single coverage |
a pair of very talented relievers in righties Dominic Moreno and Taylor. Moreno isn’t a guy that will blow pitches past you on a consistent basis, but he sits 88-91, and can get up to 93 at times. Moreno also has a quality slider that can miss bats. Meanwhile, Taylor is a very talented senior who has a big-time arm with a fastball that was up to 94 mph during fall workouts. Taylor has a three-pitch mix, and that makes him a very viable option out of the bullpen. There’s also talented righty Matt Withrow, who has a huge arm with a fastball into the mid-90s, but who has had command issues at times. Two-sport talent Patrick Mahomes is someone else to potentially watch out of the bullpen. Mahomes got into the low 90s with his fastball coming out of high school, while he also could contribute at the plate with a good, strong righthanded swing, along with athleticism. Junior college transfer RHP Quinn Carpenter is another arm to potentially watch. Carpenter has a big 6-foot-5, 205-pound frame, and got well into the 90s with good stuff in the fall. The Red Raiders are in good shape here.
Experience/Intangibles: 65. As we’ve said about some other teams in this feature, there’s no substitute for experience—something the Red Raiders have a lot of entering the 2015 campaign. Texas Tech welcomes back several seasoned arms, including Dusek, while offensively, the return of Gutierrez and others is massive both from a production and leadership standpoint. Texas Tech isn’t void of holes, but they are few, and all the pieces are there to make yet another run toward the College World Series.I was hanging out at my friend Bill’s place last weekend, we were sitting on the couch drinking some beers and watching a baseball game. It had been like half an hour already, and I was getting pretty bored. We hadn’t said anything to each other in a while, we were just kind of sitting there, I was on my phone, but not doing anything, just swiping from app to app, hoping that something interesting would pop up on the screen. Once that got to be unbearable, I tried breaking the silence.
“Since when do you watch baseball?” I asked him.
“I don’t really follow it, but it’s playoffs,” he said.
“Yeah?” I was trying to say, so? Really? But I didn’t want to jump straight to being a jerk. But Bill didn’t get what I was going for, and so he just responded back, “Yep.”
And so we kept sitting there, watching this baseball game. For a while I actually tried to follow along, but it was like reading a textbook. A really big, old, dusty, dry, boring textbook, and the cover has all of this gross film all over it, I’m guessing from years of disuse, and when I open it, I find out that it’s in Finnish. It’s like, back to baseball, I had no foundational knowledge of what was going on, I wasn’t attached to either of the teams playing, so it’s not like I could at least get behind any of that false hometown pride enthusiasm. Maybe ten minutes later, I started prodding Bill again.
“So which team are you rooting for?” I asked him.
“Baltimore,” he told me.
“Oh yeah? Baltimore? Why?”
“What do you mean?” he took his eyes off the screen and gave me a sideways look.
“What do I mean? Why did you pick Baltimore? Why not the other team?”
And there was a pause of maybe a second or two, and then he said, “I don’t know, I just like Baltimore.” Then there was another pause, then he added, “And one of my roommates from college was from Baltimore.” He threw that in there, like clearly he’d been thinking of it, ever since I asked him, why was he rooting for Baltimore? And even though it seemed clearly pretty forced, at least from my end, Bill sounded satisfied that at least he had something. At first he said he didn’t know, but then he took it back, because he did know, and apparently it had something to do with an old roommate.
“I don’t know,” I told him. “I’m not really convinced.”
“What aren’t you convinced of?”
“I mean, I’m convinced that you’re rooting for Baltimore. I mean, you said it. I guess I shouldn’t have said convinced. That doesn’t really need much convincing. I guess I should have said that I don’t get it.”
“Well,” Bill said, he wasn’t looking like he was annoyed, and I get that, I would have been totally annoyed if Bill were over my house and I was watching something that he didn’t get, and he kept asking me questions about why I was watching what I was watching, “I don’t understand what’s to get.”
“It’s just that,” even knowing that I was on the verge of needling, I couldn’t stop myself, “you say you’re not into baseball, fine, your old roommate is from Baltimore, that’s great, I just don’t get the appeal of sitting in front of a game that you’re obviously not interested in, largely because of … because of what? Because of a third-hand connection to the city of Baltimore?”
Now he looked like he was getting annoyed. And as soon as I saw that annoyed look on his face, I got a little pissed off at myself. Because I knew it was coming. If I kept questioning him, of course he was going to get even more annoyed. But I kept doing it anyway. It was like I couldn’t help myself. Bill didn’t say anything, so I tried to ease off the gas a little, maybe take back some of what I had said.
“I’m just saying,” I said, “you’re not into baseball, right?”
“Right,” he was still annoyed, “but it’s playoffs, man.”
“And what does that have to do with anything?” I asked, maybe a little more confrontational than I’d have liked.
“It’s playoffs. It’s exciting.”
“Dude,” I said, “we’re sitting here on the couch in silence. I’m not excited, and I’ve seen you excited before, this isn’t it, OK, and this doesn’t feel exciting.”
“Whatever,” he turned back toward the TV, “what do you want to do?”
I said, “Well, do you still have your XBOX Live subscription?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Well,” I said, “do you want to play?”
“After the game,” he said.
“OK.”
There were still like five innings left. And every time there was a commercial break, the TV station kept showing the same commercials advertising back-to-back reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond weekdays at seven. There was nothing to do on my phone. After an hour, I yawned and said that I was tired, that I was going to go home.
“All right man,” he said, “I’ll see you around.”
And then I got back to my house and it was even more boring that over at Bill’s. My XBOX was stolen like two years ago, and I’d never bothered to get a new one. And there wasn’t anything on TV. I kept flipping through the channels, just to see if this baseball game would ever end. But it was still on. It went into extra innings. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up sometime in the middle of the night with a huge pain in my neck.Morocco is a transit country for many sub-Saharan Africans on their way to Europe. But some now prefer not to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea, opting instead for a new life in Morocco itself.
In Casablanca's bustling central souk there is a section of the market where you don't see that many Moroccans. Instead, almost all those who work here are from countries across sub-Saharan Africa, such as Ivory Coast, Guinea and Cameroon.
Richard Wenong is a Cameroonian electrician who works around the market, where his wife has a beauty parlor. He was one of the sub-Saharans who initially sawMorocco only as a transit country on his way to Europe. But then he changed his mind: "I saw it was not important for me because I got some jobs I can do since I'm a technician. I finally integrated myself here, so things are moving well with me, no need to go to Europe," he told DW.
In the last four years, thousands of sub-Saharan Africans have acquired Moroccan residency papers, following two migrant legalization initiatives led by the government. Richard is one of nearly 20,000 migrants currently waiting for their papers to be processed. He has many friends and relatives who have cone to Europe. Not all of their stories had a happy ending. "It's very, very difficult.Some lose their lives, some succeed," Richard said
Morocco is a transit country for sub-Saharan migrants on their way to Europe
It pays to speak French
Mohamed Mboyo, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), lives further north, in the capital, Rabat. A journalist, he arrived in 2013, fleeing political persecution, and now has his own show on Moroccan radio. He had to leave DRC to save his life: "The Democratic Republic of Congo is a trouble zone now and I've been working as a journalist in my country and I face some threats from the government," he told DW.
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Now live 05:50 mins. TOP STORIES | WorldLink: Giving up the European dream
Mboyo has received help from AMAPPE, an association that helps small businesses. It offers advice, financing and training to self-employed workers. One of its projects helps immigrants, many of them sub-Saharan Africans:
"AMAPPE granted me their financial support. They bought me a computer - an important tool for a journalist," Mboyo said. He found it easy to integrate into Moroccan society, because he speaks French: "You can find a job, you can manage a life," he said.
Hassan Errifai, who works for AMAPPE, explained how many migrants have changed their view of Morocco in recent years: "Immigrants consider themselves at home here. This has given the migrant or the refugee the feeling of belonging to a country whose culture they share as well."
This, Errifai added, has turned Morocco into a host country too.
Some migrants now prefer not to risk their lives on the perilous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea
A welcoming new home
Even though the legalization of thousands of sub-Saharans represented a major shift in policy in Morocco, judging by the reaction of university students in Rabat, it's a change that many Moroccans welcome. One student told DW that he was open to the idea of people from other nationalities coming to his country to study or work: "There is just a minority of Moroccans who are intolerant of people coming from other countries." Another pointed out that Moroccans themselves often migrate to other countries or continents: "So I think it's normal. If they are good at their job they will impact the economy and it will be better, for sure."
Morocco's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is currently growing faster than that of many European countries. After years of trying to leave the country as quickly as they could, sub-Saharan Africans are now playing an increasingly important role in Morocco's economy and society.
Guy HedgecoeArchaeological sub-discipline
Experimental tree felling with reconstructed adzes of the Linear Pottery culture for the analysis of stress marks on the adze blades and ghost lines on the tree stump and the timber in comparison with marks on archaeological finds
Creating a wall of mud in the Viking style.
Experimental archaeology (also called experiment archaeology and experiential archaeology) is a field of study which attempts to generate and test archaeological hypotheses, usually by replicating or approximating the feasibility of ancient cultures performing various tasks or feats. It employs a number of methods, techniques, analyses, and approaches, based upon archaeological source material such as ancient structures or artifacts.[1]
It is distinct from uses of primitive technology without any concern for archaeological or historical study. Living history and historical reenactment, which are generally undertaken as a hobby, are the non archaeological person's version of this academic discipline.
One of the main forms of experimental archaeology is the creation of copies of historical structures using only historically accurate technologies. This is sometimes known as reconstruction archaeology or reconstructional archaeology; however, reconstruction implies an exact replica of the past, when it is in fact just a construction of one person's idea of the past; the more archaeologically correct term is a working construction of the past. In recent years, experimental archaeology has been featured in several television productions, such as BBC's "Building the Impossible"[2] and the PBS's Secrets of Lost Empires.[3] Most notable were the attempts to create several of Leonardo da Vinci's designs from his sketchbooks, such as his 15th century armed fighting vehicle.
Examples [ edit ]
A good example is Butser Ancient Farm in the English county of Hampshire which is a working replica of an Iron Age farmstead where long-term experiments in prehistoric agriculture, animal husbandry, and manufacturing are held to test ideas posited by archaeologists. In Denmark, the Lejre Experimental Centre carries out even more ambitious work on such diverse topics as artificial Bronze Age and Iron Age burials, prehistoric science and stone tool manufacture in the absence of flint.
Other examples include:
Variations [ edit ]
Experimental medieval forge
Other types of experimental archaeology may involve burying modern replica artifacts and ecofacts for varying lengths of time to analyse the post-depositional effects on them. Other archaeologists have built modern earthworks and measured the effects of silting in the ditches and weathering and subsidence on the banks to understand better how ancient monuments would have looked. One example is Overton Down in England.
The work of flintknappers is also a kind of experimental archaeology as much has been learnt about the many different types of flint tools through the hands-on approach of actually making them. Experimental archaeologists have equipped modern professional butchers, archers and lumberjacks with replica flint tools to judge how effective they would have been for certain tasks. Use wear traces on the modern flint tools are compared to similar traces on archaeological artifacts, making probability hypotheses on the possible kind of use feasible. Hand axes have been shown to be particularly effective at cutting animal meat from the bone and jointing it.
Another field of experimental archaeology is illustrated by the studies of the stone flaking abilities of non-human primates. It has been demonstrated that bonobos are able to produce modified cores and flaked stones which are morphologically similar to early lithic industries in East Africa.[12]
Popular culture [ edit ]
The subject has proven popular enough to spawn several re-creation-type television shows:
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]The controversial professor at ultra-liberal Oberlin College who sparked a national outcry after posting anti-Semitic rants and bizarre 9/11 conspiracy theories has been booted from the classroom, the school said Wednesday.
Joy Karega, an associate professor of rhetoric and composition, was put on paid leave while prestigious Oberlin College considers her future, according to a statement from university president Martin Krislov obtained by The Post.
School administrators had reluctantly backed Karega, citing academic freedom concerns, when her conspiratorial, anti-Semitic social media rants were first reported.
“I am committed to continuing and completing an equitable review process,” Krislov wrote in an email to students, staff and alumni.
“While the process is pending, Professor Karega is on paid leave and will not be teaching at Oberlin. Arrangements are being made to cover her teaching and advising responsibilities.”
“In recognition of the sensitivity of this continuing review process and the privacy of the individuals involved, we will have no other comment until the conclusion of the process,” Krislov said.
Karega has made a string of weird claims on her social media, such as:
Last year, she posted a video of Louis Farrakhan explaining how Israeli forces rigged the Twin Towers with explosives which really brought down buildings. Karega wrote: “Farrakhan is truth-telling in this video.”
ISIS is a CIA and Mossad creation so “Israeli and Zionists Jews” could carry out new 9/11-style attacks.
Following the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Karega said the killings were secretly planned by Jews as punishment against France for being too supportive of Palestinians. “This ain’t even hard. They unleashed Mossad in France and it’s clear why.”I have a confession: for many years, I was a loyal Guardian reader. At one point, prior to the arrival of smartphones and apps, I bought the paper, at a quid a time, perhaps three or four times a week. I always enjoyed, and wanted to support, its high quality, liberal-minded news coverage. It was saddening, therefore, to became aware of the deeply conservative slide the paper was taking, most of all when it came to the subject of sex. In the Guardian’s war on sexual expression, honest journalism at the paper has been sidelined, and bigoted opinions have appeared in place of fact. This bigotry hasn’t just been directed towards strippers, models and pornstars, but also has included deeply racist attitudes. I documented much of this in my book Porn Panic! (which is now available for pre-order on Amazon).
The Guardian’s descent into social conservatism dates back more than a decade. Brooke Magnanti – better known as Belle de Jour – who had blogged about her life as a sex worker, was awarded the Guardian’s blogger of the year award in 2003. She recounts in her book The Sex Myth that a group of Guardian journalists threatened to resign en-masse should she be offered a column. She instead went to write for the Telegraph. The irony that the right-wing paper was more accepting of sex work than the supposedly liberal Guardian was not lost on Magnanti.
In 2013, the paper published an editorial titled “Internet pornography: never again” in which it openly called for Internet censorship. The paper’s liberal values had been overruled by its hatred of sexual expression.
But porn is not the only area in which the Graun has succumbed to moral panic and pro-censorship attitudes. It has joined a far bigger and more worrying war on free expression. This time, the justification for censorship is the very Victorian idea that women are incapable of dealing with the same situations as men. Gender equality is under fierce attack, as it has been many times in history; this time, bemusingly, the attacks come from the political left. This massive assault on gender equality, and on free speech, began to rear its head a few years ago, and began with Twitter.
The War on Twitter
Twitter has long been hated by control freaks. Unlike Facebook, Twitter has been reluctant to censor the content of its posts. This has led the platform to be far edgier than Facebook, and thus more exciting and anarchic. The UK government first signalled its discomfort with free speech on this scale when it blamed Twitter, in part, for the UK riots of 2011. You get the message: free speech is all very well when you’re sending photos of kittens, but too much can be a dangerous thing. This is the age-old mantra of dictators and fascists, and it apparently never gets tired. Threats by David Cameron to provide a “kill switch” for emergency situations were thankfully ignored by Twitter, which is protected from state censorship by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
The control freak tendency instead reached for the oldest trick in the book: Twitter’s free speech is a threat to womankind! The opportunity to play this card came when a journalist, Caroline Criado-Perez, was abused on Twitter. Now, here was the perfect victim: a photogenic, blonde, middle-class journalist. The press initially reported the abuse as if it had come from a multitude of people, implying that Twitter’s free speech policy was somehow turning hordes of men into misogynistic monsters, and coining the term “misogynistic Twitter trolls”.
Yet once the moral panic had dissipated, it turned out that the abuse received by Criado-Perez had largely originated from two people, and (inconvenient for the “MASSIVE MISOGYNY” narrative), the worst offender was a woman, Isabella Sorley. Furthermore, Sorley had 25 previous arrests, mostly for being drunk and disorderly. Here was a minor story of two unpleasant people – at least one of whom was probably mentally ill – sending horrible tweets to another person; but in the hands of the pro-censorship feminist lobby, it had become a false message that misogyny was everywhere, and that too much free speech can be a bad thing – at least, for ladies.
Free event-based dating for the UK
Jaunt.Singles
A line had been crossed: ugly, foul-mouthed working class people are not supposed to come into contact with nice, blonde, middle-class ladies. When the two were imprisoned for their speech crime, the press was notably silent in questioning the sentences.
The Criado-Perez case set a precedent, and suddenly feminist commentators were climbing over each other to discover widespread online misogyny. The only problem with this “analysis” was that beyond anecdotes, there was no evidence to be found that women were being systemically targeted more than men. Indeed, when Demos carried out comprehensive research into abuse on Twitter, it was found that men were far more likely to be targeted than women.
This mirrored the situation with real-world violence, which men are far more likely to experience than women. Indeed, in a rare moment of clarity a 2008 Guardian article stated:
“Although it is the attacks on young women that we are most likely to respond to, it is young men who, overwhelmingly, are victims of violence (as the stories of knife attacks over the past year so well illustrate).”
This is hardly a radical new idea: we know that men are more likely to experience violence, and always have been. Despite this, neo-feminists have chosen to cherry-pick evidence to fit their “massive systemic misogyny” narrative. In other words, it isn’t that women are being targeted: it’s just that women are considered weaker and less capable of handling things that should be the preserve of men. This is, of course, not a feminist message at all: gender equality was once the core thing that feminists believed in, and the infantilisation of women was frowned upon. But from the 80s onward, the feminist movement has become ever more conservative in its attitudes, to the extent that it now largely opposes feminist positions from the 1960s. 1960s feminists argued that women were capable of handling any situation that men could. 2016 feminists disagree.
The neo-feminist view of women, while being nothing like the second-wave feminist view, is remarkably similar to the Victorian one. In Victorian times, women were considered to be frail creatures, prone to “hysteria”, “lunacy” and prone to fainting. Thus, they could not possibly be expected to handle gender equality. Since the Women’s Lib era, there have been frequent campaigns by conservatives to put women back in their place. What has changed is that now, the conservatives are on the political left, and call themselves feminists. The old forces that resisted gender equality – such as the Tory Party and the Daily Mail – have been replaced by new ones, including the Labour Party and the Guardian.
As demonstrated by violence statistics and the Demos study of online abuse, the feminist claim that women suffer more abuse than men is simply false. This is a huge problem for a movement whose single message is that women are “oppressed” by “patriarchy” and “structural misogyny”. Quite simply, if there did exist widespread hate of women by men, then women would suffer more violence and online abuse than men, not less.
And now, enter the Guardian to save the day. Last week, the paper published its own study into online abuse, and unlike any previous study, it found that women were, indeed, more likely to be victims. The study (and accompanying daily drumbeat of moral panic) was chillingly titled “The Web We Want” (“we”, meaning Oxbridge-educated Guardian journalists). Here was the Guardian in campaign mode, pretending to be publishing news but in reality whipping up a Daily Mail-esque moral panic over free speech:
“…along with online camaraderie, the vituperative modes of interaction took hold: bullying, shaming and intimidation… For women it frequently assumes a particularly violent and sexualised form, sometimes extending to public rape threats; for ethnic minorities it is often racist.” Free event-based dating for the UK
Jaunt.Singles
In a nutshell, here is the methodology of the conservative left: attack free expression, but using left-wing language. Don’t say “Christian family values are under threat”, say “OMG people are being sexist, racist and homophobic! We must stop them!”
But it is, indeed, puzzling that the Guardian’s findings overturn conventional wisdom. Puzzling that is, until the methodology is examined: it is simply laughable. The explanation is packed with irrelevant technical detail (they used Postgres database software, and wrote scripts in Perl – so what?) which apparently is only included to distract the reader from the important bit. The entire article contains one useful, and very revealing, sentence:
“In our analysis we took blocked comments as an indicator of abuse and/or disruption”
So the reasoning is entirely circular, and hugely dishonest. Guardian moderators, acting (one presumes) under Guardian policy, block posts they subjectively consider to be sexist, racist and homophobic. They then examine the blocked posts and (shock horror!) discover they are largely sexist, racist and homophobic. The newspaper is guilty of the worst sort of misinformation: making a headline claim and then providing small print that doesn’t back it.
This is far from being the Guardian’s first campaign for censorship – it has actively campaigned for porn, “sexualised” imagery and (black) music videos to be censored. But this is the broadest attack so far, targeting the very basis of online free speech. Furthermore, the moral panic is obviously carefully planned and orchestrated, with day-by-day updates. Unsurprisingly, a Labour voice has now joined the campaign, with an Orwellian call by Yvette Cooper for “greater monitoring of online harassment”. Labour MP John Mann is already on record as calling for internet bans on “trolls”: crushing people’s right to speak out if the authorities consider them unsavoury. The implications for controversial political speech are profound.
Little of this could fly in America, where free speech has been protected since 1789. But speech in Britain has no such protection, and so (as predicted by George Orwell in 1984) is a soft touch for “nice” censorship, designed by a paternalistic state to protect us from ourselves.
My book Porn Panic!, which documents sexual prudery, the decline of the progressive left, and the rise of a new fascism, is now available for pre-order on Amazon UK and Amazon US.
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Like this: Like Loading...Both polls show essentially the same situation: the Liberals of Justin Trudeau are clearly ahead of the Conservatives of Andrew Scheer while the NDP is a distant third, below the 20% mark. The Liberals are actually higher than in 2015 in many provinces. This is especially the case in Quebec where the party could possibly sweep the province.
Using these two polls, the model would have the following projections:
Voting intentions; Seat projections with confidence interval; Chances of winning the most seats
The probabilities are obtained using thousands of simulations where the model accounted for the uncertainty due to polls as well as the distribution of the votes. Moreover, there is a correlation across provinces (meaning that if polls underestimate the Liberals in Ontario, they'd likely underestimate it in BC as well). This correlation is really the only reason the CPC's chances are higher than 0%. See this as a scenario where the two polls would have heavily underestimated the Tories everywhere and this party would have a very efficient vote. Not impossible given the accuracy of polls, but definitely unlikely.
If the election was tomorrow, you wouldn't need a complex model to predict a Liberal victory as well as a majority. Of course, the election isn't tomorrow but in 2 years. The CPC barely experienced a post-leadership bump after the surprising victory of Scheer. With that said, the one thing going for the Tories is the fact their base appears intact. By remaining above the 30% (and around 35% in Ontario as well as close to the 20% mark in Quebec), this party is at least in a situation to be competitive. As a matter of fact, the CPC isn't doing badly, it's just that the Liberals are dominating too much for an election to be competitive at the moment.
In the eventuality that the NDP leadership would conclude in the election of a leader who could go and steal votes from the Liberals, the Conservatives could start dreaming of a win. Or at least forcing Trudeau to a minority. At this point, I think preventing another Liberal majority could already be a good outcome for the Canadian right.
The main problem for Scheer is that his path to forming the government is narrow. He needs the NDP to split the progressive vote with the Liberals. He would also need to himself propose policies and alternatives that could attract the middle class and grab some voters who went Liberals in 2015. The Khadr story was good for the base and the fundraising efforts, but had not impact on the families in the suburbs. The Mainstreet poll shows that taxes could be one area where Scheer and the Tories could have the edge (although the poll also shows how isolated or different conservative voters are compared to the rest). Abacus is showing that among centrist voters, the Liberals currently have an edge of 43-29. If Scheer wants to become Pime Minister, he'll need to improve there (and again, expect a bigger split of the left with the NDP).
Polls also show many Canadians still don't know what to think of Scheer (there are more people unsure than people who approve of him). That is never optimal but the BC NDP is currently in power and had a mostly unknown leader just a couple of months ago (note: yes, they technically lost the election but they made huge gains in the Lower Mainland thanks to a focused campaign).
As it stands, beating Trudeau won't be possible as long as the Liberals are dominating Quebec so outrageously. With the NDP back in the 10s and the Bloc still below 20%, the LPC could win north of 60 seats in la Belle Province. Coupled with the Atlantic, this is simply too big of an edge to be beaten, no matter what would happen in Ontario or BC. On the other hand, being ahead in Quebec is never a safe thing, just ask Thomas Mulcair.
Also worth pointing out, the economic growth is currently really strong (and the population is indeed feeling it, as shown in the Abacus poll), another factor going for Trudeau. But there as well, it could change by 2019.
Detailed projections I'll post the simulator very soon. Remember that this is very much a version 1.0 of the model. There is no regional coefficient, no adjustment for incumbency or anything like that. It'll come later. In the meantime, you'll find here below the detailed projections. I'm sure there must be some errors here and there and will be grateful if you let me know if you find one.
Share thisDeutsche Bank is one of the latest banks to back blockchain technology. The Frankfurt, Germany based bank has responded positively to the European Securities and Market Authority’s (ESMA) call for evidence on investments using virtual currency and blockchain technology. ESMA had called upon all the stakeholders to express their views, experiences and any information on utilization of digital currency and the technology behind it for trading and recording ownership of securities.
Deutsche Bank’s response to the Call for Evidence issued by ESMA was published with other responses on 30th of last month. Deutsche Bank’s response, signed by the global head of regulatory policy — Daniel Trinder states the important benefits of using bitcoin or related systems in today’ banking environment. Some of the benefits mentioned in the report includes stability and reliability of the system, faster transaction processing and low customer costs. Apart from that, by using blockchain technology in their regular operations banks can have a more efficient, inexpensive and secure platform for meeting regulatory and maintenance requirement.
Further down the report, Deutsche Bank plays the devil’s advocate by mentioning the potential risks involved. Daniel mentions that blockchain technology may come with few potential risks and it is better to understand those risks and fix them well in advance.
The German bank’s response to ESMA also contains information about its new innovation labs which was launched recently as part of Deutsche Bank’s Strategy 2020 initiative. The innovation lab will be used to developing and testing various blockchain based applications targeted towards improving the bank’s products, processes and services.
According to Deutsche Bank ‘s analysis, the blockchain technology applications will be ideal for fiat currency payment and settlement, securities management, smart contracts, asset registries, know your customer, anti-money laundering registries etc.
With Deutsche Bank announcing the launch of its new innovation lab which is focused on blockchain technology, it has now become one among several other banks like RBS, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale etc. who are involved in research and development of blockchain applications suitable for their operating needs.Drunk Bexar Sheriff's deputy was asleep at wheel, vehicle in gear with foot on brake: police
Israel Gomez, 31, a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy, was arrested Nov. 11, 2016, on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. Israel Gomez, 31, a Bexar County Sheriff's deputy, was arrested Nov. 11, 2016, on a misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated. Image 1 of / 79 Caption Close Drunk Bexar Sheriff's deputy was asleep at wheel, vehicle in gear with foot on brake: police 1 / 79 Back to Gallery
SAN ANTONIO — A Bexar County Sheriff’s deputy arrested Friday on a DWI charge was found passed out behind the wheel with the vehicle in gear and his foot on the brake, according to new information obtained from the San Antonio Police Department.
Israel Alfredo Gomez, 31, was arrested on a Class B misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated.
RELATED: Bexar Sheriff deputy asleep in car charged with DWI on South Side
Officers were patrolling the 2900 block of Roosevelt Avenue at about 3 a.m. Friday when they found a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of a hair salon. The officers went to investigate the vehicle and found Gomez allegedly passed out in the vehicle, according to a preliminary police report.
Officers called for a DWI officer to assist with the investigation. He was then arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and transported to the magistrate’s office for processing, the report said.
RELATED: Police bust alleged shoplifting ring
The deputy is assigned to the BCSO Detention Division and has been with the sheriff’s office since January 2008, said BCSO spokesman James Keith.
twhite@mysa.com
Twitter: @tylerlwhiteIsraeli security forces have arrested the Palestinian terror cell that carried out the murders of Naama and Eitam Henkin in the West Bank on Thursday, the Shin Bet security service said Monday evening.
A statement from the Shin Bet said it had carried out the operation in conjunction with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police. The suspects had been taken in for questioning by the Shin Bet and had admitted their involvement in the attack, the statement said.
The five cell members are Hamas members from Nablus, the Shin Bet said.
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The Israeli couple, both in their 30s, were driving in their car with their four children when they came under attack from Palestinian gunmen. The two were shot dead in front of their children; the children were unharmed.
The investigation has so far revealed that the five cell members each had a specific role, the Shin Bet said. One person was responsible for clearing the way for the car that contained a driver and two gunmen. The fifth member of the cell, its commander, was not in the car.
A number of other people were arrested on suspicion of providing assistance to the cell, the Shin Bet said.
The video below shows the arrest of one of the suspects at a hospital in Nablus, Channel 2 television said Monday night. The TV report said the attack was likely curtailed when one of the five was accidentally shot by another cell member and the gunmen sped away in order to seek medical assistance for him. That may be why the four Henkin children — aged 9, 7, 4 and 4 months — were not harmed.
The Shin Bet named the cell leader as Ragheb Ahmad Muhammad Aliwi, a previously jailed Hamas fighter from Nablus, who recruited the other four terrorists, instructed them how to carry out attacks and provided them with their weapons.
The other four were named as Yahia Muhammad Naif Abdullah Hajj Hamad, who carried out the shooting itself; Samir Zahir Ibrahim Kusah, the driver of the car who is linked to previous terror attacks; Karem Lufti Fatahi Razek, the gunman who was wounded by gunfire from one of his fellow cell members during the attack; and Zir Ziad Jamal Amar, who cleared the way for the car to carry out the attack.
All four are Hamas activists from Nablus.
Razek was arrested in a hospital in Nablus by an undercover police unit. The other suspects were arrested at their homes and other locations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X687UbvwBvE
The Abdel Qader al-Husseini Brigades, a group affiliated with Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, had claimed on Friday that it carried out the terror attack. In fact, said the Shin Bet, Hamas was to blame. It was not clear whether the killing was organized higher up the Hamas hierarchy.
Channel 2 said the suspects claimed to have carried out the killing in revenge for the firebombing of a Palestinian home in Duma two months ago, in which three members of the Dawabsha family were killed. That attack was allegedly the work of Jewish terrorists.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had vowed Friday to step up efforts to bring to justice the terrorists who killed the couple.
Meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in New York on Friday, Netanyahu condemned Palestinian Authority officials for applauding the terrorist attack, and called on the international community to hold Ramallah accountable for its failure to denounce terrorism.
“This murder will not pass without a response,” Netanyahu said. “We have already increased our forces in the field. We are changing the forces’ operations in the field, and we will find these murderers and bring them to justice. Most importantly, we will take action that will ensure there’s no reward for terror.”
If the Palestinians don’t fight terrorism, Israel will, the prime minister vowed. “That’s the call |
At episode 13 you can create an awesome punch bag game. Vue.js 2 & Firebase – Building Real Time Single Page Web Applications by codingthesmartway.com.
Official documentation, but look at it when you get some idea from above resources.
Books
There are many good books available in the market. You can buy them and learn this framework by reading and following the examples from these books. Here are some suggestion:
Learning Vue.js 2
This book is published by Packt publication and written by Olga Filipova. This book explains various features of vue.js. Reader will learn to build a fully functioning web application in Vue.Js.
Conclusion
Vue.js is the one of the most demand technology in the market. Also it is expanding it’s user base rapidly. Here i provided some books or online resources which i found helpful. I’ll update this list time to time so be tuned in. If you have any book or resource suggestion which you found very helpful then let me know.WEST ISLIP, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Police officers went above and beyond to pull off a dramatic rescue in extreme conditions to help a man in need.
On Monday, the officers were hailed as heroes after going up 28 stories on a bridge to pull a man to safety.
As CBS2’s Brian Conybeare reported, the whole ordeal was caught on camera.
Suffolk County Police released the video of the officers scaling the Robert Moses Bridge superstructure to rescue the suicidal man at 8:30 on Sunday morning.
“He exited the vehicle, had all his doors open, and had his music really loud,” Officer Billy Judge said.
Judge and his partner Glen Baillargeon trained for such scenarios using harnesses and equipment, but this was the first time they put their training to use — 286-feet above the waters of the Fire Island inlet on a thin steel girder.
“It was very narrow, maybe 10 inches wide,” Judge said, “He was on the outside of the railing holding onto the light.”
The man, whose name has not been released, initially refused to cooperate.
“I said we really care about you. We want to get you out of this, and he said ‘you don’t care about me’ and I said ‘me and my partner are the only two up here with you right now, that’s got to tell you something,” Judge said.
It took nearly 3 hours, and 20 to 25 mph wind gusts didn’t help.
“I was trying to put a piece of webbing over the top of him, but it was too windy. The wind was taking the webbing,” Judge recalled.
Finally they got a harness on the man, and he agreed to slowly climb back down.
“At one point he looked up to me and he goes ‘Billy, thank you,’ I said, ‘my friend, thank you for giving me this opportunity to get you out of here,” Judge said.
“What happened on Sunday, it was an unbelievable act of bravery and skill,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini said.
Officer Judge said he doesn’t consider himself a hero, just a professional.
The rescued man was taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.Been wanting to try out Gail Simone and Walter Geovani's take on Red Sonja? On the fence about the first trade, in stores today? Well we have the entire first issue for you, right here, completely free! Take a read, then head to your LCS for the trade!
RED SONJA VOL. 1: QUEEN OF PLAGUES
Gail Simone (w)
Walter Geovani (a)
Jenny Frison (c)
FC •184 pages • $19.99 • Teen+
Gail Simone (BATGIRL, BIRDS OF PREY) gives the iconic fantasy heroine a fresh new attitude! Red Sonja, the She- Devil with a Sword, intends to pay back a blood debt owed to the one man who has gained her respect… even if it means leading a doomed army to their certain deaths! Who is Dark Annisia, and how has this fearsome warrior accomplished what no god nor demon has been able to do: force Sonja to her knees in surrender? An epic tale of blood, lust, and vengeance, “Queen of Plagues” takes Red Sonja from the depths of her own grave to the heights of battlefield glory.
COLLECTION FEATURES:
• Issues 1-6 of the critically-acclaimed series by GAIL SIMONE (BATGIRL, BIRDS OF PREY) and WALTER GEOVANI (PROPHECY).
• An introduction by GAIL SIMONE
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• All of the beautiful covers by the top female artists in the comic book industry including: JENNY FRISON (ANGEL), NICOLA SCOTT (TEEN TITANS, SECRET SIX), AMANDA CONNER (BEFORE WATCHMEN: SILK SPECTRE), FIONA STAPLES (SAGA), PIA GUERRA (Y: THE LAST MAN), MING DOYLE (MARA), and MANY MORE!
“Gail Simone's RED SONJA is an absolute winner -- powerful, thrilling stuff that builds up so much momentum you won't ever want it to end. Richly textured action-adventure with an unforgettable heroine.”
– KURT BUSIEK (ASTRO CITY, AVENGERS)
"A kick-ass iconic heroine by one of the top writers in the comics industry, and a series of take-no-prisoners stories. What's not to love?"
– MERCEDES LACKEY (VALDEMAR series)1.5 million people will see reduction in Family Tax Benefit supplements under welfare changes
Updated
The Federal Government has conceded 1.5 million people will see a reduction in Family Tax Benefit (FTB) supplements, but argues its welfare changes will be easier for 1 million children to receive child care.
The Government has previously shied away from revealing how many people would be affected by the omnibus bill introduced into Parliament on Wednesday.
After repeated questions this morning, Social Services Minister Christian Porter said all 1.5 million families who receive FTB payments would see their annual supplements cut.
"The supplements are scaled down for all the people in the system, then there is a $20 increase (per fortnight for FTA-A recipients) and those two interact," Mr Porter told reporters at Parliament House.
He added 1 million children and their families would benefit from the changes to child care, though he was unable to say how many would take advantage of the measures.
"This is once-in-a-generation reform to child care that Australian families are absolutely screaming out for," Mr Porter said, who argued an additional 1 million children who attend after-school care could also benefit.
As part of the omnibus bill, those receiving Family Tax Benefit payments will receive an extra $20 a week, but will relinquish annual supplements, starting from July next year.
The Government has offered $4 billion in sweeteners over the next four years, in exchange for $8 billion worth of welfare savings or cuts.
The Federal Opposition confirmed it would vote against the omnibus bill.
It argues families on FTB-A would be $200 a year per child worse off, while those on FTB-B would be $350 a year worse off as a family.
Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, welfare, family-and-children, australia
First postedJohn’s Incredible Pizza Co.
Address: Boulevard Mall, 3700 S. Maryland Pkwy.
Phone: 702-381-5555
Status: Opens today
Hours: Open Mondays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Let the fun begin. The furry mascot named IncrediBear starts dancing when John’s Incredible Pizza Co. opens today at the Boulevard Mall. This place is massive, spanning 60,000 square feet and greeting guests with a vibrant façade decked out with John’s signature gold, purple and blue colors.
It just gets more insane inside. One side of the restaurant features food, served up at an all-you-can-eat buffet with pastas, pizzas, fried chicken, a 40-plus item salad bar, soups, potatoes and of course, desserts. The other side has more than 100 games, full-size amusement park rides and attractions. Bumper cars, a spinning twister ride and a swinging plane are just some of the rides. The first 100 admitted guests receive a free $10 FunCard for their amusement.
Then there are the themed dining rooms that span the Tahoe-style "Cabin Fever," the kid favorite "Toon Time Theatre," and the "Hall of Fame" sports room.
Want in? Admission prices are $10.99 for adults, $9.99 for seniors, $6.99 for kids ages 7 to 12 and $4.99 for kids ages 3 to 6. Kids 2 and under are free and include John’s all-you-can-eat buffet.INDORE: Prohibitory orders were imposed in Shajapur town of Madhya Pradesh after at least ten persons were injured as clashes broke out between groups over a dispute related to burial of a body on Saturday.Violence erupted at three places in the town prompting police to lob teargas shells and lathi-charge groups that pelted tones. The police gained control over the situation, but prohibitory orders were clamped under Section 144 preventing assembly of more than four people.Shajapur district collector Alka Shrivastava told reporters that the dispute started when members of a particular community attempted to bury a body on land of a cremation ground. “The graveyard was situated on survey number 246, while the cremation ground was developed on survey number 244 behind Mangalnath temple,” she said.Members of both the community came face-to-face over the issue, exchanging heated words. Shrivastava and other senior officials rushed to the spot and dug out records of the land, clarifying the position. The family of the deceased was asked on land – survey number 202- earmarked for the graveyard.While the burial was nearly over, participants of the funeral procession pelted stones a group, sparking violence in the area. Stones were also pelted at vehicles moving on the highway.Official sources said at least 10 persons were injured in the stone pelting.Superintendent of police Shailendra Singh Chouhan led a large contingent of policemen into the area and used force to disperse the angry crowds.Reports of stone pelting were also received from Kachhiwada and Magaria areas of the town.Shrivastava said the situation was under control. “Members of both the groups will be summoned and a clear demarcation of the disputed area will be made to prevent such confusion,” she said adding information about similar disputes related to religious places was also being collected. These will be sorted out soon.Meanwhile, Police were deployed in strength to prevent any flare-up. SP Chouhan said police were in the process of identifying those involved in violence. “We will deal with them strictly,” he said.The new Star Wars Land parks at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA and Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL now have an opening date - or at least year. Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed on the quarterly investor earnings call Tuesday that both versions of Star Wars Land will open in 2019.
The confirmation comes after a record year for Disney at the box office, and is one of several major expansions in the Parks and Resorts department. Parks and Resorts had a 6% increase in revenue and 13% increase in operating income in Fiscal Year 2017 Q1. They recently revamped their Disney cruise ships, opened Shanghai Disney Resort, and saw increase at both Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland, as well.
Before Star Wars land, Pandora: World of Avatar will open at Disney World this May, another focused area of growth for the parks.
Star Wars Land was announced during the D23 Expo in 2015, a 14 acre themed area that will transport fans to a galaxy far, far away. The lands will include cast members as aliens, interactive droids, a lifesize Millennium Falcon, alien-looking buildings and locales, and brand-new Star Wars rides.
"Our intent is to make it feel as if you've just walked into one of the movies," Imagineering executive Scott Trowbridge said of the parks. "Bringing Star Wars to life in the physical world gives us the opportunity to play with a whole bunch of things we've never done before, to really engage all of the senses." Star Wars fans will be able to spend a day in the world they love in 2019. That's an odd year, so the Star Wars Celebration convention should be in the U.S. that year - can you imagine going to the con and the park in one trip?This article is about the monarchy of the United Kingdom. For information on the other countries which share the same person as monarch, see Commonwealth realm. For the current monarch of the United Kingdom, see Elizabeth II
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom, its dependencies (the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Isle of Man) and its overseas territories. The current monarch and head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who ascended the throne in 1952.
The monarch and their immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial, diplomatic and representational duties. As the monarchy is constitutional, the monarch is limited to non-partisan functions such as bestowing honours and appointing the Prime Minister. The monarch is commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. Though the ultimate formal executive authority over the government of the United Kingdom is still by and through the monarch's royal prerogative, these powers may only be used according to laws enacted in Parliament and, in practice, within the constraints of convention and precedent.
The British monarchy traces its origins from the petty kingdoms of early medieval Scotland and Anglo-Saxon England, which consolidated into the kingdoms of England and Scotland by the 10th century. England was conquered by the Normans in 1066, after which Wales too gradually came under control of Anglo-Normans. The process was completed in the 13th century when the Principality of Wales became a client state of the English kingdom. Meanwhile, Magna Carta began a process of reducing the English monarch's political powers. From 1603, the English and Scottish kingdoms were ruled by a single sovereign. From 1649 to 1660, the tradition of monarchy was broken by the republican Commonwealth of England, which followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The Act of Settlement 1701 excluded Roman Catholics, or those who married them, from succession to the English throne. In 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland were merged to create the Kingdom of Great Britain, and in 1801, the Kingdom of Ireland joined to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The British monarch was the nominal and de jure head of the vast British Empire, which covered a quarter of the world's surface at its greatest extent in 1921.
In the early 1920s the Balfour Declaration recognised the evolution of the Dominions of the Empire into separate, self-governing countries within a Commonwealth of Nations. After the Second World War, the vast majority of British colonies and territories became independent, effectively bringing the Empire to an end. George VI and his successor, Elizabeth II, adopted the title Head of the Commonwealth as a symbol of the free association of its independent member states. The United Kingdom and fifteen other independent sovereign states that share the same person as their monarch are called Commonwealth realms. Although the monarch is shared, each country is sovereign and independent of the others, and the monarch has a different, specific, and official national title and style for each realm.
Constitutional role [ edit ]
In the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom, the monarch (otherwise referred to as the sovereign or "His/Her Majesty", abbreviated H.M.) is the head of state. The Queen's image is used to signify British sovereignty and government authority—her profile, for instance, appearing on currency,[1] and her portrait in government buildings.[2] The sovereign is further both mentioned in and the subject of songs, loyal toasts, and salutes. "God Save the Queen" (or, alternatively, "God Save the King") is the British national anthem.[3] Oaths of allegiance are made to the Queen and her lawful successors.[4]
The monarch takes little direct part in government. The decisions to exercise sovereign powers are delegated from the monarch, either by statute or by convention, to ministers or officers of the Crown, or other public bodies, exclusive of the monarch personally. Thus the acts of state done in the name of the Crown, such as Crown Appointments,[5] even if personally performed by the monarch, such as the Queen's Speech and the State Opening of Parliament, depend upon decisions made elsewhere:
The sovereign's role as a constitutional monarch is largely limited to non-partisan functions, such as granting honours. This role has been recognised since the 19th century. The constitutional writer Walter Bagehot identified the monarchy in 1867 as the "dignified part" rather than the "efficient part" of government.[8]
Appointment of the prime minister [ edit ]
Whenever necessary, the monarch is responsible for appointing a new prime minister (who by convention appoints and may dismiss every other Minister of the Crown, and thereby constitutes and controls the government). In accordance with unwritten constitutional conventions, the sovereign must appoint an individual who commands the support of the House of Commons, usually the leader of the party or coalition that has a majority in that House. The prime minister takes office by attending the monarch in private audience, and after "kissing hands" that appointment is immediately effective without any other formality or instrument.[9]
In a hung parliament where no party or coalition holds a majority, the monarch has an increased degree of latitude in choosing the individual likely to command the most support, though it would usually be the leader of the largest party.[10][11] Since 1945, there have only been three hung parliaments. The first followed the February 1974 general election when Harold Wilson was appointed Prime Minister after Edward Heath resigned following his failure to form a coalition. Although Wilson's Labour Party did not have a majority, they were the largest party. The second followed the May 2010 general election, in which the Conservatives (the largest party) and Liberal Democrats (the third largest party) agreed to form the first coalition government since World War II. The third occurred shortly thereafter, in June 2017, when the Conservative Party lost its majority in a snap election, though the party remained in power as a minority government.
Dissolution of Parliament [ edit ]
In 1950 the King's Private Secretary Sir Alan "Tommy" Lascelles, writing pseudonymously to The Times newspaper asserted a constitutional convention: according to the Lascelles Principles, if a minority government asked to dissolve Parliament to call an early election to strengthen its position, the monarch could refuse, and would do so under three conditions. When Harold Wilson requested a dissolution late in 1974, the Queen granted his request as Heath had already failed to form a coalition. The resulting general election gave Wilson a small majority.[12] The monarch could in theory unilaterally dismiss the prime minister, but in practice the prime minister's term nowadays comes to an end only by electoral defeat, death, or resignation. The last monarch to remove the prime minister was William IV, who dismissed Lord Melbourne in 1834.[13] The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 removed the monarch's authority to dissolve Parliament; however the Act specifically retained the monarch's power of prorogation, which is a regular feature of the parliamentary calendar.
Royal prerogative [ edit ]
Some of the government's executive authority is theoretically and nominally vested in the sovereign and is known as the royal prerogative. The monarch acts within the constraints of convention and precedent, exercising prerogative only on the advice of ministers responsible to Parliament, often through the prime minister or Privy Council.[14] In practice, prerogative powers are exercised only on the prime minister's advice – the prime minister, and not the sovereign, has control. The monarch holds a weekly audience with the prime minister; no records of these audiences are taken and the proceedings remain fully confidential.[15] The monarch may express his or her views, but, as a constitutional ruler, must ultimately accept the decisions of prime minister and the Cabinet (providing they command the support of the House). In Bagehot's words: "the sovereign has, under a constitutional monarchy... three rights – the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn."[16]
Although the royal prerogative is extensive and parliamentary approval is not formally required for its exercise, it is limited. Many Crown prerogatives have fallen out of use or have been permanently transferred to Parliament. For example, the monarch cannot impose and collect new taxes; such an action requires the authorisation of an Act of Parliament. According to a parliamentary report, "The Crown cannot invent new prerogative powers", and Parliament can override any prerogative power by passing legislation.[17]
The royal prerogative includes the powers to appoint and dismiss ministers, regulate the civil service, issue passports, declare war, make peace, direct the actions of the military, and negotiate and ratify treaties, alliances, and international agreements. However, a treaty cannot alter the domestic laws of the United Kingdom; an Act of Parliament is necessary in such cases. The monarch is the Head of the Armed Forces (the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force), and accredits British High Commissioners and ambassadors, and receives heads of missions from foreign states.[17]
It is the prerogative of the monarch to summon and prorogue Parliament. Each parliamentary session begins with the monarch's summons. The new parliamentary session is marked by the State Opening of Parliament, during which the sovereign reads the Speech from the throne in the Chamber of the House of Lords, outlining the Government's legislative agenda.[18] Prorogation usually occurs about one year after a session begins, and formally concludes the session.[19] Dissolution ends a parliamentary term, and is followed by a general election for all seats in the House of Commons. A general election is normally held five years after the previous one under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, but can be held sooner if the prime minister loses a motion of confidence, or if two-thirds of the members of the House of Commons vote to hold an early election.
Before a bill passed by the legislative Houses can become law, the royal assent (the monarch's approval) is required.[20] In theory, assent can either be granted (making the bill law) or withheld (vetoing the bill), but since 1707 assent has always been granted.[21]
The monarch has a similar relationship with the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The sovereign appoints the First Minister of Scotland on the nomination of the Scottish Parliament,[22] and the First Minister of Wales on the nomination of the National Assembly for Wales.[23] In Scottish matters, the sovereign acts on the advice of the Scottish Government. However, as devolution is more limited in Wales, in Welsh matters the sovereign acts on the advice of the prime minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The sovereign can veto any law passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly, if it is deemed unconstitutional by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.[24]
The sovereign is deemed the "fount of justice"; although the sovereign does not personally rule in judicial cases, judicial functions are performed in his or her name. For instance, prosecutions are brought on the monarch's behalf, and courts derive their authority from the Crown. The common law holds that the sovereign "can do no wrong"; the monarch cannot be prosecuted for criminal offences. The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 allows civil lawsuits against the Crown in its public capacity (that is, lawsuits against the government), but not lawsuits against the monarch personally. The sovereign exercises the "prerogative of mercy", which is used to pardon convicted offenders or reduce sentences.[14][17]
The monarch is the "fount of honour", the source of all honours and dignities in the United Kingdom. The Crown creates all peerages, appoints members of the orders of chivalry, grants knighthoods and awards other honours.[25] Although peerages and most other honours are granted on the advice of the prime minister, some honours are within the personal gift of the sovereign, and are not granted on ministerial advice. The monarch alone appoints members of the Order of the Garter, the Order of the Thistle, the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of Merit.[26]
History [ edit ]
English monarchy [ edit ]
Following Viking raids and settlement in the ninth century, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex emerged as the dominant English kingdom. Alfred the Great secured Wessex, achieved dominance over western Mercia, and assumed the title "King of the English".[27] His grandson Æthelstan was the first king to rule over a unitary kingdom roughly corresponding to the present borders of England, though its constituent parts retained strong regional identities. The 11th century saw England become more stable, despite a number of wars with the Danes, which resulted in a Danish monarchy for one generation.[28] The conquest of England in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy, was crucial in terms of both political and social change. The new monarch continued the centralisation of power begun in the Anglo-Saxon period, while the Feudal System continued to develop.[29]
William was succeeded by two of his sons: William II, then Henry I. Henry made a controversial decision to name his daughter Matilda (his only surviving child) as his heir. Following Henry's death in 1135, one of William I's grandsons, Stephen, laid claim to the throne and took power with the support of most of the barons. Matilda challenged his reign; as a result, England descended into a period of disorder known as the Anarchy. Stephen maintained a precarious hold on power but agreed to a compromise under which Matilda's son Henry would succeed him. Henry accordingly became the first Angevin king of England and the first monarch of the Plantagenet dynasty as Henry II in 1154.[30]
The reigns of most of the Angevin monarchs were marred by civil strife and conflicts between the monarch and the nobility. Henry II faced rebellions from his own sons, the future monarchs Richard I and John. Nevertheless, Henry managed to expand his kingdom, forming what is retrospectively known as the Angevin Empire. Upon Henry's death, his elder son Richard succeeded to the throne; he was absent from England for most of his reign, as he left to fight in the Crusades. He was killed besieging a castle, and John succeeded him.
John's reign was marked by conflict with the barons, particularly over the limits of royal power. In 1215, the barons coerced the king into issuing Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter") to guarantee the rights and liberties of the nobility. Soon afterwards, further disagreements plunged England into a civil war known as the First Barons' War. The war came to an abrupt end after John died in 1216, leaving the Crown to his nine-year-old son Henry III.[31] Later in Henry's reign, Simon de Montfort led the barons in another rebellion, beginning the Second Barons' War. The war ended in a clear royalist victory and in the death of many rebels, but not before the king had agreed to summon a parliament in 1265.[32]
The next monarch, Edward Longshanks, was far more successful in maintaining royal power and responsible for the conquest of Wales. He attempted to establish English domination of Scotland. However, gains in Scotland were reversed during the reign of his successor, Edward II, who also faced conflict with the nobility.[33] In 1311, Edward II was forced to relinquish many of his powers to a committee of baronial "ordainers"; however, military victories helped him regain control in 1322.[34] Nevertheless, in 1327, Edward was deposed by his wife Isabella. His 14-year-old son became Edward III. Edward III claimed the French Crown, setting off the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
His campaigns conquered much French territory, but by 1374, all the gains had been lost. Edward's reign was also marked by the further development of Parliament, which came to be divided into two Houses. In 1377, Edward III died, leaving the Crown to his 10-year-old grandson Richard II. Like many of his predecessors, Richard II conflicted with the nobles by attempting to concentrate power in his own hands. In 1399, while he was campaigning in Ireland, his cousin Henry Bolingbroke seized power. Richard was deposed, imprisoned, and eventually murdered, probably by starvation, and Henry became king as Henry IV.[35]
Henry IV was the grandson of Edward III and the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; hence, his dynasty was known as the House of Lancaster. For most of his reign, Henry IV was forced to fight off plots and rebellions; his success was partly due to the military skill of his son, the future Henry V. Henry V's own reign, which began in 1413, was largely free from domestic strife, leaving the king free to pursue the Hundred Years' War in France. Although he was victorious, his sudden death in 1422 left his infant son Henry VI on the throne and gave the French an opportunity to overthrow English rule.[36]
The unpopularity of Henry VI's counsellors and his belligerent consort, Margaret of Anjou, as well as his own ineffectual leadership, led to the weakening of the House of Lancaster. The Lancastrians faced a challenge from the House of York, so called because its head, a descendant of Edward III, was Richard, Duke of York. Although the Duke of York died in battle in 1460, his eldest son, Edward IV, led the Yorkists to victory in 1461. The Wars of the Roses, nevertheless, continued intermittently during his reign and those of his son Edward V and brother Richard III. Edward V disappeared, presumably murdered by Richard. Ultimately, the conflict culminated in success for the Lancastrian branch led by Henry Tudor, in 1485, when Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field.[37]
Now King Henry VII, he neutralised the remaining Yorkist forces, partly by marrying Elizabeth of York, a Yorkist heir. Through skill and ability, Henry re-established absolute supremacy in the realm, and the conflicts with the nobility that had plagued previous monarchs came to an end.[38] The reign of the second Tudor king, Henry VIII, was one of great political change. Religious upheaval and disputes with the Pope led the monarch to break from the Roman Catholic Church and to establish the Church of England (the Anglican Church).[39]
Wales – which had been conquered centuries earlier, but had remained a separate dominion – was annexed to England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.[40] Henry VIII's son and successor, the young Edward VI, continued with further religious reforms, but his early death in 1553 precipitated a succession crisis. He was wary of allowing his Catholic elder half-sister Mary I to succeed, and therefore drew up a will designating Lady Jane Grey as his heiress. Jane's reign, however, lasted only nine days; with tremendous popular support, Mary deposed her and declared herself the lawful sovereign. Mary I married Philip of Spain, who was declared king and co-ruler, pursued disastrous wars in France and attempted to return England to Roman Catholicism, burning Protestants at the stake as heretics in the process. Upon her death in 1558, the pair were succeeded by her Protestant half-sister Elizabeth I. England returned to Protestantism and continued its growth into a major world power by building its navy and exploring the New World.[41]
Scottish monarchy [ edit ]
In Scotland, as in England, monarchies emerged after the withdrawal of the Roman empire from Britain in the early fifth century. The three groups that lived in Scotland at this time were the Picts in the north east, the Britons in the south, including the Kingdom of Strathclyde, and the Gaels or Scotti (who would later give their name to Scotland), of the Irish petty kingdom of Dál Riata in the west. Kenneth MacAlpin is traditionally viewed as the first king of a united Scotland (known as Scotia to writers in Latin, or Alba to the Scots).[42] The expansion of Scottish dominions continued over the next two centuries, as other territories such as Strathclyde were absorbed.
Early Scottish monarchs did not inherit the Crown directly; instead the custom of tanistry was followed, where the monarchy alternated between different branches of the House of Alpin. As a result, however, the rival dynastic lines clashed, often violently. From 942 to 1005, seven consecutive monarchs were either murdered or killed in battle.[43] In 1005, Malcolm II ascended the throne having killed many rivals. He continued to ruthlessly eliminate opposition, and when he died in 1034 he was succeeded by his grandson, Duncan I, instead of a cousin, as had been usual. In 1040, Duncan suffered defeat in battle at the hands of Macbeth, who was killed himself in 1057 by Duncan's son Malcolm. The following year, after killing Macbeth's stepson Lulach, Malcolm ascended the throne as Malcolm III.[44]
With a further series of battles and deposings, five of Malcolm's sons as well as one of his brothers successively became king. Eventually, the Crown came to his youngest son, David I. David was succeeded by his grandsons Malcolm IV, and then by William the Lion, the longest-reigning King of Scots before the Union of the Crowns.[45] William participated in a rebellion against King Henry II of England but when the rebellion failed, William was captured by the English. In exchange for his release, William was forced to acknowledge Henry as his feudal overlord. The English King Richard I agreed to terminate the arrangement in 1189, in return for a large sum of money needed for the Crusades.[46] William died in 1214, and was succeeded by his son Alexander II. Alexander II, as well as his successor Alexander III, attempted to take over the Western Isles, which were still under the overlordship of Norway. During the reign of Alexander III, Norway launched an unsuccessful invasion of Scotland; the ensuing Treaty of Perth recognised Scottish control of the Western Isles and other disputed areas.[47]
Alexander III's unexpected death in a riding accident in 1286 precipitated a major succession crisis. Scottish leaders appealed to King Edward I of England for help in determining who was the rightful heir. Edward chose Alexander's three-year-old Norwegian granddaughter, Margaret. On her way to Scotland in 1290, however, Margaret died at sea, and Edward was again asked to adjudicate between 13 rival claimants to the throne. A court was set up and after two years of deliberation, it pronounced John Balliol to be king. Edward proceeded to treat Balliol as a vassal, and tried to exert influence over Scotland. In 1295, when Balliol renounced his allegiance to England, Edward I invaded. During the first ten years of the ensuing Wars of Scottish Independence, Scotland had no monarch, until Robert the Bruce declared himself king in 1306.[48]
Robert's efforts to control Scotland culminated in success, and Scottish independence was acknowledged in 1328. However, only one year later, Robert died and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, David II. On the pretext of restoring John Balliol's rightful heir, Edward Balliol, the English again invaded in 1332. During the next four years, Balliol was crowned, deposed, restored, deposed, restored, and deposed until he eventually settled in England, and David remained king for the next 35 years.[49]
David II died childless in 1371 and was succeeded by his nephew Robert II of the House of Stuart. The reigns of both Robert II and his successor, Robert III, were marked by a general decline in royal power. When Robert III died in 1406, regents had to rule the country; the monarch, Robert III's son James I, had been taken captive by the English. Having paid a large ransom, James returned to Scotland in 1424; to restore his authority, he used ruthless measures, including the execution of several of his enemies. He was assassinated by a group of nobles. James II continued his father's policies by subduing influential noblemen but he was killed in an accident at the age of thirty, and a council of regents again assumed power. James III was defeated in a battle against rebellious Scottish earls in 1488, leading to another boy-king: James IV.[50]
In 1513 James IV launched an invasion of England, attempting to take advantage of the absence of the English King Henry VIII. His forces met with disaster at Flodden Field; the King, many senior noblemen, and hundreds of soldiers were killed. As his son and successor, James V, was an infant, the government was again taken over by regents. James V led another disastrous war with the English in 1542, and his death in the same year left the Crown in the hands of his six-day-old daughter, Mary I. Once again, a regency was established.
Mary, a Roman Catholic, reigned during a period of great religious upheaval in Scotland. As a result of the efforts of reformers such as John Knox, a Protestant ascendancy was established. Mary caused alarm by marrying her Catholic cousin, Lord Darnley, in 1565. After Lord Darnley's assassination in 1567, Mary contracted an even more unpopular marriage with the Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of Darnley's murder. The nobility rebelled against the Queen, forcing her to abdicate. She fled to England, and the Crown went to her infant son James VI, who was brought up as a Protestant. Mary was imprisoned and later executed by the English queen Elizabeth I.[51]
Personal union and republican phase [ edit ]
In 1603 James VI and I became the first monarch to rule over England, Scotland, and Ireland together.
Elizabeth I's death in 1603 ended Tudor rule in England. Since she had no children, she was succeeded by the Scottish monarch James VI, who was the great-grandson of Henry VIII's older sister and hence Elizabeth's first cousin twice removed. James VI ruled in England as James I after what |
Scorsese's first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967).[8] Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on several projects.[8] Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets, which also proved to be Robert De Niro's breakthrough film. Keitel re-teamed with Scorsese for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), in which he had a villainous supporting role, and appeared with Robert De Niro again in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), playing the role of Jodie Foster's pimp.[8]
In 1977 and 1978, Keitel starred in the directorial debuts of Paul Schrader (Blue Collar, co-starring Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto), Ridley Scott (The Duellists, co-starring Keith Carradine), and James Toback (Fingers, in which Keitel played a street hood with aspirations of being a pianist - a role writer/director Toback wrote for Robert De Niro to play).
Cast as Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979), Keitel was involved with the first week of principal photography in the Philippines. Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, stating that the actor "found it difficult to play him a passive onlooker".[9] After viewing the first week's footage, Coppola replaced Keitel with a casting session favorite, Martin Sheen.
Keitel drifted into obscurity through most of the 1980s.[8] He continued to do work on both stage and screen, but usually in the stereotypical role of a thug. Keitel played a corrupt police officer in the 1983 thriller Copkiller (co-starring musician John Lydon), before taking supporting roles in the romantic drama Falling in Love (1984), starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep, and Brian De Palma's mobster comedy Wise Guys (1986), starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo.
Keitel played Judas in Martin Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and co-starred with Jack Nicholson in the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes (1990), directed by Jack Nicholson. Ridley Scott cast Keitel as the sympathetic policeman in Thelma & Louise in 1991; that same year, Keitel landed a role in Barry Levinson's Bugsy, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The following year, Keitel played another mobster in the Whoopi Goldberg-starring comedy Sister Act.
Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (which he co-produced) in 1992,[8] where his performance as "Mr. White" took his career to a different level. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show a broader acting range.[8] One of those roles was the title character in Bad Lieutenant, about a self-loathing, drug-addicted police lieutenant trying to redeem himself.[8] He co-starred in the movie The Piano in 1993,[8] and played an efficient cleanup expert, Winston "The Wolf" Wolfe in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. Keitel starred as a police detective in Spike Lee's Clockers (an adaptation of Richard Price's novel, co-produced by Martin Scorsese). In 1996, Keitel had a major role in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's film From Dusk till Dawn, and in 1997, he starred in the crime drama Cop Land, which also starred Sylvester Stallone, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro.
Keitel with singer Harry Belafonte in New York, April 2011
His later roles include the fatherly Satan in Little Nicky, a wise Navy man in U-571, diligent FBI Special agent Sadusky in National Treasure and the latter's sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In 1999, Keitel was replaced by Sydney Pollack on the set of Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, due to shooting conflicts, and appeared in Tony Bui's award-winning directorial debut, Three Seasons (which Keitel also executive produced). Keitel also re-teamed with Jane Campion for Holy Smoke! (co-starring Kate Winslet).
In 2002, at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival, Keitel was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for his outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school.[10]
He also appeared in the Steinlager Pure commercials in New Zealand in 2007. Unlike many American male actors, Keitel has appeared nude in several films, including full frontal nudity in Bad Lieutenant and The Piano.
In January 2008, Keitel played Jerry Springer in the New York City premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall.[8] In 2008, Keitel was cast in the role of Detective Gene Hunt in ABC's short-lived US remake of the successful British time-travel police drama series Life on Mars.[11]
In June 2009, he made a cameo appearance in the Jay-Z video for "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)", a nod to his Brooklyn origins. In 2013, he appeared in a music video for "Pretty Hurts" by Beyoncé.[12]
In 2013, he starred in the independent film A Farewell to Fools.[13]
Since 2014, he has reprised his role of Winston Wolfe from Pulp Fiction as part of a £40 million television advertising campaign for Direct Line, an insurance company in the United Kingdom.[14][15]
Personal life [ edit ]
Keitel was in a long-term relationship with actress Lorraine Bracco. They met in 1983 but the relationship ended acrimoniously in the early 1990s with a prolonged custody battle over their daughter.[16] He married actress Daphna Kastner in 2001. Keitel is the father of three children: daughter Stella (born 1985) from his relationship with Bracco; son Hudson (born 2001) from his relationship with Lisa Karmazin; and son Roman (born 2004) from his marriage to Kastner. He is a godfather of close friend Michael Madsen's son Max.
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit ]
Television [ edit ](Image: NBN)
Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) company has commenced building its fibre-to-the-distribution-point/curb (FttDP/C) network, starting with a trial of its construction and installation process in Coburg, Melbourne.
FttDP brings fibre closer to premises than NBN's fibre-to-the-node (FttN) network, with plans to deploy it up to the driveways of around 1 million Australian premises.
Consumer products for the network will be available around mid-2018, with NBN saying it is now working with retail service providers (RSPs) on developing these.
"We will be focusing our efforts in the next few months on ensuring we understand how to scale the FttC network rollout across the country, and also working with our retail customers to trial the product in preparation for its launch next year," NBN chief network engineering officer Peter Ryan said on Friday.
Having moved 1 million premises from FttN and from Optus' "not fully fit for purpose" hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network over to FttDP, Ryan added that "a small number" of premises will now have a revised timeframe on when they can access the NBN.
Between June and December 2017, NBN expects to commence construction of FttDP across approximately 318,400 premises nationwide, including in the Greater Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, and Perth regions, along with Melbourne's CBD and Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The total FttDP number of premises starting construction in New South Wales' during the back end of 2017 will be 96,100 in Haymarket, Ryde, Hornsby, Miranda, Liverpool, Frenchs Forest, Mona Vale, Rockdale, South Sydney, Burwood, Silverwater, Edensor Park, Kensington, Springwood, Orchard Hills, and Kurrajong, in the Greater Sydney region; 8,000 in Bega, Merimbula, Narooma, Braidwood, Currarong, Moruya, Greenwell Point, and Tuross Head, in South Tablelands/South Coast; 5,600 premises in Ballina, Casino, Manilla, Narrabri, Tenterfield, Uralla, Walgett, Walcha, Warialda, and Wee Waa, in Northern Rivers/Northern Tablelands/North West Slopes; 3,100 in Nords Wharf, Hunter; 2,700 in Bellingen, Crescent Head, Dorrigo, Lake Cathie, South West Rocks, and Woolgoolga, Mid-North Coast; 1,500 in Finley, Howlong, Coolamon, and Tocumwal, Riverina; and 200 in Portland and Nyngan, Central Tablelands/Central West.
In Victoria, FttDP will commence construction at 89,000 premises in Melbourne CBD, Coburg, Coburg North, Dandenong South, Dandenong, Footscray, Geelong, Laverton, Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Jacana, Meadow Heights, Greenvale, Coolaroo, Junction Ridge, Cranbourne East, Botanic Ridge, Pascoe Vale, Deer Park, Burnside, Caroline Springs, Narre Warren North, Ferntree Gully, Hallam, Mulgrave, Rowville, Epping, Lilydale, Altona Meadows, Seabrook, Laverton North, Sydenham, Taylors Lake, Hillside, Keilor Lodge, and Wyndham Vale, Greater Melbourne; 11,600 premises in Benalla, Corryong, Euroa, Mansfield, Myrtleford, Nagambie, Paynesville, Tatura, Tallangatta, Yea, and Yarrawonga, North East/South East Victoria; 6,500 premises in Eaglehawk, Epsom, Beaufort, Nhill, St Arnaud, Stawell, and Warracknabeal, North West/West Victoria; and 2,100 premises in Ararat, Edenhope, Koroit, and Sebastopol, South West Victoria.
FttDP will commence construction by the end of 2017 throughout Queensland at 44,200 premises in Ipswich, Albion, Aspley, Bundamba, Brassall, Charlotte, Rothwell, and Salisbury, Greater Brisbane; 9,600 premises in Agnes Water, Maryborough, Calliope, Gladstone, and Moura, Wide Bay/Northern Queensland; 2,100 premises in Ashmore, Inglewood, Kooralbyn, and Mount Tamborine, Southern/South East Queensland; 1,400 premises in Beerwah, Landsborough, and Woodford, Sunshine Coast/South Burnett; and 1,300 premises in St George, Boyne Island, and Winton, Darling Downs/Central Queensland.
4,600 premises in Deakin, Greater Canberra; 22,800 premises in Glenunga, Croydon, and Elizabeth in Greater Adelaide; and 9,000 premises in Bayswater, Bedford, Embleton, Inglewood, Banksia Grove, and Pearsall, Greater Perth, will also commence construction on FttDP by December.
NBN in April said it would be expanding its FttDP network to an additional 300,000 premises across the country in addition to the 700,000 announced last year.
To that end, it signed new fibre construction contracts with Fulton Hogan, Downer, and Service Stream in December 2016 covering around 525,000 premises throughout Sydney and Melbourne, "most" of which will be connected by FttDP; and signed NetComm Wireless to supply its FttDP one-port and four-port distribution point units (DPUs) and related services in November.
Despite the FttDP network expanded to approximately 1 million premises, however, the South Australian government argued that NBN should increase this even further to provide as many customers as possible with fibre to the premises (FttP) or FttDP.
"The South Australian government strongly recommends that the NBN rollout be adjusted to provide FttP or FttC connections to as many households and businesses as is practically possible," the government said in its submission to the Joint Standing Committee on the NBN.
ZDNet also revealed in October that FttDP will be launched with old VDSL technology instead of G.fast technology, despite G.fast being ready in 2017 and FttDP not launching until mid-2018 -- and in spite of NBN making a show of demonstrating the upgrade paths for all network technologies and commissioning Ovum to release a report on the benefits of G.fast after trialling both G.fast and its following iteration XG-FAST with Nokia.
This means that the approximate 500Mbps download speeds attainable over a G.fast FttDP connection will be downgraded to around the maximum 100Mbps download speeds currently seen over FttN.As readers of a site that welcomes and encourages submissions, there's a decent chance some of you want to be writers. Several months ago, I wrote an advice column on how to go about freelancing for the Internet and magazines, but some readers have their sights set on short fiction or even novels. And right now, some are contemplating education choices like picking a major or attending graduate school to get that MFA.
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"MFA" stands for "Master of Fine Arts" and should not be confused with the old porno Master of Fine Ass still available on VHS.
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Let me be clear: Education is wonderful. There is nothing you will ever learn that you will not ultimately use. Conceptually, I am fully in support of a liberal arts education, even when there is no obvious and immediate application of that knowledge to daily life. However, with rising costs in an appalling economy, racking up that debt seems harder to justify, and I find myself agreeing more and more with a column Robert Brockway wrote years ago questioning the need for college. I'm not going quite that far yet, but I have soured on graduate programs -- particularly MFAs. (Brock's still wrong about Nirvana's cover of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World" being superior, by the way.)
It's a very personal choice, but consider this: Every important thing I've learned about writing I learned from a writer. Yes, one of those writers was a college professor (not grad school), but for the most part, I got all my best storytelling lessons from interviews I saw on TV or read in books. That makes sense, right? Who better to explain writing than writers? And yes, of course many MFA programs employ distinguished writers who can impart these lessons to you directly, and that's great if you can afford it, but the knowledge is out there. Writers are showoffs who like to talk and give advice, and they like talking about writing most of all. Every one of these tips below can be learned for free, and I promise you, I could never have written my forthcoming novel, Notes from the Internet Apocalypse, without them.Update, 8:23 AM (PST) Saturday, Nov. 7: Caleres had two professional translators in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, look at the note overnight, according to a company spokesperson. The spokesperson sent the following translations to Upvoted in an email Saturday morning:
Zemen Translation: Chaltu, “Hating each other, undermining each other and failure to hear and understand each other is not good” Yeshimebet Translation office: Chaltu, “What I hate is : It is not good behaviour to talk false to each other, to undestimate each other and not to hear to each other “
The spokesperson said the company was unaware of any workplace issues in any of its factories, including the two it has in Ethiopia. The company’s facilities also are routinely audited for code and conduct compliance, the spokesperson wrote.
“We are continuing with our inquiries in order to understand the note and it’s meaning,” the spokesperson wrote. “If there are issues we can address, we will do so.”
Update, 9:05 PM (PST) Friday, Nov. 6: A spokesperson for Caleres contacted Upvoted about other Reddit users in the thread disputing the translation of the note and pointing out the errors and deceptive posts of previous commenters.
“Even if the note is legitimate, there is no agreement on any of the translations that have been reported so far,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “However, our investigation continues and we will assess new information as it becomes available.”
Original Story:
The friend of a Reddit user was shocked to find a disturbing plea for help in an unopened box of shoes she found where she works.
Samson_says posted a photo of the message and rough sketch that was allegedly found in a pair of Naturalizer brand shoes to the Pics community Friday. The note appears to be from a worker responsible for making the shoes in the area of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.
A user in the thread, knuckles215, offered a translation of the note, which was written in Oromo, a language spoken in Ethiopia and parts of Kenya.
User ghostinahumanshape also confirmed that basic translation and added background about what the note was trying to say. The user claimed the message was written in “a mix of languages” and that the writer possibly had “very poor writing skills.”
No information was given about what store the user’s friend worked at or where the store was located. Upvoted has contacted the original poster for more information—stand by for updates.
A spokesperson from Caleres—which owns the St. Louis-based Naturalizer and also commented in the thread—issued the following statement about the matter in an email to Upvoted:
“We were just made aware of the note found in one of our shoeboxes. We are taking this seriously and quickly investigating. The working conditions of everyone making our shoes is of paramount importance to us. We’re active in our industry’s efforts to ensure workers’ rights globally. We have our own production code of conduct that sets clear expectations for all our suppliers. We also audit our suppliers and insist on having full access to their facilities, employees and records. “For reference, we currently work with two factories in Ethiopia. We have employees on the ground in those factories on an ongoing basis. “We will be transparent with our findings and our response.”
Update, 6:52 p.m. (PST) Friday, Nov. 6: Samson_says, a 24-year-old user from Maine, told Upvoted that the note was found in a shoebox in a Naturalizer store in her home state.
“My heart dropped immediately when I saw it for the first time,” Samson_says wrote in an email. “Still, I was hopeful when I posted it to Reddit to be translated that maybe it was a happy message.”
Since posting the photo, she has contacted the Institute of Global Labour and Human Rights about the matter, but she hasn’t heard from any other groups or Caleres.
“So far, the reaction has been all online,” she wrote. “It’s mostly people just wanting to know more about the situation.”Conservative, Catholic Ireland Votes On Same-Sex Marriage
Enlarge this image toggle caption Rich Preson/NPR Rich Preson/NPR
Ireland could make history this week. Same-sex marriage is legal in about 17 countries around the world. In all of those countries, the decision was made by the legislature or the courts. Ireland appears poised to become the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through a national popular vote set for Friday.
In Dublin, it is impossible to miss the debate. Nearly every lamppost carries a big poster, or several.
"YES: Equality for everybody," reads one showing a diverse group of smiling people.
"NO: Children deserve a mother and father," reads another, showing a pair of doting parents kissing a baby's cheeks.
"It's all anyone's talking about," says Christine Dilworth, as she smokes a cigarette on the patio of a gay club in Dublin. "I have not had a conversation with a stranger over the last month that has not been about marriage equality."
The saturation extends to the virtual world. Some people in Dublin say they've stopped checking their Facebook feeds, because social media are so inundated with campaign material.
A popular video from the No campaign warns that same-sex marriage could hurt kids.
toggle caption Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images
"Without exception, every child reared by a same-sex couple is denied either a father or a mother," the video says alongside dire statistics about the potential consequences of same-sex marriage.
One of the Yes campaign's most popular videos urges voters to "Bring Your Family With You." It shows a man escorting his grandmother to the voting booth, and a woman approaching her father as he works on a piece of farm equipment.
"Dad, will you come with me?" she asks him. After a pause he replies, "I wouldn't miss it for the world," as the music swells.
Of course Dublin is a cosmopolitan, international city. People tend to be more liberal there. Growing up in rural western Ireland, Sharon Nolan says, the sentiment was different. The anti-gay messages were subtle, but clear.
"You're kind of encouraged to not make a scene about your sexuality," she says. "And it's kind of seen as, 'Well, why can't you just be like everyone else?' "
Nolan is 23, and Ireland has changed a lot since she was born. The country decriminalized homosexuality when she was 1. Civil unions for gay couples became legal when she was 18. Now, marriage could be on the horizon.
Nolan canvasses most evenings in Galway City, where she now lives. She wants to go door to door in her family's village a couple hours away.
"But my parents are trying to discourage me from doing that," she says. "They wouldn't want the neighbors talking about me or talking about them."
Ireland is one of the most socially conservative countries in Western Europe. It has nearly the highest churchgoing rate on the Continent. Abortion is still illegal. Divorce was outlawed until the mid-1990s.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ari Shapiro/NPR Ari Shapiro/NPR
That makes Ireland a less than obvious place for same-sex marriage. But the polls indicate the Yes voters are favored by a wide majority.
Tom Leonard is sitting outside the pub in Galway on this sunny spring day.
"I don't believe society is changing," he says. "I believe it's been hijacked."
"If they want to live together, they want to have some kind of civil ceremony together, that's fine," he says. "But they need to come up with their own word for that. I object strongly to the term marriage. That is for men and for women."
Irish culture deeply values family, and both sides are trying to use that to their advantage.
Kate Bopp, a spokesman for the No campaign, describes marriage as "quite simply, a man-woman, potentially procreative institution." Bopp insists that this is not a discriminatory view, saying, "You can say that this image in this picture is beautiful and so is this one, but they are not both the same."
On the other side, Yes campaign leader Tiernan Brady argues that Ireland's traditional values support same-sex marriage.
"Because they're about cherishing someone in your community. This is somebody who lives in your village, who is in your family," he says. "It's not someone sitting on a rock outside Ireland looking for permission to get in."
Every political party in Ireland supports a yes vote, as do major businesses and unions. The Catholic bishops are encouraging a no vote, though some prominent Catholic priests have encouraged their parishioners to vote yes.
The referendum is 17 words in English. Voters are being asked whether "marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex."
In Gaelic, it's just 12. Officials had to change the Gaelic wording when they realized that it could be interpreted to mean marriage would only be between members of the same sex.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Ireland's minister of state for equality, says the English wording is especially significant. It uses the same phrase that extended voting rights to women in Ireland: without distinction as to their sex.
"That's the argument. We're not redefining marriage; marriage isn't changing," he says. "We're just expanding it. So just as expanding voting rights to women didn't change voting, extending marriage rights to same-sex couples is not going to change marriage."
No matter what happens on Friday, Ó Ríordáin believes this debate has changed Ireland.
"I've never been involved in anything like it before," he says. On the last day people could register to vote, "there were queues outside the local offices up and down the country. That's never happened before. Never for a referendum."Newspaper Page Text
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First Published: Dec 19, 2014 08:31 ISTSteven Martinez was serving a 157 year prison sentence for a violent rape. But the man who was paralyzed while serving that sentence is being released on medical leave because the court feels he is no longer a threat to society. (Published Friday, Nov. 16, 2012)
A California appeals court has granted the release of a quadriplegic rapist who was considered an excessive cost to the state.
Steven Martinez was convicted of several counts of violent rape in 1998 after he drove his car over a woman, assaulted her, kidnapped her and then raped her.
While serving his sentence in 2001, Martinez was attacked by two other inmates and was stabbed in the neck. The wound paralyzed him instantly. As an inmate, his caretakers say he remains an "angry, repulsive person."
Martinez applied last year to become the first inmate freed under a medical parole law that aims to reduce prison costs. He was turned down as a public safety risk. An appeals court in San Diego rejected that decision last month and ordered his release, according to the Associated Press.
His parents have agreed to take care of him in their San Diego home. Neighbors spoke to NBC 7 about the family, who they describe as great parents. One neighbor who did not want to be identified said Steven Martinez’ mother was a woman of devout faith and always willing to help when neighbors needed.
“They’re just nice people.They’re giving and caring,” she said.
Two neighbors also said they were not worried about their safety if he were to return to the neighborhood.
Martinez has no motor power in his arms or legs and can only move his head to a minimal degree. He does not have any control over his bowel or bladder, and will require 24-hour-a-day care for the rest of his life, according to a statement from his parole hearing.
The appeals court decision authorizing his release stated that "as a quadriplegic, the only way Martinez would be able to harm someone is by convincing another to do his bidding."
The San Diego District Attorney's office opposes Martinez' parole, saying he is still a risk to the public despite his condition.
"We have consistently opposed parole in this case because the inmate has made significant threats to his caretakers and nurses," a statement from the District Attorney's office read. "One court of appeal and the parole board agreed and have previously found that despite his condition, this inmate is still able to carry out his threats using other people, thus creating a public safety issue."
The Attorney General appealed the parole board's original decision to release Martinez, citing his history of threatening nurses.
According to appeals court documents, Martinez challenged the Parole Board’s decision to deny him medical parole in 2010.
On Saturday, NBC 7 visited the San Diego home of Martinez's parents. A woman answered the door and said the family has no comment on his release at this time.
The Associated Press Contributed to this report.Javier Hernandez is keen to quit Bayer Leverkusen and join West Ham this summer, according to the Telegraph.
The newspaper claim that the goal poacher, 29, wants to make a return to the Premier League two years after leaving Manchester United.
The Telegraph report that Hammers manager Slaven Bilic would “love” to partner Hernandez with Stoke City wide man Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio in a re-shaped front line, which he believes would solve the club’s problem of a lack of goal threat.
West Ham co-chairman David Gold has already publicly stated that the club’s main targets this summer are a centre-forward and a forward who can play wide.
It is said that Hernandez’s wage demands are the main sticking point to a deal as his Leverkusen salary is around £125,000-a-week and he wants to maintain that if he quits the Bundesliga club.
It is a sum that would make the Mexican the highest-paid player in West Ham’s history, although his £12million valuation is within the means of the Londoners.
The 94-time Mexico international, who has notched up an impressive 48 goals for his country, has just 12 months remaining on his Leverkusen contract.
He has showed in the Bundesliga that his fox in the box qualities that are well remembered by Premier League audiences remain firmly intact.
Hernandez has scored 39 goals from 76 Leverkusen matches after his 158 matches for United yielded 59 goals and 20 assists as well as two Premier League winners’ medals.
The Mexican was often used as an impact substitute and his goals-per-minutes ratio for the club was particularly impressive.
Hernandez made 36 appearances for Leverkusen last season, scoring 13 goals and picking up four assists as his campaign was disrupted by injuries which kept him out of several matches.All modern web browsers leak extension information to sites if the sites run scripts to pull the information. We talked about the findings of a research term that published its findings recently in a paper.
Unless scripts are blocked, sites may run scripts that check the response time of the browser as it is different when checks are made for fake extensions and fake resources, and existing extensions and fake resources.
Firefox's situation is special, as it supports the legacy add-on system and the new WebExtensions system. The researcher tested the browser's legacy add-on system only, but suggested that Firefox's new system would also be vulnerable.
An anonymous reader pointed out that Firefox's WebExtensions system uses random IDs, and that this meant that the method to enumerate extensions would not work in that case (unlike in Chrome and other Chromium based browsers).
While that is correct, Mozilla's implementation introduces a new issue that allows sites to identify users if WebExtensions expose content to sites as the random IDs are permanent.
"... in particular, they [Mozilla] changed the initial scheme (moz-extension://[extID]/[path]) to moz-extension://[random-UUID]/[path]. Unfortunately, while this change makes indeed more difficult to enumerate user extensions, it introduces a far more dangerous problem. In fact, the random-UUID token can now be used to precisely fingerprint users if it is leaked by an extensions. A website can retrieve this UUID and use it to uniquely identify the user, as once it is generated the random ID never changes. We reported this design-related bug to Firefox developers as well."
If a site manages to get hold of the ID, it may track the Firefox installation as that ID never changes.
This is not just theoretical either; Earthling, one of the maintainers of the Ghacks Firefox user.js file, has created a proof of concept that highlights a leak in Firefox's native Screenshot tool.
While this particular example requires that users click on the screenshot button in the Firefox interface to make the unique ID available to the site, other extensions may expose content without user interaction.
Apple's Safari uses a random UUID system as well, and the researchers discovered that they could enumerate about 40% of all extensions as its implementation is flawed.
If the WebExtension exposes content to sites because they have implementation flaws, sites may fingerprint users based on the unique ID that gets exposed in the process.
Closing Words
Mozilla needs to rework the implementation to protect users of the browser from this. Even if you don't use WebExtensions at all, you may be vulnerable to this as Firefox ships with several system add-ons that may expose the ID to sites. (Thanks Pants and Earthling)
Summary Article Name Firefox WebExtensions may identify you on the Internet Description Mozilla Firefox WebExtensions may expose a random but unique ID to sites which websites and services may use to fingerprint and track users. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo
AdvertisementRussian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that the most important thing is to work with those who could provide cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday that he hoped to prove to China the benefits of using the Northern Sea Route for shipping.
"The most important thing is to work with those who could provide cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route. That is above all with giants such as China," Rogozin said in an address to lawmakers in the upper house of the Russian parliament.
© Sputnik / Vitaliy Ankov Northern Sea Route Crucial to Russia for World Ocean Access
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane running along the Russian Arctic coast, allowing passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific via the Northern coast of Siberia. In June 2015, Russia announced 2015-2030 development plans for the Northern Sea Route.
"That is why we are planning, within the framework of our bilateral commission, for one of the meetings with my counterpart Vice Premier Wang Yang to take place in the Arctic region so that they can see and be persuaded about the safety and reliability of this route," Rogozin stressed.
Russia has been actively pursuing efforts to develop its Arctic territories, including hydrocarbon production and the development of the Northern Sea Route, which is gaining importance as an alternative to traditional routes from Europe to Asia.Todd Gurley’s road back began with that all-too-familiar sight on football fields: player lying on the turf, clutching his knee in pain, home crowd hushed.
This was last November in the final minutes of Georgia’s victory over Auburn, Gurley's return from a four-game suspension for accepting $3,000 in exchange for autographing memorabilia. He had advanced the ball six yards on his last carry (1.4 below his per-carry average), and 138 yards for the game (14 below his per-game average). On his second-to-last step, though, he had planted his left leg awkwardly. With the ball still cradled in his left arm, he reached his right hand toward his knee, in pain before he even hit the ground.
On the Georgia sideline, receiver Malcolm Mitchell cringed. He had torn his ACL one year earlier—while celebrating a 75-yard touchdown run by Gurley, of all things. He knew right away what had happened to his teammate.
“When I saw it happen, I was terrified for him,” Mitchell says. “I knew how much coming back and playing with the team meant to him. Because of the mistake he made, a lot of opportunities got taken away from him. This was his time to shine. And he was shining.”
Gurley was Georgia’s star running back, but his value to his teammates extended beyond the field: rounding up guys for dinner, to see a movie, to go bowling. On this night, Mitchell returned the favor. He hopped on the cart that drove Gurley off the Sanford Stadium field for the last time because he didn’t want his friend to ride alone.
Gurley was quiet during the ride, processing the fact that one false step ended his collegiate career and left his NFL future clouded. “Before he tore his ACL, Todd Gurley was a top-5 pick, no brainer,” says one veteran NFL offensive coach.
But despite what happened Nov. 15, and despite the fact that a running back hasn’t been taken in the first round since 2012, NFL teams don’t expect Gurley’s unusual talent and skill set to last beyond the first round Thursday night. One team that is strongly considering Gurley believes he is the best running back to come into the NFL since 2007, when Oklahoma’s Adrian Peterson went seventh overall to the Vikings.
Mitchell stayed with Gurley while Georgia’s medical staff examined him in the locker room, doing the simple physical tests that affirmed the ACL tear. Gurley reacted calmly. He turned to his teammate and told him it was time to start rehabbing: “I gotta do what I gotta do to get back.”
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Photo by John Bazemore/AP Photo by John Bazemore/AP
James Andrews repaired Gurley’s knee 10 days later, Nov. 25, five months before the draft. At the time, Georgia coach Mark Richt indicated that Gurley had a clean ACL tear, meaning minimal damage to other structures in the knee such as the meniscus, which cushions the knee and protects the articular cartilage. That was good news for his recovery, and different from another elite SEC runner who suffered a major knee injury in 2012. South Carolina’s Marcus Lattimore was never able to play a game in the NFL after dislocating his knee and injuring multiple ligaments in his final college game.
Every player’s rehab is different, but the way Gurley has progressed so far has been encouraging. About a month ago, he began doing certain kinds of field work with Anthony Hobgood, a former Ole Miss fullback and the performance coach at the EXOS training facility in Gulf Breeze, Fla. EXOS is on the campus of the Andrews Institute, where Gurley had his surgery and was doing clinical physical therapy, until he got the green light a month ago to begin full-body performance training with Hobgood.
Their daily two-hour sessions, ongoing for the past month, have two parts: A movement session outdoors on the turf, and then a strength session in the weight room. The movement sessions rebuild the skills he’ll need to use on the football field, with a progression Hobgood explains through a baseball analogy: first you practice swinging off a tee, then you try hitting soft tosses, then you face live pitching.
So far, Gurley has done the first two stages of movement drills. He started with technical drills like marching, skipping or practicing his running form while leaning against a wall, and doing resistance work with sleds. He has also been doing pre-programmed change of direction drills within the last month, in which he runs and shuffles between cones according to instructions given ahead of time.
The final stage, which Gurley has not yet started, will be random movement, where he would have to change direction or accelerate in response to a stimulus, such as a command from his trainer, a flashing light or a hand clap.
The random movement drills train players for what they’ll experience on a football field; it’s the milestone that precedes returning to practice. As of last week, Hobgood hadn’t let Gurley react to random stimuli yet, “not because he can’t,” he says, “but we don’t want to rush.” Gurley will soon be in the custody of a team that will chart the rest of his return, but based on their work, Hobgood says, Gurley would probably be moved to randomized drills in a matter of weeks.
Peter Kingu2019s Draft News Peter King shares 10 things he's hearing in the lead up to the draft, including notes on La'el Collins, Melvin Gordon and those mysterious Jets. FULL STORY Peter King shares 10 things he's hearing in the lead up to the draft, including notes on La'el Collins, Melvin Gordon and those mysterious Jets.
The first question Hobgood asks Gurley every morning is: How does your knee feel? The most important rule of thumb with ACL rehab is not to rush, and for the past month Gurley has not had any swelling or soreness in his knee as a result of their work, Hobgood says, which is a positive sign and has allowed them to move forward with the movement training. In the weight room, Gurley has been squatting, lunging and doing lower body work with heavy loads and at high speeds. When they do single-leg exercises, like a single-leg squat or a single-leg deadlift, Hobgood says Gurley is able to do the same number of reps using the same weight on his injured leg as his healthy leg.
During his physical therapy and now performance training, Gurley ate a diet specially designed for a player rehabbing from surgery. Meals were built around lean protein and priority fats (found in avocado and olive oil) that aid the healing process, and aimed to include vegetables of three different colors—dark leafy greens for muscles and bones, red or orange for the heart and circulatory system and white to boost the immune system. He also took daily fish oil supplements and mixed in papaya or pineapple, all of which aid in managing inflammation.
“Where he’s at in his recovery, he’s doing absolutely incredible. You could easily say he’s ahead of schedule, but at the same time, we are going to let time do its thing,” Hobgood says. “I don’t want to put a timeline on Todd. It’s very possible he could be ready by the end of the summer, but it’s one of those things where it’s going to have to be a decision that he and the team that decides to pick him up will make.
“He’s definitely on track to make a full recovery, and I have full confidence that when the time is right for him to play again, he’s going to play as if he’d never been injured.”
The stage of ACL rehab that Gurley is at is akin to getting over the hump. If players struggle when they start running, cutting and doing field work, experiencing swelling or soreness, they have to regress to basic exercises and can be set back three to four months. The progress Hobgood described Gurley making in field work is a very important, very positive indicator.
Andrews declined to speak specifically about Gurley’s progress, citing patient privacy. Ever since another of Andrews’ patients, Adrian Peterson, set a new bar for ACL recovery in 2012, when he began his 2,000-yard rushing campaign less than nine months after surgery, Andrews has tried to guard against players setting unrealistic expectations.
“Running backs, if they lose a step, they wont be productive in the NFL,” Andrews says. “They’ve got to get all their speed back, they’ve got to cut and change directions and they’ve got to get all their power back in their leg, which takes at least nine months to adequately get their leg reconditioned. It’s a lot of milestones they have to go through.”
A player like Gurley is facing those milestones in the pressure cooker of the pre-draft process, while also preparing to leap to a whole other level of play. “It’s tough,” Andrews says. “But a good high-level guy can do it, believe me. Sometimes it’s a little unbelievable how well they can do when they are very elite athletes with obviously great genetics.”
• ANGUISH OF A FOOTBALL MOM: Washington State QB Connor Halliday’s mother, on her son’s NFL draft dream.
* * *
The question, as it is with any player in the NFL draft, is when a team would get good value by selecting him. How do you balance Gurley’s talent and the fact that he is five months removed from major knee surgery?
“It’s hard to predict the injury, and how someone is going to rehab, especially at that position,” Rams GM Les Snead said at the NFL combine. “But you saw the body of work, that it was really good. I don’t think he’ll fall too far in this draft.”
The medical recheck, held 11 days ago in Indianapolis, gives each team’s medical staff a chance for one final check of injured players’ progress before the draft. There were three months between Gurley’s surgery and the combine, about the length of time it takes for the new ACL graft to fuse to the femur and tibia bones. At five months, the picture of how well a player is progressing toward athletic function is much clearer.
At the medical recheck, doctors run through a checklist for players coming off ACL surgery, says Matthew Matava, orthopedic surgeon and the Rams’ head team physician. They inspect the quadriceps—specifically, the vastus medialis obliquus, a muscle involved in knee extension that needs to be strong for proper knee function—to see how much atrophy of the muscle there is compared to the healthy leg. They check if the range of motion matches the healthy knee, and if there is any swelling. Then, the same manual tests used to help diagnose an ACL injury (the Lachman test, the pivot shift and the anterior drawer test) are done to check stability of the knee with the new ACL graft.
• PETER KING’S MOCK DRAFT: Gurley takes his talents to South Beach
Gurley also took a series of private visits with teams, including the Lions and the Panthers. Gurley’s agent suggested he take a video of himself sprinting on the treadmill, which he recently posted to Instagram (his injured leg is indiscernible from his healthy one).
On his way to Chicago for the draft, he stopped in Athens, Ga., on Monday and worked out with Mitchell at the football building. They biked and did squats and ab work. Says Mitchell, who just finished spring practice: “I think he’s in better shape than I am.”
But no matter how good Gurley looks and feels at this point, exactly when and how he will return to the field is still a projection. Orthopedists agree that in most cases, players perform much better, physically and mentally, their second year back from knee surgery. In 2003, the Bills drafted Miami running back Willis McGahee 23rd overall less than four months after he tore multiple ligaments in his knee in the Fiesta Bowl. He sat out his rookie season, then posted back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
“It depends if you are looking to draft a young running back that can go this year, or if you have a stable backfield and have that luxury of waiting a year or two,” the NFL offensive coach says. “A team that was looking for that guy this year, that needs him, won’t necessarily go for Gurley, because if they need him, they need him now.”
* * *
Photo by Al Tielemans/SI Photo by Al Tielemans/SI
The SEC rivals met in Jacksonville, a neutral-site game at the home of the Jaguars, with their seasons on the line. Dante Fowler, Jr., then a freshman defensive end for Florida, remembers that October 2012 afternoon for two reasons: 1) because his team’s unbeaten season was ended, and 2) because of how Georgia’s freshman tailback sliced through the Gators’ vaunted defense.
“Todd Gurley, he is a monster,” Fowler says. “What gets me about him is how fast he is. He’s a big guy so you would think that he’s slow, but he’s even faster in person than what he looks like on TV. We had a mean defense. We had Sharrif Floyd, Dominique Easley, Matt Elam—three first-round draft picks—and we had a top-five defense in the country. To see what he was doing to us, as a freshman, I was like, man, this guy is going to be something else.”
Three minutes into that game, Gurley took a handoff, cut back to his left, knifed through that stocked Florida defense and burst into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown run. That was one of his 44 career touchdowns—second only to Herschel Walker in the Georgia record book—and one of the 18 100-yard games Gurley would have over three seasons at Georgia.
Fowler and Gurley will meet again this week at the NFL draft in Chicago. If circumstances were different, both men’s names would surely be among the first 10 called on Thursday night. They still might be.
“[Gurley] doesn’t lose a lot of one-on-ones,” says the offensive coach. “That’s something I look for in backs. To me, that’s a difference-maker. The eighth defender in the box, can he consistently beat him or does he get tackled all the time? When you get in the secondary, can he escape or does he get tackled? That’s the difference between average backs and great backs.”
One team official said Gurley’s combine interview was one of the most impressive in recent memory. He’s bigger in person than expected (6-foot-1, 222 pounds), a good thing for a running back who will need to pick up blitzing NFL linebackers. But beyond that, in just 15 minutes, he filled the room with the kind of presence teams like to have in their locker room.
That was on display during the combine workouts, too. Gurley was only able to compete in the bench press, but he turned heads by cheering on the fellow running backs during the 40-yard dashes and position drills, and offering them water, towels and high fives in between events. “Here’s a kid who could possibly be a top-5 or top-10 pick, and he was the biggest cheerleader,” says retired NFL fullback Tony Richardson, who worked with the running backs during the combine as an NFL Legends ambassador. “I was blown away by that.”
Last fall, Gurley seemed to take his NCAA suspension harder emotionally than the torn ACL, because he felt like he let down his teammates. “I never heard him so sad,” Mitchell says of a phone conversation with Gurley. “He apologized, and you could hear the crack in his voice. Then he just held the phone in silence.” Amateurism infractions barely register a blip in NFL minds, let alone raise a red flag. The biggest questions surrounding Gurley, who also missed time as a sophomore with ankle and hip injuries, are the physical ones—namely, when he’ll be ready to play football again.
The last two years, teams have shied away from investing a first-round pick—and the corresponding guaranteed money, which would be upwards of $12 million for a top-10 pick—in a running back. But last year’s Super Bowl alone was a reminder of what a strong ground game can do for an offense. Seattle nearly rode Marshawn Lynch to a second straight title. New England’s revived rushing attack helped them overcome some early season struggles (and their 46 rushing attempts in the AFC title game was the most they’ve ever had in a playoff game during the Belichick era).
An elite back, especially one who can stay on the field for three downs, can still be a difference maker. Gurley could be this draft’s ultimate risk-reward pick—and the latest prognosis on his knee has him trending toward reward.
“He’s one of the most complete backs to come out in a long time,” the offensive coach says. “You’re not going to make it deep in the playoffs without a run game. If you perceive a guy to be a difference-maker like that, you better get him early.”
• DRAFT CENTRAL: Complete coverage on The MMQB’s draft hub
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[widget widget_name="SI Newsletter Widget”]Image caption Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed is the second terror suspect under a TPim to go missing
A terror suspect who changed into a burka to escape surveillance is suing the government over allegations of torture abroad, it has emerged.
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, 27, who was subject to an order which restricted his movements, left a London mosque in disguise on Friday.
Police were alerted when the tag was tampered with but Mr Mohamed fled.
It has now been revealed that Mr Mohamed is seeking compensation at the High Court.
Mr Mohamed, a British citizen, claims the UK authorities were complicit in his torture in Somalia, East Africa, in 2011.
He travelled to Somalia in 2007 and was detained there with another man - a fellow British citizen known only as CF - in January 2011 until their removal back to the UK in March of that year.
Both men allege that they were tortured during their detention and that UK authorities were complicit in their ill-treatment.
Mr Justice Irwin, sitting at London's High Court on Thursday, handed down an interim ruling in the action Mr Mohamed is bringing for compensation - the first ruling on the use of the Justice and Security Act 2013 in a civil claim for damages.
His human rights claim is against the Foreign Office, Home Office, Ministry of Defence and the Attorney General.
It was initially anonymous, but that has been lifted following his disappearance.
In a statement, the Foreign Office said it welcomed the High Court ruling, saying its application had been successful.
"As this is an ongoing litigation we are unable to comment on the details of the case," it added.
Under surveillance
Mr Mohamed is believed to have close links to al-Shabab, the Somali insurgent group that raided Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in September, resulting in 67 deaths, but officials said there was not enough evidence to bring a criminal case against him in court.
He has been under a terrorism prevention and investigation measures order (TPim) for almost two years.
Image caption Police have released images of Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed before and after he vanished
TPims restrict the movements of people thought to pose a risk to the public, but who cannot be tried for reasons of national security and who cannot be deported.
Concerns have also been raised that Mr Mohamed may have a second passport after confusion emerged over his British one.
Home Secretary Theresa May told MPs on Monday that officers had seized the 27-year-old's British passport, but has since revealed that this was wrong.
Correcting a comment saying the police had Mr Mohamed's passport on Monday, Mrs May asked for the parliamentary record to be corrected to say: "I do not have his passport. Mohamed was not in possession of his British passport when he returned to the UK so there was no passport for the police to seize."
The Press Association reported that Mr Mohamed's British passport had been cancelled before his return to the UK. The Home Office would not confirm when it was cancelled.
The chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, Keith Vaz, said he was "amazed" by Mrs May's incorrect statement. He said when there were only eight people on TPims in the UK and the government ought to know every detail about them.
"It could well be that Mohamed has another passport and her answer has raised questions about his current whereabouts. We will be raising these questions with Charles Farr (director general of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism) when he comes before the committee next Tuesday," she said.
Second missing suspect
The BBC's Security Correspondent Frank Gardner said Mr Mohamed was likely to be under MI5 surveillance when he went on the run after entering the An-Noor Masjid and Community Centre, in west London, on Friday.
When he cut off the tag, imposed under the terms of the TPim, it issued a "tamper-alert" to its makers, private security firm G4S.
They rang the suspect and contacted the Home Office after he failed to answer. Police were alerted but he had disappeared by the time they arrived.
Mr Mohamed's restrictive surveillance regime, which included a 21:30 GMT curfew, was due to expire by January.
He is now the subject of a police-led manhunt and could face up to five years in prison if caught.
The Met Police's Counter Terrorism Command, MI5 and the UK's Border Force have joined forces to find him.
He is the second terror suspect under a TPim order to go missing.
Ibrahim Magag, 28, also of Somali origin, was last seen in Camden on Boxing Day last year.
When asked if Mr Magag had been found, the Home Office said: "We wouldn't comment on ongoing police investigations."
As of September, nine men - eight of them British - were under TPim surveillance.2 Nov 2017
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
Little Secrets by Anna Snoekstra
The regional Australian town of Colmstock is rife with desperation. Since the closing of the town’s automotive factory caused the job market to fall apart, much of the population has slumped into misery, including Rose Blakey’s family. Her mother now works at a grim poultry factory that leaves her too exhausted to care properly for Rose’s three younger siblings, and her long-haul trucker stepfather wants her to move the hell out – like, now. Rose, of course, can’t imagine anything better than doing exactly that: leaving her dusty hometown for the city, courtesy of the journalism cadetship she’s gone for at The Sage Review, a job she’s so confident about that she’s already packed. So when the rejection email comes through, and Rose is left with nowhere to live and no job to go to, she’s faced with the reality she can’t escape. A job pouring drinks for the cops and other customers at Eamon’s Tavern Hotel, avoiding the flirting of Senior Sergeant Frank Ghirardello, who spells out for her the doom that is Settling Down and Staying. The only way out that Rose can see comes through writing the journalistic scoop of a lifetime. And Colmstock has mystery to burn: in the aftermath of a deadly fire that killed a young boy, someone is leaving little porcelain dolls on the doorsteps of the little girls in town – dolls that look exactly like them. And so, keyboard at hand, Rose sets about investigating everyone in town, including the questionable yet fascinating Will, the hotel’s only resident. But Rose’s power in writing about these dolls may do more to the community – and bring more danger – than she ever expected.
Snoekstra – shortlisted for a Ned Kelly Award in 2017 for her debut work of fiction, Only Daughter – has created, with her hyperreal Australian style, a visceral world of heat, dust and sweat. With every moment detailed and crisply told, you can feel Rose’s need to escape – from Colmstock, from her stepfather, from her sticky, burning job. Rose can’t help but consider everyone around her as bleakly as she feels about the town, discarding their humanity and feelings in her quest to break through to the journalistic paradise she imagines. Much like the protagonist of Sarah Bailey’s bestseller The Dark Lake, the flawed character of Rose, who rails against everything that holds her to the community, elicits sympathy from readers who want her to escape, even though sometimes you want to reach into the pages and shake her. Full of twists, grit, and secrets not so very small at all, this is a sweltering summer read.
NEW CRIME FICTION
Bonfire by Krysten Ritter
Krysten Ritter – of Jessica Jones/Breaking Bad fame – has always cultivated a persona of scary-clever darkness in the roles she plays, so transferring those skills to the scary-cleverness that is crime fiction at its best is a logical transition. Abby Williams is an environmental lawyer who has perfected the new life she has in Chicago, but her hometown of Barrens, Indiana, is pulling her back. Her new case has her investigating Optimal Plastics, the company that almost singlehandedly keeps Barrens afloat, and her pursuit of truth sees her facing things she’d hoped to never face again, from her father to the memory of Abby’s vanished childhood friend, Kaycee. Soon, she realises that Optimal Plastics has more connections to Kaycee’s disappearance and other unsettling circumstances than she ever thought, and the tight grip the company has on the town will need all her strength to loosen it.
Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear
When eight-year-old Cat Kinsella hears her father lie to police about knowing Maryanne Doyle – a seventeen-year-old-girl who later goes missing – it fractures her relationship with him permanently. Nearly 20 years later, Cat is now a detective constable, determined to bring those in the wrong to justice, no matter how hard she has to work for it. When a woman is found murdered near the pub her father runs – a woman who, it’s discovered, has ties to Maryanne Doyle – Cat feels the past as clear as the present. Is the father she once revered truly capable of murder? Is her suspicion alone enough evidence? With a likeable cast of characters and murky moral decisions, this is a thrilling, entertaining debut.
The House by Simon Lelic
If you want to put yourself right off the idea of buying a home – wise in the current real estate market, really – read Simon Lelic’s disarming The House. When young couple Syd and Jack put in an offer for a perfect home (one they know to be far too low), they don’t expect at all to get it. But the owner accepts their offer, wanting a young couple to move in, and the pair take on all that the rickety home requires, including cleaning out the previous owner’s belongings. As we follow Syd and Jack in alternating journal entries, we discover that the attic led to a most disturbing discovery, and that the find, in turn, led to some unfortunate decisions. And that’s all before someone is found murdered behind their home – and the police decide to keep an eye on them. But the house has more than its share of secrets … and some of its possessions have far too much in common with Syd and Jack’s past. A haunting, smartly written psychological thriller.
Deadlier edited by Sophie Hannah
When you love reading crime, sometimes you settle into the cosiness of reading only the authors you feel safe with. You wait for Kathy Reichs to release something new, hope for translations of Karin Slaughter’s books from years ago, or wait 45 minutes for a new James Patterson. For those readers – or for those who voraciously gobble up anything on the crime shelves – this is the book for you: 100 short stories from some of the best female crime writers around. Edited by Sophie Hannah, and with stories from Val McDermid, Daphne Du Maurier, Emma Viskic, Agatha Christie, Kerry Greenwood, Margaret Atwood, Enid Blyton, Ellen Davitt (of the prestigious Australian Davitt Awards), Ngaio Marsh, Angela Savage, and many, many more, this is packed full of excellent stories for all tastes.
Sleep No More by P.D. James
If missing out on P.D. James in the Deadlier collection stuck in your craw, never fear: here are six stories from one of crime’s most sorely missed writers. Featuring never-before-collected stories from magazines and the like, tales include ‘The Girl who Loved Graveyards’ and ‘The Yoyo’. It’s recommended that you read them in order. You’ll find yourself thoroughly spooked by James’s skills as a storyteller, earning her status as the master of the whodunit – as you’re taken for a ride in the mind of a multitude of characters: from those who commit the perfect murder, to those who keep the darkest of secrets.
The Wrong Child by Barry Gornell
A dark meditation on grief and revenge, set in a small Scottish town, this follows a chain of events in the past and the present: the lead-up to the accident that claimed the lives of 21 schoolchildren six years before, and the present day, where the single child still alive now roams the town like an animal, abandoned by his guilt-ridden parents, and hated by the townsfolk for the loss he represents. As the chapters lead up to the mysterious accident that befell the children, we find out why Douglas Evans – now known as ‘Dog’ – leads the life he now does, and how a small village can become so twisted by vengeance and hate.
Clear to the Horizon by Dave Warner
After winning the Ned Kelly Award in 2016 (during a memorable event that involved him singing one of his greatest hits), the excellent Dave Warner is back with two of his greatest literary big-hitters: P.I. Snowy Lane and D.I. Dan Clement. Almost two decades ago, Lane was hired to find three women who vanished from outside a Perth nightclub, but he never found out what happened to them. Now, when |
collective, a group of four like minded producers who are delivering some of the most progressive bass music on the planet right now.
Track 03 - Jafu - All Clear
Jafu (James Fuller) is another member of the Chord Marauders group. From his base in Ontario, Canada he cooks up smooth lounge takes on intelligent dub music that has been described as " typified by precision drum programming, bouncy subs and refined synthesis". Really dig this one - reminds me of the old Ninja Tunes stuff circa mid 90s.
Track 04 - HxdB vs Daega Sound
A double act of Canadian artists up next. HxdB ( hexadecibel ) joins forces with the sophisticated production of Daega Sound to produce another couch locking audio treat. Shuffling rhythms and reverbed stabs of dubtech chords give this track a wonderful backbone. A real head noddin' delight. Get loaded!
Track 05 - Deaga Sound - Five Rings
Daega Sound have featured on past mixes such as my psystep mix. I've been a long fan of their dark brooding sounds. This track is a real pleasure to listen to. Syncopated rhythms, deep bass, acoustic percussive elements and waves of panic combine to superb effect. If you are in Canada be sure to check out their set next month at the 16th annual Motion Notion festival which has an awesome lineup of bass artists.
Track 06 - IMRSV - Zenote
Naasko himself, working with producer/creative coder Jason Job, create music under the IMRSV moniker. Here they have constructed a algorithmic deep bass journey which, despite some simplistic rhythms, works well to create a moving, emotive tune. Hope these guys can find time to do more work together in the future as this shows real potential.
Track 07 - Dubsworth - Circular Reason
Dubsworth ( Daniel Karz-Wagman), a classically trained musician and co-founder of the acclaimed DubsAlive label, is known for his bass heavy productions that explore the space between hard hitting dubstep, traditional dub, funk and beyond. As he says “Originality in music comes from a fresh combination of old ideas”. A philosophy which is very evident in his music. This is the most straight up dub track on the this release and it comes at a good place in the overall track lineup - providing a fresh break from the previous tracks which do tend to sound a little similar.
Track 08 - Trashbat - Tibet
Hailing from Kent in the UK, Trashbat (Callum Grant) provides a cinematic excursion of far-off dub imaginings. A delightful tune that combines a number of elements that you think could not possibly work together at all but actually fly together very well indeed! I suspect this guy might just be a musical prodigy.
Track 09 - Gyu - Cabasa
Gyu ( Guy Fforde ) is a British producer who mixes up elements of future garage, house and dub genres with stylish aplomb. This track is probably closest to what one normally hears from Interchill - that dubby, chilled out downtempo evident on previous label releases like Infinessence, Bliminal and Waypoint. Guy has actually uploaded how he created this track on youtube which you can watch right here! A beautiful,tender tune.
Track 10 - Sepia - Shakra
Following on next is another British artist, Sepia. This is a nice track that has a touch of the Bluetech thing about it with its stuttering percussion and delicate melody. Lovely stuff with a beautifully deep sub bass sound.
Track 11 - Congi - Pieces Of
Congi are a duo formed of Gaz Frost and Tulip and are also part of the forementioned Chord Marauders collective. This album seems to be quite a Chord Maraudrs showcase! Similar to other artists in the collective, expect more smooth loungesque organ sounds mixed over deep bass all held in place with plenty of lush reverb. Tasty tunage.
Track 12 - Rowl - Aikido
Bristol based Rowl was one of the artists who provided a remix on Makyo's Purnima Remixed album last year. He did a superb job on that remix and here, in this track, we a fortunate enough to hear his silky skills once more. This is a marvelous, minimalist dub tune that floats by like a beautiful sunset.
Track 13 - Matt Deco - Boom Bap
Based in Los Angeles, Matt Deco produces music that explores the margins between dubstep and drum and bass. It's good to hear another slightely heavier tune on the album. Someting thats more upfront attention grabbing. Great tune.
Track 14 - Commit - Atlantis
The final track, and possibly my favorite, comes from Sydney based producer Sean Fitzjohn, aka Commit. This has a classic chilled out dub vibe that would find its home on just about any quality psydub album released over the past decade. A stunning tune to be sure.Republicans are pushing forward on a vote next week on their bill to repeal Obamacare and won't wait for a new estimate on the impact of major changes the legislation makes to Medicaid.
House Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters Friday that the House will not wait for a new score from the Congressional Budget Office before voting on the American Health Care Act. The decision comes after a meeting between President Trump and 13 members of the Republican Study Committee that bore major changes to the bill.
"We are working with CBO on all of these. Obviously CBO works slower than we like," said Scalise, who was at the White House meeting.
However, "We are moving forward with our bill."
Republicans plan to add mandatory work requirements to Medicaid and give states an option to choose a block grant or a per-capita cap for federal funding.
Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said it isn't impossible for a new score to be ready quickly.
"I am not saying it couldn't happen, but what they tell us it takes about four days," Roe said.
The decision to not wait for an updated score comes after the CBO estimated Monday that the bill would result in 24 million people without insurance over the next decade. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Wednesday saying that CBO should be given time to score any changed legislation.Microsoft will upgrade its disc technology for its next Xbox from DVDs to Blu-Ray discs, catching up to rival Sony, games industry sources tell Kotaku.
Sony's PlayStation 3 currently supports Blu-Ray, which can contain 25 or 50GB of data compared to DVD's 9GB.
But that disc detail could be far less impactful to the next generation of game consoles than the assertion I've heard from one reliable industry source that Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720.
It's not clear if that means that the system wouldn't play used games or how such a set-up would work. Obvious approaches—I'm theorizing here—like linking a copy of a game to a specific Xbox Live account could seemingly be foiled by used-game owners who would keep their system offline. My source wasn't sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine.
A push in any way by Microsoft against used games would likely be cheered from publishers sick of seeing retailers like GameStop crow about their revenues from the sale of used games. But it could potentially anger consumers who rely on buying cheaply-sold used games or even pass games to relatives or friends.
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One source familiar with Microsoft's plans for the new Xbox said Microsoft plans to ship their new Xbox with a new version of its red-hot Kinect hands-free sensor system. The new Kinect would contain an on-board processor, a feature originally intended for the first Kinect. That processor would enable a new Kinect to more effectively detect users' motions.
I'm also hearing that Microsoft is interested in making a smaller controller for its new console.
And what of gaming site IGN's report that the machine could be six times more powerful than the Xbox 360? From some industry sources I'm hearing that that's the right ballpark and that Microsoft is estimating they might even get to 8x the Xbox 360. But another insider clarified that no one in the industry has development kits yet and that any talk about specs right now is still hypothetical.
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[UPDATE: A Microsoft rep e-mailed me the following statement: "As an innovator we're always thinking about what is next and how we can push the boundaries of technology like we did with Kinect. We believe the key to extending the lifespan of a console is not just about the console hardware, but about the games and entertainment experiences being delivered to consumers. Beyond that we don't comment on rumors or speculation."]
"Xbox 720" is being used as shorthand by reporters like me to refer to the next Xbox. It's not necessarily the name of the next device. Tech sites Semi Accurate and Fudzilla have reported that the first chips for 720 development kits are going into production, leading to a possible late 2013 release despite my earlier reporting which had pointed to 2014 as the year of the next Xbox and PlayStation.
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Nintendo's next console, the Wii U, will go on sale later this year.Breaking news out of the White House this morning — Omarosa Manigault is gone:
Well, at least the will save taxpayers $179,700 next year:
People may not have known what Omarosa actually did in the White House, but whatever it was, she was paid a top salary to do it pic.twitter.com/Lcn2vwPlYF — Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) December 13, 2017
And although the White House put out a statement that Omarosa resigned, media outlets are reporting that she was fired:
Sources have told me that Omarosa, President Trump's White House liaison was fired last night. — Gianno Caldwell (@GiannoCaldwell) December 13, 2017
Omarosa Manigault Newman fired by Trump administration https://t.co/ZCwe3oy1mG — Fox News Alert (@foxnewsalert) December 13, 2017
White House reporter April Ryan, who has sparred with Omarosa in the past, tweeted there was “a lot of drama at the White House last night” and that the former “Apprentice” contestant had to be escorted out of the building:
I am hearing from several sources there was a lot of drama at the White House last night and it wasn’t about the Alabama election. #fired. Stay tuned — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) December 13, 2017
This is not the first firing for Omarosa from Trump! — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) December 13, 2017
I heard there was drama and she was escorted out of the building and off campus — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) December 13, 2017
Yikes.
Update — She cursed at General Kelly?
The Omarosa plot thickens. Reports that Kelly fired her, and she responded with a furious barrage of curses. Had to be escorted off the grounds by security — Frida Ghitis (@FridaGhitis) December 13, 2017
Update 2:
Sources say General Kelly did the firing and Omarosa is alleged to have acted very vulgar and cursed a lot and said she helped elect President Trump. The word is a General Kelly had it and got rid of her. — AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) December 13, 2017
***
Related:
'FAKE': Omarosa goes to war over report that she made a sexual assault victim cry after the debate https://t.co/Dzs0jz1tjo — Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 11, 2016Pirate Bay founder Peter Sunde was sentenced to two years for charges related to his activities on The Pirate Bay. It's been over a year since his release and he has created a new machine that generates a roughly $10 million 'loss' for the music industry on a daily basis.
The device is called the 'Kopimashin' and it creates an endless amount of copies of Gnarls Barkley’s popular single, 'Crazy'. The device is rather simple, relying on a Raspberry Pi, an LCD display and a bit of coding. The device creates 100 copies of the single every second, which if priced at $1.25, results in a loss of $10,800,00 USD. Naturally, depending on the price of the single, this figure will change, but the bottom line is that the device generates a massive amount of copies that result in 'loss'.
According to Sunde,
“I want to show the absurdity on the process of putting a value to a copy. The machine is made to be very blunt and open about the fact that it’s not a danger to any industry at all”
Initially the device will be part of an upcoming exhibition, with hopes of expanding the project in the near future. If you are looking to get your hands on one, Sundre also plans to sell a few of the units which should help him pay back the millions he owes in fines from his previous imprisonment.
Source: TorrentFreakS.F. auto burglary nets violin that backed up Sinatra
A photo of the Mazmanian Family Musical Ensemble. Greg Mazmanian’s (far left) $35,000 violin was stolen on Dec. 28 in san Francisco after someone broke into his car. A photo of the Mazmanian Family Musical Ensemble. Greg Mazmanian’s (far left) $35,000 violin was stolen on Dec. 28 in san Francisco after someone broke into his car. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close S.F. auto burglary nets violin that backed up Sinatra 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
A member of a noted Bay Area family quartet’s car was broken into in San Francisco and a violin worth about $35,000 was stolen — all while he attended a memorial service.
Orinda resident Greg Mazmanian said someone broke the windows of his Acura sport utility vehicle and swiped his 150-year-old Carlo Bergonzi replica on Dec. 28 while he was at a lunch reception after his aunt’s funeral.
Mazmanian, 60, said he’s not sure anything can replace the instrument, which he played for about 40 years with the San Francisco Symphony, an assortment of celebrities and his own family group.
“It’s the first sound my kids heard when they were brought home from the hospital,” the father of three said Thursday. “Every instrument has it’s own sound, you know, it’s just not the same.”
On Dec. 28, he said, he played the violin at the funeral, then placed the instrument in his SUV and went to a lunch reception at the Harding Park golf course. He returned to his car around 2 p.m. and found the windows smashed and his prized possession gone.
“We called the police,” Mazmanian said. “At that point, they said, oh yeah, that place gets hit a lot.”
San Francisco police Officer Carlos Manfredi, a department spokesman, said it’s unlikely the thief targeted the violin, because it was hidden from view.
Manfredi noted that vehicle burglaries have been on the rise all over San Francisco, a phenomenon that has provoked outrage and finger-pointing. In the first half of 2015, car break-ins jumped 47 percent compared to 2014.
Mazmanian joked that his violin would have an interesting diary — it helped him back up the likes of Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He said he also performed with it while recording the first CD with the soundtracks from all three original “Star Wars” films.
And, when Mazmanian was a student at Juilliard in New York, it was in his hand as he played at Carnegie Hall.
Mazmanian, born and raised in Oakland, recently used the instrument as an orchestra and band teacher at Orinda Intermediate School and as a member of the Mazmanian Family Musical Ensemble.
“I play with my own kids,” he said. “we perform together as an ensemble.”
His son Edward and daughter Rose followed in their father’s footsteps as skillful violinists, while his daughter Ida is an award-winning pianist, he said.
The family has released CDs and performed at events throughout the Bay Area, including a November benefit at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley.
Mazmanian said he does not know what he’ll do without the violin. His son has offered to let him use his, but that would leave the ensemble short an instrument.
Manfredi said it’s possible the thief might simply discard the violin somewhere in the city. He or she faces a felony if caught, and now that the instrument has garnered so much attention it will be harder to sell, he said.
“At the end of the day, the victim only wants his violin back,” Manfredi said. “To a musician, it’s the world to them. Even getting another violin won’t replace the original.”
To Mazmanian, his missing piece could only be likened to a priceless work of art.
“It’s not the real Mona Lisa,” he said, “but a good replica.”
Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJournoThis is a list of countries by Gross National Income per capita in 2017 at nominal values, according to the Atlas method, an indicator of income developed by the World Bank.
Countries by nominal GNI per capita according to the Atlas method (2016)
Methodology [ edit ]
The GNI per capita is the dollar value of a country’s final income in a year, divided by its population. It reflects the average income of a country’s citizens.
Knowing a country’s GNI per capita is a good first step toward understanding the country’s economic strengths and needs, as well as the general standard of living enjoyed by the average citizen. A country’s GNI per capita tends to be closely linked with other indicators that measure the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the country and its people. For example, generally people living in countries with higher GNI per capita tend to have longer life expectancies, higher literacy rates, better access to safe water, and lower infant mortality rates.
All data is in United States dollars. Rankings shown are those given by the World Bank. Non-sovereign entities or other special groupings are marked in italics.
List of countries and dependencies [ edit ]
High-income group [ edit ]
Upper-middle-income group [ edit ]
Lower-middle-income group [ edit ]
Low-income group [ edit ]
Countries and territories missing from latest report [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]The franchise's first panel in seven years will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Stargate SG-1.
For the first time in seven years the Stargate franchise is returning to San Diego Comic-Con, with a special panel event.
“Through the Gate: Celebrating the Stargate Franchise” will take place at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina on Thursday, July 20 at 6 p.m. In addition to celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Stargate SG-1, organizers promise “exclusive news, surprise guests, and giveaways.”
The panel will be hosted by Damian Beurer (Legion M) and GateWorld’s own David Read:
It’s been 20 years since Stargate SG-1 premiered and almost 25 years since viewers took the first interstellar trip to an ancient world with the original film. Join Damian Beurer (Host, Legion M co-founder), David Read (GateWorld), and special guests as the gateway reopens to celebrate the fandom, and explore the next chapter in the Stargate universe. With exclusive news, sneak peeks, and giveaways, devoted Stargate fans and new fans alike will prepare to embark on a new journey.
What sort of news may be forthcoming? Your guess is as good as ours right now, but also note two other panelists announced today: Sam Toles, who is Senior Vice President of Digital & New Platforms at MGM, and Kieran Dickson, Stargate Consultant & Editorial Director.
Stick with GateWorld for any and all news coming out of the July 20 event! If you can’t make it to Comic-Con, you’ll want to keep your browser locked right here for the latest intel.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The attorney for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort said on Monday there was no evidence Manafort colluded with the Russian government while working for the campaign and in fact his work on behalf of Ukraine had ended two years earlier.
“I think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct. There is no evidence that Mr. Manafort or the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government,” attorney Kevin Downing told reporters after Manafort pleaded not guilty to money laundering and other charges.
“Mr. Manafort represented pro-European Union campaigns for the Ukrainians and... was seeking to further democracy and to help the Ukraine come closer to the United States and the EU,” Downing said. “Those activities ended in 2014 over two years before Mr. Manafort served in the Trump campaign.”Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Sure, telling a tasteless joke at work is an easy way to sink toward the bottom of the office totem pole. But for those among us who have been met with awkward stares and chilly silence after delivering a punch line, here’s a scrap of comfort: At least you can take solace in your own superiority. In a study in the journal Cognitive Processing, a team of psychologists found that dark humor — defined in the paper as “as a kind of humour that treats sinister subjects like death, disease, deformity, handicap or warfare with bitter amusement and presents such tragic, distressing or morbid topics in humorous terms” — is actually a mark of intelligence.
As Christian Jarrett explained on BPS Research Digest:
Fourteen researchers, led by Ulrike Willinger at the Medical University of Vienna, asked 156 participants, with an average age of 33 and including 76 women, to rate their comprehension and enjoyment of 12 black humour cartoons taken from The Black Book by Uli Stein … The participants also completed basic tests of their verbal and non-verbal IQ and answered questions about their mood, aggressive tendencies and educational background.
When Willinger and his colleagues crunched the numbers, they found that intelligence and understanding of the cartoons were tightly linked across the board. The subjects who scored highest on both verbal and nonverbal intelligence were also most likely to say that they got the joke, and, furthermore, that they actually found it funny. The same people were also toward the lower end of the spectrum on aggression and didn’t report especially negative moods — which, as Jarrett noted, “refutes the somewhat commonly held belief that people who like black humor tend to be grumpy and a little prone to sadism.”
The volunteers who scored toward the middle of the pack on IQ and understanding, on the other hand, fell into one of two categories: one, those who were moderate across the board, showing average levels of aggression and enjoyment of the jokes; and two, those who least liked the cartoons, showing both the worst mood and the highest levels of aggression (yet another strike against the stereotype of the angry creep with the twisted sense of humor, Jarrett pointed out).
The link between IQ and affinity for black humor, the researchers hypothesized, was likely do to with the fact that comprehending a dark joke is “a complex information-processing task.” As with understanding a pun, unraveling the layers of meaning requires a fair bit of mental exercise. As for the aggression and mood components, they wrote, “preference for sick humour is related to the ability to treat nasty contents as playful fiction.” To fully appreciate the joke, in other words, you need some distance from it. If ever you’re tempted to drop a questionable line at work, though, maybe take a deep breath, remember that you’re a cool, chill genius, and then say nothing.A month ago, the press was aflutter with rumors that NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly, spurned by mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, would join JPMorgan in a "top security" position. The rumor was since denied and the fate of Kelly was unclear, until today, when the Council on Foreign Relations announced that the NYPD top man would join the CFR as a "distinguished visiting fellow" in turn opening the doors wide for a world of financial opportunities to Kelly. Considering his tenure, where Kelly served as senior managing director of global corporate security at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. from 2000 to 2001, he seems like a perfect fit for the CFR.
From CFR:
NYPD Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly to Join CFR as Distinguished Visiting Fellow
Raymond W. Kelly, commissioner for the New York Police Department (NYPD), will join the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) as a distinguished visiting fellow. Kelly will be joining CFR in early January and will be based at the organization's headquarters in New York. He will focus on counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and other national security issues.
"Ray Kelly spearheaded the modernization of the New York Police Department. The result is that crime is down and the NYPD's counterterrorism capabilities are second to none. We are excited and proud to have his experience, expertise, and judgment at the Council," said CFR President Richard N. Haass.
As the first and only police commissioner to serve under New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, from 2002 to 2014, Kelly presided over the country's largest municipal police force, seeing violent crime decrease from 2001 levels by 40 percent. He created the first counterterrorism bureau of any municipal police department in the country, as well as a global intelligence program that operates in eleven foreign cities.
Kelly will leave the NYPD as the longest-serving police commissioner in the city's history. He also served as New York City police commissioner from 1992 to 1994, under then mayor David N. Dinkins, and is the first person to serve in two nonconsecutive mayoral administrations. Kelly served in twenty-five different commands before being named commissioner, spanning a forty-three–year career with the NYPD.
Previously, Kelly served as senior managing director of global corporate security at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. from 2000 to 2001. From 1998 to 2001, he was commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service. He also served as undersecretary for enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department, the third–highest ranking position in Treasury at the time. From 1996 to 2001, Kelly was vice president on the board of the international police organization Interpol.
In 1995, President Clinton appointed Kelly director of the State Department's International Police Monitors mission, tasked to restore order in Haiti following the return of then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Kelly received his undergraduate degree from Manhattan College. He is also a lawyer and holds a law degree from St. John's University School of Law and a masters of laws from New York University School of Law. Kelly also holds a masters of public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Kelly served in the U.S. Marine Corps and Reserve for thirty years and is a combat veteran of Vietnam. He retired with the rank of colonel.Countries including France have banned fracking, the process of breaking up dense shale to free the natural gas.
Environmentalists, as well as many people living near possible shale gas sites, worry about the huge quantities of water that fracking uses. They also fear that shale gas will prolong the fossil fuel era by reducing the incentive to switch to cleaner but more expensive energy sources like solar and wind.
Cuadrilla’s efforts in Britain are being closely watched as a test case. The company is backed by a leading U.S. energy private equity firm, Riverstone Holdings, which owns a 41 percent stake. John Browne, a former chief executive of BP and now Riverstone’s chief in Europe as well as Cuadrilla’s chairman, still enjoys great prestige in Britain.
“If companies like Cuadrilla can make one example work, we believe that bans in other countries may be lifted” said Menno Koch, an analyst at Lambert Energy Advisory in London.
The results of the limited shale gas explorations in Europe so far have been mixed. Earlier this year, for example, Exxon Mobil pulled out of Poland, once considered among the most promising shale spots, after drilling just two wells. The company said the data it collected suggested that the deposits were not commercially viable.
Nearly all the companies involved in shale gas exploration across Europe say there is not yet enough information to draw firm conclusions about how much gas is there and, more important, whether it can be made to flow.
Derek Magness, Warsaw-based director of European onshore operations for Chevron, said that he and colleagues had made it a practice to hunt around in old government repositories in Eastern Europe for dusty boxes of paper drilling logs and rock core samples.
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“The data we are getting gives us additional curiosity,” he said. “We want to be very thorough.”
Chevron has drilled two wells in Poland and is preparing to start a third. Mr. Magness said the company had identified potentially rich shale areas in a broad region extending from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. It has locked up millions of acres along this band in Poland and Romania and won a tender for more in Ukraine. Mr. Magness filled in another piece of the puzzle recently by acquiring a 50 percent stake in a privately held Lithuanian oil and gas exploration company, LL Investicijos.
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Figuring out what is underground may be difficult, but most companies are finding what they call aboveground risks even more daunting.
Cuadrilla hurt its cause last year when one of its fracking operations set off small earth tremors. Mr. Egan said pumping fracking fluids into the earth lubricated natural fractures so they slid, causing the quakes.
The incident stoked opposition. Last year, three activists from a group called Frack-off entered a Cuadrilla drilling site and chained themselves to the equipment. In July, a court found them guilty of trespassing and fined them £750, or about $1,200, each.
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Nathan Roberts, a Frack-off campaigner, said that his group was opposed to shale gas and other so-called unconventionals in part because these techniques required many wells to be drilled.
“If companies go ahead and look to exploit all the unconventional gases they could exploit, you are looking at tens of thousands of wells over this tiny island, which is densely populated,” he said.
Cuadrilla is trying to defuse the opposition. The drill rig at St. Annes sits on an impermeable membrane and has water-quality and seismic monitors, and is even surrounded by piles of rolled hay bales, lest the sight of the rig disturb the birds that feed in the fields.
Climbing over the steel decks of the rig during a brief hail shower, Mr. Egan pointed to an acoustic monitor in a wire cage just beyond the fenced-in perimeter.
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“There is a need to collect data,” he said. “There are a lot of myths.”
To find out whether the gas will flow in sufficient quantities to be commercial Mr. Egan wants to drill two horizontal wells and then fracture the rock in them to measure the output.
Cuadrilla has started to drill an 11,000-foot vertical well at the new site, but it still needs permission to go horizontal, and the decision to allow fracking may need to come from the highest levels of the British government.
Companies that want to exploit shale gas in Europe are also learning that they must tread softly or they will go nowhere.
“The days of Texas wildcatting are over. You can’t just pick a spot and drill; you have to go through lots of engagement, ” said Mr. Magness of Chevron, which has had protesters block access to sites in Poland.
Exxon Mobil, which halted drilling on what it considers promising acreage in Lower Saxony in Germany in the face of local opposition in 2010, is still working to overcome fears that drilling would ruin neighborhoods. To reduce noise, the company hangs sound curtains on some of its rigs and is considering using electric motors, which are quieter than diesel-powered ones.
“You’ve got to convince people it doesn’t have a negative impact,” said Tristan J. Aspray, Exxon Mobil’s exploration operations manager for Europe and Greenland.
In straight economic terms, producing shale gas in Europe would appear to make a lot of sense. Europe is a big gas market and, unlike in the United States, its own gas production is declining, making it more dependent on imports from countries like Algeria, Libya and, especially, Russia.
Easing this dependence is a big part of Chevron’s pitch to Eastern European countries, which are entirely dependent on Russia for their gas.
“Of course this is a big chance for Europe, where we focus on energy security and understand that this might make us more independent,” said Boguslaw Sonik, a European Parliament member from Poland.Ricardo Villalobos is his own genre. Categories like minimal, techno, house or experimental are insufficient to describe the miraculous world of the German-Chilean DJ/producer whose genesis is connected to places like Frankfurt’s Dorian Gray, bands like Depeche Mode and the very first techno records from Detroit. Villalobos’ career is intertwined with the rise of labels like Playhouse and Perlon, clicks and cuts, modular systems, club tool tracks and loops versus avant-garde jazz, samba magic paired with low frequency control and an inseparable kick drum. His often marathon-like DJ sets at clubs like Robert Johnson in Offenbach, London’s Fabric or during the season on that white fairytale island called Ibiza are the stuff of legend. And having gained the reputation of being an intellectual in a scene that is very much about the non-verbal experiences and gut feelings, Ricardo is rather an annotator of the big picture than an analyst of details – very unlike his own music that might be minimal, yet never fails to achieve maximum impact.SPRINGFIELD - Two area companies made significant donations of equipment to the Zoo in Forest Park this week, aimed at improving the safety of exotic animals following the January deaths of two small monkeys.
The donations were made after news surfaced last week that the exotic monkeys died after their shed's heating system shut off during the overnight hours, unbeknownst to zoo officials until the following morning.
A standby generator, complete with installation, is being donated by Chris Robare, owner of Alternative Generator in Southwick, said Meghan Rothschild, a board member of the Forest Park Zoological Society, which operates the zoo. The generator will automatically turn on if the heat goes out, whereas a current generator has to be turned on manually, she said.
In addition, Northeast Securities Solutions Inc., of West Springfield, donated a low-temperature monitoring system, including installation, that will activate if the heat shuts off
"We are very excited, so appreciative," Rothschild said of the two donations. "The community has been so supportive."
The corporate donations were unsolicited, she said. Further details of the security equipment and their use was not immediately available, pending a formal announcement of the donations expected Wednesday.
In related news, Zoo Director John Lewis said Tuesday that the monkey deaths were a "fluke accident," and being addressed with the community's help.
Lewis was making his first public comments on the deaths, having been out of state last week for his daughter's wedding when the news of the deaths were learned by Park Department officials and The Republican and Masslive.
"It was a tragic mistake," Lewis said. "An accident happened. It was just a pure electrical surge somewhere, somehow."
The private, nonprofit Forest Park Zoological Society operates the zoo at Forest Park under a long-term lease with the city, paying the city $1 a year. The zoo is closed during the winter months but the animals continue to be housed there, taken care of by staff and volunteers.
Lewis is a city employee who is assigned to oversee the zoo operations. His annual salary is $52,879, described as being on long-time loan to the zoo.
Lewis said that community financial support for the zoo is critically needed and appreciated.
"To get the support from the community and the public will help get precautions in place," Lewis said.
Operating the zoo "is not an easy task," he said.
Lewis, asked if it is appropriate to have exotic animals in a New England zoo with very cold weather, said "we have the fundamentals" to take care of the animals, and that the loss of the heat in that shed was a "fluke accident, and it just wasn't noted" until the following morning.
Rothschild said the temperature in the shed never dipped below 60 degrees, but that it was too cold for the exotic monkeys, coupled with both monkeys being senior in age.Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has delegated some powers to his vice-president and the finance minister, a day after announcing he will return to Cuba to begin a new phase of cancer treatment.
Shortly after a legislative vote approving his trip, Chavez announced on Saturday that he would hand off some responsibilities.
"I am going to delegate some decisions that until now were mine, signatures and decisions, to vice president Elias Jaua and Jorge Giordani," he said during a televised cabinet meeting.
Chavez, who left for Cuba to receive chemotherapy, said doctors have found no more malignant cells in his body following cancer surgery earlier.
Opponents say it is impossible for Chavez to effectively govern the OPEC nation of 29 million people from a Cuban hospital bed.
"When the president leaves the country, the vice-president must assume the chief executive role. It is their duty," said Hiram Gaviria, an opposition legislator.
"The health of the country must be put above the president's health. We must be serious. We believe he should not hold office from Havana," added Carlos Berrizbeitia, another opposition legislator.
Chavez, 56, has rebuffed calls from the opposition to hand over temporarily the presidency to Jaua, but gave him and Jorge Giordani, the finance minister, powers that include budgetary matters.
The president, who had a large tumour removed last month in Cuba, said on Friday he was going back to Havana to begin what "we've called the second phase". It will include chemotherapy.
He announced his plans on Friday after meeting Ollanta Humala, the Peruvian president-elect.
Earlier this month, Chavez admitted in a television address that he had a tumour but had undergone a successful operation in Cuba to extract the cancerous cells.
This was his first televised speech to the nation, weeks after he was hospitalised in Havana, sparking widespread speculation about his health |
uds for an extra $30. Should you find the prospect of a two-toned phone utterly tacky, though, or if you're handy enough to install all of that supposedly exclusive software on your lonesome, feel free to steer clear and save your money.As the FIFA World Cup 2010 attracts soccer fans worldwide, another tournament in South Africa is also gaining international attention: the Poor People’s World Cup in Cape Town.
The local tournament was organized by the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC). Running parallel with the FIFA games, it aims to highlight the province’s struggle against rampant poverty and homelessness.
Speaking to CNN, AEC coordinator Ashraf Cassiem said, “It’s a platform created by poor people, for poor people, to expose the evictions and displacements affecting poor people in a negative way.”
Cassiem said, “Everybody is crazy excited about it. More than 1,500 turned up despite a lack of transport for fans or communities. People here are real crazy about soccer but won’t get the opportunity to participate in the real FIFA World Cup.”
Organizers say the games are a way to protest what they call the exclusion of poor communities from the FIFA games and the negative impact of the World Cup on the poor and homeless. Most South Africans are not benefiting from the official World Cup, they add.
AEC activists say the FIFA World Cup excludes the poor with high-priced tickets people cannot afford. The cheapest tickets cost $20, which is more than some people earn in a week.
The FIFA World Cup also forces many out of work because street vendors are not allowed to sell their merchandise near the official stadiums. Activists also claim that poor South Africans, especially the homeless, have been moved to “temporary relocation centers” to be hidden from visiting soccer tourists.
The Poor People’s World Cup features 36 teams representing over 40 different communities from the Cape Town area, allowing them to play the one thing they like most: soccer.
The free three-week event kicked off June 13. The games are being played at a field next to Athlone stadium in Cape Town and the final games will be played on June 27.
The competing teams have been named after most countries in the FIFA games but also include teams named Haiti, Somalia, Palestine and Zimbabwe.
Organizers note this tournament is not only for soccer teams and fans, but also for the whole community and for the people who struggle every day against water and electricity cut-offs and against evictions from their homes and working places.
It’s not right that poor South Africans continue to suffer, while the rich are enjoying themselves in the expensive stadiums at the expense of the poor, activists charge.
In contrast to the FIFA World Cup, organizers of the Poor People’s World Cup say their tournament is for the poor communities by the poor communities that will not exploit or marginalize people but rather involve them and create new spaces of exposure and participation.
Activists say the South African government should do more to provide better housing for the poor rather than spending millions on new soccer stadiums for the FIFA games.
They express the hope that soccer tourists and official FIFA teams find the time to visit the Poor People’s World Cup as a way to see what’s really happening in South Africa.
Photo: The under-nines team from Hanover Park on the opening day of the Poor People’s World Cup. (Anti-Eviction Campaign)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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Allergic to issues, obsessed with personality, and unwilling to confront the reality of Republican radicalism, most members of the mainstream media have focused their coverage of the GOP presidential nominee on a single banal inquiry: “Who is Mitt Romney?”
Allow me to clear this one up: it doesn’t much matter. Ad Policy
Befitting a Republican who sought statewide office in navy-blue Massachusetts, Mitt Romney spent most of his political life, in the words of The New Yorker’s Louis Menand, as “a liberal Republican cryogenically preserved from the pre-Reagan era.” Back in Massachusetts, Romney believed that “abortion should be safe and legal in this country” and pledged to “sustain and support” Roe v. Wade. He promised not to “line up with the NRA” and proudly boasted of the state’s “tough gun laws.” He refused to sign Grover Norquist’s “no tax” pledge as governor and termed it an example of “government by gimmickry.” He endorsed equal rights for gays, a generous immigration policy and, most famously, instituted universal healthcare for the state’s citizens based on an insurance mandate.
That fellow is as difficult to locate today, however, as the balance of a Cayman Islands bank account. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney opposes pretty much everything that Republican Senate candidate and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney ever said and did. Even so, countless journalists (and perhaps not a few undecided voters) have been racking their brains trying to decide whether President Romney might revert to that nice liberal Republican who occupied his body until 2005 or so. Many conservatives apparently fear the same.
But that Mitt Romney passed into history together with that “maverick” media hero, John McCain (remember him?), and for much the same reasons. All successful statesmen must be able to demonstrate flexibility in making pragmatic political calculations, but Romney appears to do little else. Even the non-maverick-y McCain, circa 2008, defended Barack Obama when his more rabid supporters attacked the president’s patriotism, birthplace or religion. Romney, however, offers his silent assent under the same circumstances. So while the Tea Party amateurs—the naïve and frequently ill-informed pawns of wealthy corporate funders like the Koch brothers and their ilk who served as foot soldiers for the lunatic candidacies of Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich—may have pined for a more “authentic” conservative than Romney, the pros always knew better. As Norquist himself explained, “We just need a president who can sign the legislation that the Republican House and Senate pass. We don’t need someone to think. We need someone with enough digits on one hand to hold a pen.”
In a Romney White House, those digits may go limp with fatigue. A Romney victory would likely bring with it a large majority in the House and quite possibly a Republican Senate as well, and hence a tsunami of regressive legislation. As the longtime nonpartisan analysts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein argue, a Republican victory in November will likely prove a key turning point in modern American history. It will offer Republicans the opportunity, in Mann’s words, to put “in place a radical view of policy that goes well beyond anything Republicans have proposed in the past,” one that has moved so far rightward that “no Republican president in the modern era would have felt comfortable being a part of [it].” What’s more, they will likely succeed owing not only to Romney’s eagerness to blow with whatever winds may be buffeting him, but also, as Mann and Ornstein put it, to his party’s “demonstrated willingness to bend, break, or change legislative rules and customs that have stood in the way of radical change in the past.”
If you think the Tea Party has gone away, think again. Its members are not holding demonstrations so much anymore because they are staffing campaigns, winning Republican primaries (often against veteran incumbents and well-funded establishment favorites), or replacing the staffers of those they have scared into submission. As Dave Weigel writes in the Washington Monthly, “After 2010, the movement evolved. Activists got jobs with newly elected Republicans. Political organizations like the [corporate and conservative billionaire-funded and -controlled] Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks grew their staffs and budgets. Elected Republicans continued to draw on them for strength, support, and warm bodies at campaign events.” Under a Romney administration, many of these ignorant fanatics will be called upon to staff a significant number of the more than 3,000 federal appointments that a president makes, and his hundreds of potential judicial appointments as well.
The result, should Romney become president, will be a mixture of policies that favor the superwealthy, punish the poor and middle class, restrict the rights of average Americans, and—I say this without hyperbole—cause a degree of almost unimaginable and unprecedented chaos in virtually every area of American public life.
As president, Romney promises to focus on economic policy, and it is here where his impact may be greatest. The primary purpose of the modern Republican presidency has been to make the extremely rich far richer at the expense of the rest of us, and Mitt Romney promises to outdo all of his predecessors in this regard. George W. Bush’s $2.5 trillion in tax cuts, while ruinous to the nation’s balance of payments, succeeded in distributing only 12.5 percent of those trillions to his friends and cronies in the wealthiest 0.1 percent. Romney does Bush quite a bit better by proposing—on top of already unsustainable budget deficits—an additional $10.7 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years, with fully 33 percent directed toward the top one-tenth of 1 percent. The fine print calls for a reduction in both individual and corporate tax rates, as well as the complete elimination of both the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax. The net result would be that the superwealthy—those who enjoy an income in the vicinity of $3 million annually—keep an additional $250,000. According to the Urban Institute–Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, the cost will likely exceed $9 trillion in lost revenue in the coming decade.
Meanwhile Romney’s friends on Wall Street can also expect, under his presidency, to see the complete defenestration of the Dodd-Frank bill, which helps (albeit insufficiently)to protect consumers from the predatory practices of large financial institutions, while at the same time placing limits on the kinds of malpractice that caused the 2008 financial crisis.
Romney’s budget-busting plans also call for a cornucopia of new spending for each of the three major armed services, including the addition of 100,000 ground troops for the Army, an additional six new ships each year for the Navy, and more F-35 stealth warplanes for the Air Force. This adds up to a $2 trillion increase in the coming decade above what had previously been budgeted. (Congress and President Obama had earlier agreed to a $450 billion reduction.) These increases would come at a moment when the United States spends more on its military than its seventeen next-largest competitors combined. In fact, fully 64 percent of all 4.4 million employees on the federal payroll are already either in the uniformed military or work for the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.
How will any of this be paid for? Romney pretends that significant savings will come from closing tax “loopholes,” but this is nonsense. Those loopholes were placed there specifically to reward the donors who pay the costs of our lawmakers’ political campaigns (just like the more straightforward across-the-board tax cuts for the superrich). Tea Party champions, including Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky, are trying to prevent the Treasury Department from cracking down even on wealthy expatriate tax cheats. The notion that these loopholes will somehow be eliminated—especially when they continue to be expanded every time the tax code is adjusted—is too childish for adults to take seriously, save perhaps for a few gullible reporters and right-wing pundits.
All of the above would put unbearable pressure on an already stretched entitlements budget, as well as on those federal programs for the poor and middle class that have so far escaped the scalpel, while simultaneously raising the tax burden on these households. Regarding the latter, for instance, a tax plan released by Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Utah Senator Orrin Hatch ends the Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit (for college tuition) and a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit—which, when added together, would raise taxes on more than 20 million families, according to Seth Hanlon, the director of fiscal reform at the Center for American Progress.
* * *
It gets worse. Romney has promised to use the “reconciliation” process to repeal Obamacare. But what will replace it? Well, again, chaos, no doubt, but also the Ryan plan—named for its author, Wisconsin Republican and Ayn Rand devotee Representative Paul Ryan, and now gospel among the GOP faithful. Romney has called himself “very supportive” of the plan, adding: “I think it’d be marvelous if the Senate were to pick up Paul Ryan’s budget and adopt it and pass it along to the president.” The House of Representatives has already passed it 235 to 193, with only four Republicans in opposition.
Among its provisions is a rise in the eligibility age for Medicare for future retirees and a retraction in Medicaid coverage, including its replacement by a voucher system. The net result would be not only the jump in the size of the deficit predicted by the Congressional Budget Office, but also, according to the calculations of the Urban Institute, the loss of Medicaid coverage for 27 million Americans. Meanwhile, another 30 million people—many of them children—would lose the insurance included in Obamacare. Add it all up and, according to Harvard health policy researcher (and former Obama administration official) David Blumenthal, writing in The New England Journal of Medicine, “by 2020, 20% of Americans may be uninsured, even as 20% of our gross domestic product is devoted to health care.”
America’s children will also feel the wrath of Romney and the radical Republicans when it comes to education policy. Romney calls school choice “the civil rights issue of our era.” His education proposals eschew any new funding for public schools, preferring to direct it toward private school vouchers, privately managed charter schools and for-profit online schools. Like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and other Koch-funded right-wing demagogues, Romney blames public school teachers and their unions not only for the failures of the US education system, but also for the fiscal problems facing state and local governments. He hopes to weaken these bastions of Democratic fundraising and people power by using federal funds to reward states for “eliminating or reforming teacher tenure.” (Republican budget plans also slash programs like Head Start.)
As education expert Diane Ravitch observes, “Vouchers have been the third rail of education politics since Milton Friedman proposed them in 1955.” But in what she calls a likely “template for the Romney plan,” the Louisiana legislature instituted a voucher system independent of a popular vote. Ravitch explains, “With no increase in funding, all the money for vouchers and private vendors and online charters will be deducted from the state’s public education budget.” Beneficiaries in Louisiana have included outfits like the Eternity Christian Academy, a school with only fourteen students that applied under the voucher system to enroll an additional 135. According to Reuters, its students “sit in cubicles for much of the day and move at their own pace through Christian workbooks, such as a beginning science text that explains ‘what God made’ on each of the six days of creation.” Students are not exposed to the theory of evolution because, as the pastor turned principal explains, “We try to stay away from all those things that might confuse our children.”
At the university level, Romney will encourage private sector involvement by inviting commercial banks to profit from the federal student loan program, in keeping with the right-wing Republican fear of (and contempt for) knowledge. Romney also favors the creation of for-profit online universities, recently described in a report by Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate health and education committee, as institutions characterized by “exorbitant tuition, aggressive recruiting practices, abysmal student outcomes, taxpayer dollars spent on marketing and pocketed as profit, and regulatory evasion and manipulation.”
* * *
Then there’s the Supreme Court. The Roberts Court is already America’s most conservative since the New Deal. But with the addition of a single Romney nomination, it will become a rubber stamp for the ideological obsessions, corporate demands, and religious fanaticism on display at Tea Party rallies and Fox News–sponsored debates.
One need only take note of what former New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse termed the “breathtaking radicalism” of the four dissenters in the Affordable Care Act decision to see where a Romney-appointed Court will be headed. With their signed opinions in the ACA case, Justices Scalia, Alito, Thomas and Kennedy “outed themselves,” in the words of legal scholar Jeffrey Rosen, “as partisans of the Constitution in Exile—the movement of economic libertarians who want the courts to resurrect pre–New Deal limits on federal power in order to dismantle the regulatory state piece by piece.” Three of the justices will turn 80 or older during the next four years, and a fourth will be 77. One more vote and the Roberts Court will enjoy unchecked power to increase the legal rights of corporations to pollute our air and rivers; mistreat workers and fire them should they complain; discriminate on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation; decertify unions; and control our political discourse with secretive campaign contributions and relentlessly scurrilous advertisements—indeed, to reduce the security of every American citizen. As legal reporter Dahlia Lithwick has written, “If you care about the future of abortion rights, stem cell research, worker protections, the death penalty, environmental regulation, torture, presidential power, warrantless surveillance, or any number of other issues, it’s worth recalling that the last stop on the answer to each of those matters will probably be before someone in a black robe.”
One area where the courts are certain to matter is immigration policy. It was here that Romney chose to burnish his Tea Party credentials most energetically during the primary season. He called Arizona’s draconian SB 1070—the one that allowed anyone’s papers to be checked on suspicion of looking Hispanic—a “model” for the rest of the nation. (This was before the Court found its key provisions unconstitutional.) He came out in favor of “self-deportation”—actually a right-wing euphemism for an immigration strategy of “attrition through enforcement”—and promised to veto the DREAM Act should its supporters somehow manage to pass it. Cognizant of how many votes this belligerent nativism would likely cost him among Hispanic voters, however, Romney has refused to say anything substantive on this issue since wrapping up the nomination. Still, it is no secret where he and his party stand, as immigration is one of the most animating issues for Tea Party enthusiasts.
Regarding the foreign policy agenda—which, after all, is where a president has the most freedom of action—an internal dossier from McCain’s presidential campaign noted back in 2008 that “Romney’s foreign affairs résumé is extremely thin, leading to credibility problems.” His disastrous July misadventures abroad did little to disabuse anyone of this view. Romney has surrounded himself with a group of extremely hawkish advisers, who even Colin Powell worries are “quite far to the right.” None had the prescience to oppose America’s disastrous invasion of Iraq, and more than a few give the impression of looking forward to trying something like it again.
Like most Republicans—and, to be fair, most Democrats—Romney has had next to nothing to say about America’s major foreign policy headaches of the past decade: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But if Romney becomes president, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Vegas oddsmaker willing to take bets against an Israeli, American or American/Israeli attack on Iran. While the Obama administration’s rhetoric on the question has hardly been reassuring to those who continue to favor diplomacy over bombing, Romney almost always manages to go the president one better. Romney has called Iran’s leaders the “greatest threat to the world since the fall of the Soviet Union, and before that, Nazi Germany.” He says he would not even consult Congress before beginning an attack. As he explained on CBS’s Face the Nation in mid-June, “If I’m president, the Iranians will have no question but that I will be willing to take military action if necessary to prevent them from becoming a nuclear threat to the world. I don’t believe at this stage, therefore, if I’m president, that we need to have a war powers approval or special authorization for military force. The president has that capacity now.”
True, an attack would likely cause a conflagration in the Middle East, including missile attacks on Tel Aviv (as the Iranians have promised), a violent uprising among the Palestinians, the end of the Palestinian Authority and the unchallenged ascension of Hamas on the West Bank and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a likely wave of terrorism against Israeli and American targets worldwide. But insofar as Romney and the Republican Party’s current foreign policy is concerned—dominated as it is by neoconservative adventurists, far-right American Jewish funders like Sheldon Adelson, and evangelicals obsessed with Israel’s role in biblical revelation—whatever Bibi Netanyahu wants, Bibi gets.
Outside of the Middle East, Romney’s rhetoric has largely consisted of tough-guy talk of the kind that turns sometimes cooperative, sometimes recalcitrant strategic competitors into potentially threatening adversaries. For instance, he calls Russia “without question, our number one geopolitical foe” and accuses it of “always stand[ing] up for the world’s worst actors.” Likewise, Romney complains that China has “run all over us,” stealing American jobs and waging a “trade war” against the United States. Romney has said that he would haul China before the World Trade Organization on charges that it was manipulating its currency to ensure the relatively cheap prices of its exports.
Just how he plans to do this, given our massive reliance on China to continue to buy Treasury (and private sector) bonds—to say nothing of its role in issues like regional security and environmental degradation—Romney doesn’t specify. But should he try it, we can be reasonably certain of the result: chaos.
And while Barack Obama’s environmental commitments, both foreign and domestic, have certainly failed to live up to the promise of his campaign, no one should expect any progress on global environmental issues from President Romney. No matter how alarming the threats we face, Romney’s business-first philosophy combined with the Tea Party’s anti-“gummint” fanaticism has created the political equivalent of a brick wall through which literally no environmental regulation will manage to pass. As the New York Times editorial page observes, the post-Massachusetts Romney emerged a “proclaimed skeptic on global warming, a champion of oil and other fossil fuels, a critic of federal efforts to develop cleaner energy sources and a sworn enemy of the Environmental Protection Agency.” Moreover, as with immigration, his post-primary rhetorical efforts to shed the “climate denier” label have not been accompanied by any serious shifts in policy.
Under President Romney, the United States will almost certainly ignore the threat from global warming. Indeed, his party is already seeking to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate carbon emissions. House Republicans have even proposed legislation—called the TRAIN Act (for Transparency in Regulatory Analysis of Impacts on the Nation)—to cut its power to regulate anything at all. A Republican Congress will also reduce or perhaps entirely eliminate subsidies for green energy, while preserving the tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industries and opening up almost all US parklands, wilderness areas and offshore waters to drilling.
These are merely the highlights—and perhaps the most direct consequences—of a Romney win. But there will be many others as well.
* * *
Some progressives argue that, nonetheless, President Obama has been such a disappointment that his defeat would not be an unmitigated loss for social justice movements. It’s true that with a Republican in the White House, more progressives would feel freer to give full voice to their complaints about America’s continued violations of civil liberties in its pursuit of suspected terrorists; its widespread use of pilotless drones to kill alleged enemies without due process; its inability to make any progress against global warming; its coddling of the criminals in the Bush administration, as well as those in the banking and housing industries who helped cause the 2008 crisis; and so on. But this freedom would come at a great cost: namely, seeing all of these problems—together with pretty much every other cause that progressives hold dear—worsen to a degree that most of us cannot even imagine. Protests will mount. Denunciations will fill the air. And the circulations of left-oriented publications and websites like this one will skyrocket. But the victims of these policies will suffer. Indeed, the millions of Americans who have been forced to live on the edge of financial collapse, or whose health is dependent on affordable and reliable healthcare, will see their margin of survival disappear.
Despite the many disappointments of his presidency, Barack Obama remains a vehicle for progressive change in America, one whose weaknesses reflect the weaknesses of the left in a system dominated by money, democratic dysfunction and a myopic media. Those are our real problems—not the attitude of the individual in the White House. And not one of them will improve once the power of the presidency is bestowed upon those who have created those problems and continue to profit by them. Indeed, nearly all of them will reach (and some may exceed) crisis proportions. And what that will lead to, no one—certainly not your author—can predict, save for one thing: chaos.China’s latest attraction is a glass-bottomed suspension bridge that straddles two rocky peaks, 300 meters apart, in Pingjiang county, in the province of Hunan, southern China. The bridge hangs 180 meters above ground, and actually sways with the wind, as if the glass bottom wasn’t terrifying enough. If anyone becomes paralyzed with fear, specially trained staff is available who will encourage and coax fear-stricken tourist to make the journey across.
“We have had a few people say it’s too scary but I have pointed out that if they feel scared, they should think about the person that has to clean underneath. That usually gets people moving,” a spokesperson told Metro.
The new glass bridge joins another vertigo inducing attraction – the glass-bottomed cliff-side pathway in Zhangjiajie, China, perched 1,900 meters above sea level, on the side of the Tianmen Mountain.South Sudan has ordered NGOs and businesses operating in the country to fire foreign workers by mid-October and give their jobs to South Sudanese.
In a statement published Tuesday in several newspapers, the government ordered "all non-governmental organisations, private companies, banks, insurance companies, telecommunication companies, petroleum companies, hotels and lodges working in South Sudan... to notify all the aliens working with them in all the positions to cease working as from 15th October."
Some of the jobs vacated by the foreign workers should be filled by "competent South Sudanese nationals," the statement said. Those jobs include the positions of executive directors, personnel managers, secretaries, human resources officers, public relations officials, procurement officers, logisticians, front desk officers and receptionists, the order says.
Labor and Public Services Minister Ngor Kolong Ngor, who issued the order, said it was aimed at protecting the "rights and interests of the people of South Sudan."
Labor Under-Secretary Helen Achiro said the order simply implements existing government guidelines, which state that 80 percent of employees of private companies in South Sudan should be South Sudanese.
NGOs, companies, workers react
Juba resident Emmanuel Okot said the government order would give him a and other South Sudanese a better chance of finding a job.
"We have very many youth in South Sudan who went to school, they attained the right qualifications but they don’t have a job. I think this circular is going to be a very significant thing for the youth of South Sudan," he said.
But an official at an international insurance company, who asked not to be named, said he was surprised that the position of executive director was one of the jobs that the government said should be given to locals. He said most South Sudanese do not have the qualifications for senior management jobs.
Tarique Rieble, the South Sudan country director for international anti-poverty group, Oxfam, said said the timing of the government directive was bad. With large tracts of South Sudan facing severe food shortages and with hundreds of thousands displaced by nine months of conflict, NGOs like Oxfam need to expand operations, not curtail them, Rieble said.
Firing foreigners 'won't help'
Emma Vickers, a researcher and campaigner at the Global Witness NGO, said firing foreign workers in key industries, like oil, will push South Sudan even deeper into crisis.
"Removing foreign workers from key positions in oil companies will not help the government achieve the goal of better employment for South Sudanese," she said.
"We can foresee more damage to an already damaged economy and even further dependence on oil revenues," she said.
South Sudan is said to have the most oil-dependent economy in the world, with more than 90 percent of government revenues coming from oil.
Vickers said that while it is a good idea to train and educate South Sudanese to take on management roles in the oil industry, now, in the middle of a crisis, was not the time to do it.If you’ve working with Angular for a while surely you’ve seen a directive’s link function being called more than once. I know that when I started it used to catch me off guard. I keep seeing developers puzzled, asking “why is it being re-run?”
While it is being executed several times (e.g. if you add a console.log() statement you see it print multiple lines) – it is not technically being rerun.
The link function is like a directive’s constructor. It is executed only once during the initialization process of the directive. There’s no way to get the link function to run again for the same instance of an already initialized directive.
If that’s the case, though, why are you seeing it run multiple times?
Well, it is not rerunning. It’s running as part of the initialization of a whole new directive. It means that you are destroying and recreating your directives, and whenever a directive is being initialized we’ll see its link function run.
Why are your directives being recreated?
There are several possible reasons, but the most common ones are:
using ng-if which can destroy the element and recreate it (unlike ng-show).
which can destroy the element and recreate it (unlike ng-show). Using ng-repeat where each item contains a directive. If you don’t set it up correctly ng-repeat can be a bit wasteful with recreating elements.
Is this a problem?
Not necessarily. Make sure your code doesn’t assume that a certain directive will be created only once.
This might become a problem if those initializations are on the heavy side and having them run multiple times starts causing a performance issue. Just be on the look out for your app getting slow and you should be all right.Share. “The most important thing in a Resident Evil game is to bring across that feeling of horror and fear." “The most important thing in a Resident Evil game is to bring across that feeling of horror and fear."
Exit Theatre Mode
Capcom has listened to fan feedback following Resident Evil 6 and knows that the series must return to its roots going forward, even mentioning the possibility of a reboot.
These comments come from Capcom’s Masachika Kawata, a long-term producer on the iconic survival horror series who spoke to IGN in London while discussing his latest project – bringing last year’s Nintendo 3DS title Resident Evil: Revelations to Xbox 360, Wii U, PlayStation 3 and PC.
“I think that it’s important for us to have users’ needs in mind when making the games," Kawata told IGN. "At the same time I think a lot of what people want now is to have Chris and Jill in a game, or they want it to look like Resident Evil used to look like. That’s what makes the game work for them. We should be able to start from scratch and reboot it. It would still be Resident Evil. We wouldn’t lose the essential nature of what makes it a good game just by changing the characters.”
“ We should be able to start from scratch and reboot it. It would still be Resident Evil. We wouldn’t lose the essential nature of what makes it a good game just by changing the characters.
And what is that essence? What is the essential DNA of the Resident Evil franchise? In recent years, that formula has become increasingly varied with more and more action being introduced to the series. Last Kawata himself even stated that the series had to introduce more and more action to stay relevant, especially in Western markets.
A year later, and following on from the mixed critical reception of titles like Operation Racoon City and Resident Evil 6, Kawata seems to have revised his opinion:
“Survival horror as a genre is never going to be on the same level, financially, as shooters and much more popular, mainstream games. At the same time, I think we need to have confidence to put money behind these projects, and it doesn’t mean we can’t focus on what we need to do as a survival horror game to meet fan’s needs. We are always taking in to account user feedback, even when the users’ are very upset about something.
Exit Theatre Mode
“Looking at last year - something like, for example, Operation Racoon City – it was quite an experimental attempt in bringing the Resident Evil series to new genres. And in light of that game, certainly I would say that I review my thoughts on that [the importance of action]. But I think it’s undeniable to say the series returning to its roots is important, and those roots are horror.”
And fans of the earlier instalments in the series will be pleased to know that Kawata even went on to say, “The most important thing with a Resident Evil game is to bring across that feeling of horror and fear that’s such a part of the series.”
“ “The most important thing with a Resident Evil game is to bring across that feeling of horror and fear that’s such a part of the series.
But where does the future of the Resident Evil series lie? Capcom has started to entrust some of its most iconic franchises to the hands of Western developers. Could we see the same happen with a numbered installment in the Resident Evil franchise or has the experience of Operation Raccoon City put an end to that idea?
“At the end of the day, players care more about how the game plays and if it’s a good game rather than the name on the box or the credits of a developer. We would need to decide what we need to do to make a game in the series – something appealing to the player – and if the answer is to use a certain developer from the West then that will be the answer. We never start with the questions: ‘Shall we have a Western developer do this? How will that turn out?’ This has to be the solution to a problem, rather than the problem in and of itself."
Revelations was released exclusively on Nintendo 3DS last January, and received a positive critical reception – with IGN giving the game a great 8.5 review.
Exit Theatre Mode
But Kawata was eager to point out that while this wasn’t originally planned but every effort has been made to improve the game – this isn’t just a port, he insists.
“It’s not something we had planned at the time. We were very focussed on the 3DS version for the entirety of that project. But then, in view of the incredibly positive reception of the game, and reaction from both gamers and critics, we saw it as a great opportunity to bring it to a wider audience on consoles.
“The audio visual quality is certainly something that’s been improved. Bringing it to HDTV-based consoles has been a chance to improve the graphics, the texture, and models. Sound has also been improved into a 5.1 mix, and we’ve just fine-tuned the gameplay, taking what we’ve learned from the original game. Generally, just making it a better game overall.”
Resident Evil: Revelations is scheduled to be released on PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U on May 24th.
Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. You can be part of the world's worst cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.Anonymous Letter Apparently Written Before the August 18 Dismissal of Grabauskas
As construction project professionals, we remain dedicated to the completion of the Honolulu Rail Transit Project (HRTP). It is out of deep concern that we must speak of what we believe to be the truth. We are asking for your help to successfully deliver Hawaii's largest CIP project. As public servants we are ultimately accountable to the people of this city, which is why we are coming forth. We are subjected to a hostile work environment where threats of firing and retaliation are regularly experienced by dozens of staff and even consultants, therefore regrettably this letter is submitted anonymously.
When the HART CEO Dan Grabauskas was hired in April 2012, he to promised the HART Board, the Mayor, the City Council and community that the project would be delivered "Safely: On Time and On Budget". He declared his commitment to full transparency, open honest leadership, a workplace with mutual respect- "let me hear the problems from you." Instead, lack of transparency and detailed information has been the norm to the HART Board, the Council, the Mayor and staff are not receiving timely project information needed to make fully informed decisions.
Is the HART board negligent of their fiduciary duties by not providing adequate oversight of their CEO and the project? Instead of asking the hard questions the Board's leadership and members have awarded Grabauskas an "exemplary" or "exceeds expectations" on managerial, and leadership skills, communication skills and transparency, his performance rewarded with financial bonuses, all while they are kept in the dark. Are the HART Board's leaders complicit in their communications to the Mayor and City Council?
Under Grabauskas's leadership the budget has increased multifold and the project delivery date is projected to be late well beyond what the CEO has told the public at this time. As a consequence, the government officials and public have been told the reasons are: the lawsuits delayed the construction; Honolulu is experiencing the most expensive and competitive construction climate in the nation, |
this article has also been written here.
[1] It should be noted that in the case of the kiwi (and deep-sea fish), along with many others found in nature – there can in fact be selection pressures that actually cause the losses – for example, as a means to reduce unnecessary energy expenditure of the organism. Strictly speaking then, the loss of traits in such cases are not solely caused by relaxed selection.
[2] I’ve gone into some interesting detail about human sexual selection regarding disabilities here (short article)
[3] This addendum also addresses another detail that was overlooked in this article – that there remain human populations for whom life is far from easy, and who would not experience the effects of relaxed selection to anywhere near the same degree as those in first-world countries.Megyn Kelly’s new deal, which NBC is expected to announce imminently, brings to a close the most anticipated television news contract negotiations since Katie Couric signed with CBS News in 2006, for $15 million a year.
Megyn Kelly, who arrived at Fox News 12 years ago as a television news neophyte but rose to become one of its two biggest stars, has decided to leave the network to take on a broad new role at NBC News for an undisclosed amount, people briefed on the negotiations said on Tuesday.
The NBC News chairman, Andrew Lack, wooed Ms. Kelly away from Fox News by offering her a triple role in which she will host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show and take regular part in the network’s special political programming and other big-event coverage.
The move will herald a seismic shift in the cable news landscape, where Ms. Kelly had become the second-most watched host — after Bill O’Reilly of Fox News — and often helped define the national political debate, especially over the last year as Donald J. Trump regularly attacked her, at times in viciously personal terms.
Ms. Kelly’s departure would upend Fox News’s vaunted prime-time lineup and inject a new dose of tumult just a few months after the departure of the network’s powerful founding chairman, Roger Ailes, who was ousted after several women made allegations that he sexually harassed them.
The new deal, which NBC is expected to announce imminently, brings to a close the most anticipated television news contract negotiations since Katie Couric signed with CBS News in 2006, for $15 million a year.
Fox News’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, which is controlled by the family of Rupert Murdoch, had offered Ms. Kelly more than $20 million a year to stay after her current contract expires this year. Rival networks seeking to hire Ms. Kelly away, including NBC News, had made it clear that they could not match that money from Fox, the cable news leader for the last 15 years running.
Ms. Kelly’s contract is not officially up until the summer, and it was unclear whether Fox News would refuse to release her from any contractual commitments that might delay her start at a rival.
People briefed on the talks, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity pending an announcement, declined to disclose what Ms. Kelly’s new annual salary would be at NBC. But even a modest raise would place her among television’s highest paid journalists. The Wall Street Journal recently reported she was to collect $15 million for the final year of her contract.
It was unclear at what time the daytime program would run, or how NBC News would ensure that all of its affiliates would carry it, given that daytime television is often filled with syndicated programs. But people familiar with the discussions said NBC was confident that it would not be a problem. The daytime program would be a mix of news, interviews and panel-like discussions covering a range of issues, not only government and politics.
The Sunday night program, which is yet to be named, would provide Ms. Kelly with a continued hand in hard news. And she would be in the mix on NBC News during major political coverage.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Kelly, Leslee Dart, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the deal.
Ms. Kelly had hinted in interviews and in her recently released memoir, “Settle for More,” that the highest bid would not decide her future; she said she was seeking a role that would give her more time with her three young children while allowing her to extend her range beyond the constant political combat of cable news.
In recent months, some of that combat was taking place inside the Fox News headquarters, after Ms. Kelly’s allegation that Mr. Ailes — a mentor and early champion of her career — had sexually harassed her. (Mr. Ailes has denied her charges and the others.)
Her allegation was one of several that came to light after another Fox News anchor, Gretchen Carlson, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Mr. Ailes in July. In a subsequent investigation commissioned by 21st Century Fox, 20 or more women, including Ms. Kelly, reported inappropriate behavior by Mr. Ailes. But because of her stature at the network and her once close relationship with Mr. Ailes, Ms. Kelly’s account proved instrumental in his ouster.
In her book, Ms. Kelly described her decision to step forward as a painful one that came in the face of a networkwide campaign to support Mr. Ailes, which she viewed as potentially intimidating to other accusers. Her decision to share her story with investigators drew apparent enmity from some rival stars, with the resentment lingering as she deliberated her next career move.
Most prominent among them was Mr. O’Reilly, who said in an interview on CBS News about allegations against Mr. Ailes that Ms. Kelly shared in her book, “I’m not interested in making my network look bad.”
Later that day, he continued the thought in a commentary on his own show in which he appeared to question Ms. Kelly’s loyalty to Fox by saying, without naming her: “If somebody is paying you a wage, you owe that person or company allegiance. If you don’t like what’s happening in the workplace, go to human resources or leave.”
(The new leadership of Fox News, Bill Shine and Jack Abernethy, recently revamped the human resources department; current and former Fox News staff members had said that they did not take complaints to the department under Mr. Ailes for fear of retaliation.)
Mr. O’Reilly’s contract is also up later this year. The television news and political worlds were closely watching for Ms. Kelly’s decision as an indication of the network’s future in its post-Ailes era. The speculation — and it was just that — went that one or the other would depart and that a decision by Ms. Kelly to renew would indicate a shift to a more nuanced ideological sensibility.
Over the years, Ms. Kelly, who views herself as more of a news analyst than opinion host, had developed a broader style in the more ideological confines of the Fox News prime-time slate, frequently upsetting expectations for a nighttime Fox personality — for instance, publicly taking on the Republican nominee for president with whom Mr. Ailes was friendly (upon leaving Fox, Mr. Ailes would go on to serve as an informal advise r to Mr. Trump).
Mr. Murdoch’s sons, James and Lachlan, who help run 21st Century Fox, while making clear they want a modern workplace environment at Fox News, have also said the network would not shift away from what Lachlan Murdoch called its “ unique and important voice.” That voice continues to propel Fox News to the top of the cable news ratings in the nascent Trump era.
Nonetheless, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in the fall, Mr. Murdoch said money would be no object in keeping Ms. Kelly.
People familiar with Ms. Kelly’s deliberations said she was entertaining several attractive possibilities, including at CNN and ABC News and in syndicated television.
Ms. Kelly was holding the discussions during a bruising year of campaign coverage in which she often became the story because of Mr. Trump’s attacks.
One person briefed on Ms. Kelly’s deliberations said that Mr. Lack, the NBC News chairman, won over Ms. Kelly by starting the talks with a question about what she was seeking, instead of flatly offering possibilities. He then came back with a deal that was tailored to her preferences. A daytime show would give her a schedule that would allow her to see her children off to school and to have dinner with them and her husband, Douglas Brunt, a novelist.This week my fantastic husband has agreed to donate his amazing NY cheesecake recipe to the blog, for the good of all men. No seriously, it’s that good. Disclaimer: There are tons of wonderful, elaborate, complicated, and heavily sugared cheesecake recipes out there on all sorts of blogs, this is not one of them. If I had to describe it in just a few words I’d say it was light, fluffy, creamy, yes, dreamy, and really just simply good. It does what I think a cheesecake is supposed to do, deliver a few delicate tastes and textures without hitting you over the head with sugar and fat, food coloring, or candy accoutrements. That isn’t to say this is a low fat dessert by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s straightforward and delicious, without piling 2,000 extra calories on top.
So G set out to find the perfect cheesecake recipe, but he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. He rifled through tons of recipes, searching for the right creaminess, the right texture, something that wasn’t too eggy, too sugary sweet, too soft, too dry, or too bland. Eventually, he found this one, and after testing and editing it a few times, found the perfect recipe and ratios for personal cheesecakes.
Now this will make a whole bunch of personal ones, check out the link for baking times and amounts for a single much larger cake that is slightly different.
Ingredients: (about 20 servings)
CRUST:
85g (or 1/3 cup) butter, melted and browned
140g (about 30) crushed caramelized cookies (you know the small individually wrapped Lotus type ones that go with coffee… they have SO much flavor and make an amazing crust)
CHEESECAKE FILLING:
500g (2 cups plus a tablespoon) cream cheese softened to room temperature (fresh if you can get it)
250g (1.11 cups) golden caster sugar (sugar that has been food processed until it is super-fine but not powdered)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs, room temp, plus 1 yolk
1 cup sour cream
a pinch of salt (about 1/8 teaspoon)
NON FOOD SUPPLIES:
2 large cookie trays with raised edges
20 cake or biscuit baking cups, I got mine at IKEA (they are flatter and wider than the regular cupcake cups, and are also great for biscuits)
a food processor (optional, but it takes off a few minutes of your time)
Method: (preheat oven to 320F or 160C with fan (FOR THE CRUST), and arrange 10 baking cups on the baking tray)
1) First brown the butter for the crust over medium heat, melting and stirring in a pot for a few minutes until it starts to brown. Do not burn! If you aren’t sure, err on the side of caution. As soon as you smell that rich aroma of browned butter, you can take it off the heat. Put it aside to cool for 3-5 minutes. While the butter is cooling, pulse the cookies in a food processor until you have an even crumb, then mix together with the cool browned butter, and press a thin even layer into the bottoms of 10 cups on each tray, 20 cups total.
2) Bake the first tray of crusts for 5 minutes in the middle of the oven at 160C with fan. (If you don’t have this option, bake at 180C but watch them carefully) then remove and COOL ON THE PAN, do not try to move them now, they need to harden. Bake the second tray now, and then cool.
3) After all crusts are baked, adjust the oven to 200C with fan (240C conventional). To prepare the filling, beat the cheese until soft and fluffy, then add sugar, flour, and salt, and beat for 1-2 minutes. (if you have a mixer great, if not, do this by hand, it’s easy). When evenly mixed, add the vanilla, lemon zest, orange zest, and lemon juice and mix. Whisk in the eggs and the yolk, one at a time, then mix up your sour cream so there is no water and add it to the batter. Just blend it in, do not over mix. It should be light and fluffy, not thick and heavy.
4) Carefully measure about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter into each cup, you should use about half of the batter for 10 cups.
5) Bake ONE TRAY AT A TIME, for 5 minutes at 200C with fan, then drop temperature to 90C with fan for an extra 5-7 minutes, watching all the time. Remove and cool, leaving them on the tray. (You can see here why it’s G’s recipe, and not mine, I don’t have the patience to cook in batches and at different temperatures, watching all the time, but it really was worth it in this case).
6) You are supposed to turn off the oven here and leave the cheesecakes inside for a while with the door open so they don’t crack, but if you take them out now, they wont dry out but they will crack. We prefer them creamy, and you can always top them to hide the cracks anyway, so remove the first tray, raise up the temperature to 200C again with fan, and bake the second batch for 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to 90C with fan and bake for another 5-7 minutes, watching all the time. Remove tray from oven immediately and cool for creamier texture, or leave these in with the OVEN OFF and the door open for about 10 minutes for cosmetically prettier but slightly drier cheesecakes.
7) Once they are cool, you can top them if you like, but I think they are amazing on their own, and any sweet topping would take away from them, drowning out the complex interplay of the brown butter cookie crust with the orange and lemon zest studded cream cheese filling.Panama's former president Ricardo Martinelli (C) stands outside the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) in Guatemala City January 29, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama has sent the U.S. Department of State an extradition request for former President Ricardo Martinelli to be returned to the Central American nation, a spokesman for Panama’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Martinelli, who is accused of using public money to spy illegally on more than 150 people, left Panama in January 2015 and is believed to be living in Miami.
The former president presided over an infrastructure boom and Latin America’s fastest economic growth in recent years but his administration was tainted by allegations of corruption.
In response to the extradition request, Martinelli lashed out at current government and described himself as a victim of a politically motivated witchhunt.
“Diverting attention with a political persecution from the dullest, most inept and corrupt government doesn’t achieve anything for the people,” he said in a Twitter post.
In December, a U.S. federal judge identified Martinelli as one of several alleged co-conspirators in an unrelated bribery scheme that helped software giant SAP sell millions of dollars in software to Panama.
The extradition request was made on Monday, the government spokesman said, adding that there was no timetable for his potential return due to an analysis of the request that would have to be carried out by U.S. authorities.A construction worker works in a storefront at the Douglas Development building in the Riverdale Historic District on June 20, 2013 in Riverdale, Md. A redevelopment is underway in the Riverdale Historic District with new tenants soon to occupy vacant shops. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
The paint is still fresh inside the building on Rhode Island Avenue, in the heart of Riverdale Park’s downtown. Empty for decades, the corner property now has a sign announcing the fall opening of a yoga studio.
Down the street, an old convenience store recently set up in a new space and remade it into a bustling shop, where people not only stop for coffee but often linger to chat with neighbors.
Local officials say the handful of investments made so far in this aging commercial district, long defined by weathered buildings, signal a coming revitalization. And driving the interest, they say, are the plans to build a Whole Foods (and an accompanying mixed-use development) and to make the town a stop on the proposed light-rail Purple Line.
For a decade, Riverdale Park has seen its larger neighbors experience steady growth.
To the south, Hyattsville has drawn nearly $1.8 billion in investment since 2005, with more than 1,200 new housing units and the opening of a Busboys and Poets restaurant and bookstore. College Park, to the north, has seen about $500 million in construction along Route 1, including nearly 3,500 student beds, 500 apartment units and a 50-room Best Western hotel that opened this year.
Riverdale Park has been trying to capitalize on that. It has invested in the town’s weekly farmers market and jazz nights at the Riversdale House Museum. And through a contentious planning process, the town of about 7,000 people has remained a steadfast advocate for the Whole Foods development.
“Riverdale Park’s time has arrived,” said Michael Herman, a lawyer in Prince George’s County and former Riverdale Park mayor. Most of the growth in the county in the past decade has been concentrated around Riverdale Park, Herman said.
The $250 million Whole Foods project, planned for a 37-acre site on the northwestern boundary of the town, calls for the construction of almost 1,000 units of multifamily housing, a 120-room hotel, 22,000 square feet of office space and about 168,000 square feet of retail.
The development, planned by the Washington-based Calvin Cafritz Enterprises, could bring in the type of density that officials say would boost local businesses.
“It is a good sign, it is absolutely a positive step,” said Paul Millstein, an executive with Douglas Development, which owns several properties in Riverdale Park. “You have to prove that business is open and things are doing well, you can’t just say it, you have to prove it, so the Cafritz development will prove that.”
That is especially important to the 1.6-square-mile town, where new commercial development has been scarce.
The town center, home to a MARC train station, has struggled for decades to attract and retain tenants. A few years ago, a plan to build a five-story building with more than 100 condominiums and commercial spaces fell through. Prospects of new tenants at storefronts across the commercial district slipped away with the shrinking economy.
The area, just off East-West Highway and Route 1, is now home to an empty building once occupied by a plumbing contractor.
A longtime bar and grill remains open in an aging building. A local church meets in a storefront, against the county’s zoning regulations. Some storefronts have been vacant years, others have sat empty for decades.
“These buildings got old and run-down, and they weren’t too attractive anymore,” said Jimmy Spiropoulos, who owns the Town Center Market.
Spiropoulos and his family, who have had businesses in Riverdale Park since 1988, invested $1.2 million to move their small convenience store from an adjacent old building into the building that had been vacant for about eight years.
When the business reopened last year, it brought popular wine and beer tastings and a spot where locals stop by for an afternoon coffee.
“I like to think that we started the change,” said Spiropoulos. “You look at this and say, ‘Hey, if they got it done, why can’t we get it done as well?’ ”
Foot traffic, rare here in years past, has picked up. The farmers market draws about 700 people to the town every Thursday afternoon. Neighbors who had never set foot in the Spiropoulos store are now frequent patrons.
Abdon Luna,74, a daily customer at the store, said the investment has made the town center area more inviting to local residents.
“This place was empty for years, and nobody had come up with an idea for a business like this one,” Luna said as he and his wife enjoyed a cup of coffee there on a recent afternoon. “This is a sign of progress. It is a pleasant place to be.”
The county and town are now putting resources into building on that change and attracting start-ups and small family businesses.
As part of the effort, the county, the town and the Washington-based Douglas Development have launched a contest in which businesses can compete for discounted rental space at 6220 Rhode Island Ave., a building that town leaders said has been vacant for most of the past quarter-century.
After recent renovations in the building, the developer has signed the first tenant, who will open a hot yoga studio there in the fall.
Chuck Rendelman, founder of Fro-Zen-Yo yogurt shops, said he is interested in opening a coffee shop there. And Donnell Long, owner and chef of the Old Town Inn in Upper Marlboro, is interested in the first-level space for a restaurant.
Mayor Vernon Archer said Riverdale Park hopes to build a vibrant downtown with restaurants, a coffee shop and maybe a gift shop at the railroad station.
“It is exciting to see some movement after so many years,” Archer said as he walked in front of the empty storefronts.The first Apple Macintoshes in the early 1990s used to sell for 4000 pounds - you were lucky if you got RAM in MB, forget GB OR TB.
25 years later, the price that consumers have to pay per MB is 1 pound, and falling.
Abundance has been created in every sector of human endeavour - as it should be.
The advent of Chinese production technologies has created abundance in multiples mankind could not imagine.
Abundance in energy has unfortunately been hostage to cartels - it was never economics, and technology was on the back foot.
With global commitments to alternative energy emanating from climate control, human endeavour for alternative energies has a focus.
A focus that should subject energy to the same economics that triggered Apple and China towards creating abundance.
A focus that perhaps Will drive the World towards Solar power - with God in charge, abundance will be restored in this sector of endeavour.
The restoration of abundance ought to have resulted from economics alone.
Human endeavour must not be held hostage one day longer than necessary.
The Saudi capacity in Solar perhaps higher than in fossil fuel - the desert in fact may be blessed.
Blessed enough to bring hope to Africa to emerge as the Solar power the World is waiting for.
The price of energy should be subject to the same rules that applied to Apple and China.
Mankind will be better served in the aftermath of abundance.(Editor’s note: Colin Flaherty has done more reporting than any other journalist on what appears to be a nationwide trend of skyrocketing black-on-white crime, violence and abuse. WND features these reports to counterbalance the virtual blackout by the rest of the media due to their concerns that reporting such incidents would be inflammatory or even racist. WND considers it racist not to report racial abuse solely because of the skin color of the perpetrators or victims.) Videos linked or embedded may contain foul language and violence.
It appears crimes have long shadows, at least several years in some cases.
Seandell Jackson killed Nathan Potter in Milwaukee in 2009. Jackson was a convicted felon who had shot someone a few hours before he shot Potter. For the same reason: Of course it was a robbery, but he told the judge he thought he was “having fun.”
Potter was college student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. By all accounts a gentle soul. A free spirit.
A few hours before Potter’s execution, at least one person dialed 911 to report a couple of sketchy characters lurking around the neighborhood. There had been a robbery there the night before. It was Jackson and his friend. Police never showed.
Jackson and his friend were hunting for victims when they saw Potter leave a bar. They stalked him, accosted him, demanded money and killed him.
After the murder, police wondered if Potter’s “marijuana conviction” from two years before had something to do with it. It did not. But while Milwaukee police pondered what the 21-year old college student did to provoke a couple of thugs, Jackson and his pal were on a bus to Mississippi, courtesy of Jackson’s family.
Jackson’s uncle eventually turned him in. During the questioning, the killer repeatedly referred to his victim as the “little white boy.”
That was no accident, says Marlin Newburn, who just retired from 30 years in the criminal justice system, many as a prison psychologist in Michigan. Black resentment toward whites among criminals is learned at an early age and is the mother’s milk of many, many convicts, he said.
Read “White Girl Bleed a Lot,” the documentation of black-on-white terror, including links to videos so you can see it yourself.
“After at least two generations (now) of black people being immersed in resentment politics administered by their race-hustling idols, they have become the creatures they claim to despise,” said Newburn. “That’s the primary toxic by-product of harboring a resentment, and the young psychopath’s remorselessly labeling his victim a ‘little white boy’ demonstrates this predictable result.
“The MSM’s viewpoint is that black people need their ongoing protection due to ancestral suffering inflicted at the hands of non-black people. This is pre-adolescent, lazy, and enabling logic that perpetuates the misery, but the mainstream reporter apparently gets the wonderful feeling they’re helping an imaginary downtrodden race.
“Another result in sustaining and then nurturing resentments is that the carrier begins rationalizing like a common, habitual felon in that they speak and act on emotions instead of rational thought. This then carries over into nearly every other aspect of their daily lives since they’ve become conditioned to believe they’re not responsible for anything. Can’t read? It’s the school’s fault. No jobs? It’s not because they have no skills, discipline, or sense of responsibility. It’s because someone won’t just give them one.
“In short, criminals like Seandell believe themselves to be officially exempt from any failures or setbacks in their lives. Their handlers in the media and those with the title of ‘reverend’ told them so. The resentment and chronic failure continue due to these disastrous fantasies.”
But how racial resentment may have played into this crime was not reported in the local press. Nor was it brought up at trial.
It wasn’t much of a trial anyway. After the conviction, Jackson turned to Potter’s family and mocked them, scorned them, and cursed at them. His friend’s family did the same as the victim’s family sat in shock. Not once. Many times.
At sentencing a few months later, it was a repeat: Jackson tried to turn to Potter’s family, but he was restrained by deputies as his family wailed and cursed and berated Potter’s family. All on video.
“We hate you,” said a member of the killer’s family to Potter’s family. Potter’s brother is autistic, and now insists that every light in his house be on all the time. And he also wants all the windows removed.
The court-room revictimization of the families happens often, and is documented in “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.”
The court-room scene was so ugly, even years after the sentencing, it still gets attention. In February 2014, syndicated radio host Doug Banks posted a news report that purportedly showed Jackson crying during the sentencing.
But lots of people said Jackson was not crying: He was dropping F-bombs on the judge as deputies wrestled him to the floor. It was his family making all the noise about how they were going to miss him and how unfair it was.
Pretty crazy right?
No, the crazy starts now: In the comments section of the syndicated “urban” radio host Banks’ website, some of his listeners were happy that Jackson will never be released from prison. But others had a more curious reaction, along racial lines:
Cheree Y. Holley saw unfairness: “What about treyvon martin parents? What about them? mister zimmermen still stands by his word that he he was defended himself, i don’t condone what this man has done, will the martins ever get their justice for their son just like these parents did for theirs?”
Alice Tiller reminded everyone “of course black man kills a white he gets life zimmer killed a black kid nothing.”
Keith Mcdonald found wisdom in the words of Alice Tiller: “The inequity of the judicial system when it comes to black men is apparent. We did not invent the race card and ignoring the racist society that we live in will not help us. I agree that the young killer should be in jail for life. He had a chance in court to show remorse but he acted like a sociopath. But I agree with Alice Tiller … when a white man kills a black men there are tons of excuses.”
Selento Rockett found the underlying cause: Jackson really wanted a job. But they would not let him have one. Whoever they was: “What was going on in that boy’s life that he felt the need to get a gun, go rob and shoot somebody? When there are no jobs (and black males are in the lead for being unemployed) and no education to compete for a job, the only other alternative is either to join the military or become an entrepreneur at something. What’s the popular occupations in low income black communities across this country? Drugs, guns (unregistered), fastfood, and sex. They are killing us slowly and turning us back to slaves.”
Finally, Demond James puts in all in perspective: “life for killing a white man, while a white man who killed an unarmed black teen in Florida gets off! Hell no!”
This week, the New York Times and NPR are leading a pack of national journalists to Florida to cover the trial of a black man, Jordan Davis, killed by a white man, Michael Dunn. They say it has similarities to the case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman.
The national black weekly magazine Jet made it a January cover story: “Is Your Child Next?”
Black mobs routinely terrorize cities across the country, but the media and government are silent. Read the detailed account of rampant racial crime in “White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It.”
See a trailer for “White Girl Bleed a Lot”:The aim of this study was to determine the nutritive value of edible insects and their in vitro cytotoxicity assays. The content of protein, fat, carbohydrates, ash, fiber, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids in adult cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus), larvae of mealworm (Tenebrio molitor), and adult locust (Schistocerca gregaria) were analyzed. The protein content ranged from 52.35 to 76%. The fat percentage was in the range of 12.97–24.7%. Energy contribution varied from 1821 to 1896 kJ/100 g. Their amino acid profile was compared with the WHO/FAO/UNU Pattern (WHO, 2007). The highest degree of hydrolysis (DH) was noted in baked Gryllodes sigillatus (37.76%). All species were very rich in magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and the mineral content was compared to recommended daily intakes (mg/day). The hydrolysates from raw, cooked, and baked insects were significantly stimulated or inhibited proliferation of human skin fibroblasts CRL-2522.As a Canadian, I am often bewildered by the American Left’s utopian albeit perfectly incorrect views of the Canadian healthcare system. The general notion, as exemplified in Michael Moore’s 2007 film Sicko, is that countries such as Canada and Cuba offer compassionate universal free healthcare to its citizenry while a diabolical consortium of capitalists headed by Dr. Evil runs the American system. Let me share some important realities regarding our “free” Canadian healthcare.
(1) Our healthcare is anything but free. We are levied some of the most punitive and exorbitant tax rates of all industrialized nations. The average Canadian will pay extraordinarily more taxes to subsidize the “free” healthcare system then he/she will ever receive in return in terms of services rendered.
(2) Margaret Thatcher famously quipped “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Let’s see how this played out within the Canadian healthcare system. For decades, the Canadian medicare card did not include a photo ID. In other words, when an individual presented his/her card to obtain “free” medical services, seldom did anyone ensure that the card belonged to the individual in question. The running joke among many Middle Eastern communities (recall that I was born in Lebanon) is that the whole of the Middle East obtained free healthcare in Canada. The Canadian eventually smartened up to this astonishing scam by altering the medicare cards to include a photo ID. That said, the politicians did not have to worry about the billions of dollars stolen (which I paid for), as there is always a passive citizenry willing to absorb additional tax hikes. You see, we have “free” healthcare in Canada.
(3) The Canadian healthcare system is so overburdened that it is difficult to find a family physician willing to take on new patients. In our “free” system, one has to beg and plead to be taken as a patient. You are made to feel as though you are personally indebted to a physician who accepts you as a patient. “Thank you, doctor. I will never forget your infinite kindness for having accepted to provide me the ‘free’ service that I pay thousands of dollars per year in taxes to have. You are a mensch doc.” Good luck finding a specialist in due time. There are endless anecdotes of patients being told that the next available date for an important surgery is many months down the line, given the scheduling backlog.
(4) Let us suppose that you are facing a medical emergency. Have no, as our Canadian system is free and generous. You’ll only have to wait 8-14 hours in a hospital waiting room (as did my wife when she experienced a medical situation whilst with our first child). You might die while waiting but at least it is “free.”
(5) The failure of our Canadian healthcare system is so apparent (and so unsustainable) that in the last few years many Canadians have had to enroll in private insurance programs! I recently experienced debilitating lower back pains rendering me nearly immobile for several days. I could have sought the services of our “free” healthcare but this would have meant that I would have likely waited six months to see a physiatrist. He/she would have then ordered me to have some MRI images done, which would have taken a few more months at the “free hospital.” On the other hand, since I pay for private healthcare insurance, the problem was addressed in less than one week. Hence, not only do I pay exorbitant taxes to fund a healthcare system that is utterly broken but also I must enroll in private healthcare programs (as would the average American) to avoid having to participate in the “free” system that I already paid for!
I do not wish to imply that some form of universal health coverage is a bad idea. On the contrary, any civilized and compassionate society should provide the requisite safety net to protect its most downtrodden citizens. However, it is important for Americans to recognize that the fantasy that you are fed regarding our Canadian healthcare system is an utter hoax. The existing American healthcare model might indeed require some “compassionate” restructuring but don’t use romanticized “unicorn” of our Canadian healthcare system as the ideal archetype to which you aspire.
Source for Image:
http://topnews.us/images/imagecache/main_image/Canada-Health-Care.gifAtlanta Falcons backup quarterback Matt Schaub could be following Atlanta offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan to San Francisco, if the man poised to become the new 49ers head coach has his way, according to league sources.
Editor's Picks Sources: Rams seek to talk to Falcons' LaFleur New Rams coach Sean McVay is interested in bringing Falcons QBs coach Matt LaFleur to Los Angeles to help implement his offense and work with Jared Goff.
Shanahan, who is expected to be named the 49ers' new head coach as soon as Monday, always has liked and respected Schaub's play, from the time he was a Pro Bowl quarterback for him with the Texans, to his current role as backup quarterback in Atlanta.
Schaub is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent and, with Washington preparing to place its franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins, Shanahan might have to settle for pursuing Atlanta's backup quarterback rather than the Redskins' starting quarterback.
Schaub could be the 49ers' bridge quarterback, as the starter or the backup, but whatever role he takes he would be valuable as he knows Shanahan's system."Diversity Now"
"Diversity Now"
"Diversity Now"
"Diversity Now"
Want to keep up with the latest developments in the field of diversity?, the most recent tablet / smartphone app by Global Learning, presents the latest news and ideas from thought leaders in the rapidly-changing area of diversity and inclusion. Global Learning has created a singular place to find a large variety of high quality content dedicated to diversity and HR. With sharing capabilities built directly into the app,is the perfect tool for social media professionals and practitioners constantly on the hunt for "just-in-time" diversity content. Contact Global Learning today to inquire about becoming a sponsor or endorser ofand how we can feature your organizations diversity initiatives instantly on the app. The world should know all about the great things you are doing when it comes to diversity, invite Global Learning to help you make that happen!What are you waiting for?Download.....now! It's free!The name Norman Seeff may not click with you right away but his photos surely will. He has photographed some of the most significant cultural figures of the past half-century. Many of his photo shoots were also filmed. It's a collection like no other but we were surprised to learn that a lot of those films were never developed…and are stacked high in a Hollywood vault. Tonight, he opens that vault for 60 Minutes so we can have a look at some his greatest works -- shot intimately on film and video. We begin with a photo session of the great Ray Charles.
60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan interviews photographer Norman Seeff. CBS News
Norman Seeff: How old were you when you first started playing the piano?
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13 scheduled spring practices on Saturday, Feb. 21. Their first of two scrimmages is set for March 5th and their annual spring game, which wraps up spring practice, is set for March 28th, though a site is still to be determined.
In between, Miami has practices scheduled for Feb. 22, Feb. 24, Feb. 26, Feb. 28, and March 3rd before taking 12 days off. They’ll resume practice on March 17th and 19th before a second scrimmage on March 21st. That will be followed by two more practices, on March 24th and 26th, before the spring game.
All practices are set to begin at 9 a.m. and are closed to the public.
For the Hurricanes, who are looking to put a disappointing 6-7 season behind them, the 13 practice sessions will be the start of a new season, one in which Miami will look to find players to fill the voids left by the departures of leaders including running back Duke Johnson, linebacker Denzel Perryman, tight end Clive Walford, receiver Phillip Dorsett and offensive linemen Shane McDermott, Jon Feliciano and Ereck Flowers.
Kaaya, who has emerged as one of Miami’s more vocal leaders in the off-season, says his team is ready to answer that challenge and build on the season that was. Spring practice will be among the first steps in that process, and he believes it will be essential for some of Miami’s youngest players who weren’t on campus yet when the Hurricanes had their last spring session.
“Just to get back out there, for me, I didn’t have a spring [practice session last year] so it really helps a guy like me,” Kaaya said. “It’s really good for me to develop more of a chemistry with all my weapons…in the summer it was hard to develop any kind of chemistry with guys because certain guys weren’t there, it was all over the place. Now, I can develop and be in on all kinds of plays and work on new personnel packages with guys I’m going to be throwing to next season.”
Said defensive lineman Ufomba Kamalu, "It starts with spring. That's when you know what your team is. You get a feel for your team from everyone practicing. I've been excited for it since the last game."The Green Bay Packers announced Friday have agreed to terms with first-round DT Kenny Clark.
The Packers have now locked up their entire 2016 draft class to four-year contracts.
Clark, 20, was taken with the No. 27 overall pick by the Packers, who had an obvious hole to fill in the middle of the defense after B.J. Raji surprisingly elected to take a hiatus from the NFL a few months ago.
According to OverTheCap.com, Clark receives a four-year contract worth $9,361,642 to go along with a signing bonus of $5,008,468. The contract will include a fifth-year option for the team to consider in 2019.
During his three-year college career at UCLA, Clark recorded 159 tackles, 20 tackles for a loss, 6.5 sacks, a forced fumble, a recovery and six pass defenses.Susan Rice, Barack Obama's longtime national security adviser, declined Wednesday to testify before a Senate subcommittee about Russian activities during the 2016 election campaign.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. had requested that Rice appear before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on Monday.
Rice's refusal to testify was first reported by CNN.
In a letter addressed to Graham and ranking member Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., Rice's attorney Kathryn Ruemmler said that her client opted not to appear because Whitehouse had said he did not agree with Graham that Rice should testify.
Ruemmler called Graham's unilateral invitation "a significant departure from the bipartisan invitations extended to other witnesses."
Had she appeared, Rice would have likely faced questions about the so-called "unmasking" of American citizens caught up in conversations with foreign targets of surveillance by the intelligence community. The most prominent figure to be "unmasked" was retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who resigned as Trump's national security adviser in February.
Rice became a central part of the Russia investigation when President Donald Trump said she may have committed a crime when she asked intelligence analysts to disclose the name of a Trump associate mentioned in an intelligence report. Rice has said she did nothing improper.
In a statement of his own, Graham noted Rice's previous denials and said, "I expect we will continue down this path. I hope Ms. Rice will come before the committee – and not just the press."
Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he was "deeply disappointed" at Rice's refusal and added, "Declining to attend because you didn't get an invite from a member of your party is a poor excuse and makes it appear as though she’s hiding something. No investigation will be complete until her role is understood."
Monday's hearing is scheduled to include testimony from former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
Yates' and Clapper's upcoming public testimony is much-anticipated, as they were both scheduled to speak before the House intelligence committee in March. But that hearing was cancelled, some Democrats believe, because the White House wanted to limit what Yates could say. The House intelligence committee has yet to reschedule the public hearing.
Yates is expected to give senators details about her Jan. 26 conversation with the White House counsel about Flynn. She is expected to say that she saw discrepancies between the administration's public statements about Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and what really transpired, a person familiar with that discussion and knowledge of Yates' upcoming testimony told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity ahead the hearing.
Yates is expected to say that she told White House counsel Don McGahn that she was concerned Flynn's communications with the Russian ambassador could leave Flynn in a compromised position as a result of the contradictions between the public depictions of the calls and what intelligence officials knew to be true, the person said. White House officials have said publicly that Yates merely wanted to give them a "heads-up" about Flynn's Russian contacts, but Yates is likely to testify that she approached the White House with alarm, according to the person. The White House has said Flynn was later fired because of misleading the vice president on the content of Flynn's discussions with the ambassador.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Oregon and Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, and Wyoming. It is noted for both its arid climate and the basin and range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than 100 miles (160 km) away at the summit of Mount Whitney. The region spans several physiographic divisions, biomes, ecoregions, and deserts.
Definition [ edit ]
The term "Great Basin" is applied to hydrographic,[3][4]:11 biological,[3] floristic,[4]:21 physiographic,[4]:14 topographic,[3] and ethnographic geographic areas.[4]:34 The name was originally coined by John C. Fremont, who, based on information gleaned from Joseph R. Walker as well as his own travels, recognized the hydrographic nature of the landform as "having no connection to the ocean".[4]:8–9 The hydrographic definition is the most commonly used,[3] and is the only one with a definitive border. The other definitions yield not only different geographical boundaries of "Great Basin" regions, but regional borders that vary from source to source.[4]:11
The Great Basin Desert is defined by plant and animal communities, and, according to the National Park Service, its boundaries approximate the hydrographic Great Basin, but exclude the southern "panhandle".[3]
The Great Basin Floristic Province was defined by botanist Armen Takhtajan to extend well beyond the boundaries of the hydrographically defined Great Basin: it includes the Snake River Plain, the Colorado Plateau, the Uinta Basin, and parts of Arizona north of the Mogollon Rim.[5]
The Great Basin physiographic section is a geographic division of the Basin and Range Province defined by Nevin Fenneman in 1931.[6] The United States Geological Survey adapted Fenneman's scheme in their Physiographic division of the United States.[7] The "section" is somewhat larger than the hydrographic definition.
The Great Basin Culture Area or indigenous peoples of the Great Basin is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural region located between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The culture area covers approximately 400,000 sq mi (1,000,000 km2),[8] or just less than twice the area of the hydrographic Great Basin.
Hydrology [ edit ]
The hydrographic Great Basin is a 209,162-square-mile (541,730 km2) area that drains internally. All precipitation in the region evaporates, sinks underground or flows into lakes (mostly saline). As observed by Fremont, creeks, streams, or rivers find no outlet to either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean. The region is bounded by the Wasatch Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges to the west, and the Snake River Basin to the north. The south rim is less distinct. The Great Basin includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, substantial portions of Oregon and California and small areas of Idaho, Wyoming, and Mexico. The term "Great Basin" is slightly misleading; the region is actually made up of many small basins. The Great Salt Lake, Pyramid Lake, and the Humboldt Sink are a few of the "drains" in the Great Basin.[3] The Salton Sink is another closed basin[9] within the Great Basin.
The Great Basin Divide separates the Great Basin from the watersheds draining to the Pacific Ocean. The southernmost portion of the Great Basin is the watershed area of the Laguna Salada. The Great Basin's longest and largest river is the Bear River of 350 mi (560 km),[10] and the largest single watershed is the Humboldt River drainage of roughly 17,000 sq mi (44,000 km2). Most Great Basin precipitation is snow, and the precipitation that neither evaporates nor is extracted for human use will sink into groundwater aquifers, while evaporation of collected water occurs from geographic sinks.[11] Lake Tahoe, North America's largest alpine lake,[12] is part of the Great Basin's central Lahontan subregion.
Ecology [ edit ]
[13] and World Wildlife Fund[14] Ecoregions as currently delineated by the Environmental Protection Agencyand World Wildlife Fund
The hydrographic Great Basin contains multiple deserts and ecoregions, each with its own distinctive set of flora and fauna.[3] The ecological boundaries and divisions in the Great Basin are unclear.[15]
The Great Basin overlaps four different deserts: portions of the hot Mojave and Colorado (a region within the Sonoran desert) Deserts to the south, and the cold Great Basin and Oregon High Deserts in the north. The deserts can be distinguished by their plants: the Joshua tree and creosote bush occur in the hot deserts, while the cold deserts have neither. The cold deserts are generally higher than the hot, and have their precipitation spread throughout the year.[16]
The climate and flora of the Great Basin is strongly dependent on elevation: as the elevation increases, the precipitation increases and temperature decreases. Because of this, forests occur at higher elevations. Utah juniper/single-leaf pinyon (southern regions) and mountain mahogany (northern regions) form open pinyon-juniper woodland on the slopes of most ranges. Stands of limber pine and Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) can be found in some of the higher ranges. In riparian areas with dependable water cottonwoods (Populus fremontii) and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) groves exist.
Because the forest ecosystem is distinct from a typical desert, some authorities, such as the World Wildlife Fund, separate the mountains of the Great Basin desert into their own ecoregion: the Great Basin montane forests.[17] Many rare and endemic species occur in this ecoregion, because the individual mountain ranges are isolated from each other. During the last ice age, the Great Basin was wetter. As it dried during the Holocene, some species retreated to the higher isolated mountains and have high genetic diversity.[17]
Other authorities divide the Great Basin into different ecoregions, depending on their own criteria. Armen Takhtajan defined the "Great Basin floristic province". The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency divides the Great Basin into three ecoregions roughly according to latitude: the Northern Basin and Range ecoregion, the Central Basin and Range ecoregion, and the Mojave Basin and Range ecoregion.
Great Basin snowstorm in the Snake Valley of Utah and Nevada
Fauna [ edit ]
Great Basin wildlife includes pronghorn, mule deer, mountain lion, and lagomorphs such as black-tailed jackrabbit and desert cottontail and the coyotes that prey on them. Packrats, kangaroo rats and other small rodents are also common, and are predominantly nocturnal. Elk and bighorn sheep are present but uncommon. Small lizards such as the Great Basin fence lizard, longnose leopard lizard and horned lizard are common, especially in lower elevations. Rattlesnakes and gopher snakes are also present. The Inyo Mountains salamander is endangered. Shorebirds such as phalaropes and curlews can be found in wet areas. American white pelicans are common at Pyramid Lake. Golden eagles are also very common in the Great Basin.[18] Mourning dove, western meadowlark, black-billed magpie, and common raven are other common bird species.
Two endangered species of fish are found in Pyramid Lake: the Cui-ui sucker fish (endangered 1967) and the Lahontan cutthroat trout (threatened 1970).[19]
Large invertebrates include tarantulas (genus Aphonopelma) and Mormon crickets. Exotic species, including chukar, grey partridge, and Himalayan snowcock, have been successfully introduced to the Great Basin, although the latter has only thrived in the Ruby Mountains. Cheatgrass, an invasive species which was unintentionally introduced, forms a critical portion of their diets. Feral horses (mustangs) and wild burros are highly reproductive, and ecosystem-controversial, alien species. Most of the Great Basin is open range and domestic cattle and sheep are widespread.
Geography [ edit ]
Basin and Range topography as seen from the air
The Great Basin includes valleys, basins, lakes and mountain ranges of the Basin and Range Province.[20] Geographic features near the Great Basin include the Continental Divide of the Americas, the Great Divide Basin, and the Gulf of California.
Map showing the Great Basin physiographic section (shown as 22a)
Great Basin physiographic section [ edit ]
The Great Basin physiographic section of the Basin and Range Province contains the Great Basin, but extends into eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and the Colorado River watershed (including the Las Vegas metropolitan area and the northwest corner of Arizona).[21] The Basin and Range region is the product of geological forces stretching the earth's crust, creating many north-south trending mountain ranges. These ranges are separated by flat valleys or basins. These hundreds of ranges make Nevada the most mountainous state in the country.[3]
Settlements and roads [ edit ]
The Great Basin's two most populous metropolitan areas are the Reno-Sparks metropolitan area to the west and Wasatch Front to the east. The region between these two areas is sparsely populated, but includes the smaller cities of Elko, Ely, Wendover, West Wendover, and Winnemucca. To the north are; in California Susanville, in Oregon Burns and Hines, in Idaho Malad and in Wyoming Evanston. To the south are Cedar City, Tonopah, and Bishop and the very southern area of the basin has the communities of Pahrump, Palmdale, Victorville, and Palm Springs. Interstate Highways traversing the Great Basin are Interstate 80 (I-80) and I-15, and I-70 and I-84 have their respective endpoints within its boundaries. Other major roadways are U.S. Route 6 (US 6), US 50, US 93, US 95 and US 395. The section of US 50 between Delta, Utah, and Fallon, Nevada, is nicknamed "The Loneliest Road in America",[22] and Nevada State Route 375 is designated the "Extraterrestrial Highway".[23] The Great Basin is traversed by several rail lines including the Union Pacific Railroad's Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad) through Reno and Ogden, Feather River Route, Central Corridor and Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad.
History [ edit ]
Sediment build-up over thousands of years filled the down-faulted basins between ranges and created relatively flat lacustrine plains from Pleistocene lake beds of the Great Basin.[24] For example, after forming about 32,000 years ago, Lake Bonneville overflowed about 14,500 years ago in the Bonneville Flood through Red Rock Pass and lowered to the "Provo Lake"[25] level (the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, Rush Lake, and Little Salt Lake remain).[26] Lake Lahontan, Lake Manly, and Lake Mojave were similar Pleistocene lakes.
tribal classifications. Native American tribes that inhabited the Great Basin were divided between the "Great Basin" and, in the Colorado desert region, the " California
Paleo-Indian habitation by the Great Basin tribes began as early as 10,000 B.C. (the Numic-speaking Shoshonean peoples arrived as late as 1000 A.D.).[27] Archaeological evidence of habitation sites along the shore of Lake Lahontan date from the end of the ice age when its shoreline was approximately 500 feet (150 m) higher along the sides of the surrounding mountains. The Great Basin was inhabited for at least several thousand years by Uto-Aztecan language group-speaking Native American Great Basin tribes, including the Shoshone, Ute, Mono, and Northern Paiute.
European exploration of the Great Basin occurred during the 18th century Spanish colonization of the Americas. The first immigrant American to cross the Great Basin from the Sierra Nevada was Jedediah Strong Smith in 1827.[28] Peter Skene Ogden of the British Hudson's Bay Company explored the Great Salt Lake and Humboldt River regions in the late 1820s, following the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada to the Gulf of California.[29] Benjamin Bonneville explored the northeast portion during an 1832 expedition. The United States had acquired control of the area north of the 42nd parallel via the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty with Spain and 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain. The US gained control of most of the rest of the Great Basin via the 1848 Mexican Cession. The first non-indigenous settlement was in 1847 in the Great Salt Lake Valley, leading to first American religious settlement effort of the Mormon provisional State of Deseret in 1849 in present-day Utah and northern Nevada. Later settlements were connected with the eastern regions of the 1848 California Gold Rush, with its immigrants crossing the Great Basin on the California Trail along Nevada's Humboldt River to Carson Pass in the Sierras. The Oregon Territory was established in 1848 and the Utah Territory in 1850.
In 1869 the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Summit in the Great Basin.[30] Around 1902, the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was constructed in the lower basin and Mojave Desert for California-Nevada rail service to Las Vegas, Nevada.
To close a 1951 Indian Claims Commission case, the Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act of 2004 established the United States payment of $117 million to the Great Basin tribe for the acquisition of 39,000 square miles (100,000 km2).[citation needed]
The Dixie Valley, Nevada, earthquake (6.6–7.1) in the Great Basin was in 1954.
Climate [ edit ]
Climate varies throughout the Great Basin by elevation, latitude, and other factors. Higher elevations tend to be cooler and receive more precipitation. The western areas of the basin tend to be drier than the eastern areas because of the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. Most of the basin experiences a semi-arid or arid climate with warm summers and cold winters. However, some of the mountainous areas in the basin are high enough in elevation to experience an Alpine climate. Due to the region's altitude and aridity, most areas in the Great Basin experience a substantial Diurnal temperature variation.
Significant special designations [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]CLEVELAND -- Cleveland had never played host to the Ultimate Fighting Championship prior to Saturday night’s UFC 203 card at Quicken Loans Arena, but early indications are the city could very well be in the mix to host another event in the future.
More than 18,000 people packed into The Q to watch native son Stipe Miocic successfully defend his UFC heavyweight championship against Alistair Overeem in the main event of the evening. The UFC announced a gate of more than $2 million for the Cleveland card.
“It was awesome,” UFC president Dana White told WKYC.com after the main event. “This crowd was dynamite. Literally, probably one of the top three crowds ever. It was awesome.”
When asked about Cleveland hosting another UFC event, White said, “Oh yeah.”
“A great, great place for any sporting event, let alone a fight,” White said.
Early in the first round, Miocic was pursuing Overeem when he got caught with a punch to the jaw and fell backwards. Overeem immediately jumped at the opportunity to put Miocic into a guillotine choke, but the champion kept his feet on the mat and circled his way out of the submission.
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However, in the final minute of the first round, Miocic turned the tide of the fight for good.
Overeem attempted to throw a right leg kick when Miocic checked it and sent the challenger to the mat. After the takedown, Overeem pulled guard, but Miocic was not to be denied. Miocic landed a pair of right-handed hammer fists before throwing a left-right combination to Overeem’s face, which opened up the downed kickboxer’s defenses.
Following another left hand, Miocic landed four straight rights to Overeem’s jaw, knocking out the challenger and forcing the referee’s stoppage. It was Miocic’s fourth straight win, all of which have come via knockout or TKO.
“That was an incredible fight,” White said. “Stipe gets clipped right in the beginning, and normally, when Alistair Overeem puts that guillotine choke on, people don’t get out of that. Stipe gets out. He gets up. He keeps his composure and ends up winning in spectacular knockout fashion, and the place goes crazy. One of the loudest things I’ve ever heard.”Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter
US Struggle With Iran's Peace Offensive
By Eric Margolis
September 21, 2013 " Information Clearing House - Iran’s newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, has lost no time in trying to end the 34-year old political and economic siege imposed on his nation by the United States and its allies.
President Barack Obama, having just been wrong-footed over Syria, now faces a surprise Iranian diplomatic and public relations offensive that will be hard to resist. America’s war party is furious: its dreams of seeing US power crush Syria, then Iran are in jeopardy.
Ever since a popular revolution ousted the US-installed regime of Shah Pahlavi in 1979, Washington has sought to overthrow Iran’s Islamic republic.
Iran has been isolated, put under intense economic and diplomatic siege, become the target of subversion and the US-backed invasion by Iraq in 1980 that killed up to 500,000 Iranians.
The US challenge to Iran is always depicted for public consumption as an effort to stop Tehran getting nuclear weapons. Iran is routinely accused of supporting “terrorism” and subversion.
In reality, US hostility towards Iran is mostly about old-fashioned power politics. In 2003, US Secretary of State Colin Powell let the cat out of the bag by admitting that Iran’s acquisition of a few nuclear weapons would “limit” US ability to use force in the region.
Control of the Mideast is one of the pillars of US world power. The US has dominated the Mideast since 1945, as I detail in my book “American Raj – How America Rules the Mideast.” Islamic Iran emerged after 1979 as the most potent challenge to US regional domination and control of its energy.
Iran and US ally Saudi Arabia have waged a bitter proxy war in Afghanistan, Central Asia, and East Africa by arming and funding extremist groups. Syria is the latest example.
Washington and Israel have used the nuclear arms issue to isolate Iran and make it an outcast state, much as was done with Cuba in the 20th Century.
It’s easy to forget that nearly all of Iran’s nuclear energy industry is under very tight UN supervision, not to mention incessant monitoring by western intelligence agencies and Israel. By contrast, Israel refuses UN inspection and maintains a sizeable nuclear and chemical arsenal.
It’s also easy to forget that the original signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – the US, Russia, Britain, France (and later China) – have all violated the pact’s pledge to swiftly reduce, then eliminate their nuclear arsenals.
Iran is now making a major push to convince the world
it has no nuclear weapons ambitions, starting with its spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomenei who has issued a fatwa condemning all nuclear weapons.
So far, the US, strongly pressed by Israel, is responding
cautiously but positively.
Israel has made it clear it wants the US to attack Iran and crush its nuclear and non-nuclear military capabilities. Equally important, says Israel, is the need to liquidate Iran’s scientific nuclear cadre of scientists.
My sources in Iraq report that since the US invasion in 2003, over 200 Iraqi nuclear scientists and technicians have been mysteriously assassinated. A number of Iranian nuclear personnel have also been assassinated by bombs, widely believed to be the work of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
The logical course for the United States to follow is to welcome Iran’s overtures and restore normal relations between the two powers. An Iran aligned to the outside world is less likely to be troublesome than the angry, frightened, besieged Iran of today.
Furthermore, Washington has at some point got to
accept that Iran is an influential regional power with its own legitimate interests. If Iran truly has no nuclear weapons ambitions, then the only reason for Tehran to suffer punishing sanctions is national pride. Iran needs economic growth, not pride.
If Washington really wants stability rather than just obedience, then it should welcome Iran’s overtures.
As for the near-war state between Iran and Israel, the crux of this confrontation is the lack of a Palestinian state. If Israel ever agrees to such a viable state, hostility with Tehran will sharply lessen. Recall that amidst mutual threats in the 1980’s, Israel quietly sold Iran $5 billion of US arms.
Eric S. Margolis is an award-winning, internationally syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune the Los Angeles Times, Times of London, the Gulf Times, the Khaleej Times, Nation – Pakistan, Hurriyet, – Turkey, Sun Times Malaysia and other news sites in Asia.
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Selection Sunday is still a little more than 10 weeks away, but Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan State and Kansas are our projected No. 1 seeds for the 2016 NCAA men's basketball tournament as the calendar flips to January.
It has been nearly two months since our preseason bracket projection, but we needed that much time for the data to make enough sense for an updated bracket. (If you think RPI is a broken system in March, you should see how messed up it is in early December.) With the computer numbers finally starting to match our eye test and conference play just now getting underway, there's no time like the present to refresh the projected field.
Two things to note on the seeding process at this early stage in the season:
First, the best team from each conference is projected for that conference's auto bid. A lot of sites have Iona as the MAAC's auto bid and Monmouth as an at-large option because Iona is 2-0 in conference play, but Monmouth is clearly the better team right now and our only MAAC representative.
Second, we don't project wins and losses, but we do consider teams' remaining schedule for potential. As the season progresses, what you've done will certainly become more important than what you might do, but nonconference schedule strengths vary too widely to base a bracket projection entirely on games to this point in the season.
Other than that, it's business as usual.
The three primary computer metrics considered in this projection are ESPN's RPI, KenPom's pythagorean rankings (KP) and CBS' strength of schedule (SOS), though Sagarin and BPI ratings are also taken into consideration for a more holistic view of each team's resume. And, of course, the oft-mentioned, never-quantifiable eye test was a large part of the seeding process.
As always, we'll take a look at the last five teams to make the field, the first five out and a few on the horizon.
After that, we'll present each seeded region, including the subregional locations in which each pod would be played, and some commentary on which teams have moved the most in each region. Then we'll defend the rankings of the No. 1 seeds, followed by a summary of the entire field broken up by conference.Heard the one about the three brothers who walked into a bar, had a few bevvies and walked out with a brewery?
Well you have now... and their story is no joke. Meet the Horns – Jaxon, 38, Lachlan, 32, and Leo, 36, – founders of WA's latest beer on tap around town, Perth Draught.
Local lager Perth Draught is now on tap and quenching the thirst of WA drinkers at pubs around town.
With so many of WA's iconic beer brands either off tap, brewed elsewhere or owned by non-WA companies (think Emu Export, Swan Draught and Emu Bitter), it's refreshing to see a new beer that's WA owned and brewed.
Not another fancy pants craft beer, you say? No no, the brothers turned their humble home brew, a Czech-style pilsener, into a winning recipe, and now Perth Draught is pouring at pubs across Perth and proving a hit with punters.ON NOVEMBER 11th, Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, posted nearly $18bn in sales for the day. This broke last year’s record for Singles’ Day, an anti-Valentine’s Day that has become a love affair with spending. The popularity of the company’s virtual credit-card, Huabei (roughly translating as “Just spend”), may have helped. Consumers who spend less than 1,000 yuan ($146) online a month spend 50% more once they get one, according to Ant Financial Services, an Alibaba affiliate. To older generations, taught to save, borrowing is shameful. But financial habits are changing: Chinese consumers are being encouraged to develop credit histories.
Last year, the government awarded eight companies consumer credit-rating licences. Their pilot programmes are an attempt to flesh out thin financial records and get people thinking about their credit scores. This is new for most Chinese, who do not use credit cards and have never had credit scores. As of 2014, the People’s Bank of China maintained credit histories for around 350m citizens—less than one-third of the adult population. In America 89% of adults have credit scores. Without a credit history, consumers struggle to obtain loans. They tend to save rather than borrow or spend, stifling consumption.
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Many now want to prove their creditworthiness, with an eye to the spending possibilities it opens up. The most popular rating firms are Sesame Credit, run by Alibaba, and China Rapid Finance, which is in partnership with Tencent, a social-media and online-gaming firm. Alibaba sees over 400m active users a month and Tencent 800m. They also offer the rating firms a treasure trove of consumer data.
Sesame Credit relies on users’ online-shopping habits to calculate their credit scores. Li Yingyun, a director, told Caixin, a magazine, that someone playing video games for ten hours a day might be rated a bad risk; a frequent buyer of nappies would be thought more responsible. Meanwhile, China Rapid Finance scours its users’ social networks. Thanks to its link with Tencent, which owns WeChat, one of the country’s leading messaging platform, it is able to examine data about their contacts and payments to judge creditworthiness. These are unorthodox methods by many standards. In 2014 Facebook began toying with using social media to gauge users’ credit. But it called the plan off in February 2016, citing regulatory concerns. Critics thought it creepy.
Chinese consumers, however, don’t seem to mind the privacy invasion. Since it launched in January 2015, Sesame Credit has amassed 190m users. This may owe something to the perks bestowed on holders of high credit scores: express service at hotels; deposit-waivers on car rentals; even accelerated visas to Singapore. Their scores also rise if they use Alibaba’s payment service, Alipay, and if their friends sign up for credit scores. So the rating system is in part a loyalty-rewards programme. Having a credit score and showing it off to one’s friends is now something of a status marker for the affluent young. Sesame Credit has teamed up with Baihe, China’s largest dating service, to encourage users to flaunt their credit scores on their dating profiles. Ever more are doing so—and playing a mobile game, designed by Sesame, in which users guess how their score compares with their friends’.
The pressure to announce one’s credit score is a response to the deficit of trust in the Chinese marketplace. Emerging from a planned economy, Chinese consumers have found themselves on unfamiliar ground, says Rogier Creemers, a China scholar at the University of Oxford. It takes time to build up a working economy of trust backed by verification systems, so they have tended to rely on face-to-face, cash transactions to protect against fraud.
As more people sign up to be rated, the industry may help fuel consumption. Credit-card penetration is expected to grow from 16% in 2014 to 44% in 2025, according to the Demand Institute, a think-tank. But the government has reason to be cautious. China’s household debt as a proportion of GDP has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching 40.7%. Sheldon Garon, author of “Beyond Our Means”, a book on spending versus saving cultures, says China is still experimenting with consumer credit. Having noted the disastrous effects of America’s borrowing binge, its leaders are wary of bubbles and their social consequences. For the Communist Party, one goal is economic growth; but another is social stability.Sometimes, studying past technologies leads to remarkable discoveries that can help design better materials for the future. This is the little known science of Archaeomimetics, i.e. the development of new technologies and materials inspired by ancient crafts and cultures.
The skillful potters of the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) in the Fujian province of South East China have produced some of the most exquisite wares in the ancient world: the famous Jian bowls are characterized by their shiny black glaze exhibiting incredibly rich and variable brown or silvery surface patterns.
They were so prized, indeed, that three of the four surviving Jian wares brought to Japan by Japanese Buddhist monks during the 14th century were designated as National Treasures in the Rising Sun Archipelago where they are called ‘Yohen Tenmoku.’
Jian wares were produced in large quantities inside large ovens called kilns. Temperature and atmosphere were highly dependent on the exact location inside the kiln, explaining the surprising variety of motives that can be produced in the glaze.
The majority of the bowls exhibits brownish streaks called ‘Hare’s fur’ patterns. More rarely, silvery round spots form the so-called ‘oil spot’ patterns.
Jian ceramics were made using the local iron-rich clay and their surfaces were coated with a mixture made of local clay, limestone and wooden ash. Inside the kiln, temperature reached values of about 1,300 degree Celsius (more than 2,300 F), enough to melt the coating which will eventually form the glaze. Oxygen bubbles in the liquefied glaze moved iron ions to the surface. As the glaze turned into glass during the cooling process, molten iron-flux flowed down the sides of the potteries and crystallized into iron oxides.
Based on colors, it has been assumed that the iron oxides that formed in the ‘ |
a for containing alcohol.
...
An Israeli Muslim filed a NIS 1.2 billion class action suit against The Central Bottling Company Group Ltd. (the Israel franchisee for Coca Cola) in the Jerusalem District Court today for compensation for mental anguish and infringing the independent choices of the individual.... The plaintiff, an Israeli Muslim, filed the suit following publication on the web last week of what is apparently the secret recipe of Coca Cola, and which allegedly contains alcohol.
...
Alcohol is forbidden by Islam, and the plaintiff cites he has been unwittingly drinking alcohol for years.
...
The plaintiff says that his class action suit comprises NIS 1,000 compensation for each of the 1.2 million Muslims living in Israel.
...
The suit said, "This is one of the greatest deceptions in the history of consumer affairs, when a company ignores the existence of alcohol as an ingredient despite being aware that the Muslim world abstains from products like these.
Israeli sues Coca Cola for containing alcohol
Globes, Israel Business News, February 20, 2011 Globes, Israel Business News, February 20, 2011 The suit said, "This is one of the greatest deceptions in the history of consumer affairs, when a company ignores the existence of alcohol as an ingredient despite being aware that the Muslim world abstains from products like these.
Coca-Cola logo is anti-Islamic
This conspiracy theory claims that the Coca-Cola logo, when reversed, states in Arabic "No Muhammad, No Mecca".
Pepsi a Zionist acronym
This conspiracy theory has been propagated via Iranian[19] and Palestinian TV, and claims that PEPSI is actually a Zionist acronym that stands for:
Pay
Each
Penny
Save
Israel
MEMRI TV, Video No. 1760
Interview with Hamas MP Salem Salamah - Al Aqsa TV, April 23, 2008 Interview with Hamas MP Salem Salamah - Al Aqsa TV, April 23, 2008 ayachennyavesrael
Supernatural and Science Fictional
Mobile phone virus that kills the recipient
The panic caused by the rumours forced the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to issue a denial. Phone companies sent out text messages urging people to be calm. A newspaper rejected the rumour but featured the headline, Killer Mobile Virus.
Reasons for decline of the Muslim world
Husain Haqqani, Gulf News, May 2, 2007 Husain Haqqani, Gulf News, May 2, 2007 Mobile phones and the internet, the pervasiveness of which is often cited as a measure of a society's progress and modernity, have become a means of spreading fear in the Muslim world. Text messages, originating from the Pakistani city of Sialkot, recently warned people of a virus if people answered phone calls from certain numbers. The virus would not hurt the phone, the messages said, but would rather kill the recipient.The panic caused by the rumours forced the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to issue a denial. Phone companies sent out text messages urging people to be calm. A newspaper rejected the rumour but featured the headline, Killer Mobile Virus.
Sudanese men and their disappearing penises
...
Last month mass hysteria apparently swept the capital city, Khartoum, after reports that foreigners were shaking hands with Sudanese men and causing their penises to disappear. One victim, a fabric merchant, told his story to the London Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi. A man from West Africa came into the shop and "shook the store owner's hand powerfully until the owner felt his penis melt into his body."... Al-Quds reported, "The store owner became hysterical, and was taken to the hospital." The country's "Chief Criminal Attorney General" Yasser Ahmad Muhammad told the Sudanese daily Al-Rai Al-A'am that "the rumor broke out when one merchant went to another merchant to buy some Karkady [a Sudanese beverage]. Suddenly, the seller felt his penis shriveling." The invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute, in its exhaustive coverage, noted that the penises of Khartoum were vulnerable not merely to handshaking. "Another victim, who refused to give his name, said that while he was at the market, a man approached him, gave him a comb, and asked him to comb his hair. When he did so, within seconds, he said, he felt a strange sensation and discovered that he had lost his penis." Tales of the vanishing penises ran rampant round the city, spread by cell phones and text messages. Sudan's Attorney General Salah Abu Zayed declared that all complaints about the missing penises would be brought before a special investigative committee, though doctors had determined that the first plaintiff was "perfectly healthy."
Muslim paranoia: Enemies made us impotent!
Mark Steyn, Jewish World Review, October 28, 2003 Mark Steyn, Jewish World Review, October 28, 2003 Tales of the vanishing penises ran rampant round the city, spread by cell phones and text messages. Sudan's Attorney General Salah Abu Zayed declared that all complaints about the missing penises would be brought before a special investigative committee, though doctors had determined that the first plaintiff was "perfectly healthy."
The West stealing water from clouds, causing droughts in the Middle East
"Today our country is moving towards drought, which is partly unintentional due to industry and partly intentional, as a result of the enemy destroying the clouds moving towards our country and this is a war that Iran is going to overcome," Mr Ahmadinejad said in a speech in the Caspian Sea city of Gonbad-e Kavus to mark its registration as a Unesco World Heritage site. Although Iran is recognised as having one of the world's driest climates, the comments were the latest in a series of allegations by officials of a Western conspiracy to turn its water shortage into a major crisis. In July, Hassan Mousavi, head of Iran's cultural heritage organisation and one of Mr Ahmadinejad's vice-presidents, urged meteorological experts to investigate the possibility that the west was engineering a draught in southern Iran, traditionally one of the country's most parched regions.
...
Previously, Mr Ahmadinejad has accused European nations of deliberately emptying clouds to produce torrential storms in their own countries that would lead in turn to rain shortages in the Middle East. He said Iran would pursue the matter through international legal channels.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accuses the West of destroying Iran's rain clouds
Robert Tait, The Telegraph, September 10, 2012 Robert Tait, The Telegraph, September 10, 2012 Previously, Mr Ahmadinejad has accused European nations of deliberately emptying clouds to produce torrential storms in their own countries that would lead in turn to rain shortages in the Middle East. He said Iran would pursue the matter through international legal channels.
Miscellaneous
Iranian TV report exposes "Zionist" companies
Evil Zionist companies such as Revlon, Intel, McDonalds, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Sara Lee, Marks & Spencer, Nestle, Marlboro, Disney and more.[19]
Tom and Jerry a "Zionist cartoon conspiracy"
Note that this conspiracy theory erroneously claims the "Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon". Tom and Jerry is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer creation and not a Disney cartoon.
Professor Hasan Bulkhari, a senior cultural adviser to Iran's Education Ministry, recently stated that the animated series 'Tom and Jerry' was created as part of a Jewish conspiracy. Bulkhari explained that the cartoon aimed at shifting the image of mice - often attributed to Jews by the Nazi regime - from a negative one to a more positive, friendly, intelligent one, according to Worldnetdaily. Speaking on a televised program on Iranian television, the advisor explained, "The mouse is the wise and smart one, and he violently beats the poor cat. And yet, this cruelty does not cause you to despise the mouse. He looks so nice, and he is smart." "The Jews were degraded and termed 'dirty mice.' 'Tom and Jerry' was made in order to change the Europeans' perception of mice. One of terms used was 'dirty mice.'" "It should be noted that mice are very cunning... and dirty." "The program was produced in an attempt to erase the image of the mouse from the minds of European children and to show that the mouse is not dirty and that he even has nice characteristics," he pointed out. "The Jewish Walt Disney Company gained international fame with this cartoon," he said. "If you study European history, you will see who was the main power in hoarding money and wealth in the 19th century," continued Bolkhari. "In most cases, it is the Jews. Perhaps that was one of the reasons which caused Hitler to begin the anti-Semitic trend, and then the extensive propaganda about the crematoria began.... Some of this is true. We do not deny all of it." Created in 1939 creation by Joe Barbera and Bill Hanna, the MGM series was launched as World War II began. Over 200 cartoons featuring Tom and Jerry were created, and the cartoon remains popular to this day.
"Zionist cartoon conspiracy"
Al Bawaba News, March 15, 2006 Al Bawaba News, March 15, 2006 Over 200 cartoons featuring Tom and Jerry were created, and the cartoon remains popular to this day.
Selling alcohol in Jammu and Kashmir, part of a "well planned conspiracy"
Ameer Karwani Islami, Maulana Ghulam Rasool Hami, has expressed serious concern over the alleged role of Christian missionaries in converting young Kashmiri Muslim boys and girls to Christianity. Addressing a gathering here on Sunday, Hami said some Christian missionaries were trying to alter the Muslim majority character of Jammu and Kashmir at the behest of America and Israel. “We ask Muslims who have fallen for the trap of these missionaries and converted to Christianity to present themselves before Ulema before Eid-ul-Azha, and seek repentance from Allah,” he said. “Otherwise, Karwani Islami and Darul-Ifta will convene a joint session of Ulema and Muftis on November 11 and issue a fatwa(decree) of social boycott against these converts,” Hami said. Hami said the Ulema will not remain silent over the activities of Christian missionaries. “ They are luring young Muslims with money to convert and we will go to any extent to stop their activities,” he said. Hami said, being a Muslim majority state, liquor should have been banned in Jammu and Kashmir. “Instead, the government under a well planned conspiracy is promoting liquor among youth,” he said. Hami said it was ironic that the government had allowed a liquor shop opposite the Children’s hospital in Sonawar. “If the government doesn’t revoke the license of the liquor shop, Karwani-i-Islami would take to the streets,” he said. He appealed youth to follow the footsteps of Hazrat Amir Kabeer, Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani, and fight the conspiracies being hatched against Islam.
Repent or face social boycott: Karwan to ‘Christian converts’
Kashmir Dispatch, October 30, 2011 Kashmir Dispatch, October 30, 2011 He appealed youth to follow the footsteps of Hazrat Amir Kabeer, Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Noorani, and fight the conspiracies being hatched against Islam.
Jews training wild boars and pigs to make scary sounds and uproot Arabs' trees
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas has accused Jews living in Judea and Samaria of training wild boars to uproot Arabs' trees. The fantastic claim is included in a quote from Abbas that appears in an official presentation on PA incitement presented Sunday to the Israeli cabinet. Abbas made the claim in a speech in Ramallah on the eve of his appearance at the United Nations in September, in which he asked for recognition of PA statehood. The speech went virtually unnoticed in the media, except for some vigilant blogs. "The occupation and its actions, this is the nightmare that weighs down upon us," Abbas said. "…Attacks by settlers that find their expression in uprooting trees, burning mosques and even training dogs to attack us and sending wild boars to spread corruption on the face of the earth." Abbas continued: "The settlers deal with us in three ways: when they run across someone they attack him; they have trained the dogs well for this, and the boars, too, for uprooting trees." Just one week after Abbas gave his speech, a terror gang murdered Asher and Yonatan Palmer of Kiryat Arba. The Minister for Strategic Affairs, Moshe Yaalon, and Ministry Director Yossi Kupferwasser, presented the quotes as part of a report on the "Incitement Index," which shows an upsurge in PA incitement against Israel in recent months. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called the Index "an important eye-opener and reminder regarding where we live." "We have seen horrific things here," he said, "that define the Jews as poisoners of wells, among other things, and prepare the hearts for harsh and cruel deeds." The Elder of Zion blog has found that the wild boar libel originated with reports that appeared on PA news sites. A 2010 report on the Palestine Press Agency claimed: "Pigs from settlers from the settlement of 'Ariel' continued their attacks on the rights of farms and houses in Salfit and surrounding villages. Witnesses said that a swine herd consisting of twenty pigs attacked the farming communities, breaking down peach and apricot trees... Witnesses said the pigs made scary sounds and also attacked a field of wheat belonging to farmers Imran Ahmed Khalil Masri and Abu Dar.... The farmers expressed their indignation at the repeated attacks of pigs and have shown that attempts to eliminate them and get rid of them have failed dismally." Elder of Zion noted wryly that "the evil Jews did not only train the pigs to distinguish between Arab and Jewish farmlands, but they also train them to make scary noises!" Past Muslim "Zionist animal" theories have included stories about Mossad trained bee-eaters, vultures and sharks, as well as poison-resistant rats purportedly trained to drive Arab residents of Jerusalem out of their homes.
Abbas: Jews Train Boars to Uproot Trees
Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva, August 12, 2012 Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva, August 12, 2012 Past Muslim "Zionist animal" theories have included stories about Mossad trained bee-eaters, vultures and sharks, as well as poison-resistant rats purportedly trained to drive Arab residents of Jerusalem out of their homes.
US and UK Zionists using money from Jews to spread homosexuality in order to control the world
A report in a state-controlled Iranian paper last week asserting that the “Zionist regime” “spreads homosexuality” across the globe in order to pursue its goal of world domination has sparked fierce criticism from experts on Iran because of its homophobia and anti- Semitism. Mashregh News, an outlet affiliated with radical Islamists in Qom, wrote that the US and the UK are using money from Jews to spread homosexuality throughout the world. The article blasted Israel for promoting demonstrations for gay rights and specifically decried Tel Aviv as the gay paradise on earth. It also ridiculed Conservative Judaism for accepting gay rabbis, and urged Western governments to stop people from engaging in gay – and therefore immoral – actions, and provide medical treatment for homosexuals in order to stop their conduct.
...
Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, an expert on minority groups in Iran, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the article is “against gays, against the West and anti-Semitic.” He added that “the text legitimizes the execution of gays in Iran; they made a text not only to ridicule the West but to provide a reason why Iran executes gays.” The Iranian report also attacked Hollywood for depicting gays in positive terms on the silver screen.
Iran: Zionists spread homosexuality to control world
Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post, September 5, 2012 Benjamin Weinthal, Jerusalem Post, September 5, 2012 The Iranian report also attacked Hollywood for depicting gays in positive terms on the silver screen.
See Also
Conspiracies - A hub page that leads to other articles related to Conspiracies
Antisemitism - A hub page that leads to other articles related to AntisemitismAlmost a quarter of Republicans think Obama'may be the Antichrist' as 14 states sue over healthcare reforms
Americans who suggest Barack Obama should rot in hell are apparently deadly serious.
Nearly a quarter of Republicans believe the Democrat president'may be the Antichrist', according to a survey.
An even greater number compared him to Hitler.
Just another boys' club: Barack Obama, centre on the phone, is surrounded by male aides at the White House as they plot healthcare reform this week in a new image released today. The President has been compared to the Antichrist
Mr Obama was jubilant this week after securing his £626billion healthcare reform plan.
But his triumph seems only to have inflamed his critics among the evangelical Christians from America's heartland who kept George Bush in power for eight years and have demonised his successor.
More than half of the Republicans quizzed by Harris Poll, 57 per cent, believed the president was secretly Muslim, something he has consistently denied.
And 67 per cent of Republicans who responded believed Obama was a socialist, despite his central leanings.
The startling results came as lawyers representing 14 U.S. states filed lawsuits yesterday challenging an overhaul of the country's $2.5trillion healthcare system, minutes after President Barack Obama signed the landmark legislation.
One joint lawsuit by a dozen Republican attorneys general and a Democrat claims the sweeping reforms violate state-government rights in the U.S. Constitution and will force massive new spending on hard-pressed state governments.
Virginia went to court separately, while Missouri Republican Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder said he would like to join the suit.
'A big f****** deal': Mr Biden (second left) gaffed as the president signed the historic healthcare reform bill
The joint suit, led by Florida, was filed with a federal court in Pensacola, according to the office of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.
In addition to McCollum, the Republican attorneys general from Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington joined the suit.
The lawsuit says the law - which expands government health plans for the poor, imposes new taxes on the wealthy and requires insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions - violates the Constitution's commerce clause by requiring nearly all Americans to buy health insurance.
Mr McCollum said: 'It forces people to do something - in the sense of buying a healthcare policy or paying a penalty, a tax or a fine - that simply the Constitution does not allow Congress to do.'
Mr McCollum, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for Florida governor, said the healthcare reforms would add $1.6billion to Florida's spending on the Medicaid health program for the poor.
The Justice Department, which is responsible for defending U.S. law in court, pledged to vigorously fight any challenges to the new healthcare law.
'We are confident that this statute is constitutional and we will prevail,' said Justice spokesman Charles Miller.
The White House agreed the suits would fail.
'There have been hearings about the constitutionality of the law, and I think there's pretty much widespread agreement that it is constitutional,' Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said.
'I think we have governors who might be aiming for higher office who are starting to just send a message.'
The suits were filed just moments after Mr Obama signed the healthcare reforms into law.
But on the most historic occasion of his presidency so far, vice-president Joe Biden managed to put his foot in it.
Gaffe-prone Mr Biden inadvertently broadcast the F-word to America after he introduced the President to sign his much vaunted health reform bill into law yesterday.
After hugging Mr Obama at a a ceremony in the White House, Mr Biden leaned in and whispered in the President's ear: 'This is a big f****** deal.'
The remark was caught on microphones recording the event that was shown live across the country. By last night, the clip was being replayed all over the internet.
White House aides seemed to be unembarrassed, with press secretary Robert Gibbs later tweeting: 'Yes, Mr Vice-President, you're right.'INDIANAPOLIS -- Derek Miles could be back on the kidney transplant list as early as next Wednesday.
Miles, a disabled Marine, worked as a supervisor for Carrier for 13 years. But when he went on Social Security disability following an extended sick leave, Carrier fired him, per company policy.
Miles received the termination notice February 24. The letter read, "We received notice that you were recently awarded Social Security disability benefits, therefore, effective February 29th your employment will be terminated."
Losing his job cost him his health insurance -- which then removed him from the transplant list, because Medicare only covers 80 percent of the procedure. Miles was not eligible to buy supplemental insurance because he was on dialysis and is not over the age of 65.
MOVING TO MEXICO TV SPECIAL | Part 1 | Part 2
Right now, the 65-year-old does at-home dialysis four times a day, seven days a week.
"It's hard than being a Marine, and the Marines is tough," Miles said.
Miles' son, who is in the U.S. Army now, requested a compassionate reassignment so he could be a living kidney donor for his father. But to do that, a surgery date needs to be set.
On March 23, IU Health sent Carrier a letter asking the company to re-consider its decision.
Call 6 Investigates reached out to IU Health about Miles' story. They said they're looking at a number of options, including coordinating with the VA hospital to cover some of Miles' expenses after the transplant.
Call 6 Investigates also reached out to Carrier the same day.
On May 3, the company told us that, due to HIPPA, it could not discuss Miles' health information.
But the next day, Miles sent Call 6 Investigates a text saying Carrier HR had reinstated his benefits.
A United Technologies executive issued a statement later that day about the decision:
"Our thoughts are with Mr. Miles and we will do everything we can to assist with this situation. His benefits have been reinstated and we have assigned him an experienced health advocate to help him navigate through the complex medical and insurance processes."
An IU Health spokesperson said late Friday that Miles will have to undergo a clinical evaluation on Monday. The soonest he could be placed back on the transplant list is May 11Kodi Maybir found guilty of murdering girlfriend's 7yo son after months of abuse
Updated
A man who subjected his girlfriend's seven-year-old son to months of abuse as part of a religion-inspired discipline regime has been found guilty of murdering the boy.
The boy died at Kodi Maybir's unit in Oatley, in southern Sydney, in May 2013, about four months after the child and his mother, Kayla James, moved in.
An autopsy revealed the boy had trauma to the back and front of his head, causing subsequent brain swelling.
Maybir had pleaded not guilty to murdering the boy.
The court previously heard Maybir initially lied to police, telling them the boy was hurt when he fell off a pogo stick.
But during the trial, the New South Wales Supreme Court jury heard two other accounts of how the boy died, including that Maybir had been play-wrestling with the child.
The defence told the jury that Maybir and the victim enjoyed wrestling, and Maybir would throw the boy onto the couch. On this occasion, he said, there was an accident.
"He hit the floor hard. Mr Maybir didn't murder him," defence barrister Grant Brady SC said.
Prosecutors had rejected Maybir's offer to plead guilty to manslaughter and said the jury should convict him of murder.
The jury also found Maybir guilty of two counts of assault, producing child abuse material and an act of indecency to a sibling.
Detective Sergeant Trent Power said the boy's death had taken a toll on everyone involved with the case.
"Obviously we're very happy with the result today but it's still a very sad day," he said.
"The family of this little boy has to live on without... the beautiful little boy that he was.
"I'd also like to thank the great team of detectives that worked tirelessly and with so much passion on this case.
"We've spoken to the family in Australia and New Zealand and they're obviously very happy with the result. An awful day for them as well despite the result they were looking for."
Detective Sergeant Power said the videos played during the trial were some of the worst he had ever witnessed.
Abuse administered under religion-inspired discipline regime
A few months before the boy died, James and her three young children moved into Maybir's unit, which was converted into a music studio.
During the trial, the court heard the victim had suffered months of abuse at the hands of Maybir leading up to his death, as part of a religion-inspired discipline regime.
The court heard evidence that Maybir, a Christian hip hop music producer, "held extreme beliefs concerning religion... one which seemed to be eliminating the devil from people".
"Evidence will show the accused very substantially controlled [Kayla James] and introduced her to a bizarre system of controlling her family, which she went along with," crown prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC said during his opening address.
The boy was repeatedly hit, yelled at and forced to run until exhausted, the jury was told.
The jury viewed home videos of Maybir physically assaulting the boy, including one in which Maybir encouraged the boy's siblings to hit their brother.
The court also heard accounts from witnesses who saw the boy being forced to run laps until he collapsed, at a campsite in Bulli, near Wollongong, just over a month before his death.
Witnesses also gave accounts of the boy being beaten, punched in the face and forced to sit outside in the cold in his soiled underwear.
Food and drink were also withheld from the boy as punishment for wetting and soiling himself, the court heard.
Mr Brady said Maybir introduced boot-camp style discipline to the family because James was becoming increasingly aggressive towards the children.
The jury heard Maybir's ideas were influenced by movies, television programs and attending such camps himself.
Maybir had pleaded guilty to a number of assaults, but his barrister said the child's mother was responsible for most of the injuries he had suffered.
James is already in jail serving at least 10 years after pleading guilty to the boy's manslaughter in June.
Maybir will return to court for sentencing on February 19.
Topics: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, sydney-2000, oatley-2223
First postedPolice investigate the scene where a man who was believed to have shot and killed several people earlier in the day shot himself Wednesday, May 30, 2012, in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle. A gunman opened fire at a Seattle cafe earlier Wednesday, killing four people and critically wounding one other and later a man believed to be the same suspect shot and killed a woman and took her car near downtown, abandoning it less than two miles from where the alleged shooter shot himself as officers closed in on him, authorities said. He died at Harborview Medical Center on Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Witnesses called 911 during the tragic shootings that occurred, Wednesday, May 30, when Ian Stawicki opened fire at Cafe Racer, and then shot a woman in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood.
From Cafe Racer, two men called 911 to report the shooting. They were in the back of the restaurant and didn’t see Stawicki, but were urgent about getting medical help for the victims.
Listen to Seattle massacre 911 call: Cafe Racer
A woman who witnessed the confrontation between Stawicki and his next victim at 8th and Seneca, Gloria Leonidas, called 911 and was on the line as he shot her, took her car, and ran over Leonidas.
Listen to Seattle massacre 911 call: First Hill car-jacking
Finally, an officer in plain-clothes spots the suspect, Stawicki, in West Seattle. He calls back to the station for backup. There are some silences in this audio.
Listen to Police to dispatch: Officer spots Seattle massacre suspect in West Seattle
As police closed in on Stawicki, shortly after the above call, he took gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He died at Harborview Medical Center later that evening. Five of his victims died of their gunshot wounds before him, one victim remains in critical condition.A letter outlining issues related to reaching a settlement agreement with the Justice Department over predatory policing and court practices.
A letter to a citizens group in Ferguson assuring its members that citizens will have the chance to review an agreement with the Justice Department.
HOW THE PUBLIC CAN WEIGH IN
The proposed agreement with the Justice Department, which is available at www.fergusoncity.com, is subject to approval by the Ferguson City Council.
The city said it will accept public comments, which may be submitted in writing to the City Clerk prior to Feb. 9
In addition, the Ferguson City Council will hold three meetings to accept public comments: Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 6, at 10 a.m.; and Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m.
The Tuesday meetings will be at Ferguson City Hall; the Saturday meeting will be held at the Ferguson Community Center.
A final vote by the city council on the agreement is expected on Feb. 9, the city said in a news release.So you want to exercise, but don’t feel like doing it?
You have two options:
Get motivated (v): increase your desire to take action. Use willpower (v): force yourself to take action.
By the end of this article, you won’t believe in getting motivated anymore.
The extremely popular personal development strategy of “getting motivated” is unreliable, full of false assumptions, and a giver of disappointing results. But the better alternative of willpower is frequently misused to the point that it’s even less effective, which is why many people turn to getting motivated in the first place. We’re going to cover it all, but let’s start with one man who tries to get motivated to meet his fitness goals.
Scene: It’s 12:23 AM, and a husband and wife look at their bare stomachs in the bathroom mirror
Husband: “I need get rid this beer belly. How do you stay so beautiful and fit, Snuggle Cakes?”
Snuggle Cakes: “Aww, thanks Aspartame Honey Bear.” *she kisses him and looks down at her stomach, patting it twice* “Hmm…I guess I’m fit because I exercise consistently. I don’t leave it up to hope.”
Now, some of you are already thinking, “Yeah! Don’t leave it up to hope! Let’s DO it!” Well, be careful, because this is motivation-based thinking that won’t last. It’s the reason why the husband goes through exercise programs and fad diets like a dog digs through a bag of trash, and it all starts with a seemingly harmless observation.
The Vicious 5 Step “Get Motivated” Trap
1. Exercise is traced back to being motivated (seed planted)
The husband’s goal is to exercise, so he looks back to the times he exercised before, hoping he can replicate what has worked for him in the past. He remembers feeling motivated to exercise on a few occasions, and driving to the gym shortly thereafter.”That’s it,” he thinks, “I exercise when I’m motivated.” The seed is planted.
2. When exercise is desired, you get motivated (soil watered)
It’s Friday, and the husband wants to exercise, but exercise is wholly unappealing to him at the moment. Since he isn’t motivated to exercise, he tells himself he just needs to find a way to get motivated. The soil is watered.
He starts watching motivational youtube videos, reading articles on how to get motivated, and researches the health benefits of exercise.
Motivation is a fancy word that simply means wanting to do something. So to get motivated to exercise, is to want to want to exercise; it’s the desire to have a desire.
3. Getting motivated works this time (sun shines)
The husband is fired up! He roars and bangs on his chest, which scares his wife in more than one way. He is motivated, excitedly grabs his gym shoes, and runs to the car. At the gym, he has a really satisfying workout. It feels great to do something healthy and to overcome his resistance. The sun shines!
4. Getting motivated doesn’t always work (plant dies)
Over the coming weeks, the husband has inconsistent success with getting motivated to exercise. He finds that his motivation fluctuates with his mood and physical feelings, and that when he’s tired, he can’t get himself motivated. He misses quite a few gym days because he “just didn’t feel like it” and the typical motivational fixes didn’t change that. Many times, he didn’t even try to get motivated because he didn’t want to work. The plant dies.
5. New motivational material and strategies are sought and the cycle continues (new seed?)
Even after so many years of minimal progress and poor consistency, the husband continues to seek new ways to get himself motivated to exercise, thinking that he just hasn’t found the perfect strategy. But again and again, he finds that it works “sometimes.” He notices that life’s ups and downs and his feelings seem to have more to do with his successes and failures than his strategies. What’s he doing wrong? I’ll tell you. In step one, he planted the wrong seed.
Here’s Why Getting Motivated Will Never Be A Winning Strategy
Does getting motivated work? The answer is a maddening sometimes. At times, you can conjure up the motivation to be fit or write 5,000 words, but other times, you will end up taking a nap, watching TV, or drinking beer instead. This is a huge problem…
If getting motivated is your strategy, you can’t build habits.
Habits require repetition and consistency, and when your exercise program is dependent on a hearing a rousing speech, listening to a funky beat, or getting motivated in other ways, you’re unlikely to ever develop the habits that will bring you long term success in your pursuits. Motivation is not reliable because it’s based on how you feel, and we’ve known for centuries that human feelings are wacky and unpredictable.
Deep Existence subscribers know how much I love habits, because of how much I’ve badgered them about habits stressed habits this past month. I’m also writing my next book on habits (see my Mini Habits book here).
Think about how this Bruce Lee quote relates to getting motivated:
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
― Bruce Lee
Don’t get me wrong here. Motivation itself is great. In fact, here are the great benefits of being motivated.
The Impressive Benefits Of Motivation
It increases your desire and likelihood to take action
It gets you excited and is exciting
It boosts your determination
It generates positive thoughts
Clearly, it is better to be motivated than not to be, which is what makes people want to get motivated. But as we’ve already discussed, the “get motivated” strategy is inconsistent, and a recipe for confusion and frustration. If you’ve been baffled by your inconsistency exercising, it’s because you’ve been relying on motivation, which is NOT consistent. If you’re looking for a reliable alternative, it’s coming right up!
The Two Huge Secrets That Motivational Authors Don’t Want You To Know
I’ve got the secrets of life here. Seriously, these two ideas could change your life if you let them soak in and act accordingly. Are you ready for them?
You can take action even if you’re NOT motivated to do so. (tweet this important fact) This is much easier than it seems with the right strategies. Taking action FIRST is the best way to motivate yourself. (tweet this powerful truth) Many times, taking action is the only way to motivate yourself, which is a dagger in the heart of the “let’s get motivated first” strategy.
Last night I wrote 1,000 words for my book. No big deal, right? Actually, it was a big deal, because I had a headache, was dead tired, and wanted to sleep. I was not motivated, but I took action. After I started, I became motivated to write more. If I can write even in those rough circumstances, my streak is likely to continue. I’ve averaged about two thousand words a day for 55 127 300+ days (updated) in a row.
One reason taking action first (using willpower) before you feel motivated works is because the mind and body have an intimate relationship. When you act first with your body, your mind will tend to “align” with it. Did you know that it is scientifically proven that body language alters the brain in powerful ways? Check out this excerpt from my post, The James Bond Guide To Ultimate Confidence:
In an experiment by social psychologist Amy Cuddy, one group was instructed to assume a high-power pose and another a low-power pose, both for two minutes. The high-power pose group stood tall and placed their hands on their hips or held their arms out (open, wide, and taking up space). The low-power pose group folded their arms inward and slouched (closed, confined, and taking up less space). After just two minutes, the high-power pose group’s testosterone levels increased 20% and their cortisol levels decreased 25%. In addition, the high-power group was far more willing to take risks than the low-power posers. As for the low-power pose group results, their pose had the inverse effect – testosterone dropped 10% and cortisol increased 15%. But what do these results mean? I’ll tell you, and it’s pretty cool. The high-power pose group became more like James Bond! James Bond is fictional (right!?), but if he were real, we would find that he has low cortisol and high testosterone levels. Bond’s low cortisol levels are what allow him to remain calm when he looks death in the eye. His high testosterone levels are what make him confident, aggressive, and willing to take risks. Amy Cuddy: “Two minutes led to these hormonal changes that configure your brain to basically be either assertive, confident, and comfortable, or really stress-reactive and feeling kind of shut down.” Think of your mind and body as teammates that always want to be on the same page. When you body acts confidently, your mind will try to match it, |
for a suicidal man with a handgun. Police Chief Gene Rowe said the man let the officers come inside the house and agreed to be taken to University Hospital Richmond Medical Center.
While the man was gathering some belongings to take with him, he pulled out a gun and shot one of the officers, Rowe said. The second officer returned fire.
"It's always a dangerous situation. The officers are trying to be prepared to do the best that they can for that person and at the same time, try to make sure they're taking safety precautions themselves," Rowe said.
The suspect was killed and the officer was shot in the right side of his chest, according to Rowe. He was not wearing a bulletproof vest, but is in stable condition at an area hospital.
No one else was inside the house at the time
Rowe said this is the first time the shooting officer has used his weapon on the job. He has been placed on administrative leave.
BCI Special Agent Mark Kollar said they will do an independent investigation and turned the findings over to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office for review. BCI agents cleared the scene Monday morning.
The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as 46-year-old Carlumandarlo Zaramo.
A spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic said Zaramo was a researcher at the hospital until 2008.
41.540809 -81.498244Forgive John Tory if he seems a little exasperated these days. Eager to move ahead with ambitious plans for Toronto, from reforming the police service to fixing up public housing to creating a grand new downtown park, the first-term mayor instead finds himself refighting an issue he had every right to consider settled: the fate of the Scarborough subway.
City council voted way back in 2013 to extend the Bloor-Danforth line deeper into the populous eastern suburb. Both the provincial and federal governments are on board with hundreds of millions in support. Mr. Tory ran for office in 2014 on a promise to push ahead, arguing it was time to stop talking and start building. Yet, three years later, backers and opponents continue to spar over the project.
They were at it again when city council's executive committee met on Tuesday to consider a new progress report. By Mr. Tory's reckoning, it is the ninth time councillors have debated the subway. Its foes, he said, are using everything but poison-tipped umbrellas and exploding cigars to kill it. Enough is enough, he says. Time to get on with it.
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He is surely right about that. Toronto has fallen decades behind other major cities. City councillor Chin Lee showed the meeting subway maps for cities from Singapore to Beijing to Kuala Lumpur that started building after Toronto. They now have webs of mass transit that put Toronto's to shame. Yet, Mr. Lee said, "Here we are arguing about one extension of a subway line."
One reason Toronto has lagged so badly is that politicians keep changing their minds. Transit plans are drawn up and approved only to be redrawn or thrown out, a vast waste of time and – because transit-building costs climb as the years pass – money. Over the past decade, the city has seen a bewildering series of proposed transit plans come and go: light-rail, subway, back to light-rail again, and on and on ad infinitum.
Are critics of the subway honestly suggesting Toronto should reverse itself yet again? That it should go back to Ottawa and Queen's Park and tell them the project they endorsed and funded is now off? That it should instruct transit officials to discard millions of dollars worth of planning work for the subway and go back to preparing for light rail? That it should tell the residents of Scarborough that the subway they were promised in federal, provincial and municipal elections is off the table? The last thing Toronto needs is another transit flip-flop.
The project's opponents talk as if it were some madcap scheme scribbled on the back of a politician's napkin. In fact, transit planners have been considering a subway to Scarborough, where one-quarter of Torontonians live, since as long ago as 1985. A plan called Network 2011 envisioned a line spanning the top of the city and terminating in the Scarborough town centre, the same place the new Scarborough subway would end.
The $3.35-billion cost of the project is high, yes, and in the way of such things, it keeps going up. But its opponents gloss over the fact that the alternative – replacing the outmoded light-rail line to the town centre – would come at vast expense, too. According to a rough Toronto Transit Commission estimate (disputed like just about everything else on this issue), it could cost $3-billion, not much less than the subway.
If Toronto is going to spend that kind of money, why spend it on another light-rail line along the same route, the transit equivalent of reshingling the roof? Why not go up a step and build something better and more lasting? Why not offer commuters a fast, one-seat ride downtown that saves them the time-consuming transfer from light rail to subway?
Developers told Tuesday's meeting that with a subway link, the Scarborough town centre could evolve into a busy city hub. The subway itself will be busy, too. Despite a new, lower estimate for the number of new riders it would attract – Mr. Tory's SmartTrack rail project has complicated the projections – ridership on the new line promises to be robust. The town centre station is expected to have about 30,000 boardings a day, making it the third busiest station on the Bloor-Danforth line. The station will be near highway 401, so drivers and bus riders could stop there then ride into the city by subway.
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Mr. Tory argues that in a few decades time, when the city is vastly bigger and more built up, no one will be wondering why the city extended a subway line to serve Scarborough. What they might be wondering instead is why city leaders spent so much time arguing instead of building.During the third and final presidential debate on 19 October 2016, Republican nominee Donald Trump remarked that President Barack Obama “has moved millions of people out … millions of people have been moved out of this country.” As of 2015, more than 2.5 million undocumented persons had been deported by immigration authorities since President Obama took office in 2009, a total which was statistically record-setting. During the two terms of Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, just over 2 million people were deported.
However, that statistic is somewhat misleading, as a significant portion of it was due to a change in the way “deportations” are defined that began during the Bush administration, not in the actual number of persons turned out of the U.S. As the Los Angeles Times noted, if not for that change in definition about what constitutes a “deportation,” the Obama administration likely would not have been a record-setting one in this area:
The number of people deported at or near the [U.S.-Mexico] border has gone up — primarily as a result of changing who gets counted in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s deportation statistics. The vast majority of those border crossers would not have been treated as formal deportations under most previous administrations. If all removals were tallied, the total sent back to Mexico each year would have been far higher under those previous administrations than it is now. Until recent years, most people caught illegally crossing the southern border were simply bused back into Mexico in what officials called “voluntary returns,” but which critics derisively termed “catch and release.” Those removals, which during the 1990s reached more 1 million a year, were not counted in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s deportation statistics. Now, the vast majority of border crossers who are apprehended get fingerprinted and formally deported. The change began during the George W. Bush administration and accelerated under Obama. The policy stemmed in part from a desire to ensure that people who had crossed into the country illegally would have formal charges on their records. In the Obama years, all of the increase in deportations has involved people picked up within 100 miles of the border, most of whom [had] just recently crossed over. In 2013, almost two-thirds of deportations were in that category.
The deportation trend abated towards the latter part of the Obama administration, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announcing efforts to “prioritize convicted criminals and threats to public safety, border security, and national security.” Although 2013 was a record-setting year with 435,498 deportations, 2015 saw the lowest numbers in a decade, according to ICE.
Data provided by ICE dating back to 1892 records that annual deportations jumped into the hundred-thousands in 1997, when the U.S. deported 114,432 people. Just one year earlier, the U.S. had deported only 69,680 people.
According to the non-profit immigrant advocacy group American Immigration Council, the trend in growing deportation numbers long preceded Barack Obama’s presidency:
The federal government has, for nearly two decades, been pursuing an enforcement-first approach to immigration control that favors mandatory detention and deportation over the traditional discretion of a judge to consider the unique circumstances of every case. The end result has been a relentless campaign of imprisonment and expulsion aimed at noncitizens — a campaign authorized by Congress and implemented by the executive branch. While this campaign precedes the Obama administration by many years, it has grown immensely during his tenure in the White House.
The trend can be traced back to the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IIRCA) of 1986, “which encouraged the initiation of deportation proceedings against any immigrant convicted of a deportable offense. Since that time, a stream of punitive legislation has eaten away at the traditional discretion of judges to grant relief from deportation in particular cases.”
According to the Pew Research Center, other variables have played into the climbing rate of deportations during Barack Obama’s presidency, including higher rates of apprehension by Border Patrol agents:
One distinct feature of the record number of deportations is the increasing share of deportations by U.S. Customs and Border Protection after border apprehension. In 2013, 25% of all deportations were carried out by the agency, up from 17% in 2012. Meanwhile, the number of deportations carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which deports people caught both at the border and the interior of the country, fell in 2013 compared with 2012. This rise in the number of deportations also coincides with stalled growth of the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population since 2009, and a more recent rise in the number of apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2013, there were 414,000 apprehensions at the southwest border, a rise of 27% over 2011 (the most recent low in apprehensions).
The Border Patrol’s budget has expanded from $5.9 billion 2003 to $11.9 billion in 2013, while ICE’s grew from $3.3 billion to $5.9 billion. As of 2013, the two agencies had a total budget of nearly $18 billion, and that number increased to nearly $20 billion in 2016.
Another factor for the increase in deportations during Obama’s terms comes from legislation that has become known as a “bed mandate” or “bed quota:”
The bed quota requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold an average of 34,000 individuals in detention on a daily basis. This quota has steadily increased since its establishment in 2009. No other law enforcement agency is subject to a statutory quota on the number of individuals to hold in detention. The bed quota prevents ICE from exercising discretion and expanding more efficient alternatives to detention (ATD) that would allow individuals who pose no risk to public safety to be released back to their families while awaiting immigration court hearings.
The Washington Post described how ICE has maintained that average of 34,000 individuals in detention and how the practice has affected the number of deportations:
The policy requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to keep an average of 34,000 detainees per day in its custody, a quota that has steadily risen since it was established in 2006 by conservative lawmakers who insisted that the agency wasn’t doing enough to deport unlawful immigrants. But as illegal crossings from Mexico have fallen to near their lowest levels since the early 1970s, ICE has been meeting Congress’s immigration detention goals by reaching deeper into the criminal justice system to vacuum up foreign-born, legal U.S. residents convicted of any crimes that could render them eligible for deportation. The agency also has greatly expanded the number of undocumented immigrants it takes into custody after traffic stops by local police.
The American Immigration Council explained how recent trends toward combining the duties of local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities also contributed, with programs such as the now-discontinued Secure Communities and 287(g):
Secure Communities, which was created in 2008, is an information-sharing program between DHS and the Department of Justice. The program uses biometric data to screen for deportable immigrants as people are being booked into jails. Under Secure Communities, an arrestee’s fingerprints are run not only against criminal databases, but immigration databases as well. If there is an immigration “hit,” ICE can issue a “detainer” requesting that the jail hold the person in question until ICE can pick him up. Under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, DHS may deputize selected state and local law-enforcement officers to perform the functions of federal immigration agents. Like employees of ICE, these “287(g) officers” have access to federal immigration databases, may interrogate and arrest noncitizens believed to have violated federal immigration laws, and may lodge “detainers” against alleged noncitizens held in state or local custody.
Secure Communities was replaced by the Priority Enforcement Program, which prioritizes “threats to national security, public safety, and border security.”
In the 105 years between 1892 and 1997, the U.S. deported 2.1 million people — meaning that under presidents Bush and Obama, the number of people deported by the U.S. in the course of a century was more than doubled in just 16 years of consecutive presidencies.Getty Images
Josh Freeman is Eli Manning’s new backup quarterback.
Shortly after news broke that Freeman and the Giants were close, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports reported that the two sides have agreed to terms.
The Giants were the opponent for Freeman’s only start in a Vikings uniform, and Freeman was terrible: He completed just 20 of 53 passes for 190 yards, with no touchdowns and one interception, and the Vikings lost 23-7. But the Giants must have seen something that day — and in Freeman’s body of work with the Buccaneers — to make them think he has potential.
Freeman will compete with 2013 fourth-round draft pick Ryan Nassib and veteran Curtis Painter for the right to serve as the No. 2 quarterback behind Manning, and Freeman will probably enter training camp as the favorite to win the backup role. At age 26, there’s still time for Freeman to show that he has what it takes to be a starter, but that won’t happen in New York as long as Manning is around.BARCELONA — The Mobile World Congress hasn't even officially kicked off yet, and Samsung is already on fire, announcing devices left and right. After the 10.1-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, next in line is a smartphone/mobile projector combo called Samsung Galaxy Beam.
The device's dual-core 1 GHz CPU, 4-inch, 800x480 screen, 5-megapixel rear camera (with an additional VGA one on the front) and Android 2.3 don't do much to differentiate it from the other mid-to-high-range Androids.
What makes it different from most other smartphones on the market is its "ultra-bright," 15-lumen projector, which lets you project a 50-inch wide image on a wall - really handy for presentations or those moments when you want to share your holiday photos with your family and friends.
Interestingly enough, Samsung says the device has 6 GB of RAM memory, but we're seriously doubting that, and will update the article when we learn more.
Update: apparently, what Samsung really meant was 768 MB of RAM memory, while the "6" figure was referring to the memory speed - in gigabits. So, if you were hoping to have a smartphone that has more memory than most PCs, we have to disappoint you: the Galaxy Beam is not it.
Samsung Galaxy Beam
Complete Coverage of Mobile World Congress 2012Gay Blue Jeans Day, alternatively National Gay Blue Jeans Day or just Gay Jeans Day is a celebration frequently advertised on college campuses in the United States in coordination with World AIDS Day, Gay Equality Day, Gay Pride Week, or National Coming Out Day. Students are encouraged to wear jeans on a particular day to communicate their support of gay rights.
The organizers of Gay Jeans Day at CMU analyse the action in this way.[1]
To let GLBT students on their campus know there is a supportive community.
Jeans are chosen for this event because most people have a pair, and because deciding what to wear causes everyone—no matter what their sexual orientation—to think about how other people will react to their choice of clothing.
Allow straight people to think about how others will react to their perceived sexual orientation, and to experience having to alter their normal behavior to avoid being perceived as gay.
During campus debates in the early 1990s about such Jeans Days, the Lesbian and Gay Alliance at Bowling Green State University published a letter to the local newspaper indicating that part of the logic of using a common piece of clothing such as jeans was to demonstrate that, when jeans indicated participation in affirming such rights, people would deliberately wear another form of clothing in tacit protest.[citation needed]
Many supporters of the protest[2] argued that the protest was effective because it forced heterosexuals to do something to actively engage in homophobia (wear something else that day), or wear their usual attire (blue jeans) and become possible targets of homophobia themselves, and that many people unaware of the protest might wear blue jeans and be educated by becoming targets of homophobia [3] Others argue that the protest simply forces everyone to examine their own personal relationship to homophobia by leaving no space to be uninterested.
The date and name of 'wear Blue Jeans if You're Gay Day' 'Jeans Day', 'Gay Jeans Day' etc. varies with place and time. BSC celebrates on October 11, the same day as National Coming Out Day.[4] Other universities celebrate the day some time during Pride month (June) or on a day when many students will be on campus (e.g., the first day of the semester).[citation needed]
History [ edit ]
"Jeans Day" began at Rutgers University in 1974.[4]× City leaders: IndyCar interested in Oklahoma City
OKLAHOMA CITY — One of the fastest races in motorsports is looking to make Oklahoma City home in the next couple of years.
The City Council has agreed to allow IndyCar to scout OKC for possible locations for a race in 2017 or 2018.
Mayor Mick Cornett says a representative from the circuit approached him.
“There are several steps that have to happen before I would call this serious but it’s nice that people are noticing us,” he said. “This is a promoter that’s already doing a high-profile race in Boston and when they look at Oklahoma City as a potential market, we should feel good about it.”
Read: What is IndyCar?
Cornett says he tried to bring a race to his city five or six years ago, but the Council turned him down, at a time when a number of downtown streets were already under construction.
This time, he’s not sure there’s a viable public space available, but he says there’s no harm in letting IndyCar come check things out.
“I think we should look at this as a validation of Oklahoma City’s ascension as a big player for sports,” he said. “If they look at the success of the Thunder they wonder what else the market could support and they want to at least inquire about Oklahoma City’s interest.”
The mayor says he was not given a definitive timeline, but expects IndyCar to get back to him within a few months if the circuit is interested.WITH less than 100 days to go before the Newport Nato Summit this September a group of anarchists and anti-Nato campaigners have set up shop in the city, while plans emerge to disrupt the summit’s first day.
A former Thai restaurant unit on Commercial Street has been transformed into what organisers have called a “festival of radical change” dubbed Newport Rising.
The week-long event, organised by anarchist and anti-Nato groups, will see a range of workshops on everything from opposition to nuclear power and fracking in Wales, to the protests against the summit itself.
One of the groups planning protests, Stop Nato Cymru, says it is planning a “mass action” to disrupt the first day of the Celtic Manor Resort summit on September 4.
Other action planned by the umbrella No to Nato Newport group includes the “Long March to Newport” of walkers and cyclists across Wales during August, reaching the city by August 29.
A march in Newport is planned for August 30, together with a counter summit on August 31.
Organisers of Newport Rising were cautious about talking to journalists yesterday but some visitors did speak to the Argus.
One attendee, Helen, said: “I think it’s shameful that South Wales is welcoming Nato after everything that Nato does to communities.”
Simon Lewis, who is originally from Gwent, said Nato “aren’t accountable to anybody. They enforce the interests of a few governments.”
Iestyn Jones, from North Wales, said he was primarily interested in anarchism but said people should protest against the event, citing millions in cuts planned in the city over the next few years.
Newport Rising, organised by Stop Nato Cymru, the Anarchist Action Network and South Wales Anarchists and which is taking place in a unit, the Argus was told, is being rented, is running until June 1.
It is unconnected to Newport Rises – a separate non-political group set up to promote the city.
Meanwhile, the 100 days-to-go milestone was yesterday marked by the Conservative Secretary of State for Wales David Jones.
“Governments in London and in Cardiff are working hard to ensure Wales derives the maximum benefit from the summit and is promoted as a great place to visit, do business and study,” he said.
Mr Jones said it is important to educate young people about Nato and therefore a teaching resource for 11 to 18 year olds will be made available to schools.
“The Newport area itself boasts Europe’s largest and most advanced centre of military armour technology... It is essential we take advantage to ensure Welsh expertise in the defence sector is highlighted to delegates,” he said.Return to previous page
Contact: Ruth Institution: Nature Publishing Group Article Released Thu-18th-October-2012 16:42 GMT Share this article: Prehistoric human populations prospered before the agricultural boom Researchers from China's Fudan University have found major prehistoric human population expansions may have begun before the Neolithic period, which probably led to the introduction of agriculture
Evolution: Prehistoric human populations prospered before the agricultural boom
DOI: 10.1038/srep00745
Major prehistoric human population expansions in three continents may have begun before the Neolithic period — around 15–11,000 years ago in Africa, from around 13,000 years ago in Europe and around 12–8,000 years ago in the Americas. The findings are published in Scientific Reports.
The development of agriculture facilitated extensive human population growths and activities, but whether these major expansions began before or after the Neolithic era, a period during which humans started to grow crops and domesticate animals, remains controversial. Agriculture is thought to have first developed in the Fertile Crescent of West Asia around 12–11,000 years ago, and was then developed independently over the next few thousand years in other regions. To compare global patterns of population growth, Li Jin and colleagues analyzed over 900 mitochrondrial genomes generated by the 1000 Genomes Project, representing 11 populations in Africa, Europe and the Americas. They identified the expansion lineages and were able to reconstruct the historical demographical variations. On all three continents, most of the major lineages coalesced before the first appearance of agriculture.
The data imply that major population expansions took place after the Last Glacial Maximum (the peak of the last ice age) but before the Neolithic period. The authors suggest that the milder climate after the Last Glacial Maximum may have offered a more amiable environment and may have been an important factor in prehistoric human expansions. The increase in population size was probably one of the driving forces that led to the introduction of agriculture, turning it from a supplementary food source to the primary one.
CONTACT
Li Jin (Fudan University, Shanghai, China)
E-mail: lijin.fudan@gmail.com
Associated links Link to research paper Journal information Scientific Reports Email this page to a friend Keywords associated to this article: evolution, prehistory populationSample Cover Letter
A cover letter (or an application letter) is a letter which should briefly describe your strong points and qualifications. It is a letter that should meet the standards of the job employer and job position you are looking for. The cover letters go along with resumes and should be written in a specific manner, portraying your best sides and the interests for the job position.
The cover letter should range from your best sides down to your greatest weakness and should only include biographical details in terms of other similar jobs that you have. Bringing up any experience that could be useful for the job employer is vital for receiving positive results from the person that you are sending the letter to. Except for your skills and qualifications, the cover letter is also used as a backbone of who you are. Be sure to expose your potential as much as possible, but on the other hand, also be firm, stable and honest about your answers. Having a cover letter filled with too many promises or being too much on the down-side will have consequences and is not recommended. The importance of the cover letter comes with the affirmation of the written words (the action that you take to convince the employer to hire you).
Being a little personal in the cover letter could land you some points, if chosen carefully and put in the right context and/or sentence. The cover letter should be written in a distinguished, formal way as to show that you are a serious person. There are several types of cover letters, depending on which thesis and to what kind of a job you are applying. In general, they are all similar and acquire originality in content and uniqueness. The content of a cover letter varies from job to job but the general points should conclude on what the job position is all about.
For example if you are applying to be a waiter at a restaurant, you should name all the things that you are agile and intelligent about and that can help the service at the restaurant. Saying you are good at numbers will land you some points, while on the other hand, saying you are good at hunting grizzly bears will not. While speaking about grizzly bears, it is important to include some humor in your cover letter.
A small dose of it won’t hurt anyone and it will show the job employer that you do have your own personal smartness. It is crucial your cover letter to have a serious point and context. After all, the cover letter is your only chance of leaving a good impression.
Sample Cover Letter 1
Stacy J. Welsh
183 River Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
Tel: 719-460-XXXX
Email: Stacy.Welsh@ABC.com
August 22, 2014
Name, Title
Company Name
Address
City, ST 12345
As an Information Technology professional with high-level training experience in the IT industry, I learned that the best way to achieve success was to motivate the resources I had with well-defined objectives and empowerment. I have consistently proven myself as a knowledgeable Network Consultant, able to give expert LAN/WAN solutions to clientele. I am confident in continuing this trend as the new ABC Position with XYZ Corporation.
Currently, I am a Network Consultant with XYZ Technologies in New York. In this role, I have offered expertise in installation and configuration of Cisco routers, Catalyst switches, and domain upgrades. I was key facilitator to the deployment of messaging and instant messaging systems on the MS Exchange environment. In previous roles, I was a Trainer, Network Administrator, and System Engineer.
I have completed extensive training and certifications in, CCNA, MCSE Windows Server 2008 and CompTIA A+ along with a Bachelor of Computer Science University of Rochester. Delivering massive value to employers and clients has been the focus of my career for the past 4 years.
I have unfailingly provided strategies and leadership necessary to enhance people, processes, and technologies. In addition, I have established a solid reputation for assessing challenges, and responding quickly to business needs. This will also be the value that I offer XYZ Corporation.
Please contact me at Tel: 719-460-XXXX or Email: Stacy.Welsh@ABC.com to schedule a time to talk. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Stacy J. Welsh
Enc. Resume
Sample Cover Letter 2
Kerry P. Grossem
546 Old Park Rd
Longview, TX
Tel: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Email: example@sample.com
Sept. 12, 2014
Name, Title
Company Name
Address
City, ST 12345
Life as a Network Administrator has been an eventful and adventurous ride at times. Over the course of twelve years in this business, I have learned the importance of a job well done. For me, doing my job the right way means that I give all that I have to make the jobs of others easier and to ensure that the work of the company I provide network services for never slows down because of a network issue.
To be sure there are always problems in the world of technology. That is why it is important to have an experienced individual to complete the job of services and overseeing the activity of the network itself. It is a full time job for any company and it is a job that should never be taken lightly.
Over the time I have spent in this career, I have been responsible for setting up and overseeing five networks for two different companies. Each individual network is different so having set up that many has given me vastly important experience that I need to get every job done correctly. This valuable experience is what I bring to the table and nobody takes more pride in a job well done than me.
I am available any time of the day. Please feel free to contact me in any way listed below. I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully to doing business with you.
Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Fax: xxx-xxx-xxxx
email: Example@sample.com
Sincerely,
Kerry P. Grossem
Network Administration Specialist
Sample Cover Letter 3
Donald G. Parker
134 Newfound Ln
Marietta, GA
Tel: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Email: example@sample.com
Sept. 12, 2014
Name, Title
Company Name
Address
City, ST 12345
As important as the right people are to each individual business, the network that runs that business is equally so. Even the best team of workers requires the network to work correctly and consistently in order for their work to get done in a timely manner. This is something that should never be taken lightly and one and a half decades as a Network Administrator has taught me the value of helping others get their jobs done by doing mine.
The responsibility of a Network Administration Specialist such as myself is one that any company must see done well. I have worked for three companies over the course of my career, having set up a dozen different individual networks along the way. I know how best to build a network from the ground up. I have learned how to improve an existing network so that it runs and does its job in a better way.
Experience is invaluable in this line of work. I have been through any kind of technical issue that a network can throw at a company. Each time I have been able to not only fix said issues but have learned how to take measures to prevent such problems from ever happening again to the best of my ability.
I am available for contact via any of the contacts listed below. Please feel free to get in touch with my at any time as I am always available. I look forward to doing business with you and I hope to hear from you soon.
Phone: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx
Fax: xxx-xxx-xxxx
email: Example@sample.com
Sincerely,
Donald G. Parker
Network AdministratorYou must enter the characters with black color that stand out from the other characters
Message: * A friend wanted you to see this item from WRAL.com: http://wr.al/16APQ
— Thick smoke has settled over a wide area of the southern Appalachians, where dozens of uncontrolled wildfires are burning through decades of leaf litter and people breathe in tiny bits of the forest with every gulp of air.
It's a constant reminder of the threat to many small mountain communities, where relentless drought and now persistent fires and smoke have people under duress.
"A lot of the ladies just went to tears and said this happens in other places, it doesn't happen here," pastor Scott Cates said as townspeople donated water, cough drops and other supplies for the firefighters at the Liberty Baptist Church in Tiger, Georgia.
Here, these fires don't sleep. They burn through the night, through the now-desiccated tinder of deciduous forests accustomed to wet, humid summers and autumns.
"It doesn't die down after dark," said fire Capt. Ron Thalacker, who came from Carlsbad, New Mexico, with a fire engine that now draws water from streams and ponds to spray on hotspots in Georgia's Rabun County, near the epicenter of the southern fires.
Large, wind-driven fires that scorch pine forests in the West often burn in the tree tops and mellow out at night, but these fires are clinging to the ground and actively burning 24 hours a day, said firefighter Chad Cullum of Billings, Montana.
Cullum spoke briefly, as flames rolled down a mountainside behind him. Then he ordered everyone to get out. "We need to leave," he said sternly, ushering people to move down a rocky dirt road.
More than 5,000 firefighters and support personnel, including many veterans of wildfires in the arid West, and 24 helicopters are battling blazes in the fire zone, which has spread from northern Georgia and eastern Tennessee into eastern Kentucky, the western Carolinas and parts of surrounding states.
Nationally, "there's a pretty good ability to help out the South right now," said Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Forest Service. Reinforcements have arrived from at least 37 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, she said this week.
One man died Wednesday on eastern Kentucky's Mountain Parkway, where smoke decreased visibility. Kentucky State Police said about 14 others were injured in a series of wrecks on both sides of the road.
Trooper Scott Ferrell said a coal truck driver died when he got out of his truck to check on a driver whose vehicle had hit the truck and then was hit by a third vehicle. About 15 vehicles were involved in the chain reaction collisions that closed the highway for nearly 10 hours, Ferrell said.
More than 30 large fires remain uncontained, and overall, a total of 128,000 acres has burned, or about nine times the size of Manhattan.
Firefighters got a lucky break when a fire reversed direction, turning away from the Trail of Tears, which marks the route where the Cherokee and other Indians were forcibly removed from their lands in the 1800s. In national forests, following procedures approved by the tribes, heavy equipment isn't allowed within 750 feet of the trail bed unless life or property is threatened, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Terry McDonald said.
Tim Free, a lifelong resident of Rabun County, broke down with emotion as he described how elderly neighbors are struggling with relentless smoke, so thick it blocks the sun. "What we're fortunate to have here is people who care about people," he said.
"Anybody that's outside of their homes is going to have to have something that will basically lubricate their throats — cough drops, lozenges or even a stick of peppermint," Free said. "Just to get a little lubricant in your eyes is something that's needed daily because of the smoke."
Just across the state line in North Carolina, three firefighters were battling the Party Rock fire near the town of Lake Lure after driving 23 hours from Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"There was a request for help. We have units available to assist," Edward Nieto said.
There hasn't been a fire in the Lake Lure area in a long time, so the forest floor is thick with flammable material, and falling autumn leaves are encouraging the flames to spread, said Victoria Tillotson, a spokeswoman with the North Carolina Forest Service.
A total of 850 people were fighting the Party Rock blaze, which grew to more than 5,700 acres on Tuesday and was still just 19 percent contained, she said.
Randle Montgomery recalled watching television coverage of wildfires in California and considering himself lucky. He never expected a 4,500-acre blaze to threaten Lake Lure, where he works, and Black Mountain, where he's lived for 16 years.
"The way this thing takes off, they'll get it contained, and it just depends on the wind, but it's turned so many times on us," said Montgomery, 47. "And it's got everybody pretty much on edge."
Tom Stokesberry, an emergency medical technician from Six Rivers National Forest in California, arrived in Georgia's Rabun County on Veterans Day.
"The goal is to keep this line intact," Stokesberry said, pointing to a narrow, winding dirt road between a burning mountainside and a pasture that, so far, has been untouched by the fire.
The smoke is hiding the sun in town, but out at the fire's edge, it appears blood red.
"We call that the red eye of the dragon," Cullum says.
___
Associated Press writers Tom Foreman Jr. in North Carolina and Jonathan Mattise in Tennessee contributed to this report.Is Toronto in the dark when it comes to Earth Hour? Millions of people from 134 countries — from Delhi, India to Heidelberg, Germany — switched off their lights and televisions for the fifth annual Earth Hour on Saturday night to show their support for action on climate change.
The Toronto city skyline at 8:27 pm during Earth Hour, March 26, 2011. ( Lucas Oleniuk / TORONTO STAR )
But Toronto only saw a 5 per cent power drop during the event — half of the reduction |
imageSourceUrl
}) {... }
The PropType Validation is Wrong
Let’s look back at the original validations being used:
// GuestShape was imported in the previous component code snippet,
// but is shown inline here for stupidity demonstration purposes.
const GuestShape = PropTypes.shape({
id: PropTypes.number,
fullName: PropTypes.string,
isPremium: PropTypes.bool,
userImage: PropTypes.string,
countryOfOrigin: PropTypes.string,
countryCodeOfOrigin: PropTypes.string,
gender: PropTypes.string
});
GuestHeader.propTypes = {
guest: GuestShape.isRequired
};
GuestProfilePhoto.propTypes = {
guest: GuestShape.isRequired
};
Nothing is `required` in GuestShape!
I was trying to reuse the same validation shape across multiple components, and different components needed different parts of it, so nothing could be required!
By attempting to reuse PropType validation on application-specific state used as props, my state shape could change, break my app, and I wouldn’t even get so much as a warning!
Now that we’ve changed up our component’s prop structure though, we can easily fix this critical point of failure:
// Rest easy, friend. I got ya.
ScreenHeaderWithImage.propTypes = {
imageSourceUrl: React.PropTypes.string.isRequired,
primaryHeadline: React.PropTypes.string.isRequired,
secondaryHeadline: React.PropTypes.string // Optional
}
Glad that’s gone….
The Component Coupling is Wrong
We still have one problem, and it’s a subtle one that by itself warrants its own article. It’s that the ScreenHeaderWithImage component is coupled to the CircularImage component. What if I want a SquareImage? Or no image at all?
One solution would be to pass in a prop or twenty for this:
function ScreenHeaderWithImage({
primaryHeadline,
secondaryHeadline,
imageSourceUrl,
hasImage
}) {
if (hasImage) {... }
else {... }
...
}
… but this is not sustainable and is still limiting. Instead, React gives us a far more powerful tool to handle the situation where a component wishes to not care about what child component(s) are used.
Composition!
Rule #5: Composition is superior to import statements at the top and is the primary mechanism which allows your component to focus on doing ONE thing. Use it wherever, and whenever you can.
By composing, a parent can become decoupled from its children and this allows for its own usage and function to become more granular and clear.
Wherever you are taking in some props and merely passing them unmodified to a child component, that’s also a good indication of a spot to use composition instead.
function ScreenHeader({
primaryHeader,
secondaryHeader,
children
}) {
return (
<View>
<View style={{ flex:1,... }}> // Centered container
{children}
</View>
<Text style={{ fontSize: 20 }}>{primaryHeader}</Text>
<Text style={{ fontSize: 10}}>{secondaryHeader}</Text>
</View>
);
}
The ScreenHeader component is now the epitome of reusable!!!
Assuming you’re using React Native….
The Platform Coupling is Wrong(ish)
Let’s go crazy. What if I want to display this on the web? I can’t use this component because it’s using React Native components (View & Text) as well as styling that doesn’t exist outside of React Native….
The good news is that React is just the tool for the job.
// Replace the "View" with a generic container component
import Container from './Container';
// Replace the "Text" with more semantic components
import PrimaryHeadline from './PrimaryHeadline';
import SecondaryHeadline from './SecondaryHeadline';
function ScreenHeader({
primaryHeader,
secondaryHeader,
children
}) {
return (
<Container>
<Container centered>
{children}
</Container>
<PrimaryHeadline>{primaryHeader}</PrimaryHeadline>
<SecondaryHeadline>{secondaryHeader}</SecondaryHeadline>
</Container>
);
}
The bad news is that the problem is just pushed forward. The new components look something like this:
// Container.js -- Depends on React Native :(
import { View } from'react-native';
const center = {
flex:1,
flexDirection:'row',
alignItems:'center',
justifyContent:'center'
};
function Container({ centered }) {
let style = {};
if (centered) {
Object.assign(style, center);
}
return (
<View style={style} />
);
}
------
// Text.js -- Depends on React Native :(
import Text from 'ReactNative';
function RNTextWrapper({ size }) {
return <Text style={{size}} />;
}
------
// PrimaryHeadline.js -- Semantic titles, requires only Text above
import Text from './Text';
function PrimaryHeadline({ children }) {
return <Text size={20}>{children}</Text>;
}
------
// SecondaryHeadline.js
import Text from './Text';
function SecondaryHeadline({ children }) {
return <Text size={10}>{children}</Text>;
}
But, the good news is that all you need to do now is rewrite these TWO components (Container and Text) to support multiple platforms!
In theory :)
TL;DR All the guidelines in one place
The idea: Presentational React components should not know about your company, its product, or the platform it’s built for. None of them exist.
#1: Do not name your components after the part of state they connect to.
#2: Do not name your components for the role they play in YOUR application.
#3: A component should be given ONLY the props it requires. This structure should be flat.
#4: Props should not be named according to the application state that gets passed in. Instead, they should be named according to their usage within the component itself.
#5: Composition is superior to import statements at the top and is the primary mechanism which allows your component to focus on doing ONE thing. Use it wherever, and whenever you can.
Here are some common ways presentational components “know” about a product:
By using names for a particular part of the application’s state (e.g. EventStats)
By using names based on the role the component plays in the application (e.g. RegistrationConfirmation)
And some common ways presentational components “know” about a platform:This article is about the astronomical phenomenon. For other uses, see Winter solstice (disambiguation)
"Midwinter" redirects here. For other uses, see Midwinter (disambiguation)
Winter solstice Lawrence Hall of Science visitors observe sunset on the day of the winter solstice using the Sunstones II.. Also called Midwinter, Yule, the Longest Night, Jól Observed by Various cultures Type Cultural, astronomical Significance Astronomically marks the beginning of lengthening days and shortening nights Celebrations Festivals, spending time with loved ones, feasting, singing, dancing, fires Date about December 21 (NH)
about June 21. (SH) Frequency Twice a year (once in the northern hemisphere, once in the southern hemisphere, six months apart) Related to Winter festivals and the solstice
The winter solstice (or hibernal solstice), also known as midwinter, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky.[1] At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice. Its opposite is the summer solstice.
The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (usually 21 or 22 December) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (usually 20 or 21 June). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term sometimes refers to the day on which it occurs. Other names are "midwinter", the "extreme of winter" (Dongzhi), or the "shortest day". Traditionally, in many temperate regions, the winter solstice is seen as the middle of winter, but today in some countries and calendars, it is seen as the beginning of winter. In meteorology, winter is reckoned as beginning about three weeks before the winter solstice.[2]
Since prehistory, the winter solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals.[3] It marked the symbolic death and rebirth of the Sun.[4][5][6] The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.
Seasonal lag is the term relating the lag shift between the coldest winter weather and the winter solstice. As latitude increases, midwinter correlates more closely with the winter solstice.[citation needed]
History and cultural significance [ edit ]
Japanese Sun goddess Amaterasu emerging from a cave (by Kunisada
Winter solstice occurs in December for the northern hemisphere, and June for the southern hemisphere.
The solstice may have been a special moment of the annual cycle for some cultures even during neolithic times. Astronomical events were often used to guide activities, such as the mating of animals, the sowing of crops and the monitoring of winter reserves of food. Many cultural mythologies and traditions are derived from this.
This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, such as Stonehenge in England and Newgrange in Ireland. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line pointing to the winter solstice sunrise (Newgrange) and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge). It is significant that at Stonehenge the Great Trilithon was oriented outwards from the middle of the monument, i.e. its smooth flat face was turned towards the midwinter Sun.[7]
The winter solstice was immensely important because the people were economically dependent on monitoring the progress of the seasons. Starvation was common during the first months of the winter, January to April (northern hemisphere) or July to October (southern hemisphere), also known as "the famine months". In temperate climates, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was almost the only time of year when a plentiful supply of fresh meat was available.[8] The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time. The concentration of the observances were not always on the day commencing at midnight or at dawn, but at the beginning of the pagan day, which in many cultures fell on the previous eve.[citation needed]
Because the event was seen as the reversal of the Sun's ebbing presence in the sky, concepts of the birth or rebirth of sun gods have been common. In cultures which used cyclic calendars based on the winter solstice, the "year as reborn" was celebrated with reference to life-death-rebirth deities or "new beginnings" such as Hogmanay's redding, a New Year cleaning tradition. Also "reversal" is yet another frequent theme, as in Saturnalia's slave and master reversals.
Indian [ edit ]
Makara Sankranti, also known as Makaraa Sankrānti (Sanskrit: मकर संक्रांति) or Maghi, is a festival day in the Hindu calendar, in reference to deity Surya (sun). It is observed each year in January.[9] It marks the first day of Sun's transit into Makara (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.[9][10]
Iranian [ edit ]
Iranian people celebrate the night of the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice as, "Yalda night", which is known to be the "longest and darkest night of the year". Yalda night celebration, or as some call it "Shabe Chelleh" ("the 40th night"), is one the oldest Iranian traditions that has been present in Persian culture from the ancient years. In this night all the family gather together, usually at the house of the eldest, and celebrate it by eating, drinking and reciting poetry (esp. Hafez). Nuts, pomegranates and watermelons are particularly served during this festival.
Pagan [ edit ]
The pagan Scandinavian and Germanic people of northern Europe celebrated a twelve-day "midwinter" (winter solstice) holiday called Yule (also called Jul, Julblot, jólablót, midvinterblot, julofferfest). Many modern Christmas traditions, such as the Christmas tree, the Christmas wreath, the Yule log, and others, are direct descendents of Yule customs. Scandinavians still call Christmas "Jul". In English, the word "Yule" is often used in combination with the season "yuletide" [11] a usage first recorded in 900. It is believed that the celebration of this day was a worship of these peculiar days, interpreted as the reawakening of nature. The Yule (Jul) particular god was Jólner, which is one of Odin's many names.
The concept of Yule occurs in a tribute poem[which?] to Harold Hårfager from about AD 900, where someone said "drinking Yule". Julblot is the most solemn sacrifice feast. At the Yule blót, sacrifices were given to the gods to earn blessing on the forthcoming germinating crops. The Yule blót was eventually integrated into the Christian Christmas. As a remainder from this Viking era, the Midsummer is still important in Scandinavia, and hence vividly celebrated.
Roman cult of Sol [ edit ]
Sol Invictus ("The Unconquered Sun/Invincible Sun") was originally a Syrian god who was later adopted as the chief god of the Roman Empire under Emperor Aurelian. His holiday is traditionally celebrated on December 25, as are several gods associated with the winter solstice in many pagan traditions.[12] It has been speculated to be the reason behind Christmas' proximity to the solstice.[13]
East Asian [ edit ]
In East Asia, the winter solstice has been celebrated as one of the Twenty-four Solar Terms, called Dongzhi in Chinese. In Japan, in order not to catch cold in the winter, there is a custom to soak oneself in a yuzu hot bath (Japanese: 柚子湯 = Yuzuyu). [14] In India, this occasion, known as Ayan Parivartan (Sanskrit: अयन परिवर्तन), is celebrated by religious Hindus as a holy day, with Hindus performing customs such as bathing in holy rivers, giving alms and donations, and praying to God and doing other holy deeds.
Observances [ edit ]
Although the instant of the solstice can be calculated,[15] direct observation of the solstice by amateurs is impossible because the sun moves too slowly or appears to stand still (the meaning of "solstice"). However, by use of astronomical data tracking, the precise timing of its occurrence is now public knowledge. One cannot directly detect the precise instant of the solstice (by definition, one cannot observe that an object has stopped moving until one later observes that it has not moved further from the preceding spot, or that it has moved in the opposite direction)[citation needed]. Further, to be precise to a single day, one must be able to observe a change in azimuth or elevation less than or equal to about 1/60 of the angular diameter of the Sun. Observing that it occurred within a two-day period is easier, requiring an observation precision of only about 1/16 of the angular diameter of the Sun. Thus, many observations are of the day of the solstice rather than the instant. This is often done by observing sunrise and sunset or using an astronomically aligned instrument that allows a ray of light to be cast on a certain point around that time. The earliest sunset and latest sunrise dates differ from winter solstice, however, and these depend on latitude, due to the variation in the solar day throughout the year caused by the Earth's elliptical orbit (see earliest and latest sunrise and sunset).
Neolithic site of Goseck circle. The yellow lines are the direction the Sun rises and sets at winter solstice.
Sunrise at Stonehenge on the winter solstice
Holidays celebrated on the winter solstice [ edit ]
Other related festivals [ edit ]
Length of the day near the northern winter solstice [ edit ]
The following tables contain information on the length of the day on December 22nd, close to the winter solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice of the Southern Hemisphere (i.e. December solstice). The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 22 December 2015, as well as from certain other websites.[16][17][18][19]
The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the shortest day to the longest one.
The Nordic countries and the Baltic states City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015 Sunset
22 Dec 2015 Length of the day Bodø 11:36 12:25 0 h 49 min Rovaniemi 11:08 13:22 2 h 14 min Luleå 9:55 13:04 3 h 08 min Reykjavík 11:22 15:29 4 h 07 min Trondheim 10:01 14:31 4 h 30 min Tórshavn 9:51 14:59 5 h 08 min Helsinki 9:24 15:13 5 h 49 min Oslo 9:18 15:12 5 h 54 min Tallinn 9:17 15:20 6 h 02 min Stockholm 8:43 14:48 6 h 04 min Riga 9:00 15:43 6 h 43 min Copenhagen 8:37 15:38 7 h 01 min Vilnius 8:40 15:54 7 h 14 min
Europe City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015 Sunset
22 Dec 2015 Length of the day Edinburgh 8:42 15:40 6 h 57 min Moscow 8:57 15:58 7 h 00 min Berlin 8:15 15:54 7 h 39 min London 8:04 15:53 7 h 49 min Kiev 7:56 15:56 8 h 00 min Paris 8:41 16:56 8 h 14 min Rome 7:34 16:42 9 h 07 min Madrid 8:34 17:51 9 h 17 min Lisbon 7:51 17:18 9 h 27 min Athens 7:37 17:09 9 h 31 min
Africa City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015 Sunset
22 Dec 2015 Length of the day Cairo 6:47 16:59 10 h 12 min Dakar 7:30 18:46 11 h 15 min Addis Ababa 6:35 18:11 11 h 36 min Nairobi 6:25 18:37 12 h 11 min Kinshasa 5:45 18:08 12 h 22 min Dar es Salaam 6:05 18:36 12 h 31 min Luanda 5:46 18:24 12 h 38 min Antananarivo 5:10 18:26 13 h 16 min Windhoek 6:04 19:35 13 h 31 min Johannesburg 5:12 18:59 13 h 47 min Cape Town 5:32 19:57 14 h 25 min
Asia and Oceania City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015 Sunset
22 Dec 2015 Length of the day Magadan 8:54 14:55 6 h 00 min Petropavlovsk 9:36 17:10 7 h 33 min Khabarovsk 8:48 17:07 8 h 18 min Ulaanbaatar 8:39 17:02 8 h 22 min Vladivostok 8:40 17:40 8 h 59 min Beijing 7:32 16:52 9 h 20 min Seoul 7:44 17:17 9 h 34 min Tokyo 6:47 16:31 9 h 44 min Shanghai 6:48 16:55 10 h 07 min Lhasa 8:46 19:01 10 h 14 min Delhi 7:09 17:28 10 h 19 min Hong Kong 6:58 17:44 10 h 46 min Manila 6:16 17:32 11 h 15 min Bangkok 6:36 17:55 11 h 19 min Singapore 7:01 19:04 12 h 03 min Jakarta 5:36 18:05 12 h 28 min Denpasar 5:58 18:36 12 h 37 min Darwin 6:19 19:10 12 h 51 min Papeete 5:21 18:32 13 h 10 min Brisbane 4:49 18:42 13 h 52 min Perth 5:07 19:22 14 h 14 min Sydney 5:41 20:05 14 h 24 min Auckland 5:58 20:39 14 h 41 min Melbourne 5:54 20:42 14 h 47 min Invercargill 5:50 21:39 15 h 48 min
Length of day increases from the equator towards the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere in December (around the summer solstice there), but decreases towards the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere at the time of the northern winter solstice.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]Honour guards carry Turkish flag-draped coffins of car bombing victims during a funeral ceremony at Kocatepe mosque in Ankara, Turkey February 19, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Kurdish militant group once linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility on Friday for the bombing in the Turkish capital Ankara that killed 28 people this week, according to a statement on its website.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) said the bombing was in response to the policies of President Tayyip Erdogan and said it would continue its attacks. It said the bomber was a 26-year old Turkish national born in the eastern city of Van.
The group most recently claimed responsibility for a mortar attack at Istanbul’s second airport in December that left an aircraft cleaner dead.
TAK has in the past said its relationship with PKK militants has been severed. Both groups are regarded as terrorist organizations by Ankara and the United States.
A car laden with explosives was detonated next to military buses as they waited at traffic lights in the administrative heart of Ankara on Wednesday. The government has blamed the PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG for the attacks.Story highlights Officials: U.S. drone strikes kill 6 suspected al Qaeda militants
Strikes happened in southeastern Yemeni province of Shabwa
Two security officials expected the death toll to rise
Five U.S. drone strikes killed six suspected al Qaeda militants in the southeastern Yemeni province of Shabwa on Monday, two security officials and one defense ministry official told CNN.
The drones targeted militant hideouts, checkpoints, training facilities and weapons warehouses in the Azzan districts, considered the stronghold for al Qaeda in Yemen, officials confirmed.
Al Qaeda took over Azzan district March of last year, from which it has launched numerous attacks in the south of Yemen. It was the first district to fall into the hands of Islamic militants in Yemen.
Residents told CNN that the explosions were powerful and were heard miles away. Two security officials expected the death toll to rise.
One of the strikes targeted a checkpoint run by militants near the entrance of the district.
"The attacks were fierce and we have not been able to get complete death tolls from the attacks due to the security situation in Azzan," one official not authorized to talk told CNN.
Dozens of militants blocked roads leading to the areas of the attack, residents said.
Experts are concerned that the growing number of U.S. strikes will cause a backlash and hurt the Yemen's efforts in fighting terrorism.
According to two Defense Ministry officials, at least 11 U.S. attacks were conducted on Yemeni soil over the last week alone.
"U.S. involvement is far more than ever in Yemen. We have no evidence that all those being killed are terrorists," Abdul Salam Mohammed, director of Abaad Strategic Center, told CNN.
"With every U.S. attack that is conducted in Yemen al Qaeda is only growing in power and we have to ask ourselves why that is happening."
On Monday, the Defense Ministry announced that seven al Qaeda militants were killed in Abyan province, where government forces have been clashing with militants for 11 months. Two of the killed were from Somalia, the ministry said.Russian court bans Jehovah’s Witnesses branch in Jewish Autonomous Region
© flickr.com/Ian Crowther
12:51 12/10/2016
MOSCOW, October 12 (RAPSI) – A court in the Jewish Autonomous Region has ruled to ban a branch of “The Jehovah’s Witnesses” in Birobidzhan because of distributing extremist literature by the organization, according to the court’s website.
A lawsuit seeking prohibition of the local religious organization “The Jehovah’s Witnesses” has been filed by the Main Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Khabarovsk Krai and Jewish Autonomous Region.
According to the Ministry, facts of keeping and distribution of extremist materials were revealed in 2015 and 2016. Leaders of “The Jehovah’s Witnesses” were held administratively liable; the organization was formally noticed about inadmissibility of carrying out extremist activity.
The defendant’s representative, committee chairman of “The Jehovah’s Witnesses” in Birobidzhan, has not admitted plaintiff's claim.
The ruling may be appealed in the Supreme Court of Russia.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have had many legal problems in Russia.
On June 16, Russia’s Supreme Court declared “The Jehovah’s Witnesses of Stary Oskol” in Belgorod Region an extremist organization and ruled to liquidate it.
On June 9, the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Belgorod was banned as extremist organization.
In March 2015, a court in Tyumen fined the organization 50,000 rubles ($800) and seized prohibited literature.
In January 2014, a court in Kurgan ruled to ban the organization’s booklets as extremist. The books talk about how to have a happy life, what you can hope for, how to develop good relations with God and what you should know about God and its meaning.
In late December 2013, the leader of the sect’s group in Tobolsk, Siberia was charged with extremism and the prevention of a blood transfusion that nearly led to the death of a female member of the group.
In 2004, a court in Moscow dissolved and banned a Jehovah’s Witnesses group on charges of recruiting children, encouraging believers to break from their families, inciting suicide and preventing believers from accepting medical assistance.
Jehovah's Witnesses is an international religious organization based in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2004 sever branches and chapters of the organization were banned and shut down in various regions of Russia.How is it possible that we can "cut" federal spending by $2 trillion over the next 10 years, and yet federal spending will still increase over that time by $7.5 trillion? Of course, the latter scenario would be the result of the debt=limit increase deal reached in Washington this week.
Both parties tell us that the debt-limit deal includes $2 trillion in spending cuts, and the national media dutifully reports that those cuts are severe, yet the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tells us that we are still on course for the national debt to increase by $8 trillion over the next 10 years. Why doesn’t the discussion over the federal budget, spending and debt in Washington make any sense?
It is called baseline budgeting. Here is how the hocus pocus works. The CBO assumes a "baseline" for federal spending over the next 10 years that includes federal spending increases of $9.5 trillion over that time. Any increase in those 10 years of less than $9.5 trillion will be reported by CBO as a cut in federal spending.
If skinflint Republicans propose a budget with $8.5 trillion in spending increases over 10 years, the CBO will report that as an historic, unprecedented cut of $1 trillion in federal spending. The national media would then blare that the Republicans have proposed radical, severe, extreme budget cuts of $1 trillion, even though they are all the while actually increasing federal spending by $8.5 trillion.
If Congress got some sense in it one day and passed a budget that just spent next year the same as this year, and continued that into the future, with no spending increases, CBO would report that as a spending cut of $9.5 trillion. The national media would blare that radical extremists had taken over Congress, spending next year just the same as this year. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post would report that Congress had gone "mad."
It is like you are on a family budget of $4,000 a month, and with that you can barely make the house payment, car payment, health insurance payment, credit card payments, and keep food on the table for the kids. Your wife goes to the mall one weekend and falls in love with a beautiful dress that costs $400, and a matching pair of shoes that go for $200. She decides it is time to make sacrifices and cut back, so she buys the dress but not the shoes, on the family credit card. She comes home and announces the good news: she has found $200 in unnecessary family spending that she has cut out.
Though the CBO can give you an explanation for what its baseline involves and why, the specification of any such baseline is essentially arbitrary in any event. This is shown by the fact that the CBO always has at least two baselines for comparison purposes, one involving a projection of current law into the future, and another involving a projection of what it calls "current policy" into the future, involving an extension of current federal policies and practices.
Worst of all the public doesn’t understand any of it, and so can’t follow the budget debate. Whether federal spending is actually being cut or actually increasing rapidly is obscured completely by baseline budgeting. The debt limit deal even with its supposed $2 trillion in spending cuts actually only cuts back on the currently projected increase in the national debt over the next 10 years from $10 trillion to $8 trillion. Even under the budget proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, including $6.2 trillion in CBO scored spending cuts over 10 years, federal spending and debt would still increase during that time, even though eventually the budget would be balanced, and ultimately the national debt paid off, as scored by CBO.
Baseline budgeting involves confusion on the tax side as well. Under the debt limit deal, the process goes on now to the Super Committee, to consider tax and entitlement reform. The CBO baseline for those discussions includes the assumption that all of the Bush tax cuts will expire at the end of 2012 as in current law. That involves an assumed tax increase of $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years, the largest in American history.
That means if tax rates are merely extended the same as today, CBO will report that as a tax cut of $3.5 trillion, even though nothing will have changed. Under the debt limit deal, the Super Committee would then have to come up with, and Congress would have to adopt, other tax increases or spending cuts totaling roughly $4.7 trillion, to avoid the spending cut triggers under the deal.
To get elected, President Obama promised voters that there would be no tax increase for singles making less than $200,000 a year, and couples making less than $250,000. Keeping that promise would now involve the CBO scoring that as a "tax cut" of $2.8 trillion against its baseline, even though tax rates would stay the same for these taxpayers as they have been for the last 10 years. This will only thoroughly confuse the voting public (which is what the Washington Establishment wants).
What voters would best understand is "zero-based budgeting," or what we might call family budgeting. Under this approach, if spending next year is just the same as this year, then that involves no spending cuts. If spending goes up by $1 for whatever reason, that is a spending increase of $1. Only if spending actually goes down would there be a spending cut.
The top Tea Party priority right now should be to replace baseline budgeting with this zero-based or family budgeting. Only then can America rationally discuss and debate federal spending, tax, deficit and debt issues. Ryan and other House Republican leaders have come to recognize this as a priority as well. Republicans should take the issue to the voters next year.
As for the rest of this year under the debt limit deal, the Super Committee and Congress could actually meet the requirements to avoid the cuts of the automatic sequestration trigger without a tax increase by adopting the Ryan budget. In fact, that budget would involve critical cuts in tax rates essential to getting the economy booming again over the long term.
The Ryan budget includes individual tax reform providing for a 25% tax rate for families making over $100,000 a year, and 10% for those making less, with generous personal exemptions to protect those with the lowest incomes from seeing any tax increase. It includes corporate tax reform that would close the loopholes that allow Obama political machine cronies like General Electric to avoid paying any taxes, and reduce the federal rate to a more internationally competitive 25%. These reforms would supercede the Bush tax cuts. They would also restore federal taxes to the average, long run, postwar historical level of the last 60 years.
This would be a good resolution of the debt limit deal. But barring that, it would be better for Congress to vote down any Super Committee tax increase, and for the issue to go to the voters in 2012. Do they want all the tax increases already scheduled in current law for 2013 under President Obama’s policies, including Obamacare and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts? Or do they want to maintain the level of taxes consistent with the postwar prosperity enjoyed by the American people for the last two thirds of a century, since the Great Depression.
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for the Heartland Institute, General Counsel for the American Civil Rights Union, and Senior Fellow for the Carleson Center for Public Policy. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is the author of America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, now available from HarperCollins.Ryan Lloyd and Derek Collins are betting that exercising - or at least a little bit of it - and partying go hand in hand.
The two young entrepreneurs, longtime friends going back to their high-school days at Wauwatosa East, are partners in a 16-person bicycle-powered party on wheels.
Called Milwaukee Pedal Tavern, the vehicle has been spotted around town for pub crawls, graduation parties and bachelor or bachelorette parties.
The vehicle can hold up to 16 people, and 10 of the seats are pedal-powered. One person can sit in the middle of the vehicle and help serve beverages and food to fellow partygoers.
The charge is about $160 an hour.
During one recent outing, Milwaukee Pedal Tavern brought a group from the bars along W. Blue Mound Road to Miller Park for a Milwaukee Brewers game.
Lloyd said the pedal tavern idea surfaced in Europe and has proved popular in Germany and the Netherlands.
Lloyd spotted it in Minneapolis, where more than 17,000 people have climbed aboard. Lloyd, convinced the idea would be a success in Milwaukee, obtained the distribution rights for Milwaukee, bought one vehicle and has plans to buy another.
"We've already had people rent it out for pub crawls, and we're booking for graduation parties at the end of the month," Lloyd said. "We're outpacing where we thought we would be."
Lloyd, 27, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a finance degree and still lives in the Twin Cities. Collins, 28, got a marketing degree from UW-Milwaukee and lives here.
The two businessmen have a sense of humor about their first business venture as well. On their Web site, the two say the Pedal Tavern "goes faster than (former Milwaukee Brewers catcher) Jason Kendall but not as fast as Rickie Weeks, it goes about 5 miles an hour."
While the two are happy with the buzz they've created so far, there is one missing ingredient in their business plan: beer and alcohol aren't allowed yet.
It is a Pedal Tavern after all. The two have appeared before a Common Council committee. Ultimately, their goal is to secure a limousine license and have their customers bring their own beer or alcohol to consume on the vehicle.
"We really don't want the hassle of selling the beer," Lloyd said.
Ald. Bob Donovan, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he was supportive of Pedal Tavern and backed their request for a pedicab license so they could start the business. The question of getting a limousine license won't be considered for several months until the city gets a chance to see how the business works out.
"I give these guys credit," Donovan said. "Putting this in the Third Ward is a good idea. We just want to see what kind of track record they have."
Milwaukee Pedal Tavern can be found on the Web at www.pedaltavern.com.October 10, 2014 [ttr-beta-v1.5.13]
Maintenance:
• Engine update! You'll notice some significant performance improvements, along with a few other neat features.
Bugfixes:
• Patch up a major bug that would cause stuttering and freezing when a Toon is loaded into an area.
• Fix a few issues with the Laff corrector.
Features:
• Double Experience Weekend has begun!
• The Resistance Salute is now available by helping out a certain Whispering Willow in Donald's Dreamland...
• Abominable SnowToons have been spotted in the Brrrgh! I wonder if it has anything to do with that Polar Bear on Polar Place...
October 10, 2014 [ttr-beta-v1.5.14]
Bugfixes:
• Double Experience Weekend now affects invasions as well.
October 10, 2014 [t |
the title of "Prime". After they began the attack, underneath the Indian Ocean, Victorion and Superion held their own quite well against the EDC's clone combiners. In response, Galvatron used the power of the Onyx Code version of the Enigma of Combination to merge a handful of his troops into the combiner Galvatronus! The Decepticon gestalt immediately grappled with Victorion, landing a punch on her before Galvatron used the Enigma again to forcibly separate her into her component Torchbearers, weakening the team. It's Beginning To And Back Again The Torchbearers were able to pull themselves back together during the subsequent cleanup effort, and formed Victorion to interfere with an EDC strafing run. On Jetfire's orders, she used her gravity powers to safely extract the Autobots and their prisoners.White Heat
Some months later, Victorion, Optimus Prime, and Soundwave travelled to Oregon to the besieged Jazz and Arcee, who had been targeted by attack from G.I.Joe. Believing the Transformers to be behind the destabilization of Ore-13, the Joes weren't inclined to talk things out; in the ensuing fight, Soundwave lauched an electromagnetic pulse to disrupt the human technology, and Victorion caught and safely set down the planes that had been knocked out of the air by the attack to prove their goodwill. Then, a mysterious silver alien intervened and began slaughtering the Joes, so Optimus ordered his troops to pursue the mechanical interloper. Victorion used her gravitational powers to airlift her Cybertronian allies away. Concorde Hymn When that situation had been dealt with, Victorion returned to standing guard outside Autobot City with Jazz and Arcee, O Ship of State but failed to notice Snake-Eyes sneaking into their base. The New Colossus
When the Transformer-hunting taskforce M.A.S.K. arrived to besiege Metrotitan, Victorion moved to take down the humans and their shapeshifting vehicles, but was left unprepared for a massive onslaught of Dire Wraiths that arrived to help their benefactor Miles Mayhem. The New Colossus The Camien combiner soon recovered and leapt back into the action when the villainous Baron Karza showed up and merged with the Wraiths into a titanic new form. As the only member of the battle capable of fighting Karza on her own terms, Victorion slugged it out with the Baron, but split into her components after he revealed his ability to summon more Wraiths from within his body. Valley Forge
"Don't bother putting your socks back on, 'cause I'm about to knock 'em off again!"
The Torchbearers combined into Victorion once again when the Junkions made planetfall on Earth, providing backup for Optimus as he met with Wreck-Gar and Rum-Maj. A Lonely Pillar on the Plain When the Junkions launched a surprise attack on the assembled Autobots and their human guests, the Torchbearer deployed Victorion once more, using her gravity powers to tear her oncoming foes to bits. Future Glories Lost Following Optimus Prime's decision to willingly lay down arms and negotiate with the Junkions once more, she watched impassively as Optimus unveiled the Matrix of Leadership. Feel Safe Without Regrets
When Onyx Prime and Liege Maximo returned to Cybertron, Metrotitan opened a spacebridge back home and opened fire on Nemesis. In retaliation, the evil Titan fired a beam directly through his brother's torso, crippling him. The Ground As the crew took stock of their situation, they were approached by the Prime of Lies and his Maximal army. Though the Torchbearers were willing to engage the beasts, Arcee convinced them that their power would be put to better use against the approaching Devastator. The Hallowing
The Constructicon combiner however managed to push through the Camien's gravity manipulation prompting Victorion to summon her sword and switch to melee combat. Endless Forever In short order however, it was revealed that there was a sample of the gravity manipulating Ore-4 aboard Nemesis, its effects interfering with Victorion's abilities. When Arcee shattered the crystal, Victorion's full powers were restored which she demonstrated by unleashing a gravity wave powerful enough to rip Devastator to atoms. Unforgivable
"That all you got? You think that's enough to beat—"
When Unicron attacked Cybertron, Elita One drafted the Torchbearers into her service, intending for Victorion to breach the Chaos Bringer's surface and unleash her gravitational powers from within the monster, killing him. Though the combiner was brought near Unicron, she ultimately opted to attack Bludgeon's Worldsweeper once it opened fire on Carcer. Within the craft, the deranged Decepticon revealed he'd been anticipating this and unleashed Monstructor whose animalistic fury overwhelmed Victorion before he fatally tore Stormclash from the combined whole, causing the combiner to break apart. Our Finest
"This is Victorion, back together, and I'm never going down at the hands at the likes of you!"
Victorion would live again, however: when the battle against Unicron spilled over to Earth, the energies unleashed by Superion's reformation and Soundwave's activation of the Enigma of Combination prompted Pyra Magna to desperately reform Victorion in the hopes of stopping Monstructor. The Torchbearers were thus joined by Slide, who took Stormclash's place as Victorion's new left leg. Together with Superion, the two combiners were able to tag-team Monstructor, with Victorion delivering the finishing blow by ramming her fist through Monstructor's head.
As Unicron perished, his body collapsing into a black hole, Victorion was teleported to Mount Rushmore with the other heroes and mused that Optimus had sacrificed his life to vanquish the threat. Ceremony
Prime Wars Trilogy cartoons
Voice actor: Anna Akana (Combiner Wars, English), Kari Wahlgren (Titans Return, Power of the Primes, English)
Where did we go? What'd we do?
I think we made something entirely new
Following the disbanding of the Autobot and Decepticon factions, Victorion stepped forth to lead her people towards unity and peace, and proclaimed herself savior of the galaxy. Prelude to Transformers: Combiner Wars - Victorion Upon sensing the Enigma of Combination was in danger, Victorion flew to Cybertron and faced off against Devastator. The fight didn't last long, as Starscream soon made his move and became "The Ultimate Combiner" by using her, Devastator, and the corpses of Menasor and Computron to upgrade himself. A War of Giants After Starscream was defeated, Windblade gave the Enigma to Victorion, claiming that such an artifact belongs with them. Destruction's Dawn
Victorion assisted in the reconstruction efforts following the end of the Combiner Wars. Aftermath and Rebirth When Trypticon attacked, she and the other Combiners were recruited by the Mistress of Flame to search for Fortress Maximus. Our Heroes Respond They eventually found Maximus in a frozen wasteland, The Fight Begins and while the Titan himself was inactive, his weapons were still functional. Learning this, Victorion ordered Computron to fire all Maximus's missiles at Trypticon, believing Metroplex's attempts to stop him were a lost cause and that they would need to save Cybertron. Overlord and Emissary When Megatron arrived at Fortress Maximus seeking Victorion's insight on religious matters and revealing the Mistress had perished, Victorion assumed him responsible and ordered the Combiners to attack. Megatron held his own in battle until Windblade arrived and the fight stopped long enough for Megatron to explain. Seeking revenge on Overlord, Victorion used the Enigma to fuse with the other Combiners, turning herself into a super-Combiner and teleporting back to Metroplex City. Desperate Actions There, she engaged Trypticon, but found herself quickly overwhelmed by the Titan. Run for Our Lives Before Trypticon could finish her, she was saved by the arrival of Optimus Prime, but she was still too damaged to continue and separated from the other Combiners. Undeterred, she charged back into battle alongside the others, damaging Trypticon by firing an energon spike into an energon main. In Good Hands She attempted to attack him again after he was weakened in battle with Fortress Maximus, but Trypticon sensed the Enigma in her possession and swallowed it - and her - whole. Consumed Both were eventually released thanks to Perceptor's plan, but when she tried to reclaim the Enigma and Matrix of Leadership, Megatronus created a flame barrier that burned off her arm and damaged her sword, leaving her powerless to stop the ancient Transformer from killing Optimus and escaping with the relics. Though she maintained distrust of him, she agreed to aid Megatron in stopping Megatronus's plan. All Things Must Pass
Some of our actions were a bit regrettable.
Megatron led Victorion, Windblade and Perceptor to Primal Swamp in search of the Requiem Blaster, though she continued to assert herself as the true leader of the group. Their search was interrupted by the arrival of the Dinobots, who attacked them for associating with Megatron. Victorion struggled against Snarl and Sludge before finally forcing them off, only for the Dinobots to combine into Volcanicus. The Swamp Still refusing to ask for Megatron's aid, Victorion ordered Perceptor to distract Volcanicus so she and Windblade could attempt a sneak attack, but it failed. Things were further complicated by the arrival of Predaking, who demanded the Enigma of Combination. Volcanicus Predaking savagely beat Victorion and held her in his grasp until Windblade and Perceptor tricked him into releasing her. She picked up Perceptor and they all made a run for it, with Predaking and Volcanicus close behind. Their chase came to a stop when they found Megatron entering a strange dome. Without Warning Victorion continued to insist she didn't have the Enigma, but Predaking refused to believe her and attacked the party. As he was about to strike her, Megatron returned with the Requiem Blaster and convinced Predaking to leave them alone. Primal Following a series of coordinates, Victorion and the others eventually traveled to the Athenaeum Sanctorum, the library of the gods. Victorion was overwhelmed, her faith having finally been rewarded, but she was taken by surprise as Rodimus Cron restrained her. Before she could begin to fight back, Rodimus decapitated her, killing her instantly. Athenaeum Sanctorum As the dust settled, the others mourned her loss, as well as that of her Torchbearer components. Consequences
Of Masters and Mayhem
Victorion was one of many on Cybertron who attempted to stand against Thunder Mayhem. She failed. Lively Pursuit
Games
Transformers: Earth Wars
"We don't have to fight... you're outnumbered!"
Victorion can be formed once all 3 to 4 star Rust Renegades have been collected.
Class - Combiner
- Combiner Abilities : Blade Dash - Dash to a target and slash it for heavy damage Kinetic Barrier - Spin your blade, reflecting 75% of all damage dealt to you and dealing damage to nearby enemies Noble Sacrifice - Deal heavy damage and disable enemies over a large area while losing 20% of your max Health. If this ability kills you, disable the entire enemy base for 10 seconds
: Cooldown: 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
Victorion at Transformers: Earth Wars Wiki
Toys
Generations
I can see you hate the way we intermingle
But I think you're just mad 'cause you're single
Victorion (Collection Pack, 2016) Accessories : Left & right hands, 2 feet, buildable broadsword
(Collection Pack, 2016)
Unlike earlier Combiner Wars gestalts, Victorion uses dedicated hand and foot parts, rather than the "can be either hand or a foot or a gun" parts that come with the rest of the limb-bots in the series. This is because her components aren't sold separately, resulting in a reduced need for flexibility in the hand/foot-part department.
Every one of Victorion's components has Cybertronic tampographs in her vehicle mode, which read: IF CYBERTRON BE YOUR HOME (Pyra Magna) FAR AWAY NEVER ROAM (Rust Dust) HEAR MY MESSAGE LISTEN AND FEAR (Skyburst) DANGER COMES THE END IS NEAR (Stormclash) JUST LIKE US YOU SOON WILL RUST (Dust Up) ALL SHALL BE TURNED TO DUST (Jumpstream) This is another callback to "Cosmic Rust": the warning message left by victims of the titular plague on their colony world.
Victorion was only available as a box set including a poster and a collector card based on her packaging art, one of several so-called "Collection Packs" that were "online exclusives" in the United States, available from online retailers such as Hasbro Toy Shop, Amazon, and BigBadToyStore as well as the online stores of "big box" retailers such as Toys"R"Us, Walmart, Target, and Kmart. In Hasbro's Asian markets such as Singapore and Taiwan, the set was available at general retail. In Australia, it was sold at Toys"R"Us stores, whereas in Canada, was both sold at Toys"R"Us stores and available via Amazon Canada. In The United Kingdom, it was available via the UK Toys"R"Us website (but never sold in stores), whereas in Spain, it was available via the Spanish subsidiaries of Amazon and Carrefour, as well as the department store chain El Corte Inglés, supposedly also only available online.
This set (including the new individual head sculpts), without Rust Dust, was redecoed to make Unite Warriors Megatronia.
Notes
Victorion was the result of the 2015 Fan Built Combiner polls. Fan-voting determined: Her gender Her name The molds used Her color scheme Her special power (Gravity control) Her origin ("Rust Sea" won, so while the components are from Caminus, Victorion proper was "born" in the Rust Sea in-fiction.) Her "rival" (Galvatronus won, and on his first formation in IDW continuity, he immediately grapples with Victorion.) Her attitude ("doesn't take instruction well" won, and yeah, upon first forming, she's kind of a loose cannon until Windblade talks her down.)
Though she is the first female "traditional", Scramble City style combiner, the honor of first combiner to be referred to as female goes to Heavy Metal, a Unicron Trilogy 3-bot Mini-Con combiner.
In her first fictional appearance, she is drawn without any obvious integration of Rust Dust, who forms her "chest armor" in toy form. Similarly, in his first appearance in IDW continuity, Defensor is also drawn without his chest armor component, Groove. Given that Pyra Magna is a retool of Hot Spot, both of whom form the torsos of their respective combiners, it seems an odd omission to make twice.
Occasionally, Victorion is drawn with a mouthplate and non-visored eyes rather than the exposed mouth and visored eyes the final toy has. This seems to be based on one of the earlier designs for Victorion, as seen in a clip from Hasbro's "Designer Desk" video for Victorion on YouTube.
Victorion is one of the largest Transformers action figures to have heel struts. She also has hands that are much smaller than any other Combiner Wars combiner, even without the knuckle-guns that other figures have. They're close to the size of original G1 combiner toy hands.
action figures to have heel struts. She also has hands that are smaller than any other combiner, even without the knuckle-guns that other figures have. They're close to the size of original G1 combiner toy hands. If you think about it, it's rather fitting that the fandom gets to have influence on a character who literally comprises disparate personalities.
Foreign names
Japanese: Victorion (ヴィクトリオン Vikutorion )
(ヴィクトリオン ) Mandarin: Kǎixuán Nǚshén (China, 凯旋女神, "Goddess of Victory")A PR (public relations), advertising, digital marketing agency, and company are only as good as the members of its team. There’s no way around this. That said, this universal principle works in your favor, as the Mandreel team is exceptionally qualified and enthusiastic to help you accomplish your goals.
Compared to other PR, advertising, digital marketing agencies, and services, we pride ourselves on our communication with our clients. Every engagement begins with an introductory meeting with the Mandreel team. At this first interaction, we focus on getting to know our clients. Specifically, we are aiming to understand the team, their work thus far, the current status of the particular thing they want to improve, and their goals and objectives for the project. From there, our experts at Mandreel share their background and experience and work with the client to come up with a tentative plan on how to accomplish the clients’ objectives.
After that introductory meeting, our experts go to work. Throughout the process, we stay in close contact with every client and share the results and conclusion from our work. We do our best to adhere to deadlines that our clients give us. Having said that, if we aren’t able to meet those deadlines for some reason, we communicate promptly. The creative process is sometimes messy, and if that is the case, we do our best to make any necessary adjustments so we can deliver high-quality work as soon as possible. Our experts aren’t afraid of going the extra mile to satisfy every single one of our clients.
If a client is satisfied with our work, that’s great. To be honest, this is what often occurs. If clients are not satisfied for some reason, however, we are happy to work with the client to ensure that their expectations are being met. We aren’t afraid of hearing direct, blunt criticism or harsh feedback. Our ultimate goal is to solve the problem that is in front of us, and the quickest way to do that is to receive honest feedback from our clients. Your 100 percent satisfaction is guaranteed.Image courtesy of Konami
After a series of technical hiccups, we finally managed to record a podcast today—albeit one that's shorter than usual—for our celebratory 50th episode.
Prompted by a letter from a listener who couldn't get into The Witcher 3...wait, there are people who can't get into The Witcher 3? Editor-in-Chief Austin Walker, myself, and Managing Editor Danielle Riendeau, all avid fans of The Witcher 3, instead came up with games we couldn't get into, despite the rest of the world insisting they were terrific. You can listen to the podcast through the embedded player below…
... or you can subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. If you're using something else, this RSS link should let you add the podcast to whatever platform you'd like. Please take a moment and review the podcast, especially on iTunes. It really helps us out.
Interaction with you is a big part of this new podcast, so make sure to send any questions you have for us to gaming@vice.com with the header "Questions." (Without the quotes!) We can't guarantee we'll answer all of your questions, but rest assured, we'll be taking a look at them.
Remember: we record these podcasts live on our Twitch channel. Keep an eye on Twitter (@waypoint) on Monday and Friday morning, if you want to know when we're getting started.
And make sure to swing back to Waypoint on Monday for the next episode.ANALYSIS/OPINION:
First came Mother’s Day. Then came Father’s Day. And now, if a so-called “early child activist” — whatever that means — has her way, Australians everywhere will sub out the “father’s” for the phrase “special person’s.”
The logic? Don’t want to make the kids without fathers feel bad.
It’s about “rights,” not political correctness, argued the queen behind the Social Justice in Early Childhood Activist Group throne, Red Ruby Scarlet — yes, that’s her name — to a local media outlet.
“Why are they calling this political correctness when it’s in fact about our rights?” wondered Scarlet, as Breitbart noted.
She also said that “shifting the language” to make labels more “inclusive” and include children from “special communities” is only a win-win for traditional families, same-sex families, single-parent families and so forth.
And schools are starting to listen. Several down under have already adopted the new monicker, switching out references on calendars to note “Special Person’s Day” instead of “Father’s Day.”
Of course, this raises the very good point: What of Mother’s Day?
One school opted out of all the mother-father madness by scrapping both references in favor of the U.N. International day of Families.
“I believe celebrating International Day of Families is a more inclusive way of celebrating the richness, diversity and complexity of living and loving as a family in the modern world,” said the principal of that school, Moonee Ponds West Primary, as Breitbart noted.
Yes, but including everything brings on a sense of meaninglessness. And watering down traditions in order to smooth ruffled politically correct feathers is a sure path to unintended consequences. Look at Moonee Ponds — from mothers to fathers to the United Nations, in jig time, all for the name of diversity and tolerance.
Another way to look at it: From family to global government — from emphasis on the traditional, God-created unit to the man-made, borderless, all-encompassing world government.
It’s a snowflake dream come true.
It’s not that a “Special Person’s Day” is, by itself, that big a deal, or even that bad an idea. It’s that the substitution of traditional for untraditional, and the tossing of commonly held principles, ideas and beliefs for those of minority segments of society, is a slow chip to a society’s identity. A society that doesn’t have a grip on what it stands for is a society ripe for takeover. And as the Moonee Ponds West story illuminates, the global government stands at the fast and ready to slide right into that role.And we're into the hiatus!Gotta say, this first half has been a ton of fun compared to season four, in regards to my comics. There was constant pressure to get comics done, and I was lucky to have them done by Thursday/Friday. This time, not only does all my art look a ton better, but I've been finishing things up by Wednesday on a fairly consistent basis.In any case, I don't have any plans to slack off during this break. I've had some things I've wanted to work on for a while, and let's just say they've suddenly become somewhat time-sensitive.So there's that to look forward to, and the rest of season six in a few months!---Make sure to check out my ask blog, Ask the Princess of Friendship with BenefitsA woman has been charged with the murder of eight-year-old Anthony Ward at Limerick District Court.
43-year-old Diane Ward, of Harrison Place in Charleville, Co Cork, was charged with her son's murder and has been remanded in custody.
The court heard that Ms Ward, of 33 Harrison Place, Charleville, was arrested at Cork University Hospital and taken to Mallow Garda Station where she was charged this afternoon.
The charging officer Detective Sergeant Michael Corbett told the court that Ms Ward made no reply to the charge.
Her solicitor Paul Cagney applied for free legal aid, which was granted by Judge Eugene O’Kelly who also said that due to the nature of the charge the issue of bail did not arise in the district court.
Superintendent Pat McCarthy asked she be remanded to the Dóchas centre where she would have access to Central Mental Hospital services.
Judge O'Kelly then remanded her to the centre and ordered that a psychiatric report on the accused by made available to the court and that she receive any treatment that she may need while on remand.
She is to be brought before the District Court again on the 11 September in Newcastle West, Co Limerick.
Anthony's body was discovered on Monday morning at his home in Charleville.
His removal from Hawe's Funeral Home in Charleville to Holy Cross Church took place tonight.
A Mass of the Angels will take place tomorrow at 2.30pm. He is to be buried afterwards in Holy Cross Cemetery.The Secretary of Defense has frozen a decision by former President Barack Obama to recruit transgender soldiers this year, and a new poll shows the planned recruitment freeze is very popular.
Two of every three swing voters say the Pentagon should postpone plans to accept “transgender” people who are trying to live as members of the opposite sex, according to the new poll by Rasmussen Reports.
Defense Secretary James Mattis explained his July 30 decision to delay Obama’s plan for six months, just before it was to begin operating:
Since becoming the Secretary of Defense, I have emphasized that the Department of Defense must measure each policy decision against one critical standard: will the decision affect the readiness and lethality of the force? Put another way, how will the decision affect the ability of America’s military to defend the nation? It is against this standard that I provide the following guidance on the way forward in accessing transgender individuals into the military Services.
The six-month delay will encourage and help opponents lobby against Obama’s pro-transgender policy.
Throughout 2016, Obama used his power as president to push schools and other institutions to support the claim by transgender activists that people have a hidden “gender identity” which is independent of their sex and biology. These advocates also say that a person’s sex is determined by their “gender identity,” not their male-or-female body. In turn, the advocates demand that the federal government force Americans to accept the sex-switching “gender identity” claims made by each person, regardless of scientific data about genetics, biology and the variety of normal behavior and appearances shown by normal women and men.
Transgender activists were furious about Mattis’ last-minute decision to block Obama’s directive, which would have resulted in a de-facto endorsement of the transgender ideology by the most respected government institution in the nation.
“For the past year, transgender troops have been serving openly … stonewalling on full inclusion will, just like ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ compromise military readiness,” said a statement from the pro-transgender Palm Center in California.
Obama’s proposal is widely opposed, in part, because it would require soldiers to share bathrooms and shower facilities with people of the opposite sex, and would require the U.S. military pay for the expensive procedures — such as hormones and perhaps surgery — used by people trying to live as members of the opposite sex.
The military’s most famous transgender recruit, now named Chelsea Manning, was recently freed from military jail on Obama’s orders. When serving in Iraq, Manning illegally copied a huge haul of military records and videos and released them to the world.
The Rasmussen poll was published just before the Pentagon announcement. The June 26 to June 27 survey of 1,000 likely voters showed 48 percent of voters supporting a delay, only 32 percent oppose a delay and an unusually larger proportion — 21 percent — avoided comment, saying they were “not sure.” Read the poll here.
The cross-tabs, however, showed that GOP supporters split 60 percent for a delay and 23 percent opposition to a delay. Democrats split 33 percent for a delay and 44 percent opposition to a delay.
Importantly, 52 percent of the swing-voting independents back a delay, while only 25 percent oppose a delay — and 23 percent declined to comment. That is a two-to-one preference among swing-voters for delay, and most of the no-comment voters likely favor a delay also.
Among self-described conservatives, 64 percent want a delay, while only 22 percent oppose a delay. Self-described “moderates” split 42 percent for a delay, 35 percent opposed a delay.
The questions about a “delay” – instead of outright opposition — offered voters some opportunity to show opposition to the media-favored transgender agenda while protecting themselves from claims of bigotry.
That worry was clearly visible in a prior Rasmussen question, which asked likely voters whether the decision to allow transgender people into the military is good or bad for the military.
Twenty-three percent said transgenders are good for the military — including just 32 percent of Democrats. Thirty-one percent said transgenders are bad for the military — but only 16 percent of liberals.
Significantly, the largest group — 38 percent — of voters waffled by saying transgenders would have no impact. That 38 percent number likely hides some opposition to recruiting transgender for the military because it is actually larger than the 32 percent who oppose a delay.
The question of whether the military should accept “transgender” people was unimaginable a few years ago. However, it is now an issue because the Democratic Party’s progressive leadership — and much of the elite media — has embraced the transgender ideology.
The ideology claims that people have a hidden “gender identity” which is independent of their sex and biology, and which justifies their claim to be members of the opposite sex. The ideology also demands that the federal government force Americans to accept the “gender identity” sex-switching claims made by each person, regardless of scientific data about genetics, biology and the variety of normal behavior and appearances shown by normal women and men.
The progressive push to bend Americans’ attitudes and their civic society around the idea of “gender” has already attacked and cracked popular social rules for how Americans handle the many charming differences between complementary men and women — the rules governing single-sex bathrooms and shelters for battered women, sports leagues for girls, hiking groups for boys, K-12 curricula and university speech codes, religious freedoms, free speech, the social status of women, parents’ rights in childrearing, practices to help teenagers, women’s expectations of beauty, culture and civic society, scientific research, prison safety, civic ceremonies, school rules, men’s sense of masculinity, law enforcement, and children’s sexual privacy.
To read more about the “transgender” ideology, click here.Here is an obvious truth overlooked by too many: Almost all companies die. They have a theoretically infinite lifespan, but eventually, their day in the sun passes, their parts are sold off for scrap, they fade into the dim dusty pages of history. Sure, Europe has centuries old breweries and specialty foods companies, but they are notable because they are exceptions.
Think back to the original Dow Jones Industrials, filled as it was with Steam and Leather Belt companies, all gone bankrupt nearly a century ago. How many of the original companies in the DJIA are still even in existence?
Microsoft (MSFT) was once technology’s behemoth, the 800 pound gorilla, an unstoppable anti-competitive monopolist. And today? It was a great 20 year run, but its mostly over. They still have the cash horde and engineering chops to create a smash hit like the Kinect, and they are a cash cow, but the odds are, their glory days are behind them.
Mister Softee came of age in a different era, the early days of micro-computing. While some companies manage to have a second act — Apple (AAPL) and IBM are notable examples — they too, remain the exception.
Today, tech companies’ lifespans are measured in internet years. Any firms dominance of any given space is likely to cover a much smaller period — way less than a decade in real time. The obvious poster child for this syndrome? My Space (NWS). Even mighty Google (GOOG) is seeing market share growth in search slip as competitors nip at its heels.
All of which leads me to the question of the day: Has Facebook missed its IPO window?
There is a legitimacy, power and capital advantages to being public. But their was a coyness to the dance, perhaps even an arrogance that seems to have crept into Facebook’s management. Meanwhile, deep pocketed competitors like Google and Microsoft, along with other social techs like Twitter, are chasing the social network giant.
And there are signs that Google Plus is a worthy competitor: They quickly amassed 10 million users, and that is while they are in Beta. They are very intelligently integrating Google+ into all of their other offerings. But most fascinating of all, Google’s offering is revealing the flaws, weaknesses and blemishes that Facebook has managed to keep fairly subdued. The well publicized privacy concerns has been the most public problem, but to my eye, G+ looks to have been designed to emphasize what FB does poorly.
Back to our question of the day: I doubt Facebook has missed its IPO window. However, it is likely that G+ has shaved some shave billions off the IPO price. And if the ongoing growth of G+ stays steady or even accelerates, it may slice $10s of billions off the vaunted $100 billion dollar IPO price.
Last, consider this: As a non-public company, Facebook can freely make whatever claim they choose about their business. 750 million? What the hell, sure! But once you are a public firm, one cannot make material misrepresentations to investors. Is that number truly accurate? What is the arc of activity of users? At what point do they become less active, lower time spending users? How many of those registered accounts are very active, somewhat active, neglected or dead?
As FB dithers going public, some of the buzz following the Social Network movie has attenuated. Do not be surprised if the valuation buzz does so as well...
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DISCLOSURE: No positions in any company mentioned.Looking at the results of a good website design helps improve and inspires our own designs, getting into the mind of a designer can be invaluable.
There don’t seem to be many design postmortems published these days, but some designer do discuss their designs and the reasoning behind what they did.
Below you’ll find a collection of blog posts from designers discussing their website designs:
Website: Erratic Wisdom
Tom Fadial: http://erraticwisdom.com/2008/01/21/the-new-erratic-wisdom
Website: Monacle
Dan Hill: http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2008/04/monocle-design.html
Website: Coolspotters
Mark Boulton Design: http://www.markboultondesign.com/work/detail/coolspotters/
Website: Problogger.net
Ben Bleikamp: http://www.bleikamp.com/2007/08/11/redesign-of-probloggernet/
Website: Adii
Adii: http://www.adii.co.za/2007/09/03/the-redesign-post-op/
Website: Positive Space
http://www.positivespaceblog.com/archives/the-positive-space-redesign-rationale/
Website: Avalonstar
Bryan Veloso: http://avalonstar.com/blog/2008/mar/30/design-distortion/
Website: Veerle’s Blog
Veerle Pieters: http://veerle.duoh.com/blog/comments/design_phase_of_my_new_blog/
Website: Jeff Croft
Jeff Croft: http://jeffcroft.com/blog/2008/feb/16/more-details-redesign/
Website: Darren Hoyt
Darren Hoyt: http://www.darrenhoyt.com/2008/05/23/a-site-redesign-for-spring2008/
Website: Blog Hearld
Thord Daniel Hedengren: http://www.blogherald.com/2008/08/02/the-blog-herald-relaunches/
Website: MSNBC.com
Mike Davidson: http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2007/11/msnbc-redesigns-taste-the-rainbow
Website: AIGA.org
Jason Santa Maria: http://v3.jasonsantamaria.com/archive//2007/03/01/aiga_redesign.php
Website: ExpressionEngine.com
Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain: http://www.digital-web.com/articles/redesigning_the_expressionengine_site/
If you know any more please post links via the comments.Club officially announce Phil Parkinson as new manager after compensation package agreed with Bradford City
Bolton Wanderers Football Club are delighted to announce Phil Parkinson as the club’s new first team manager.
Parkinson, 48, joins Bolton from fellow Sky Bet League One club Bradford City, after the two clubs agreed a compensation package.
Chorley-born, Parkinson already has two promotions on his managerial CV. During the 2005/06 season he guided Colchester United to an unlikely promotion to the Championship before later taking Bradford City to League One via the play-offs in 2012/13.
As a player, Parkinson started his career at Southampton before going on to represent Bury and Reading.
He has signed a two-year contract with the club and will be joined by assistant manager Steve Parkin in making the move to Macron Stadium.
Parkinson will be introduced to the media at a press conference at Macron Stadium at midday today (Friday 10 June).Days before news about a "Chinese" passenger being forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight caused massive outrage in China, Beijingers were already angry over an incident of their own in which a Chinese man was victimized by yet another foreigner.
Chinese news reported last week that a male expatriate made a "wanton" attack upon a Chinese subway commuter on Beijing Metro Line 10 during the Thursday morning rush hour.
Photos of the incident show the male Chinese victim with a stream of blood trickling down his nose standing next to a Caucasian man whose face is spattered with blood.
After boarding the subway at Songjiahuang Station, reports say the Caucasian man sat on the floor near the subway door with a Chinese female companion. This caused one Chinese man to intervene, asking them in English to stand up. According to an eyewitness named Ms Li, this caused an argument between the two men.
"The arguing began at around 8.20am at Panjiayuan or Jinsong Station. Commuters could not get on the train because the young foreign man was blocking them by sitting down," Li told Sohu News. "The young Chinese man wanted them to get up, but it seemed like the young foreign man did not want to heed his advice, and was not happy."
At some point between Jinsong Station and Shuangjing Station, the argument turned violent when the male expat "first took off the Chinese man's glasses, then punched him," said Li. The physical outburst caused an angry reaction from the other commuter |
Kodak film. This sponsor/team combination would prove to be one of the longest lasting and iconic partnerships in the sport. Wilson brought consistency to the team, and the #4 became a frequent finisher in the top 15. Wilson got the team its first pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1988, its first full season on the circuit. When Wilson announced he was leaving the team in 1989, the team was eighth in points. Rick Wilson started 93 races in the #4 car without a win.
For the 1990 season, the team hired Phil Parsons, but after three races, Parsons was released in favor of Ernie Irvan. Midway through the season the team switched from Oldsmobile to Chevrolet in order to get more manufacturer support. Their first race after the switch was at Bristol, and Irvan picked up his first career victory, as well as the first victory for MMM. The next season, Irvan won the Daytona 500 and The Bud at the Glen. When the checkered flag fell at the end of the season, the team was fifth in points. The next season, Irvan won three races over a two month stretch, at Sears Point International Raceway, the Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway, and at Talladega Superspeedway.
In 1993, Irvan won the pole twice, as well as a victory at Talladega. When Davey Allison died in an aircraft accident, Robert Yates asked Irvan to take his place. Irvan wanted out of his contract with MMM, and it ensued into an ugly lawsuit. Irvan was able to get out, but there were hurt feelings on both sides. Irvan drove #4 in 105 races and visited victory lane 7 times with the team.
For the 1994 season, the team hired Sterling Marlin to drive. In his first race in the team, Marlin won the Daytona 500 beating out, ironically, Irvan.
Marlin won the 1995 Daytona 500 as well, in addition to two more races at Darlington Speedway and Talladega. In 1996, Marlin won two races, at Talladega and the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. After the team went winless with Marlin in 1997, finishing 25th in points, the team and driver decided to part ways. Marlin won a total of 6 races in his 125 starts in the MMM #4.
In 1998, Bobby Hamilton was signed on to drive the #4 car for MMM after being replaced by John Andretti in the Petty #43. In their eighth race together, he won from the pole at Martinsville. This would be the last trip to victory lane for the MMM team. He ended the season tenth in the points. He had another ten top-ten finishes the following season, but after falling to 30th in points in 2000, he left for Andy Petree Racing. Hamilton earned 1 win in his 101 starts in #4.
During his time at MMM, Hamilton founded his Truck Series team for which he chose to run #4. Hamilton raced occasionally in the Truck Series until 2003 when he took his team full time with Square-D providing sponsorship. After a strong season in 2003, Hamilton won the Championship in 2004 becoming the first owner/driver to win a major NASCAR title since Alan Kulwicki. As his team continued to expand, Hamilton switched to #04 in 2005. In 2006, a diagnosis of head and neck cancer would end his racing career and eventually take his life in 2007. Hamilton was 49.
2001 was a the beginning of the end for MMM. The team struggled to keep a driver behind the wheel for a full season as Robby Gordon, Kevin Lepage, and Bobby Hamilton Jr. all made starts. Mike Skinner drove the car for the full 2002 season with little success.
In 2003 the team switched to Pontiac, but back to Chevrolet in 2004 as Pontiac left the sport.
The team began rotating drivers as Skinner, Lepage, Johnny Sauter, Stacy Compton, PJ Jones, Johnny Miller, Jimmy Spencer, Mike Wallace, John Andretti, Todd Bodine, Ward Burton and Scott Wimmer all made starts from 2003-2006. After losing the Kodak sponsorship in 2004, the #4 car gained sponsorship from Lucas Oil & State Water Heaters.
The team’s final season was 2007 in which Ward Burton drove the car in 16 events. Scott Wimmer attempted to qualify the car at a one-off race at Bristol in 2009. Wimmer made the event, and finished 29th.
Since 2009, legal problems have prevented Morgan-McClure from actively competing. Larry McClure was charged with federal income tax fraud for not reporting $269,000 for cars used in the ARCA series. He was also forced to pay back $60,000 to Kodak for falsifying an invoice. McClure spent eighteen months in jail and works at a family car dealership. MMM returned to Sprint Cup at Bristol in August 2010, but Lepage failed to qualify for the race. The team has not attempted another race. The team closed its doors in 2012. Mike Skinner Started 50 races in #4, Lepage 35 races, Mike Wallace 30 races, Jimmy Spencer 25 races, Scott Wimmer 24 races, and Ward Burton 19 races.
In 2010 Kasey Kahne announced that he would drive for Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. Essentially, that left Kahne as a free agent for only the 2011 season. The struggling Team Red Bull hired Kahne for just the 2011 season after he was released from RPM. Kahne used the #4 for his Red Bull Toyota, a homage to the number he used in Sprint Cars. At Phoenix in late 2011, Kahne earned an upset win. In victory lane Kahne was very emotional as he dedicated the win to his Grandparents. The team would close its doors only a few weeks later. This win is Kasey’s only win in a Toyota, allowing Kahne to be the only active driver to have won in a Ford, Dodge, Toyota, and Chevrolet. Kahne started 36 races in #4 with 1 win.
After 13 years in the RCR #29, Kevin Harvick moved to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014 to drive the #4 car. Harvick won in just his second start with SHR at Phoenix International Raceway.
The team then won again at Darlington Raceway in April, leading 239 of 374 laps and using fresher tires to pass Dale Earnhardt, Jr. with two laps to go. Harvick’s two wins earned him a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He advanced into the second round with two top 5’s, then won at Charlotte in October to earn a spot in the third round. Harvick finished the season strong, winning the penultimate race of the year at Phoenix to remain in title contention, then winning the final race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch his first Sprint Cup Championship.
Harvick started 2015 with 8 straight top-2 finishes, including 2 wins at Las Vegas and Pheonix. The first race of the Chase took place at Chicagoland. Harvick finished 42nd after getting a flat tire and spinning into the wall due to contact with Jimmie Johnson a few laps earlier on a restart. A confrontation did take place, after Harvick met with Johnson and punched him in the chest. After picking up another win at the Dover Chase race, Harvick would end his 4-race win streak at Pheonix after finishing 2nd. Harvick was one position away from defending his title at Homestead, but a second place finish wasn’t enough to beat Kyle Busch.
In 2016, Harvick would again win at Phoenix after narrowly edging Carl Edwards on the final lap. Harvick would also win at Bristol in the late-summer where Kevin invited his boss Tony Stewart to join him in celebrating.
Harvick would score 2 more wins in the Chase at New Hampshire and Kanasas, but finishes of 7th at Talladega, 20th at Martinsville, and 6th at Texas would prevent Harvick from entering the Homestead Final 4.
2017 meant a manfuacturer change for SHR and Harvick. Despite this, Harvick continued his winning ways. Harvick’s first win of 2017 came at Sonoma, his first road coarse win in the Cup series. This win was part of a weekend sweep, as he also won the K&N West race the prior day.
Harvick would find victory lane again in The Playoff Race at Texas Motor Speedway. I was the first victory for Harvick at Texas, and leaves only Pocono, Kentucky, and The Glen as tracks at which Harvick has yet to win. This win would propel him into the Championship 4 at Homestead. With a 4th place finish in the race, Harvick would finish 3rd in season points.
Harvick would start off the 2018 season with a DNF at the Daytona 500, after being involved in a crash just halfway through the race finishing 31st, but would earn dominant back-to-back wins at Atlanta (his first since 2001) and Las Vegas. This would be the first time Harvick would earn back-to-back wins since 2015 where he won at Las Vegas and Phoenix. It would also be his 100th career win across NASCAR’s top three series. However, his win at Las Vegas would not count toward the playoffs as he received an L1 penalty for the rear window of the car not being braced at all times. He has docked 20 points, crew chief Childers fined $50,000 and car chief Robert Smith suspended for the next two races. Despite Childers being absent in the Phoenix race and the penalty from last week, Harvick was able to score his 40th career win and would finally earn three wins in a row after four previous attempts, for the first time in his career.
Harvick would continue to be strong throughout the summer of 2018, knocking off wins at Dover, Kansas, New Hampshire, and Michigan. His continued success earned him a place among the “Big 3” drivers (as dubbed by the media, along with Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.) that were a threat to win every week.
n the playoffs, Harvick earned consistent finishes and used playoff points to advance himself toward the Round of 8, where he earned his eighth win at Texas after winning both stages 1 and 2. However, he was penalized 40 points and had the win encumbered due to a spoiler infraction post-race, where he now sits 3 points above the cut-line heading to ISM Raceway in Phoenix. Harvick overcame a flat tire during the Playoff race at Phoenix to secure enough points to make the Championship 4 at Homestead. In the season finale, Harvick ran up front for most of the early part of the race but his car got loose as the night went on. Harvick found himself in position to win the race after pit strategy got him the lead in the final stage of the race but an ill timed caution cost him the win. Harvick battled for the lead on the final restart but got overtaken by eventual winner Joey Logano. Harvick stated “We just got beat tonight” after the race. He finished the season third in the points standings.
Harvick has started 180 races in car #4 with 22 wins. He will return to the number in 2019.
Other notable drivers in #4:
Bill Myers, 17 starts, 1 win
John Soares, 7 starts, 1 win
Lennie Pond, 4 starts
Elmo Langley, 3 starts
Jim Paschal, 3 starts
Hershel McGriff, 2 starts
Joe Nemechek, 2 starts
Bill Rexford, 1 start
Bob Welborn, 1 start, 1 win
Al Keller, 1 start, 1 win
Lake Speed, 1 start
Rich Bickle, 1 start
Cotton Owens, 1 start
In Sprint Cup Series competition the #04 car has started 121 races and has 0 wins, 0 poles, 7 top 5s, 20 top 10s, and 67 DNFs.
From 1969-1970 Ken Meisenhelder started 34 races in his #04 Oldsmobile.
Hershel McGriff started #04 32 times from 1972-1993, most notably for Petty Enterprises in the 1970s. McGriff is a West Coast late model driver who only ran one full season in Cup, but consistently made starts at the West Coast tracks.
Other notable names in #04:
Big John Sears, 11 starts
Coo Coo Marlin, 3 starts
PJ Jones, 2 starts
Eric McClure, 2 starts
Marvin Panch, 1 start
AdvertisementsThis amazing work is done by Ayrton Senna Official twitter account. Enjoy this incredible moments.
The year 1991 was marked forever in the memory of Senna and most Brazilian fans. The victory at Phoenix, United States, was nothing compared to what was to come on the 24th of March. Senna did not even celebrate his birthday three days before, preferring to keep their concentration on the Interlagos race.
The engines are running, the lights are on, the pilots are ready. 3,2,1… LET THE RACE BEGIN! #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/9YaH7rakur — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 1: Senna dominates the start and opens a comfortable difference to @nigelmansell and Patrese’s @WilliamsRacing. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 2: @nigelmansell keeps himself close to Senna and stays only 1s16 apart from the Brazilian. #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/wNLw3iNNQL — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 7: After a few faster laps, Senna opens 2.6s over the Englishman. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 8: While Senna leads, @Prost_official and Piquet fight for the 6th place. The Brazilian, for now, stays in front. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 9: Mauricio Gugelmin retires. He couldn´t resist the pains from a burn during warm up. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The Brazilian crowd celebrates the leadership of their eternal idol Ayrton and Piquet’s good race. Interlagos shakes! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 17: @Prost_official stops at the pit. The Frenchman falls to 11th place. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 26: @nigelmansell has problems with his pit stop, that reaches 14s59. He is now in 4th place. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 27: It´s time for Senna’s pit stop, with a great time: 6.93s, which gives him good advantage over Patrese. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 28: Patrese also stops and loses a few positions. @nigelmansell is back in 2nd place, with Piquet right behind him. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
@ayrtonsenna Vai Senna…. Acelera Ayrton!!!! — Paulo R Stramaro (@PauloStramaro) November 6, 2014
Senna remains undisturbed in 1st place, but the race is on fire for the other pilots! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 34: Patrese speeds up on the end of the pit straight and overtakes Piquet. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Incredible work from @ayrtonsenna remembering the #Interlagos91 Grand Prix. — Solo F1 sin Circo (@Solof1sincirco) November 6, 2014
Lap 35: @nigelmansell tries to approach Ayrton and makes the fastest lap of the race. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Going back in time with @ayrtonsenna #Interlagos91. I’m 9 years old again :’) #SennaSempre — Därcÿ Stärbuck (@sherrinford221b) November 6, 2014
Lap 38: @Prost_official stops for the 2nd time and comes back in 5s93. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
@ayrtonsenna @nigelmansell Congrats for an amazing work! Thanks for this present. — Angel Ortuño (@Angelin1976) November 6, 2014
Lap 42: Alesi also stops for the 2nd time, being half a second slower than @Prost_official. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 44: Berger overtakes Piquet at the end of the chicane and is now on 4th place. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 46: Piquet changes his tires in 6.80s. Leading, Senna is getting closer and closer to his first victory at home! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 50: 34s820 behind Senna, @nigellmansell almost runs over an engineer from his team in his second pit. Take it easy, Lion! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Seems like the Brazilian is going to end up victorious. Or will we have unpredictable incidents until the end? #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 59: @nigelmansell retires. Senna opens 40s over Patrese. The Brazilian fans are excited: the time is coming! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 63: Senna’s @McLaren F1 is getting slower! What is happening to our idol? #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 65: Senna is closing his laps at 1m28s, 7s more than his opponents. Will the victory slip away? #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The crowd is puzzled. After dominating the race, Senna’s car seems to have some problem. #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/UiCl67gBT4 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 67: The difference to Patrese falls to 9s610. Senna can´t even stop at the pit. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
A soft rain starts to fall. Will it help Senna? #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 68: The difference to Patrese, once in 40s, is now only 5s446. Speed it up, Ayrton! The whole country is by your side. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 69: Amazing! Like a miracle, Senna holds the difference to Patrese in 4s158. What a thrilling finale! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The tweets by @ayrtonsenna right now have me on the edge of my seat (even when I know what will happen) #Magical — Classic Formula 1 (@ClassicFormula1) November 6, 2014
Lap 70: The rain gets harder and Patrese seems to lose his impulse. Only one lap left! #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/zEP1rWX3iu — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Lap 71: Senna raises his fist on the opposite straight, like he is asking for the end of the race – but he’s not. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The onboard images show that Senna is not changing gears. Is it a problem with his gearbox? #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The difference between the 2 first places is less than 3s. But Patrese won’t be able to reach Ayrton! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
The crowd is getting louder and louder. The time is really coming! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Senna is closer and closer to the chequered flag! THE TIME HAS COME! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
@ayrtonsenna even through tweets we can all feel the magic of Senna’s drive — Kenny Loggins ✌️ (@jhealey1995) November 6, 2014
AYRTON SENNA CROSSES THE FINISHING LINE! HE IS THE WINNER OF TODAY! #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/KvgFugLP8E — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
With 2s991 of advantage over Patrese, it’s the idol’s first win in São Paulo. Exhausted, he cries under his helmet. #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
We’ve just found out what happened to his car: Senna finished with only 2 gears left. Unbelievable! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Senna is acclaimed by the fans. He is exhausted, but says: “If that’s the price of winning in Brazil, then it was cheap” #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Ayrton Senna climbs the top of the podium and raises the trophy with difficulty. One of his best wins! #Interlagos91 pic.twitter.com/dpNgki8NhT — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
In previous years, Senna almost did it, but this time, no one will take this win on his country off of him! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
Now, Senna won his second race in 2 of the season and remains firmly towards the 3rd title! #Interlagos91 — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014
it’s time for our transmission of this historic moment come to an end. Thank you for cheering with us! #Interlagos91 #SennaSempre — Ayrton Senna (@ayrtonsenna) November 6, 2014Just a few days after Google unveiled its self-driving car prototype, Intel is getting in on the automated vehicle industry, too.
The company is introducing what it calls an "in-vehicle solutions platform," which could eventually support self-driving vehicles like the Google car. Intel's new hardware and software technology aims to help "the car evolve to better inform, assist and eventually assume control," according to a press release.
The infotainment system — which comes with processors, an operating system and developer kits — would make it easier for automakers and suppliers to bring updates to its platform much faster (in only 12 months) and at 50% of the cost.
Earlier this week, Google unveiled the design of its self-driving car prototype, a small two-seater with no steering wheel, no brake pedal and a "stop" panic button. The dimensions are still unknown, but it has a smiley face on its front exterior.
Self-driving cars have the potential to make the roads much safer, thanks to built-in sensors that can inform a computer to make driving decisions much faster than humans. For example, the Google car can slow down for jaywalking pedestrians, watch for cars that sneak out of hidden driveways and look for cyclists making gestures that indicate a possible turn. In addition to reducing crashes, self-driving cars could ease congestion, improve fuel economy, reduce parking needs and bring mobility to those who are unable to drive.
Although there are challenges ahead — such as consumer adoption and cost — the potential here is massive. Not surprisingly, companies want in.
Although the product is available for auto systems with advancer driver assistance capabilities, future iterations will be "geared for advanced driving experiences such as autonomous or self-driving cars."
Intel said it is actively collecting data about how people drive and how cars can be more adaptive, predictive and interact with drivers and its surroundings.
In 2012, the company established a $100 million Intel Capital Connected Car Fund to grow car tech integration and help it enable future autonomous driving capabilities.The United States supplied Pakistan with F-16 fighter jets to fight terrorism in areas where the Taliban have a strong foothold, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter reiterated during a joint press conference in India.
However, as Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar shared the Indian government’s concern following the US decision to sell eight F-16 jets to Pakistan. Carter assured that the jets would only be used against terror, Times of India reported.
Upon being asked if the US was trying to be a trusted ally of India by supplying the fighter jets to Pakistan, Carter, who is currently visiting India said, “We try to be a trusted partner of India.”
He added that the US has given ‘unique technologies’ to India. “We don’t have an agreement like that with other countries.”
Further addressing the New Delhi’s concerns, Carter said the US ‘values’ its relationship with Pakistan.
“India also has relations with other countries like Russia. We respect that,” he said in the same regard.
“What we do in Pakistan is directed towards counter-terrorism. We too have suffered from terrorism emanating from the territory, more specifically Afghanistan,” he further stated.The changes, announced on Friday evening, will also see a legal commitment to sustainable fishing.
A deal has been reached to end the practice of discarding edible fish under a radical shake-up to the Common Fisheries Policy.
The changes, announced in an agreement reached in Europe on Friday evening, will also see a legal commitment to sustainable fishing and decentralisation of decision-making, meaning EU member states will decide which measures suit their respective fishing industries.
The Common Fisheries Policy, which applies across the European Union, has been controversial amongst Scotland’s fishing industry stakeholders.
The UK Government, which pushed the case for reform, underscored its role in the turnaround.
Revealing the deal, Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon said: “I have been fighting for these changes for many years and our hard work over many late nights has finally paid off. Negotiations have not been easy, but I was determined to push this ambitious deal through and not to compromise on the issues that matter most.
“This agreement hails a significant breakthrough that will make fishing more sustainable, will end the centralised one-size-fits-all approach to decision making and will make discards a thing of the past. This broken policy is finally on the right path.”
The proposal still has to pass through the European Parliament but it is expected that new rules on discarding fish such as mackerel and herring will come into effect on January 1, 2015. The ban will be extended to cover other species of fish from the following year.
The UK Government also touted its success in securing a new requirement to maintain sustainable levels of fish stock, based on scientific advice, and geared towards keeping the industry profitable.
Mr Benyon added: “We know these changes will not happen overnight, and we have a lot of work ahead to help fishermen adjust to the new reforms so that they have a more sustainable future.
“This work has already begun, and we will now build on the discussions we’ve already had with industry to make sure the transition is as smooth as possible.”When it comes to TV theme songs, there are few as cheesy as the “Hawaii Five-0” theme. But chances are you haven’t heard it quite like this -- and you really need to.
Honoka Katayama, 16, and Azita Ganjali, 13, two spunky teens from Hawaii, play an amazing rendition of the upbeat classic on ukulele. They're so amazing, in fact, that the pair were named MVP of the 2013 International Ukulele Contest in Honolulu, and came in first place for the group division.
The dynamic duo -- who are "like sisters," according to their manager -- only started playing together before last year’s contest. They've been studying the ukulele since they were 10 and 5, respectively, and met at the Ukulele Hale studio in Honolulu where they take weekly lessons.
“They started out playing as solo artists, then they decided to enter the contest together,” their teacher and manager Jody Kamisato told The Huffington Post. After their win last year, they traveled to Japan to open for the popular Okinawan band Begin and have maintained monthly performances at the Hard Rock Cafe in Honolulu ever since.
Recently, Kamisato said, they caught the ear of a producer from CBS' “Hawaii Five-0" -- if all goes well, maybe we'll hear them on the show similar to Lennon and Maisy's recurring role on "Nashville."
We certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of their energy and infectious smiles.Episodes:
1. Cornered (aka Fool�s Errand)
2. True Colors
3. The Fix
4. Runaways
5. War
6. Complications
7. The Hunt
8. Intervention
9. Summit
10. Endgame (aka Spin)
Bonus Content:
-Bonus Episodes
-Trailers
Synopsis: The action, intrigue and thrills continue with Season Two Part Two of Young Justice! Watch as The Reach, spearheaded by the quick-talking Ambassador and backed by the muscle of Black Beetle, continues its manipulation of a trusting public while maintaining its shadowy maneuvering with The Light. Meanwhile, team members Robin, Blue Beetle and Impulse go undercover to investigate LexCorp and its newfound partnership with The Reach, the results of which could shift the balance of power forever. So report in for 10 all-new adventures, as the risks have never been greater and the conflicts never so far-reaching. The epic finale will shatter everything you know!
Review by James Harvey:
Since this review will emphasize the home video release more than the main feature, my comments on the episodes included here will be brief. This collections features the final ten episodes from the second season of Young Justice, subtitled �Invasion,� and this second season has been understandably controversial right up to the final moments (that last scene? Oh man...). While the initial controversy to the season was the time jump, that eventually became a non-issue as the story grew and evolved. While the time-jump was still an issue with many, the fact that the show was squeezing at least 26 episodes worth of plot into 20 was becoming a problem. This resulted in some episodes feeling rushed and characters sidelined, leading toward a finale that didn't completely hit as hard as it should. Everything was resolved, save for a few key plotlines, but it felt like too much happened too quickly. At the end of the it all, I still see Young Justice as a show about the original core team - Aqualad, Artemis, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Robin, and Superboy. Even with the changes, at its core, this show still remains focused on those six players (with Nightwing a definite anchor to everything going on). It may not seem like it, as there are times when barely any of these characters are seen during the course of an episode, but these six hold the show together even with the rather expansive team growth this season. Superboy vanishes for a huge chunk of episodes, for example, to emphasize the importance of a few new characters introduced this season. New developments pop up, costumes and names change, some retire, some die, but � in the end � this show still remains about that fantastic core group of young heroes. Personally, I enjoyed the first season of Young Justice more than the second season, but this was still a great run of episodes and a true testament to the great creative team behind the series. The characters are just as developed and layered, the writing and directing sharp, and the developments usually jaw-dropping. True, there is a bit of a sting as we get a taste of what was to come that we'll never get to see, but at least now we get the conclusion to this second and final season on home video. Speaking of the DVD, Warner Home Video provides another good, though not great, home video release for Young Justice. The Young Justice: Invasion - Season Two, Part Two: Game of Illusions DVD release includes ten episodes, plus some bonus episodes and a few trailers. Nothing major, but a slight improvement from the previous single-disc volume releases. With five episodes to a disc, the A/V quality here is pretty solid. Audio is a standard English Stereo mix and the video presentation is an anamorphic widescreen encode, resulting in a surprisingly stunning image. It looks great but, like Green Lantern: The Animated Series, this show would benefit from a Blu-ray release. Blu-rays is the dominant home video media and eclipses sales of digital download and DVD media, so Warner Home Video should take advantage of that. People are clamoring for high-definition releases, so why not give it to them? The bonus content is sparse here, the standard with these releases. Outside of the standard promotional trailers, also included are three bonus Statis Shock episodes which introduce the popular 1990s Milestone character and his background. A neat way to tie episodes of an unrelated series, and something fans should enjoy, especially since only six episodes of Static Shock ever made it to home video. It would be ideal to get some actual behind-the-scenes production content on the show itself, but those days seem to be done for most animation titles (except for Paramount Home Video, who still does a solid job with their home video titles, I find). I was very disappointed to see that Warner Home Video used their new default menu system for this release. You know - the really cheap looking designs akin to something someone scrambled together from a'make-your-own-DVD' kit on a fifteen-year old computer? Look at the menu grabs above for a closer look - they look simply awful. Warner used a nice, consistent menu system for the previous five releases, giving a uniform look for the Young Justice titles. And, for this last release, they just dump all that and toss in these terribly cheap menus. I sincerely wish Warner Home Video would stop using this menu system. It's terribly cheap, amateur-ish, and looks awful. Taking everything into account, fans should really scoop up this release. There�s no guarantee of a complete season collection � be it on DVD and Blu-ray � and there�s enough content on this title to warrant plunking down $15 or $20. Plus - come on - this wraps up the series! If you've bought every release before this one, there's no reason not to scoop up this release, too. You want to support Young Justice? Then put your money where your mouth is and pick up this DVD release. Each episode on this collection is thoroughly enjoyable, some more than others, and the amount of episodes gives this collection a nice hefty run time. While the lack of extras remains frustrating, it�s certainly not a deal-breaker. Young Justice: Invasion - Season Two, Part Two: Game of Illusions comes Highly Recommended. Ten episodes (plus three hard-to-find bonus Static Shock episodes) of one of the best action cartoons currently on television? Yeah, don�t pass this one up. Show your support and add it to your collection! [ Back to Releases ]U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he talks to the media on South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., before his departure to Camp David, December 16, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Senior FBI officials warned Donald Trump last year that Russia would likely try to spy on and infiltrate his presidential campaign team and that he should report any suspicious overtures to the bureau, |
real integral on the right side does not exist the integral along γ is said not to exist.
As a generalization of the Riemann integral [ edit ]
The generalization of the Riemann integral to functions of a complex variable is done in complete analogy to its definition for functions from the real numbers. The partition of a directed smooth curve γ is defined as a finite, ordered set of points on γ. The integral over the curve is the limit of finite sums of function values, taken at the points on the partition, in the limit that the maximum distance between any two successive points on the partition (in the two-dimensional complex plane), also known as the mesh, goes to zero.
Direct methods [ edit ]
Direct methods involve the calculation of the integral by means of methods similar to those in calculating line integrals in several-variable calculus. This means that we use the following method:
parametrizing the contour The contour is parametrized by a differentiable complex-valued function of real variables, or the contour is broken up into pieces and parametrized separately.
substitution of the parametrization into the integrand Substituting the parametrization into the integrand transforms the integral into an integral of one real variable.
direct evaluation The integral is evaluated in a method akin to a real-variable integral.
Example [ edit ]
A fundamental result in complex analysis is that the contour integral of 1/z is 2πi, where the path of the contour is taken to be the unit circle traversed counterclockwise (or any positively oriented Jordan curve about 0). In the case of the unit circle there is a direct method to evaluate the integral
∮ C 1 z d z. {\displaystyle \oint _{C}{\frac {1}{z}}\,dz.}
In evaluating this integral, use the unit circle |z| = 1 as contour, parametrized by z(t) = eit, with t ∈ [0, 2π], then dz/dt = ieit and
∮ C 1 z d z = ∫ 0 2 π 1 e i t i e i t d t = i ∫ 0 2 π 1 d t = [ t ] 0 2 π i = ( 2 π − 0 ) i = 2 π i. {\displaystyle \oint _{C}{\frac {1}{z}}\,dz=\int _{0}^{2\pi }{\frac {1}{e^{it}}}ie^{it}\,dt=i\int _{0}^{2\pi }1\,dt={\Big [}\;t\;{\Big ]}_{0}^{2\pi }i=(2\pi -0)i=2\pi i.}
which is the value of the integral.
Applications of integral theorems [ edit ]
Applications of integral theorems are also often used to evaluate the contour integral along a contour, which means that the real-valued integral is calculated simultaneously along with calculating the contour integral.
Integral theorems such as the Cauchy integral formula or residue theorem are generally used in the following method:
a specific contour is chosen: The contour is chosen so that the contour follows the part of the complex plane that describes the real-valued integral, and also encloses singularities of the integrand so application of the Cauchy integral formula or residue theorem is possible
application of Cauchy's integral theorem The integral is reduced to only an integration around a small circle about each pole.
application of the Cauchy integral formula or residue theorem Application of these integral formulae gives us a value for the integral around the whole of the contour.
division of the contour into a contour along the real part and imaginary part The whole of the contour can be divided into the contour that follows the part of the complex plane that describes the real-valued integral as chosen before (call it R ), and the integral that crosses the complex plane (call it I ). The integral over the whole of the contour is the sum of the integral over each of these contours.
demonstration that the integral that crosses the complex plane plays no part in the sum If the integral I can be shown to be zero, or if the real-valued integral that is sought is improper, then if we demonstrate that the integral I as described above tends to 0, the integral along R will tend to the integral around the contour R + I.
conclusion If we can show the above step, then we can directly calculate R, the real-valued integral.
Example 1 [ edit ]
Consider the integral
∫ − ∞ ∞ 1 ( x 2 + 1 ) 2 d x, {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {1}{\left(x^{2}+1\right)^{2}}}\,dx,}
To evaluate this integral, we look at the complex-valued function
f ( z ) = 1 ( z 2 + 1 ) 2 {\displaystyle f(z)={\frac {1}{\left(z^{2}+1\right)^{2}}}}
which has singularities at i and −i. We choose a contour that will enclose the real-valued integral, here a semicircle with boundary diameter on the real line (going from, say, −a to a) will be convenient. Call this contour C.
There are two ways of proceeding, using the Cauchy integral formula or by the method of residues:
Using the Cauchy integral formula [ edit ]
Note that:
∮ C f ( z ) d z = ∫ − a a f ( z ) d z + ∫ Arc f ( z ) d z {\displaystyle \oint _{C}f(z)\,dz=\int _{-a}^{a}f(z)\,dz+\int _{\text{Arc}}f(z)\,dz}
thus
∫ − a a f ( z ) d z = ∮ C f ( z ) d z − ∫ Arc f ( z ) d z {\displaystyle \int _{-a}^{a}f(z)\,dz=\oint _{C}f(z)\,dz-\int _{\text{Arc}}f(z)\,dz}
Furthermore observe that
f ( z ) = 1 ( z 2 + 1 ) 2 = 1 ( z + i ) 2 ( z − i ) 2. {\displaystyle f(z)={\frac {1}{\left(z^{2}+1\right)^{2}}}={\frac {1}{(z+i)^{2}(z-i)^{2}}}.}
Since the only singularity in the contour is the one at i, then we can write
f ( z ) = 1 ( z + i ) 2 ( z − i ) 2, {\displaystyle f(z)={\frac {\frac {1}{(z+i)^{2}}}{(z-i)^{2}}},}
which puts the function in the form for direct application of the formula. Then, by using Cauchy's integral formula,
∮ C f ( z ) d z = ∮ C 1 ( z + i ) 2 ( z − i ) 2 d z = 2 π i d d z ( 1 ( z + i ) 2 ) | z = i = 2 π i ( − 2 ( z + i ) 3 ) | z = i = π 2 {\displaystyle \oint _{C}f(z)\,dz=\oint _{C}{\frac {\frac {1}{(z+i)^{2}}}{(z-i)^{2}}}\,dz=2\pi i{\frac {d}{dz}}\left({\frac {1}{(z+i)^{2}}}\right){\Bigg |}_{z=i}=2\pi i\left({\frac {-2}{(z+i)^{3}}}\right){\Bigg |}_{z=i}={\frac {\pi }{2}}}
We take the first derivative, in the above steps, because the pole is a second-order pole. That is, (z − i) is taken to the second power, so we employ the first derivative of f(z). If it were (z − i) taken to the third power, we would use the second derivative and divide by 2!, etc. The case of (z − i) to the first power corresponds to a zero order derivative—just f(z) itself.
We need to show that the integral over the arc of the semicircle tends to zero as a → ∞, using the estimation lemma
| ∫ Arc f ( z ) d z | ≤ M L {\displaystyle \left|\int _{\text{Arc}}f(z)\,dz\right|\leq ML}
where M is an upper bound on |f(z)| along the arc and L the length of the arc. Now,
| ∫ Arc f ( z ) d z | ≤ a π ( a 2 − 1 ) 2 → 0 as a → ∞. {\displaystyle \left|\int _{\text{Arc}}f(z)\,dz\right|\leq {\frac {a\pi }{\left(a^{2}-1\right)^{2}}}\rightarrow 0{\mbox{ as }}a\rightarrow \infty.}
So
∫ − ∞ ∞ 1 ( x 2 + 1 ) 2 d x = ∫ − ∞ ∞ f ( z ) d z = lim a → + ∞ ∫ − a a f ( z ) d z = π 2. ◻ {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {1}{\left(x^{2}+1\right)^{2}}}\,dx=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }f(z)\,dz=\lim _{a\to +\infty }\int _{-a}^{a}f(z)\,dz={\frac {\pi }{2}}.\quad \square }
Using the method of residues [ edit ]
Consider the Laurent series of f(z) about i, the only singularity we need to consider. We then have
f ( z ) = − 1 4 ( z − i ) 2 + − i 4 ( z − i ) + 3 16 + i 8 ( z − i ) + − 5 64 ( z − i ) 2 + ⋯ {\displaystyle f(z)={\frac {-1}{4(z-i)^{2}}}+{\frac {-i}{4(z-i)}}+{\frac {3}{16}}+{\frac {i}{8}}(z-i)+{\frac {-5}{64}}(z-i)^{2}+\cdots }
(See the sample Laurent calculation from Laurent series for the derivation of this series.)
It is clear by inspection that the residue is −i/4 (to see this, imagine that the above equation were multiplied by z − i, then both sides integrated via the Cauchy integral formula—only the second term would integrate to a non-zero quantity), so, by the residue theorem, we have
∮ C f ( z ) d z = ∮ C 1 ( z 2 + 1 ) 2 d z = 2 π i Res z = i f = 2 π i ( − i 4 ) = π 2 ◻ {\displaystyle \oint _{C}f(z)\,dz=\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{\left(z^{2}+1\right)^{2}}}\,dz=2\pi i\,\operatorname {Res} _{z=i}f=2\pi i\left(-{\frac {i}{4}}\right)={\frac {\pi }{2}}\quad \square }
Thus we get the same result as before.
Contour note [ edit ]
As an aside, a question can arise whether we do not take the semicircle to include the other singularity, enclosing −i. To have the integral along the real axis moving in the correct direction, the contour must travel clockwise, i.e., in a negative direction, reversing the sign of the integral overall.
This does not affect the use of the method of residues by series.
Example 2 – Cauchy distribution [ edit ]
The integral
∫ − ∞ ∞ e i t x x 2 + 1 d x {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {e^{itx}}{x^{2}+1}}\,dx}
(which arises in probability theory as a scalar multiple of the characteristic function of the Cauchy distribution) resists the techniques of elementary calculus. We will evaluate it by expressing it as a limit of contour integrals along the contour C that goes along the real line from −a to a and then counterclockwise along a semicircle centered at 0 from a to −a. Take a to be greater than 1, so that the imaginary unit i is enclosed within the curve. The contour integral is
∫ C e i t z z 2 + 1 d z. {\displaystyle \int _{C}{\frac {e^{itz}}{z^{2}+1}}\,dz.}
Since eitz is an entire function (having no singularities at any point in the complex plane), this function has singularities only where the denominator z2 + 1 is zero. Since z2 + 1 = (z + i)(z − i), that happens only where z = i or z = −i. Only one of those points is in the region bounded by this contour. The residue of f(z) at z = i is
lim z → i ( z − i ) f ( z ) = lim z → i ( z − i ) e i t z z 2 + 1 = lim z → i ( z − i ) e i t z ( z − i ) ( z + i ) = lim z → i e i t z z + i = e − t 2 i. {\displaystyle \lim _{z\to i}(z-i)f(z)=\lim _{z\to i}(z-i){\frac {e^{itz}}{z^{2}+1}}=\lim _{z\to i}(z-i){\frac {e^{itz}}{(z-i)(z+i)}}=\lim _{z\to i}{\frac {e^{itz}}{z+i}}={\frac {e^{-t}}{2i}}.}
According to the residue theorem, then, we have
∫ C f ( z ) d z = 2 π i Res z = i f ( z ) = 2 π i e − t 2 i = π e − t. {\displaystyle \int _{C}f(z)\,dz=2\pi i\operatorname {Res} _{z=i}f(z)=2\pi i{\frac {e^{-t}}{2i}}=\pi e^{-t}.}
The contour C may be split into a "straight" part and a curved arc, so that
∫ straight + ∫ arc = π e − t, {\displaystyle \int _{\text{straight}}+\int _{\text{arc}}=\pi e^{-t},}
and thus
∫ − a a = π e − t − ∫ arc. {\displaystyle \int _{-a}^{a}=\pi e^{-t}-\int _{\text{arc}}.}
It can be shown that if t > 0 then
∫ arc e i t z z 2 + 1 d z → 0 as a → ∞. {\displaystyle \int _{\text{arc}}{\frac {e^{itz}}{z^{2}+1}}\,dz\rightarrow 0{\mbox{ as }}a\rightarrow \infty.}
Therefore if t > 0 then
∫ − ∞ ∞ e i t x x 2 + 1 d x = π e − t. {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {e^{itx}}{x^{2}+1}}\,dx=\pi e^{-t}.}
A similar argument with an arc that winds around −i rather than i shows that if t < 0 then
∫ − ∞ ∞ e i t x x 2 + 1 d x = π e t, {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {e^{itx}}{x^{2}+1}}\,dx=\pi e^{t},}
and finally we have this:
∫ − ∞ ∞ e i t x x 2 + 1 d x = π e − | t |. ◻ {\displaystyle \int _{-\infty }^{\infty }{\frac {e^{itx}}{x^{2}+1}}\,dx=\pi e^{-|t|}.\quad \square }
(If t = 0 then the integral yields immediately to real-valued calculus methods and its value is π.)
Example 3 – trigonometric integrals [ edit ]
Certain substitutions can be made to integrals involving trigonometric functions, so the integral is transformed into a rational function of a complex variable and then the above methods can be used in order to evaluate the integral.
As an example, consider
∫ − π π 1 1 + 3 ( cos t ) 2 d t. {\displaystyle \int _{-\pi }^{\pi }{\frac {1}{1+3(\cos t)^{2}}}\,dt.}
We seek to make a substitution of z = eit. Now, recall
cos t = 1 2 ( e i t + e − i t ) = 1 2 ( z + 1 z ) {\displaystyle \cos t={\frac {1}{2}}\left(e^{it}+e^{-it}\right)={\frac {1}{2}}\left(z+{\frac {1}{z}}\right)}
and
d z d t = i z, d t = d z i z. {\displaystyle {\frac {dz}{dt}}=iz,\ dt={\frac {dz}{iz}}.}
Taking C to be the unit circle, we substitute to get:
∮ C 1 1 + 3 ( 1 2 ( z + 1 z ) ) 2 d z i z = ∮ C 1 1 + 3 4 ( z + 1 z ) 2 1 i z d z = ∮ C − i z + 3 4 z ( z + 1 z ) 2 d z = − i ∮ C 1 z + 3 4 z ( z 2 + 2 + 1 z 2 ) d z = − i ∮ C 1 z + 3 4 ( z 3 + 2 z + 1 z ) d z = − i ∮ C 1 3 4 z 3 + 5 2 z + 3 4 z d z = − i ∮ C 4 3 z 3 + 10 z + 3 z d z = − 4 i ∮ C 1 3 z 3 + 10 z + 3 z d z = − 4 i ∮ C z 3 z 4 + 10 z 2 + 3 d z = − 4 i ∮ C z 3 ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z + i 3 ) ( z − i 3 ) d z = − 4 i 3 ∮ C z ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z + i 3 ) ( z − i 3 ) d z. {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{1+3\left({\frac {1}{2}}\left(z+{\frac {1}{z}}\right)\right)^{2}}}\,{\frac {dz}{iz}}&=\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{1+{\frac {3}{4}}\left(z+{\frac {1}{z}}\right)^{2}}}{\frac {1}{iz}}\,dz\\&=\oint _{C}{\frac {-i}{z+{\frac {3}{4}}z\left(z+{\frac {1}{z}}\right)^{2}}}\,dz\\&=-i\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{z+{\frac {3}{4}}z\left(z^{2}+2+{\frac {1}{z^{2}}}\right)}}\,dz\\&=-i\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{z+{\frac {3}{4}}\left(z^{3}+2z+{\frac {1}{z}}\right)}}\,dz\\&=-i\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{{\frac {3}{4}}z^{3}+{\frac {5}{2}}z+{\frac {3}{4z}}}}\,dz\\&=-i\oint _{C}{\frac {4}{3z^{3}+10z+{\frac {3}{z}}}}\,dz\\&=-4i\oint _{C}{\frac {1}{3z^{3}+10z+{\frac {3}{z}}}}\,dz\\&=-4i\oint _{C}{\frac {z}{3z^{4}+10z^{2}+3}}\,dz\\&=-4i\oint _{C}{\frac {z}{3\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left(z-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\,dz\\&=-{\frac {4i}{3}}\oint _{C}{\frac {z}{\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left(z-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\,dz.\end{aligned}}}
The singularities to be considered are at ± i 3. {\displaystyle {\tfrac {\pm i}{\sqrt {3}}}.} Let C 1 be a small circle about i 3, {\displaystyle {\tfrac {i}{\sqrt {3}}},} and C 2 be a small circle about − i 3. {\displaystyle {\tfrac {-i}{\sqrt {3}}}.} Then we arrive at the following:
− 4 i 3 [ ∮ C 1 z ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z + i 3 ) z − i 3 d z + ∮ C 2 z ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z − i 3 ) z + i 3 d z ] = − 4 i 3 [ 2 π i ( z ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z + i 3 ) ) | z = i 3 + 2 π i ( z ( z + 3 i ) ( z − 3 i ) ( z − i 3 ) ) | z = − i 3 ] = 8 π 3 [ i 3 ( i 3 + 3 i ) ( i 3 − 3 i ) ( i 3 + i 3 ) + − i 3 ( − i 3 + 3 i ) ( − i 3 − 3 i ) ( − i 3 − i 3 ) ] = 8 π 3 [ i 3 ( 4 3 i ) ( − 2 i 3 ) ( 2 3 i ) + − i 3 ( 2 3 i ) ( − 4 3 i ) ( − 2 3 i ) ] = 8 π 3 [ i 3 i ( 4 3 ) ( 2 3 ) ( 2 3 ) + − i 3 − i ( 2 3 ) ( 4 3 ) ( 2 3 ) ] = 8 π 3 [ 1 3 ( 4 3 ) ( 2 3 ) ( 2 3 ) + 1 3 ( 2 3 ) ( 4 3 ) ( 2 3 ) ] = 8 π 3 [ 1 3 16 3 3 + 1 3 16 3 3 ] = 8 π 3 [ 3 16 + 3 16 ] = π. {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}-{\frac {4i}{3}}&\left[\oint _{C_{1}}{\frac {\frac {z}{\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}{z-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}}\,dz+\oint _{C_{2}}{\frac {\frac {z}{\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}{z+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}}\,dz\right]\\&=-{\frac {4i}{3}}\left[2\pi i\left.\left({\frac {z}{\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\right)\right|_{z={\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}+2\pi i\left.\left({\frac {z}{\left(z+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(z-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\right)\right|_{z=-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}{\left({\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left({\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left({\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}+{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}+{\frac {-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}{\left(-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}+{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}-{\sqrt {3}}i\right)\left(-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}{\left({\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}i\right)\left(-{\frac {2}{i{\sqrt {3}}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{{\sqrt {3}}i}}\right)}}+{\frac {-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}{\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}i\right)\left(-{\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}i\right)\left(-{\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}i\right)}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}{i\left({\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}+{\frac {-{\frac {i}{\sqrt {3}}}}{-i\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}{\left({\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}+{\frac {\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}{\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {4}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)\left({\frac {2}{\sqrt {3}}}\right)}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}{\frac {16}{3{\sqrt {3}}}}}+{\frac {\frac {1}{\sqrt {3}}}{\frac {16}{3{\sqrt {3}}}}}\right]\\&={\frac {8\pi }{3}}\left[{\frac {3}{16}}+{\frac {3}{16}}\right]\\&=\pi.\end{aligned}}}
Example 3a – trigonometric integrals, the general procedure [ edit ]
The above method may be applied to all integrals of the type
∫ 0 2 π P ( sin ( t ), sin ( 2 t ), …, cos ( t ), cos ( 2 t ), … ) Q ( sin ( t ), sin ( 2 t ), …, cos ( t ), cos ( 2 t ), … ) d t {\displaystyle \int _{0}^{2\pi }{\frac {P{\big (}\sin(t),\sin(2t),\ldots,\cos(t),\cos(2t),\ldots {\big )}}{Q{\big (}\sin(t),\sin(2t),\ldots,\cos(t),\cos(2t),\ldots {\big )}}}\,dt}
where P and Q are polynomials, i.e. a rational function in trigonometric terms is being integrated. Note that the bounds of integration may as well be π and −π, as in the previous example, or any other pair of endpoints 2π apart.
The trick is to use the substitution z = eit where dz = ieit dt and hence
1 i z d z = d t. {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{iz}}\,dz=dt.}
This substitution maps the interval [0, 2π] to the unit circle. Furthermore,
sin ( k t ) = e i k t − e − i k t 2 i = z k − z − k 2 i {\displaystyle \sin(kt)={\frac {e^{ikt}-e^{-ikt}}{2i}}={\frac {z^{k}-z^{-k}}{2i}}}
and
cos ( k t ) = e i k t + e − i k t 2 = z k + z − k 2 {\displaystyle \cos(kt)={\frac {e^{ikt}+e^{-ikt}}{2}}={\frac {z^{k}+z^{-k}}{2}}}
so that a rational function f(z) in z results from the substitution, and the integral becomes
∮ | z | = 1 f ( z ) 1 i z d z {\displaystyle \oint _{|z|=1}f(z){\frac {1}{iz}}\,dz}
which is in turn computed by summing the residues of f(z)1/iz inside the unit circle.
The image at right illustrates this for
I = ∫ 0 π 2 1 1 + ( sin t ) 2 d t, {\displaystyle I=\int _{0}^{\frac {\pi }{2}}{\frac {1}{1+(\sin t)^{2}}}\,dt,}
which we now compute. The first step is to recognize that
I = 1 4 ∫ 0 2 π 1 1 + ( sin t ) 2 d t. {\displaystyle I={\frac {1}{4}}\int _{0}^{2\pi }{\frac {1}{1+(\sin t)^{2}}}\,dt.}
The substitution yields
1 4 ∮ | z | = 1 4 i z z 4 − 6 z 2 + 1 d z = ∮ | z | = 1 i z z 4 − 6 z 2 + 1 d z. {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{4}}\oint _{|z|=1}{\frac {4iz}{z^{4}-6z^{2}+1}}\,dz=\oint _{|z|=1}{\frac {iz}{z^{4}-6z^{2}+1}}\,dz.}
The poles of this function are at 1 ± √2 and −1 ± √2. Of these, 1 + √2 and −1 − √2 are outside the unit circle (shown in red, not to scale), whereas 1 − √2 and −1 + √2 are inside the unit circle (shown in blue). The corresponding residues are both equal to −i√2/16, so that the value of the integral is
I = 2 π i 2 ( − 2 16 i ) = π 2 4. {\displaystyle I=2\pi i\;2\left(-{\frac {\sqrt {2}}{16}}i\right)=\pi {\frac {\sqrt {2}}{4}}.}
Example 4 – branch cuts [ edit ]
Consider the real integral
∫ 0 ∞ x x 2 + 6 x + 8 d x. {\displaystyle \int _{0}^{\infty }{\frac {\sqrt {x}}{x^{2}+6x+8}}\,dx.}
We can begin by formulating the complex integral
∫ C z z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = I. {\displaystyle \int _{C}{\frac {\sqrt {z}}{z^{2}+6z+8}}\,dz=I.}
We can use the Cauchy integral formula or residue theorem again to obtain the relevant residues. However, the important thing to note is that z1⁄ 2 = e1⁄ 2 Log z, so z1⁄ 2 has a branch cut. This affects our choice of the contour C. Normally the logarithm branch cut is defined as the negative real axis, however, this makes the calculation of the integral slightly more complicated, so we define it to be the positive real axis.
Then, we use the so-called keyhole contour, which consists of a small circle about the origin of radius ε say, extending to a line segment parallel and close to the positive real axis but not touching it, to an almost full circle, returning to a line segment parallel, close, and below the positive real axis in the negative sense, returning to the small circle in the middle.
Note that z = −2 and z = −4 are inside the big circle. These are the two remaining poles, derivable by factoring the denominator of the integrand. The branch point at z = 0 was avoided by detouring around the origin.
Let γ be the small circle of radius ε, Γ the larger, with radius R, then
∫ C = ∫ ε R + ∫ Γ + ∫ R ε + ∫ γ. {\displaystyle \int _{C}=\int _{\varepsilon }^{R}+\int _{\Gamma }+\int _{R}^{\varepsilon }+\int _{\gamma }.}
It can be shown that the integrals over Γ and γ both tend to zero as ε → 0 and R → ∞, by an estimation argument above, that leaves two terms. Now since z1⁄ 2 = e1⁄ 2 Log z, on the contour outside the branch cut, we have gained 2π in argument along γ. (By Euler's identity, eiπ represents the unit vector, which therefore has π as its log. This π is what is meant by the argument of z. The coefficient of 1/2 forces us to use 2π.) So
∫ R ε z z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ R ε e 1 2 Log z z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ R ε e 1 2 ( log | z | + i arg z ) z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ R ε e 1 2 log | z | e 1 2 ( 2 π i ) z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ R ε e 1 2 log | z | e π i z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ R ε − z z 2 + 6 z + 8 d z = ∫ ε R |
); } } public FeaturePoint FeatureSE { get { return GetSharpFeature( a.XEdgePoint, a.xNormal, b.YEdgePoint, b.yNormal); } } public FeaturePoint FeatureNW { get { return GetSharpFeature( a.YEdgePoint, a.yNormal, c.XEdgePoint, c.xNormal); } } public FeaturePoint FeatureNE { get { return GetSharpFeature( c.XEdgePoint, c.xNormal, b.YEdgePoint, b.yNormal); } } public FeaturePoint FeatureNS { get { return GetSharpFeature( a.XEdgePoint, a.xNormal, c.XEdgePoint, c.xNormal); } } public FeaturePoint FeatureEW { get { return GetSharpFeature( a.YEdgePoint, a.yNormal, b.YEdgePoint, b.yNormal); } } As these properties have to decide whether a feature point exists without any context, we cannot know whether it's fine to clamp them or not. So we simply won't. A feature exist if it's sharp enough and lies inside the cell, otherwise it doesn't. This sacrifices some of the fidelity of our visualization, but simplifies our code. private FeaturePoint GetSharpFeature ( Vector2 p1, Vector2 n1, Vector2 p2, Vector2 n2) { FeaturePoint point; if (IsSharpFeature(n1, n2)) { point.position = GetIntersection(p1, n1, p2, n2); point.exists = Contains(point.position); } else { point.position = Vector2.zero; point.exists = false; } return point; } The three methods used here are the same that were previously in VoxelGrid, just moved to VoxelCell. private bool IsSharpFeature (Vector2 n1, Vector2 n2) { float dot = Vector2.Dot(n1, -n2); return dot >= sharpFeatureLimit && dot < 0.9999f; } private static Vector2 GetIntersection ( Vector2 p1, Vector2 n1, Vector2 p2, Vector2 n2) { Vector2 d2 = new Vector2(-n2.y, n2.x); float u2 = -Vector2.Dot(n1, p2 - p1) / Vector2.Dot(n1, d2); return p2 + d2 * u2; } private bool IsInsideCell (Vector2 point) { return point.x > a.position.x && amp;point.y > a.position.y && point.x < d.position.x && point.y < d.position.y; } unitypackage
Filling Cells Rendering cells with triangles is now the job of the renderers. VoxelGrid still figures out the topology of a cell, then leaves it up to the renderers to fill the cell with walls and surfaces. When working through the topology of a cell, ideally we no longer care whether a certain state is empty or filled. It's convenient to just invoke a filling method for any state. These fill methods then check whether the state is actually filled, and if so forward the request to the appropriate renderer. Otherwise it simply does nothing. Here's such a method for filling an isolated A corner. private void FillA (FeaturePoint f) { if (cell.a.Filled) { renderers[cell.a.state].FillA(cell, f); } } Passing the cell to VoxelRenderer allows it to figure out whether it needs to place walls. In case of a sharp feature each side needs to be checked separately, because they could have different voxel states. If there is no feature, then both adjacent voxels should have the same state and these separate checks are not needed. To place or not to place walls for A. public void FillA (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface.AddQuadA(cell.i, f.position); if (!cell.c.Filled) { wall.AddFromAC(cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell.b.Filled) { wall.AddToAB(cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface.AddTriangleA(cell.i); if (!cell.b.Filled) { wall.AddACAB(cell.i); } } } This means that VoxelGridWall need to support adding sections that go from an edge to a feature point, or from a feature point to an edge. Half sections, if you will. public void AddFromAB (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(xEdgesMin[i], extraVertex); } public void AddToAB (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(extraVertex, xEdgesMin[i]); } public void AddFromAC (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(yEdgeMin, extraVertex); } public void AddToAC (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(extraVertex, yEdgeMin); } public void AddFromBD (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(yEdgeMax, extraVertex); } public void AddToBD (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(extraVertex, yEdgeMax); } public void AddFromCD (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(xEdgesMax[i], extraVertex); } public void AddToCD (int i, Vector2 extraVertex) { AddHalfSection(extraVertex, xEdgesMax[i]); } This assumes the existence of two AddHalfSection methods, so add those as well. While we're at it, we can extract the code that constructs a feature point and put that in its own method so we can reuse it. private void AddSection (int a, int b, Vector3 extraPoint) { AddSection(a, AddPoint(extraPoint, a)); AddSection(AddPoint(extraPoint, b), b); } private void AddHalfSection (int a, Vector3 extraPoint) { AddSection(a, AddPoint(extraPoint, a)); } private void AddHalfSection (Vector3 extraPoint, int a) { AddSection(AddPoint(extraPoint, a), a); } private int AddPoint (Vector3 extraPoint, int normalIndex) { int p = vertices.Count; extraPoint.z = bottom; vertices.Add(extraPoint); extraPoint.z = top; vertices.Add(extraPoint); Vector3 n = normals[ normalIndex ]; normals.Add(n); normals.Add(n); return p; } Let's go ahead and create all the other fill methods too. I won't bother showing the methods for VoxelGrid, as they all have the same simple structure as FillA. Check if the relevant voxel is filled, if so index the renderers array and invoke the method with the same name. On to VoxelRenderer! The other three single-corner methods are slight variations of FillA. I marked the differences. public void FillB (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddQuadB (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddFromAB (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. d.Filled) { wall. AddToBD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddTriangleB (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABBD (cell.i); } } } public void FillC (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddQuadC (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. d.Filled) { wall. AddFromCD (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddToAC (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddTriangleC (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddCDAC (cell.i); } } } public void FillD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddQuadD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddFromBD (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddToCD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddTriangleD (cell.i); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddBDCD (cell.i); } } } Next up are the methods that fill all but one corner. These are simpler because there's only one adjacent state to check. Here's FillABC. Wall placement examples for ABC. public void FillABC (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface.AddHexagonABC(cell.i, f.position); if (!cell.d.Filled) { wall.AddCDBD(cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface.AddPentagonABC(cell.i); if (!cell.d.Filled) { wall.AddCDBD(cell.i); } } } And in the same vein for FillABD, FillACD, and FillBCD. public void FillABD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddHexagonABD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddACCD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddPentagonABD (cell.i); if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddACCD (cell.i); } } } public void FillACD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddHexagonACD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddBDAB (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddPentagonACD (cell.i); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddBDAB (cell.i); } } } public void FillBCD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddHexagonBCD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABAC (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddPentagonBCD (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABAC (cell.i); } } } Then straight across a cell. We once again have to check twice whether to place a wall when there's a feature. Here's FillAB. Wall placement examples for AB. public void FillAB (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface.AddPentagonAB(cell.i, f.position); if (!cell.c.Filled) { wall.AddFromAC(cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell.d.Filled) { wall.AddToBD(cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface.AddQuadAB(cell.i); if (!cell.c.Filled) { wall.AddACBD(cell.i); } } } And the same for FillAC, FillBD, and FillCD. public void FillAC (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonAC (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. d.Filled) { wall. AddFromCD (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddToAB (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadAC (cell.i); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddCDAB (cell.i); } } } public void FillBD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonBD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddFromAB (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddToCD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadBD (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABCD (cell.i); } } } public void FillCD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonCD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. b.Filled) { wall. AddFromBD (cell.i, f.position); } if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddToAC (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadCD (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddBDAC (cell.i); } } } Then the four halves of diagonal connections. Remember that each of these work on a diagonal slice of a cell. Starting with FillADToB. Wall placement examples for AD to B. public void FillADToB (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface.AddPentagonADToB(cell.i, f.position); if (!cell.b.Filled) { wall.AddBDAB(cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface.AddQuadADToB(cell.i); if (!cell.b.Filled) { wall.AddBDAB(cell.i); } } } And of course FillADToC, FillBCToA, and FillBCToD. public void FillADToC (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonADToC (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddACCD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadADToC (cell.i); if (!cell. c.Filled) { wall. AddACCD (cell.i); } } } public void FillBCToA (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonBCToA (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABAC (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadBCToA (cell.i); if (!cell. a.Filled) { wall. AddABAC (cell.i); } } } public void FillBCToD (VoxelCell cell, FeaturePoint f) { if (f.exists) { surface. AddPentagonBCToD (cell.i, f.position); if (!cell. d.Filled) { wall. AddCDBD (cell.i, f.position); } } else { surface. AddQuadBCToD (cell.i); if (!cell. d.Filled) { wall. AddCDBD (cell.i); } } } The last one is simply a completely filled cell, so no checks are needed. public void FillABCD (VoxelCell cell) { surface.AddQuadABCD(cell.i); } unitypackage
Triangulating Anew When we used only two states we had to identify sixteen different cell layouts. Now that each cell corner can have a unique state, the amount of possible combinations becomes much greater. However, if we ignore the exact colors and only concern ourselves with differences in state, we end up with only fifteen distinct possibilities. Consider corner A as our baseline. From our perspective, it is always the same. We represent it with the digit 0. Next consider corner B. If it has the same state as A, we also use 0 to describe it, otherwise we use the digit 1. We use the same approach for corners C and D, ending up with a four-digit label. The digits represent similarity, not specific material identifiers. For example, when A, B, and D have the same state while C has a different one, we label this case with 0010, regardless what the actual states are. Now suppose A and B have different states, while C ends up with yet another state. Then we use the digit 2 for C. And when all corners are different we need to use the digit 3 for D. Fifteen unique cell layouts. Unfortunately this means that we can no longer easily construct a number from the voxel state, we have to compare all the corners. But before we get to that, VoxelGrid.TriangulateCell should start by filling the cell with the current voxels and index. private void TriangulateCell (int i, Voxel a, Voxel b, Voxel c, Voxel d) { cell.i = i; cell.a = a; cell.b = b; cell.c = c; cell.d = d; } Then onwards to comparing voxels! Let's start with case 0000, when they all have the same state. Create method stubs for the new triangulation methods as you go. … if (a.state == b.state) { if (a.state == c.state) { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0000(); } } } If D turns out to be different, we have case 0001. if (a.state == b.state) { if (a.state == c.state) { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0000(); } else { Triangulate0001(); } } } If C turned out to be not the same as A, then D can match either A, C, or none. That leads us to cases 0010, 0011, and 0012. if (a.state == b.state) { if (a.state == c.state) { … } else { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0010(); } else if (c.state == d.state) { Triangulate0011(); } else { Triangulate0012(); } } } Using the same logic we can arrive at all remaining cases. if (a.state == b.state) { … } else { if (a.state == c.state) { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0100(); } else if (b.state == d.state) { Triangulate0101(); } else { Triangulate0102(); } } else if (b.state == c.state) { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0110(); } else if (b.state == d.state) { Triangulate0111(); } else { Triangulate0112(); } } else { if (a.state == d.state) { Triangulate0120(); } else if (b.state == d.state) { Triangulate0121(); } else if (c.state == d.state) { Triangulate0122(); } else { Triangulate0123(); } } } Let's first deal with the trivial case, 0000. Simply fill the entire cell. private void Triangulate0000 () { FillABCD(); } Multiple colors show up for the first time. Next up are the cells with a single deviant voxel. Because we don't care about specific voxel states, these are now very easy. private void Triangulate0001 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNE; FillABC(f); FillD(f); } private void Triangulate0010 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNW; FillABD(f); FillC(f); } private void Triangulate0100 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureSE; FillACD(f); FillB(f); } private void Triangulate0111 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureSW; FillA(f); FillBCD(f); } One corner per cell is different. Partitioning cells in two different sections along the NS or EW lines is also simple. private void Triangulate0011 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureEW; FillAB(f); FillCD(f); } private void Triangulate0101 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNS; FillAC(f); FillBD(f); } Horizontal and vertical splits. These were the easy cases, the remaining ones will require some more work. unitypackage
Working with more than Two States Let's now consider the cases where two adjacent corners are the same, while the remaining two are different. This means that there are three different voxel states involved. This is still simple from the point of view of VoxelGrid. Just ask the cell for the point where the three edges meet and fill the three parts. private void Triangulate0012 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNEW; FillAB(f); FillC(f); FillD(f); } private void Triangulate0102 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNSE; FillAC(f); FillB(f); FillD(f); } private void Triangulate0121 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureNSW; FillA(f); FillBD(f); FillC(f); } private void Triangulate0122 () { FeaturePoint f = cell.FeatureSEW; FillA(f); FillB(f); FillCD(f); } Now it's up to VoxelCell to figure out where these points are. This could get very involved, but let's be pragmatic and simply average the feature points when considering each involved edge pair. As there must be a feature point, if we can't find one, just average the edge crossing positions. What about a least-squares approach? It makes sense to use a quadratic error formula to find a least-squares approximation of the best feature point. This is what is often used in advanced Marching Cubes implementations. The basic least-squares algorithm is not that complex, however it requires high precision to get usable results. You could use double-precision numbers to get around this limitation, but no one ends up doing this because of memory and performance constraints. You can formulate the problem such that you get around the precision limitations, but this involves complex matrix mathematics that would require a dedicated tutorial to explain properly. It's not cheap to compute either. Where lies the shared feature point? public FeaturePoint FeatureNEW { get { FeaturePoint f = FeaturePoint.Average( FeatureEW, FeatureNE, FeatureNW); if (!f.exists) { f.position = (a.YEdgePoint + b.YEdgePoint + c.XEdgePoint) / 3f; f.exists = true; } return f; } } public FeaturePoint FeatureNSE { get { FeaturePoint f = FeaturePoint.Average( FeatureNS, FeatureSE, FeatureNE); if (!f.exists) { f.position = (a.XEdgePoint + b.YEdgePoint + c.XEdgePoint) / 3f; f.exists = true; } return f; } } public FeaturePoint FeatureNSW { get { FeaturePoint f = FeaturePoint.Average( FeatureNS, FeatureNW, FeatureSW); if (!f.exists) { f.position = (a.XEdgePoint + a.YEdgePoint + c.XEdgePoint) / 3f; f.exists = true; } return f; } } public FeaturePoint FeatureSEW { get { FeaturePoint f = FeaturePoint.Average( FeatureEW, FeatureSE, FeatureSW); if (!f.exists) { f.position = (a.XEdgePoint + a.YEdgePoint + b.YEdgePoint) / 3f; f.exists = true; } return f; } } The FeaturePoint.Average method averages the features points, but only those that actually exist. And if none exists, then neither does the average. public static FeaturePoint Average ( FeaturePoint a, FeaturePoint b, FeaturePoint c) { FeaturePoint average; average.position = Vector2.zero; float features = 0f; if (a.exists) { average.position += a.position; features += 1f; } if (b.exists) { average.position += b.position; features += 1f; } if (c.exists) { average.position += c.position; features += 1f; } if (features > 0f) { average.position /= features; average.exists = true; } else { average.exists = false; } return average; } The result of all this is that a single sharp feature will be preserved, two or three sharp features will be averaged, and if we fail to find the right point we use the crossing's average position. However, there is something wrong with this approach. Our feature detection code expects both normals to have the same orientation. Either both point inward, or both point outward. But this will not always be the case if three different voxel states are involved. Corner C is in trouble. For each feature point we need to check whether the normals are consistent, and if not flip one of them to correct this. While we could do this every time we compute a feature point, it is only really needed for the more complex feature points. So let's duplicate the unchecked public properties and turn those into private checked ones for internal usage. private FeaturePoint CheckedFeatureSW { get { Vector2 n2 = (a.state < b.state) == (a.state < c.state)? a.yNormal : -a.yNormal; return GetSharpFeature(a.XEdgePoint, a.xNormal, a.YEdgePoint, n2 ); } } private FeaturePoint CheckedFeatureSE { get { Vector2 n2 = (b.state < a.state) == (b.state < c.state)? b.yNormal : -b.yNormal; return GetSharpFeature(a.XEdgePoint, a.xNormal, b.YEdgePoint, n2 ); } } private FeaturePoint CheckedFeatureNW { get { Vector2 n2 = (c.state < a.state) == (c.state < d.state)? c.xNormal : -c.xNormal; return GetSharpFeature(a.YEdgePoint, a.yNormal, c.XEdgePoint, n2 ); } } private FeaturePoint CheckedFeatureNE { get { Vector2 n2 = (d.state < b.state) == (d.state < c.state)? b.yNormal : -b.yNormal; return GetSharpFeature(c.XEdgePoint, c.xNormal, b.YEdgePoint, n2 ); } } private FeaturePoint CheckedFeatureNS { get { Vector2 n2 = (a.state < b.state) == (c.state < d.state)? c.xNormal : -c.xNormal; return GetSharpFeature(a.XEdgePoint, a.xNormal, c.XEdgePoint, n2 ); } } Now use these checked properties in the triple-edge feature properties. I only show the changes to FeatureNEW. public FeaturePoint FeatureNEW { get { FeaturePoint f = FeaturePoint.Average( CheckedFeatureEW, CheckedFeatureNE, CheckedFeatureNW ); if (!f.exists) { f.position = (a.YEdgePoint + b.YEdgePoint + c.XEdgePoint) / 3f; f.exists = true; } return f; } } Correct vs. incorrect feature placement. unitypackage
Revisiting the Ambiguous Cases VoxelGrid.Triangulate0110 covers the diagonal cell configuration when there are exactly two different voxel states involved. Let's first only consider the AD connection. Start by requesting all feature points, then determine if there is a diagonal connection, and if so only include features that don't cross the diagonal. private void Triangulate0110 () { FeaturePoint fA = cell.FeatureSW, fB = cell.FeatureSE, fC = cell.FeatureNW, fD = cell.FeatureNE; if (cell.HasConnectionAD(fA, fD)) { fB.exists &= cell.IsInsideABD(fB.position); fC.exists &= cell.IsInsideACD(fC.position); FillADToB(fB); FillADToC(fC); FillB(fB); FillC(fC); } } The logic of the new methods for VoxelCell come from the old grid, updated to take advantage of the new feature points. public bool HasConnectionAD (FeaturePoint fA, FeaturePoint fD) { if (fA.exists) { if (fD.exists) { if (IsBelowLine(fA.position, b.YEdgePoint, fD.position)) { if (IsBelowLine(fA.position, fD.position, c.XEdgePoint) || IsBelowLine(fD.position, fA.position, a.XEdgePoint)) { return true; } } else if (IsBelowLine(fA.position, fD.position, c.XEdgePoint) && IsBelowLine(fD.position, a.YEdgePoint, fA.position)) { return true; } return false; } return IsBelowLine(fA.position, b.YEdgePoint, c.XEdgePoint); } return fD.exists && IsBelowLine(fD.position, a.YEdgePoint, a.XEdgePoint); } public bool IsInsideABD (Vector2 point) { return IsBelowLine(point, a.position, d.position); } public bool IsInsideACD (Vector2 point) { return IsBelowLine(point, d.position, a.position); } private static bool IsBelowLine (Vector2 p, Vector2 start, Vector2 end) { float determinant = (end.x - start.x) * (p.y - start.y) - (end.y - start.y) * (p.x - start.x); return determinant < 0f; } Diagonal connection along AD. Now to support the other diagonal as well. Adding it to VoxelGrid.Triangulate0110 is simple. private void Triangulate0110 () { FeaturePoint fA = cell.FeatureSW, fB = cell.FeatureSE, fC = cell.FeatureNW, fD = cell.FeatureNE; if (cell.HasConnectionAD(fA, fD)) { … } else if (cell.HasConnectionBC(fB, fC)) { fA.exists &= cell.IsInsideABC(fA.position); fD.exists &= cell.IsInsideBCD(fD.position); FillA(fA); FillD(fD); FillBCToA(fA); FillBCToD(fD); } } VoxelCell has to do all the hard work. public bool HasConnectionBC (FeaturePoint fB, FeaturePoint fC) { if (fB.exists) { if (fC.exists) { if (IsBelowLine(fC.position, a.XEdgePoint, fB.position)) { if (IsBelowLine(fC.position, fB.position, b.YEdgePoint) || IsBelowLine(fB.position, fC.position, a.YEdgePoint)) { return true; } } else if (IsBelowLine(fC.position, fB.position, b.YEdgePoint) && IsBelowLine(fB.position, c.XEdgePoint, fC.position)) { return true; } return false; } return IsBelowLine(fB.position, c.XEdgePoint, a.YEdgePoint); } return fC.exists && IsBelowLine(fC.position, a.XEdgePoint, b.YEdgePoint); } public bool IsInsideABC (Vector2 point) { return IsBelowLine(point, c.position, b.position); } public bool IsInsideBCD (Vector2 point) { return IsBelowLine(point, b.position, c.position); } What we do when we find no diagonal connection depends on whether one of the voxel states is the empty one. If all voxels are filled, then they have to share a central feature point. If one of the voxel pairs is empty, then the other two can exist independent of each other, forming an opening. private void Triangulate0110 () { FeaturePoint fA = cell.FeatureSW, fB = cell.FeatureSE, fC = cell.FeatureNW, fD = cell.FeatureNE; if (cell.HasConnectionAD(fA, fD)) { … } else if (cell.HasConnectionBC(fB, fC)) { … } else if (cell.a.Filled && cell.b.Filled) { FillJoinedCorners(fA, fB, fC, fD); } else { FillA(fA); FillB(fB); FillC(fC); FillD(fD); } } Filling the joined corners requires averaging all four feature points. And if none exist, we have to settle for the average of the four edge crossing positions of the cell. private void FillJoinedCorners ( FeaturePoint fA, FeaturePoint fB, FeaturePoint fC, FeaturePoint fD) { FeaturePoint point = FeaturePoint.Average(fA, fB, fC, fD); if (!point.exists) { point.position = cell.AverageNESW; point.exists = true; } FillA(point); FillB(point); FillC(point); FillD(point); } This requires an additional FeaturePoint.Average method which works with four feature points instead of three. As this is a very simple change I leave it up to you to add it. We also need a new property for VoxelCell which simply averages the four edge positions. public Vector2 AverageNESW { get { return (a.XEdgePoint + a.YEdgePoint + b.YEdgePoint + c.XEdgePoint) * 0.25f; } } Diagonal connections and passages. unitypackage
Drawing better Circles While we're working on diagonals, let's improve circles. The detection of connections formed by narrow circles fails because the edges are nearly parallel and feature points end up racing to infinity in either positive or negative direction. This wasn't so bad when we still clamped feature points, but without this trick they always fall apart. Bad circles. A possible solution is to add a threshold to decide whether lines are parallel. Of course we make this configurable. First add maximum angle setting to VoxelMap, with a default of five degrees. public float maxFeatureAngle = 135f, maxParallelAngle = 5f ; Setting a maximum parallel angle. Just like the maximum feature angle, we pass it to the grids when we initialize them. private void CreateChunk (int i, int x, int y) { VoxelGrid chunk = Instantiate(voxelGridPrefab) as VoxelGrid; chunk.Initialize( voxelResolution, chunkSize, maxFeatureAngle, maxParallelAngle ); … } Then VoxelGrid computes the cosine and stores it in its VoxelCell as the parallel limit. public void Initialize ( int resolution, float size, float maxFeatureAngle, float maxParallelAngle ) { cell.sharpFeatureLimit = Mathf.Cos(maxFeatureAngle * Mathf.Deg2Rad); cell.parallelLimit = Mathf.Cos(maxParallelAngle * Mathf.Deg2Rad); … } VoxelCell can them figure out if two normals belong to parallel lines. As we perform this test for diagonal connections and those can end up with inconsistent normals, let's tell the method whether a normal should be flipped or not. public float sharpFeatureLimit, parallelLimit ; private bool IsParallel (Vector2 n1, Vector2 n2, bool flip) { return Vector2.Dot(n1, flip? -n2 : n2) > parallelLimit; } Now we can check for a parallel connection first whenever we're asked to look for a diagonal connection. public bool HasConnectionAD (FeaturePoint fA, FeaturePoint fD) { bool flip = (a.state < b.state) == (a.state < c.state); if ( IsParallel(a.xNormal, a.yNormal, flip) || IsParallel(c.xNormal, b.yNormal, flip)) { return true; } … } public bool HasConnectionBC (FeaturePoint fB, FeaturePoint fC) { bool flip = (b.state < a.state) == (b.state < d.state); if ( IsParallel(a.xNormal, b.yNormal, flip) || IsParallel(c.xNormal, a.yNormal, flip)) { return true; } … } Good circles. unitypackageHong Kong does not enjoy "full autonomy" and must accept Beijing's control and oversight, China announced on Tuesday, less than a week after more than 100,000 protesters gathered in the former colony to berate the Communist Party and demand greater democratic rights.
In a lengthy and controversial " white paper ", China's powerful State Council claimed "comprehensive jurisdiction" over the former British colony, which returned to Chinese hands in 1997.
Hong Kong held no "residual power" and while it enjoyed considerable independence from Beijing, "the central government has the power of oversight over the high degree of autonomy," it added.
The 14,500-word document was immediately interpreted as a warning to pro-democracy campaigners who are currently pressuring Hong Kong's leaders for the introduction of universal suffrage by 2017 and, in some cases, pushing for a wave of large-scale demonstrations over the summer.
"This is probably the beginning of a campaign to exert pressure on Hong Kong's people to accept China's denial of the democratic electoral system that they demand," said Joseph Cheng, a professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong. "The basic message is that Beijing is in control."
Michael DeGolyer, the director of the Hong Kong Transition Project at Hong Kong Baptist University, described the document as a "major development" intended not just to deter people from protesting but also to set out a legal basis for Beijing to quell any unrest in the semi-autonomous region, even using the armed forces if necessary.
Student protesters walk with a wreath in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, to commemorate those who were killed during the 25th anniversary Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 (Bobby Yip/ Reuters)
"This document very clearly lays out a clear legal basis for the central government to step in and take action if they deem it necessary," he said.
"I think we just got read the riot act. If you don't disperse what happens next is your fault."
Beijing's paper paints a glowing picture of Hong Kong's economic and political development since it "got rid of colonial rule and returned to the embrace of the motherland" in 1997.
Hong Kong residents still enjoy hugely more freedom than their mainland counterparts. More than 100,000 people attended an outdoor vigil in Hong Kong last week to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown while any mention of the date was outlawed in China.
People take part in a candlelight vigil on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests during heavy rain in Hong Kong the 4th June 2014 (Lam Yik Fei/ Getty)
However, there is increasing discomfort in Hong Kong about how Beijing appears to be diluting long-treasured rights including freedom of assembly and expression.
There is particular concern over what many see as an increasingly subservient media.
"Most of our newspapers and televisions are pro-China nowadays. They are manipulated by businessmen who are pro-China," said Andrew Shum, a vice-convener at Hong Kong's Civil Human Rights Front, who has been involved in organising protests.
Some activists are now threatening to launch a campaign of protest and civil disobedience over the summer if their calls for faster democratic reform are not heeded.
The white paper represented "a very clear message to people and to the establishment that there are bounds beyond which you should not go and if you dare to go there we will rein you in," Prof DeGolyer said. "This is blisteringly clear. This is a straight-to-the-nose punch."
CY Leung, Hong Kong's pro-Beijing chief executive, denied the document's publication was directed at protesters on Tuesday.
But Prof Cheng said it was "certainly a kind of warning to the pro-democracy movement that they should no be under any illusions that they can demand democracy." Many Hong Kong residents feared the coming months and years would see "more and more interventions |
history of revolutions in Kurdistan. Even though the practices of the Rojava revolution were first formed amongst the Kurdish nation, they have, in a short space of time and due to conjuncture and geography, become the leading practices of the Syrian revolution.
This influence is undoubtedly linked to the ability to build a new economic and social model. The fact that this model is a real alternative to capitalist production and distribution relations and bourgeois democracies means it is a serious risk to all the forces engaged in the struggle for control over the region. This is why these forces are trying to survive by either being for or against the Rojava Revolution.
Forces and parties that are relatively open to innovation and are convinced that the current system needs to change -but are not certain how it should be- are standing (or pretending to stand) with the revolution, whilst forces that see their interests in the continuation of the current status-quo are trying to strengthen their positions by standing against the revolution.
However both sides are also continuing to seek and engage in ways to undermine the revolution and divert it from its fundamental political line. They are employing at every opportunity all means available to pressure, limit and dissuade the revolutionary vanguard from the revolutionary line predicated on independence and self-sufficiency.
The Rojava Revolution, as has happened with all revolutions in history, is attacked on two fundamental fronts. The first is the use of violence and military force. The revolution is under constant attack by the invading Turkish state and groups under its control; these attacks are coordinated with the Syrian regime.
The second is the constant insinuation that it will be accused of terrorism; which is done to damage and prevent alliances with other revolutionary forces, isolate the revolution in the economic, political and diplomatic sphere and eventually weaken the revolution’s political line and impose a liberalisation resulting in surrender.
In the ideological sense, the nation-state mindset –the cause of the current crisis– is being imposed on the revolution’s cadre and support base; they are being forced into accepting the current system and its statist relations. This is also the reason why the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in South Kurdistan is so favoured as an alternative.
The aim is to convince people that the Rojava Revolution, which has proven that a governance model “beyond the state and borders” is possible and that neighbouring nations can live together democratically and in peace without recourse to war, is not viable. What is viable and should be chosen according to them is the nation-statist KDP model.
However, as mentioned in the quotation at the beginning of this article, this can only be achieved if the revolution betrays itself. That is the essence of the matter.
Will the revolution betray its own values and become a satellite for external forces thus losing its identity, or will it continue proving to the Middle East and world that the impossible can be achieved and gift them a true spring of freedom?
* Civilisational Crisis and the Democratic Civilisation Solution in the Middle East – Abdullah Ocalan
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Like this: Like Loading...George Osborne has conceded defeat in his attempt to overturn the EU cap on bonuses after a senior legal advisor at the European court of justice rejected his arguments.
Instead the chancellor raised the prospect of forcing changes to the way bankers are paid, by having their salaries – not just their bonuses – clawed back when errors are made.
He took his decision after one of the ECJ’s advocate generals, recommended upholding the EU law on bankers’ bonuses that restricts payouts to 100% of a bankers’ salary, or 200% if shareholders grant their approval.
The opinion – although not binding – was seen as a blow to the chancellor who gave his backing to ideas floated by Mark Carney and other central bankers to force change in the way bankers are paid.
Osborne wrote to Carney – in his capacity as head of the financial stability board – on Friday night to set out his views on the need for further reform. The FSB was set up after the banking crisis to create global standards for banks.
Osborne said: “I’m not going to spend taxpayers’ money on a legal challenge now unlikely to succeed. The fact remains these are badly designed rules that are pushing up bankers’ pay not reducing it. These rules may be legal but they are entirely self-defeating, so we need to find another way to end rewards for failure in our banks.”
Osborne and officials at the Bank of England have warned that bankers’ fixed pay will rise to compensate for the lower bonus potential. As it is, bankers were being handed “allowances” alongside their salaries and bonuses – a move which the European Banking Authority had concluded was circumventing the bonus cap.
The Treasury said the advocate general of the European Court of Justice confirmed that argument, highlighting that the legislation provides no restriction on fixed pay, which is already increasing because of the limit on bonuses. “But it has also made it very clear that the government’s legal challenge is unlikely to succeed.
A spokesman said: “We will therefore withdraw the challenge, and instead look at other ways of building a system of pay in global banking that encourages rather than undermines responsibility. For example, it may be necessary to develop standards that ensure non-bonus or fixed pay is put at risk, maximise claw back, or pay senior staff in performance-related bond.”
Such an idea was floated by Carney this week when he said fines were not enough to change behaviour. It is based on ideas put forward by US regulators.
The Treasury had argued that the EU overstepped its remit by legislating on bankers’ bonuses and imposed the law in a rushed way without any assessment of its impact. But the advocate general dismissed all the UK’s arguments in an opinion that said European regulators had the legal authority to introduce the cap and had not infringed UK sovereignty. He also argued that it was wrong to characterise the bonus restrictions as a cap on pay, because basic salaries were not fixed.
A final judgment from the court is expected by early February, just as thousands of bankers in the City are waiting to hear how much their bonus cheques will be worth.
Many legal experts think the court will follow this latest opinion, leaving the bonus cap in place.
“It seems unlikely now that the court will overturn the advocate general’s opinion, so banks should continue planning on the basis that the bonus cap will still be in force next year,” said Tom Gosling, head of PwC’s reward practice.
Jake Green, a senior associate at Ashurst, said although the advocate general’s conclusion was expected, the forcefulness of his arguments came as a surprise. “It seems so thoroughly reasoned and absolute in its conclusions and perhaps that is the surprise. There is no fence-sitting on any of the issues.”Afghan President Hamid Karzai says before he signs a Bilateral Security Agreement with the United States, he has two demands: that “the Americans should stop attacks against Afghan homes” and that there be “peace in Afghanistan.” In an interview tih RFE/RL’s Akbar Ayazi, Karzai said:
I have demanded an end to all American attacks against Afghan homes and the beginning of a realistic peace process. Whenever the Americans meet these two demands of mine, I am ready to sign the agreement. And when these two demands are implemented, this agreement is in Afghanistan’s interests.
Asked whether Susan Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, told him the U.S. would stay out of the Afghan elections coming up in April, Karzai responded that he had talked to her, but he wasn’t entirely trustful in the U.S. not interfering:
I briefed her about how America and other Western nations interfered in the previous presidential election, how they delayed the election, how they maligned the first round ballot. Keeping in view that experience, and as the president of Afghanistan today, it is my duty not to allow foreigners to either malign Afghanistan’s next presidential election or stretch the process so that they can manipulate it. She assured me that this time there will be no interference in our election. So for now, I have her assurance. But I am watching them to see whether they interfere in the election or not. And I will talk about it then.
Karzai confirmed that the Obama Administration actually told him that the Taliban, which provided al Qaeda its base of support for September 11, was not an enemy of the U.S. He said:
Last year, during my visit to Washington, in a very important briefing a day before I met U.S. President [Barack Obama], his national security adviser Tom Donilon, and senior White House officials, generals, and intelligence officials, the national security adviser met with me. He told me: “The Taliban are not our enemies and we don’t want to fight them.”Here in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, one of the largest ongoing construction projects is the effort to extend MetroRail to Washington Dulles International Airport—the so-called ‘Silver Line.’ The project is decades overdue, and will eventually connect to a disintegrating rail system managed by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). The project itself is being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) which, like WMATA, operates with virtually no oversight and has a history of botching projects and running them far over-budget.
The highlights of the Silver Line project so far include massive, unjustifiable, and continuing toll increases on the MWAA-operated Dulles Toll Road (ostensibly to pay for Silver Line construction), an inexplicable decision to run above-ground rails through the densely occupied Tysons Corner area where it would be worth the extra cost to go underground (since it would cause less traffic disruption and rebuilding), an equally inexplicable decision to dig a more expensive tunnel near the airport where it would not be worth the extra cost, a conflict with the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) over pier support safety, violations of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s right to work laws, and a long line of budget conflicts with the Town of Herndon, Loudoun County, and the Commonwealth.
When faced with all this madness, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (R)—notable for now being the only Republican in President Barack Obama’s (D) cabinet—described the Silver Line as being a model for big success and compared it to the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, and the interstate highway system.
Now, just a minute here. Let’s compare these four infrastructure accomplishments. U.S. work on the Panama Canal took ten years, spanned nearly fifty miles across mountains and untamed jungle, and cost about 9 billion dollars (inflation adjusted, 2009). The Hoover Dam took five years to build, used over three million cubic yards of concrete, spanned 1,244 feet and rose 726 feet above the canyon, created a 247 square mile reservoir, and cost over 750 million dollars (inflation adjusted, 2009). The interstate highway system spans over forty-seven thousand miles, crosses countless natural obstacles, took thirty-five years to complete to the initial specifications (which have since been extended), and has been estimated to cost about 425 billion dollars (inflation adjusted, 2006)—arguably making it the biggest public works project in human history.
How does the Silver Line compare? Assuming it is completed on-schedule in 2018, it will have taken ten years to build—the same as the Panama Canal, and twice as long as the Hoover Dam. It will have added twenty-three miles of track and eleven stations to the Metro system at a projected cost of about $6.8 billion—nine times more than the cost of the Hoover Dam, and two-thirds as much as the much more challenging (and twice as long) Panama Canal. If you do some simple math based on the statistics above, our interstate highway system averages a cost of $9.04 million-per-mile... so for the cost of the twenty-three mile Silver Line, we could have built over seven hundred miles of new interstate highway, or widened and improved much more than that.
So by what measure is LaHood claiming that the Silver Line is a ‘big success?’ By what measure does he compare it to the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, and interstate highway system? The only thing this comparison accomplishes is reminding us that we used to do big, impressive things... and we used to do them faster and at lower costs than we seem to be able to today.
When the Great Depression took hold in the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) launched the ‘New Deal’—an unprecedented federal effort to reinvigorate the U.S. economy. Nearly half of economists agree that it had the opposite effect, lengthening and deepening the depression—a sentiment with which I generally agree. The ‘New Deal’ had the effect of lowering unemployment rates, yes, but it didn’t actually fix any of the fundamental economic problems facing the country. It drastically increased federal debt, and thereby suppressed any real, long-term recovery.
But does that mean the ‘New Deal’ was a resounding failure? Yes and no. Evaluated economically, yes. It did not have the desired effect of ending, or even seriously mitigating, the effects of the depression, and it helped establish crushing federal debt as a national norm. But despite this, even its harshest critics have to admit that it built stuff... big, impressive, important stuff like the Hoover Dam, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the rural electric grid. Later on, the government funded the building of LaGuardia Airport in New York City, the Overseas Highway through the Florida Keys, and the Oakland Bay Bridge in California. And any one of these projects dwarf the Silver Line in every measure but cost.
The entire ‘New Deal’ is estimated to have cost as much as 50 billion dollars, which comes out to about 768 billion dollars in today’s dollars. Whether or not we agree it was justified, we can certainly point to its fruits: the countless dams, airports, highways, bridges, schools, military bases, parks, and more. For 768 billion dollars, we got the Hoover Dam, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Overseas Highway, the Oakland Bay Bridge, the electrification of rural America, and over thirty-five thousand other public works projects scattered across the nation... all in less time than it has taken to extend a Metro line to Dulles airport. And this isn’t even counting the ‘social safety net’ programs, which make up a significant portion of the costs.
In 2008, President George W. Bush (R) signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) into law, handing over 700 billion dollars in bailouts to big banks and auto firms. Then in 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law, spending another 831 billion dollars in economic ‘stimulus,’ which included significant increases in infrastructure spending. Even if you accept the debatable argument that TARP essentially broke-even, and then adjust for inflation, the depressing fact remains that we have dumped more ‘stimulus’ money into the economy in the last four years than we did during the entire Great Depression.
And what do we have to show for it? Where is the new Hoover Dam, Overseas Highway, or Blue Ridge Parkway? Where are the new airports, the reinvigorated infrastructure, the reduction in unemployment? Where are the new schools, highways, and rail lines? Heck, we didn’t even bother to use that money to bolster and repair the fiscally insolvent ‘New Deal’ social programs, which are quickly reaching the ends of their lives. An entire ‘New Deal’ worth of federal spending seems to have disappeared into a black hole; we got the bigger deficits and economic suppression without the impressive infrastructure projects or reduced unemployment.
Of course there are a few visible infrastructure improvements scattered around, and some—notably not including the Silver Line—were indeed funded by Obama’s ‘stimulus’ bill. However most of our current infrastructure spending is spending that was already happening anyway, coming from existing transportation earmarks and state general fund disbursements. Here in northern Virginia, the ARRA funded construction on the last section of the Fairfax County Parkway, but most of our other major projects—the Interstate 66 widening, the U.S. 50 widening, the Silver Line, and more—were already scheduled and in-progress before ARRA came along. Those ‘shovel ready projects’ that ARRA was supposed to fund, and the jobs that were supposed to come with them, seem to be few and far between.
LaHood seems to be trying to point out that big infrastructure projects are happening in America today, but the Silver Line is no ‘big success.’ It is a tiny, inconsequential part of America’s infrastructure that will take ten years to build and cost an incredible $6.8 billion. It wasn’t that long ago that a decade of time, billions of dollars, and American ingenuity built the Panama Canal across an untamed, mountainous jungle. Today, it can only build twenty miles of rail line and a handful of stations down the flat median of a highway.
Are we really so debased that we look at a short commuter rail line through the suburbs and pat ourselves on the backs as if we’ve built the Hoover Dam? Are we really so diminished as a nation that we think one half-finished, mismanaged regional construction project compares to the entire interstate highway system, or to a canal linking the two great oceans? If so, then our greatest days are truly behind us.Story highlights Heriberto Pagan, 86, shot his grandson and killed his grandson's girlfriend, police say
The shooting may have been triggered by housing dispute, a law enforcement source says
Pagan fatally shot himself in the head after the double shooting
An apparent dispute over housing ended with an 86-year-old New York man shooting his grandson and killing his grandson's girlfriend before fatally shooting himself, a law enforcement source said Saturday.
Police were still trying to sort out what led Heriberto Pagan to drive from his home in Brooklyn to his daughter's Staten Island house Friday and shoot two people before taking his own life.
A law enforcement source said investigators were looking into the possibility that the grandson "was trying to take over" the home with his girlfriend and Pagan "wasn't appreciative of the way" his daughter was being treated in the process. It was not clear whether the daughter was at home at the time.
Police found Pagan, a gunshot wound to the head, outside his car Friday evening near the home where the shootings occurred. He was hospitalized in critical condition, but died Saturday morning, police said.
In the vicinity, police were alerted to another shooting victim, Pagan's 47-year-old grandson, who was critically injured with a gunshot wound to the head and found outside the Staten Island house where he lived with his mother and girlfriend. The grandson has not been identified.
Inside the house, police found a second victim, Claritle Christina Huerta, 28, also shot in the head. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Police said Pagan shot his grandson as the younger man approached the house. He then shot Huerta inside before driving a few blocks and shooting himself, authorities said.
"I just heard a man screaming 'help me, help me,'" a neighbor, not identified, told WCBS.
A 4-month-old boy was found unharmed in the home and placed in the care of child welfare authorities, police said.Does your significant other give you weird looks when you mention the coming Zombie Apocalypse, 2012, or other end of the world scenarios? If so, we feel your pain and apparently so does the maker of this Dead On Annihilator Superhammer. Sure, you can tell your significant other it’s a multi-purpose hand “tool” that makes quick work of projects around the house, but we all know it is a kickass zombie fighting weapon!
Made from forged steel, this fourteen inch multi-tool features precise balance and a secure rubber grip for times when things get messy…And they will get messy when you have a dead-on bottle-opener, multi-purpose wrench, nail puller, demolition axe, and chisel at your disposal. Add the Handy/Rescue Multi-Tool to your collection of “tools” and you’ll be able to wield some serious double handed action.
They say the geek shall inherit the earth, and we’re pretty confident the reason why will be that when the zombies come, we will take the threat seriously. With that in mind, may we humbly present the Dead-On Annihilator Superhammer? This multi-tool of the gods can work as a building tool, hammering nails and straightening boards, as well as a destruction tool, cutting cables and pulling down reinforcements. All you have to do, though, is look at this thing and know it has a much less noble and more brutal purpose…It makes a wicked anti-zombie device.
Fourteen inches of forged steel multi-tool with rubber grip
Built-in:
Dead-On bottle-opener
Multi-purpose wrench
Nail puller
Demolition axe rips through dry wall, shingles, strips conduit, beheads zombies *
Chisel smashes through tile, brick, concrete, skulls *
Precise balance means you won’t get tired wielding it
* Note – Some features not yet verified by an appropriate regulatory agency. Not to be used as a weapon against the living. Please use caution when using against the undead. GeekAlerts does not guarantee Dead On Annihilator Superhammer will protect you against infection, dismemberment, or being devoured by zombie horde.
Keep your “tool” closet stocked and purchase the Dead On Annihilator Superhammer from ThinkGeek for $44.99.
Related Deals: ThinkGeek CouponFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, March 28, 2017 GLENDALE, ARIZONA --- The Arizona Coyotes announced today that the team will honor Craig Cunningham with a ceremonial pre-game puck drop on Saturday, April 8 when the Coyotes take on the Minnesota Wild on Fan Appreciation Night. Game time is 6:00 p.m. at Gila River Arena. Cunningham, who survived a medical emergency prior to the Tucson Roadrunners game on November 19, has made a remarkable recovery. Fans will have an opportunity to congratulate him on the tremendous courage, willpower and perseverance he's demonstrated throughout his rehabilitation.
Fan Appreciation Night is a long-standing Coyotes tradition which recognizes fans for their loyalty and support throughout the season. All fans in attendance will receive a Coyotes themed poster with removable decals courtesy of Gila River Casinos as part of "Everyone Wins" night. Additionally, all fans at the game will be treated to numerous giveaways and have the chance to win a variety of prizes throughout the evening, provided by Coyotes partners including BMW, Papa John's Pizza, Fry's Food Stores, Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers. The Coyotes expect to add more giveaways as Fan Appreciation Night approaches.
Following the game, 23 lucky fans will take part in a post-game on-ice ceremony and will receive an authentic Coyotes game-worn jersey. Coyotes' mascot Howler will also be giving away his jersey to a lucky Howler's Kids Club member.
Pre-game activities will begin at 4:30 p.m. on the plaza in front of Gila River Arena. Kids looking for a hands-on NHL experience will also be able to participate in the Coyotes Youth Mobile Experience, featuring an interactive draft card station, a player personality quiz, a virtual shot on goal against an NHL goalie, and much more.
The Coyotes will also present their annual team awards prior to the game. Honors include the BMW Most Valuable Player; the Desert Schools FCU Leading Scorer; the Ganem Jewelers Three Star award; the Gila River Casinos Man of the Year; and the COX Communications/Jukka Nieminen Memorial award which is presented to the team's hardest working player.
In addition, the Coyotes and Levy Restaurants will be offering fans $1 Bar-S Hot Dogs throughout the game. The Coyotes Den will also offer great savings on select Coyotes merchandise.
2017-18 New Season Ticket Membership and Group Sales deposits are being accepted now. For more information, please visit ArizonaCoyotes.com or call 480-563-PUCK.(Image: CNET/CBS Interactive)
And then there was one.
Out of the major technology companies, Amazon was until Friday the last to disclose how many demands for user data it gets from the government. Although companies are under no legal obligation to disclose figures, the retail giant had been under pressure from privacy groups to disclose them in the wake of mass surveillance leaks over the past two years.
Now, T-Mobile remains the last major phone provider to break out its numbers, which has thus far remained silent on whether or not it will follow suit with its industry partners.
But it's not expected to do so any time soon.
In an email, a T-Mobile spokesperson said a transparency report was "something we are considering," but added they "don't have a timeline on this decision right now."
That yet-to-be-made decision follows a slew of corporate moves over the past five years to open up about data demand figures.
Google was first to issue a biannual report in 2010 to detail how many subpoenas, warrants, and orders it was forced to comply with by the US government. As it rolled on year on year, other companies joined -- particularly smaller companies with a privacy edge.
But it was only in the wake of the Edward Snowden leaks that other major tech companies, like Apple and Yahoo, began to roll out their own reports in an effort to counter accusations that they co-operated with government surveillance.
After suing the Justice Department, the companies later won the right to disclose how many secret national security demands they received.
Not all companies are created equally, though. Telcos and phone companies are more regulated than tech companies and have to operate under far stricter guidelines.
The telcos only began releasing transparency reports after shareholders of the two largest phone giants threatened to sue. Verizon, which was ordered to hand over its entire store of customer data on a rolling daily basis, became the first US telco to release its own report in late 2013.
AT&T following in its footsteps just weeks later.
Sprint also reported its data demand figures for the first time earlier this year. (It's worth pointing out that companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, which provide phone and internet services, have also released transparency figures.)
T-Mobile has spent the past two years undoing some of the damage done to consumers by the big phone giants. But this is one thing the company should have had on the top of its list.WASHINGTON :The United States is prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organizations seeking safe haven, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrote in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Wednesday, adding that Islamabad must demonstrate its desire to partner with the US. In the article titled “I Am Proud of Our Diplomacy,” Secretary Tillerson gave an overview of US diplomacy since the Trump Administration took over in January and how the administration was dealing with issues on the foreign policy front. Describing defeating terrorism as one of the president’s highest priorities, Secretary Tillerson said that the administration’s aggressive strategy to counter the Islamic State delegates greater authority to American military commanders on the battlefield, giving American forces more freedom and speed to do what they do best, in partnership with indigenous fighting forces. “As a result, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has accelerated operations and has recaptured virtually all of previously held Islamic State territory in Iraq and Syria,” he said. The Secretary said that a commitment to stopping Islamist terrorism and extremism also motivated the administration’s decision to adopt a new South Asia strategy, which focuses on Afghanistan. “That country (Afghanistan) cannot become a safe haven for terrorists, as it was in the days before the Sept. 11 attacks,” he wrote. Secretary Tillerson observed that Pakistan “must contribute by combating terrorist groups on its own soil. We are prepared to partner with Pakistan to defeat terrorist organizations seeking safe havens, but Pakistan must demonstrate its desire to partner with us”. He described the Iran nuclear deal as “flawed” and said that it was no longer the focal point of US policy towards Tehran. “We are now confronting the totality of Iranian threats,” he said while adding that tart of this strategy entails rebuilding alliances with our partners in the Middle East. Secretary Tillerson said that in November, the US helped re-establish diplomatic ties between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. “We will continue to work with our allies and with Congress to explore options for addressing the nuclear deal’s many flaws, while building a like-minded effort to punish Iran for its violations of ballistic missile commitments and its destabilizing activities in the region.”
Orignally published by APP
Share on: WhatsApp× Expand Doc about James Baldwin (right) opens this week. What would he think about the Oscar-nominated Moonlight (left)?
On Sunday night, we could witness the first Black filmmaker to win an Oscar for best director. Or not.
Sorry if that got your hopes up, but the prize that should go to Barry Jenkins for his impressionistic and melancholic Moonlight will likely end up in Damien Chazelle's hands; there's no stopping La La Land's warm and fuzzy charm.
Not that I ever expected Moonlight to win big on Oscar night. The movie is better than that; its achievement, as both art and a galvanizing moment for diversity in filmmaking, won't dim after Sunday. The honesty and intimacy Jenkins achieves shows why people of colour must be behind the camera, not just in front of it.
This weekend, three films directed by Black filmmakers open in Toronto: Amma Assante's staid historical romance A United Kingdom, Jordan Peele's prickly interracial thriller Get Out and Raoul Peck's searing documentary I Am Not Your Negro.
× Expand James Baldwin in I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
The latter plunges us back into the civil rights era via the words of Black author and social critic James Baldwin. His incomplete manuscript about time spent with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X is the spine of Peck's unfiltered look at racism in America. Samuel L. Jackson lends his voice, reading Baldwin's ruminations on systematic oppression and the lack of empathy of even the most well-meaning white folks, which remind us how little things have changed.
Baldwin even sounds off about the movies, measuring Hollywood's progress from Stepin Fetchit to Sidney Poitier. For Baldwin, Poitier's stature withered because the actor had to play it safe and polite for white audiences, unable to expose his Black fury. His sweetback sexuality was castrated in "liberal" films like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
I wonder whether Baldwin would approve of how Jordan Peele rejigs Guess Who's Coming To Dinner into a paranoid horror movie. Or whether the Black and gay author would soak up Moonlight's embrace. And what would he make of this year's Oscars, courting its most diverse slate yet with POC nominees in acting, cinematography and editing?
What would he think of Hidden Figures, the bitter pill among this year's celebrated diversity?
× Expand Hidden Figures, by a white writer and director team, offers up the same polite and safe take on civil rights struggles we've seen in The Help and Sidney Poitier films.
In an article published last month that garnered plenty of hate-clicks, I stated that this feel-good story about three African-American women at NASA is exactly the kind of film we should not be celebrating. Sure, seeing strong Black women on screen is commendable in exactly the way the studio behind it hoped, but unlike Moonlight, it didn't give us any diversity in storytelling. It's exactly the kind of polite and safe take on civil rights struggles we've seen in The Help and Poitier's films.
I pegged the problem with Hidden Figures on a rushed production (in response to #OscarsSoWhite) and a white writing and directing team (Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder) who shaped facts into traditional Hollywood fiction, softened the anger into disappointment and threw in yet another glorified white saviour.
In a climactic moment, Taraji P. Henson's math genius Katherine Johnson's boss, played by Kevin Costner, smashes a sign segregating bathrooms by colour. In a Vice interview, Johnson says that never happened. She never adhered to the segregated bathroom rules, and no one stopped her. But replacing her wilful defiance with Costner's bravado gives a white audience a heroic comfort zone, a guilt-free point of identification.
Though its Oscar nominations and boffo box office argue otherwise, Hidden Figures' artificiality is another reason why we need to see more people of colour behind the camera. Compare its sound bites on systematic oppression to the raw, angry, provocative films of Spike Lee. Compare Steven Spielberg's classicist work on The Color Purple and Amistad to the blood, tears and survival in Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave. Compare Taylor Hackford's conventional biopic Ray to F. Gary Gray's blistering look at NWA, Straight Outta Compton.
× Expand Selma There is no white saviour trope in Ava DuVernay's Selma.
There's no white saviour trope in films by Lee, Gray, Ava DuVernay and Jenkins. In Selma, DuVernay doesn't use Lyndon B. Johnson as a prop to comfort white audiences. Jerry Heller doesn't keep NWA together. Sandra Bullock doesn't swoop in to save Chiron's life in Moonlight.
And Damien Chazelle won't be handing his Oscar to Barry Jenkins.
movies@nowtoronto.com | @justsayradThe independent Match Review Panel (MRP) – consisting of Simon Micallef (Chair), Alan Davidson, and Alan Contini – convened on Monday to consider the following incidents from Round 22 of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season.
1. An incident involving Paul Izzo (Izzo) of Central Coast Mariners which arose in or around the 62nd minute of Central Coast Mariners’ match against Melbourne City FC on Sunday, 5 March 2017.
The MRP has the authority to consider the incident as Izzo was expelled from the match by the Referee.
The MRP determined that Izzo committed the offence of “Denying the opposing team an obvious goal-scoring opportunity”.
The MRP has proposed a sanction of one match (the Mandatory Match Suspension), being the Minimum Sanction for the offence.
2. An incident involving Mark Jones (Jones) of Newcastle Jets which arose in or around the 32nd minute of Newcastle Jets’ match against Brisbane Roar FC on Sunday, 5 March 2017.
The MRP has the authority to consider the incident as Jones was expelled from the match by the Referee.
The MRP determined that Jones committed the offence of “Use of offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures against a match official”.
The MRP has proposed a sanction of one match (the Mandatory Match Suspension), being the Minimum Sanction for the offence.Ever wonder why your hair goes gray? Researchers have long known that a slowdown in the production of melanin, the pigment that colors hair, is to blame. But they don’t know precisely what starts the slowdown, or how the mechanism varies between populations. Now, in a study that looked at the genomes of more than 6000 people from Latin America, researchers have identified 18 genes that appear to influence hair traits, including the first ever to be associated with graying. The gene variant linked to graying is found only in people with European ancestry, and it has previously been associated with light hair colors. Other firsts include genes associated with unibrows, eyebrow thickness, and beard thickness, the researchers report today in Nature Communications. The participants’ diverse backgrounds, which included African, European, and Native American ancestry, helped reveal relationships between genes and hair that would have been hidden in more homogeneous populations. Researchers say the discoveries could help investigators predict what suspects look like based on genetic evidence. Someday, they add, the findings might even help drug developers find targets for medications to delay hair graying.The aqidah of the Salaf with respect to Eemaan is summarized as:
Eemaan is belief, speech and action, all of these enter into Eemaan and are from the reality of Eemaan. Thus, holding the belief that " Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah " or "the Qur'an is the speech of Allaah " is Eemaan, and the feeling of love in the heart for Allaah, or hope or fear is Eemaan, and testifying " None has the right to be worshipped except Allaah alone " is Eemaan and saying " Subhaanallaah ", or commanding someone " Fear Allaah and do not backbite " is Eemaan, and removing something harmful from the floor or performing prayer is Eemaan, and not stealing, or backbiting, and withholding one's limbs from falling into these actions is Eemaan. The outward actions of Eemaan are not merely the "fruits" and "consequences" of Eemaan as the Murji'at ul-Fuquhaa say, rather they are Eemaan itself.
and are from the reality of. Thus, holding the belief that " " or ", and the feeling of love in the heart for Allaah, or hope or fear, and testifying " " and saying " ", or commanding someone " ", and removing something harmful from the floor or performing prayer, and not stealing, or backbiting, and withholding one's limbs from falling into these actions. The outward actions of are not merely the "fruits" and "consequences" of as the Murji'at ul-Fuquhaa say, rather they itself. Eemaan increases with obedience and decreases with disobedience and it is not just a single indivisible entity that does not admit to increase, decrease - such that if some of it goes all of it goes (in the view of the Khawaarij and Mu'tazilah) or such that none of it goes no matter what actions one does (the Murji'ah) - as [in the erroneous view of both factions], Eemaan is just a single indivisible entity.
increases with obedience and decreases with disobedience and just a single indivisible entity that does not admit to increase, decrease - such that if some of it goes all of it goes (in the view of the Khawaarij and Mu'tazilah) or such that none of it goes no matter what actions one does (the Murji'ah) - as [in the erroneous view of both factions], is just a single indivisible entity. It is permissible make an exception (al-istithnaa) for one's faith by saying " I am a believer, if Allaah wills ", out of a) avoiding self-praise, and b) uncertainty about one's future actions and what one will die upon.
by saying " ", out of a) avoiding self-praise, and b) uncertainty about one's future actions and what one will die upon. kufr occurs by belief, speech and action and is not restricted to juhood and istihlaal only. Thus, a person becomes a disbeliever through a belief held (speech of the heart), a feeling, emotion harbored in the heart (pride, arrogance, hatred and so on [which is the heart's |
of the best toys based on Marvel characters. Over the years, countless characters have been released in plastic form, offering fans a nice mix of mainstream heroes and villains, along with ones that are less well known, but still popular among comic fans. The series has given fans tons of great figures, but there are some that it seems Marvel Legends just can't get right.
RELATED: The 15 Weirdest Superhero Toys
Not every figure is going to be perfect, of course, and production issues and other unforeseen factors can make any figure hard to find. These, then, are some characters that just always seem to have some issue with Marvel Legends, be they impossible to get, a subpar sculpt, or suffering from a combination of other issues.
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15 DEADPOOL
One of Marvel's most popular characters, it seems like Hasbro should be releasing Deadpool's face all over the place. Originating back in the '90s, the merc with a mouth debuted in "New Mutants" #98 (1991) by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld. His popularity has skyrocketed over the last decade, and with a hugely popular movie in 2016, Deadpool could be one of the most popular Marvel Legends ever... if people could ever find him. The problem isn't that there's never been a Deadpool figure, it's that he's always been impossible to find.
He first appeared in "Series 6" (2004), which was a notoriously hard to find series all around. Next, he showed up as part of Hasbro's two packs in 2010, paired with Warpath. Once again, this release was incredibly hard to find. Things got extra frustrating in 2013, when Deadpool was released again, this time wearing his gray X-Force costume, and was once again near impossible to find. Even worse, a classic variant was planned, but it seems like that variant was never released in the United States. Finally, Deadpool was included in the "Juggernaut Wave" (2016), and was once again the hardest figure to find. For a guy who is everywhere, it sure is difficult to lock ol' Wade down. Everybody wants a piece!
14 STORM
As one of the main leaders of the X-Men, Storm is one of the most prominent and respected mutants in the Marvel Universe. Ororo Munroe was part of the new team that Xavier put together in "Giant Size X-Men" #1 (1975) by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum, where she helped save the original X-Men and then joined the team herself. Marvel Legends first included a Storm figure in "Series 8," and even included a variant version that came with her now-signature mohawk.
The problems are that the figure's sculpt goes way overboard on the wrinkled fabric, making it look like she's wearing a costume that's a few sizes too big. Along with her undersized head, bizarre hair, and pre-sculpted cape, Storm was in need of a redo. A new Storm appeared in the "Jubilee Wave" (2014), which had a much better sculpt. Unfortunately, that wave had extreme shipping issues. With Storm being the rarest figure in a hard to find wave, it sometimes seemed like she didn't really exist.
13 INVISIBLE WOMAN
For whatever reason, the Fantastic Four have not fared well in Marvel Legends, despite being Marvel's first family. While the Human Torch and the Thing have had a few decent entries in the line, and Reed Richards has had at least one figure that can described as "fine," the Invisible Woman just can't catch a break. Her first appearance in the line was in the 2004 Fantastic Four box set, which forced fans to re-buy the rest of the Fantastic Four just to get Sue, who wasn't even that good looking of a figure.
She was then released a few more times in the "Fantastic Four Classics" line and the "Twin Packs" series, each time with the sculpt getting worse and worse. Finally, Hasbro announced that in 2017, a new Invisible Woman would be released, finally with a great head sculpt. The only downside is that this figure is a Walgreens exclusive, because getting one of Marvel's most important female characters just can't be easy.
12 EMMA FROST
Another female character that apparently just can't get any action figure respect is Emma Frost, the White Queen. She originally appeared as a villain in "Uncanny X-Men" #129 (1980) by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, but she was eventually reformed and joined the X-Men. She's a great character who keeps fans guessing as to whether she's really trying to do the right thing, or if she's just acting in her own personal interests.
When Hasbro took over the Marvel Legends line in 2007, Emma Frost was one of the first figures to be released. It's also one of the worst figures to be released. The head sculpt and articulation just didn't do this great character justice. Emma got another shot in 2013 with the "Puck Series." While the figure wasn't perfect, she was a big upgrade over the original. The only problem was that the series was a Diamond Exclusive, which made the line hard to find, and Emma was the rarest figure of them all.
11 LUKE CAGE
Ever since he joined the Avengers in "New Avengers" #1 (2004) by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch, Luke Cage's popularity has skyrocketed. Outside of the comics, Luke Cage is the star of his own Netflix series, and will be a part of the "Defenders" series. Despite all of that, he's only appeared in Marvel Legends twice. He showed up in the "Mojo Series" (2006) wearing his original, 1970s costume, with the v-neck, high-collared yellow shirt. Considering how out of date this look is, many fans were hoping to get an updated figure wearing a more modern outfit.
That they got in 2013 with the Thunderbolts box set, along with Crossbones, Satana, Ghost and Moonstone. The figure is pretty great, and it should have answered fans' prayers. Unfortunately, the box set was released as an SDCC exclusive set. That meant that anyone who didn't get it at the convention, or got lucky enough to purchase one off the website, got stuck paying marked up prices on the aftermarket.
10 SAM WILSON
A decent, comic-based Falcon was released as part of the "Mojo Wave" in (2006), with both a classic costume and modern costume variant figure released. The problems with Sam Wilson didn't start until years later, though, when Hasbro started making figures based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite several waves of figures dedicated to "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" (2014), "Avengers: Age of Ultron" (2015) and "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), Falcon wasn't present.
He didn't show up until he was released as a Wal-Mart exclusive in 2016. Like any store exclusive, he was needlessly difficult to obtain. That same year, Hasbro released a box set that included a comic version of Sam Wilson as Captain America. The figure itself was decent, but it was missing Sam's wings. Even as Captain America, Sam has kept using his wings, and they're kind of an integral part of his character. This was a huge flaw in what could have been a great figure.
9 MARIA HILL
Like Nick Fury, Maria Hill is a super spy who plans 10 moves ahead and took over command of S.H.I.E.L.D. Unlike Nick Fury, she doesn't play well with heroes. This dynamic has made her a sometimes ally, sometimes antagonist to the Avengers. She's popular enough to have appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, debuting in "Avengers" (2012), played by Cobie Smulders. Marvel Legends hasn't treated her well, however.
She came packed with Iron Man in a two pack released in 2009, although she was packed with an alternate Sharon Carter head. Collectors would have to buy the same set twice, or the variant stealth armor set to get both of the popular SHIELD agents. As for the movie version, she was released in a three pack with Nick Fury and Agent Coulson in 2015. The figure's head sculpt had a gigantic jaw, ruining the Cobie Smulder likeness and an otherwise decent sculpt.
8 ANY ULTIMATE CHARACTER
The Ultimate Marvel Universe debuted in the year 2000, and continued until 2015. It was a rebooted Marvel Universe that updated classic characters and stories for the modern world. The Ultimate Universe made its Marvel Legends debut with Ultimate Captain America in "Series 8" (2005). It wasn't until (2007) when Ultimate Iron Man was released as part of the "Annihilus Wave." Since then, there have been Ultimate versions of characters like War Machine, Beetle, Green Goblin, Nick Fury, Wolverine, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Spider-Girl and both Peter Parker and Miles Morales versions of Spider-Man.
The biggest issue is that not enough Ultimate figures have been made, so finding a place for many of these figures in a collection is pretty sad looking. Major Ultimate characters, like Thor or the Maker, have yet to be made. Ultimate characters are so sporadically inserted into the line that it's really not worth it. If Hasbro isn't willing to go all the way with Ultimate Marvel Legends, and give fans a decent character line-up, then it's not worth doing at all.
7 HASBRO GHOST RIDERS
Toy Biz made two great Ghost Rider figures, the first based on the then-modern Dan Ketch, and the second based on the classic Johnny Blaze. Since he first appeared in "Marvel Spotlight" #5 (1972) by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog, Ghost Rider has always ridden something, typically a motorcycle (though also in a car and atop a mighty steed). That's probably why he has the word "rider" in his name... because he rides something. Toy Biz recognized this and released their Ghost Riders with motorcycles.
Then Hasbro took over, and that's where the problems began. Hasbro has made two Ghost Riders, one in the "Terrax Wave" (2012) and another one in the "Rhino Wave" (2015), and neither one came with a bike. There's no point to making a Ghost Rider if he has nothing to drive around. That would be like making a Thor without his hammer, or a Captain America without his shield. For newer collectors unable to find the old Toy Biz versions, this a huge flaw with the toy.
6 GIANT MAN
As one of the founding Avengers, Giant Man has deservedly had several figures in the Marvel Legends line. First appearing as Ant-Man in "Tales to Astonish" #27 (1962) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Hank Pym discovered special particles that could change an object's size. Giant Man is the sort of character that the build-a-figure concept was made for, but he first appeared during the early run of "Marvel Legends" as a chase figure, meaning he was purposely shortpacked and was incredibly hard to find. Also, this figure was based on a older sculpt, meaning it lacked the amount of articulation other Marvel Legends came with.
In 2006, an exclusive wave was released to Wal-Mart that featured Giant Man as the build-a-figure. While the figure itself was great, the series was incredibly hard to find. Also, ten separate figures were needed to collect all of his necessary bits, including variant versions. Successfully putting this figure together was almost impossible. Hasbro released a Giant Man as part of the "Ultron Prime Wave" (2015), but this figure was produced as normally sized, negating the "giant" from Giant Man.
5 MAGNETO
Magneto really should be treated better than he has been by Marvel Legends. He's the X-Men's archenemy, after all, first appearing all the way back in "X-Men" #1 (1963) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Since then, he's remained one of the most fearsome, yet also endearing villains in the Marvel Universe. "Series 3" of Marvel Legends included the first Magneto figure, and it wasn't a home run. For some odd reason, it reused Iron Man's body sculpt, giving him weird bulges. Also, while making his helmet removable was a nice touch, the head sculpt was way too small and looked odd.
A bizarrely armored Magneto showed up in the X-Men Classics line, but he didn't return to Marvel Legends until 2014's X-Men line. Unfortunately, once again the figure featured subpar sculpting, and this time had a giant head. Making things even worse, that line was incredibly hard to find at retail, and fans of the character would have to pay severely marked up prices on the aftermarket for him.
4 JUBILEE
First appearing in "Uncanny X-Men" #244 (1989) by Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri, Jubilee has been a mainstay in the comics ever since. Her inclusion in the '90s "X-Men" cartoon also made her one of the most recognizable members of the team. She's not the most popular character, but most collectors would like to have her. They just don't want to have to jump through hoops to get her, like they did when she was confusingly chosen as a build-a-figure.
Usually, build-a-figures are larger or oddly shaped characters, which makes sense. That's why it's a little frustrating when Hasbro sneaks a regular sized figure as a BAF. She was released in the "X-Men" line in 2014, which was incredibly hard to find. There were distribution problems, and it was only released to Toys-R-Us and select comic book stores. Tracking down each of the figures was almost impossible, and it was way too much work just to put together Jubilee.
3 HYDRA SOLDIER
Since their first appearance in "Strange Tales" #135 (1965) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the criminal organization known as Hydra has terrorized the Marvel Universe. Their catchphrase is "Cut off one head and two more shall grow in its place," a reference to the legendary monster of the same name and the organization's swelling numbers, recognizable by their green, hooded costumes. The Hydra soldier first appeared in the "Brood Queen Series" (2007), one of Hasbro's earliest attempts at the Marvel Legends line.
The sculpting on the figure was oddly proportioned, and it came with two possible head sculpts, a scowling face and a screaming variation. Both heads were pretty odd looking, and along with the poor articulation, ensured that fans kept begging for a redo. They received it in 2014 with the "Mandroid Series." While the figure itself was a huge improvement, it was shortpacked and hard to find. Even worse, given the nature of toy, many collectors bought multiple copies to build a big Hydra army, making the Hydra Soldier an incredibly hard to find figure for many collectors.
2 PUCK
Puck isn't a bad figure, but he's also one of the worst build-a-figures in any Marvel Legends line. The biggest issue with Puck is that he's a tiny character, which makes for a tiny figure, which makes for a bad build-a-figure. He's small enough where he could have been packaged as an accessory, as opposed to the goal of collecting an entire line. As a member of Alpha Flight who first appeared in "Alpha Flight" #1 (1983) by John Byrne, he's just popular enough for collectors to want him for their collections, but not worth having to track down several hard to find figures.
That was the other major issue with Puck. His series, released in 2013, was incredibly hard to find, making the whole ordeal that much more frustrating. The only saving grace with this figure was that his parts were only spread across three different figures, as opposed to the usual five or six.
1 ONSLAUGHT
Even though he's only had a handful of appearances, Onslaught made a huge impact on the Marvel Universe. First appearing in "X-Men" #53 (1996) by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert, Onslaught was ultimately revealed to be a combination of Professor X and Magneto's psyches, which had been combined when Xavier shut down Magneto's mind during the finale of "Fatal Attractions." Onslaught nearly conquered the Earth, and was only stopped when the Avengers and Fantastic Four all sacrificed their lives.
He first appeared in Marvel Legends in "Series 13" (2006) as the build-a-figure. The problem was that, for some reason, Toy Biz decided to model the toy on a monstrous form he briefly took in the comics, as opposed to his more commonly seen Magneto-like armor. This was rectified in 2016, but only in the most complicated way possible. A Captain America wave was released that had Red Skull wearing the Onslaught armor as the build-a-figure, and the Onslaught head was released as part of an entirely different "X-Men" wave. To date, this is the only build-a-figure to be spread across two completely separate waves.
The newest Marvel Legends "Titus Wave" is in stores now.
What is your favorite or least favorite Marvel Legends figure? Let us know in the comments!
Next The 10 Best DC Animated Original Movies, RankedContains 32.15 oz of.999 fine Gold.
Display Box: Encased in history, Marie-Antoinette was in fact the proud owner of a Fauré Le Page Shotgun. This particular grand coin comes in a case designed by Fauré Le Page, a prestigious firearms manufacturer known for producing museum-worthy firearms. This beautiful case is wrapped in Fauré Le Page’s trademark toile écailles scaled pattern, and comes with handling gloves and a certificate of authenticity.
Obverse: Features the half-length portrait of Maire-Antoinette on the face of the plate designed coin, and embraced by a "Grand Feu Blue" or Royal Blue (Sèvres’ signature color) enamel backdrop. The depth of this coins curvature is unlike any other and is a prime example of this coin's triumphant design.
Reverse: Offsetting the magnificent depth of this coins majestic obverse, the reverse of this coin mimics the beautifully crafted Porcelain Bowl.
Guaranteed by Monnaie de Paris.
Denomination: 5000 euros.
Be one of the very few to own one of these ultra low mintage coins!A low mintage of just 16 coins adds tremendous collector appeal to this exquisite design! Add this stunning 2015 1 kilo Proof Gold €5000 Excellence Series (Grand Feu) coin to your cart today.This 1 kilo Proof Gold €5000 Excellence Series coin is the most Elite coin currently known to the market! Included in this set is a beautifully crafted replica of the 1787 "bol sein", a porcelain bowl that was said to have been shaped after Queen Antoinette's breast. The bowl is decorated with the Sèvres blue glaze on the interior and topped with rim of gold. The Bowl's porcelain tripod, also used as a stand for the kilo, has the heads of three goats just as the original did.File: Winslow Twp. Police (Photo: Provided)
A Winslow police officer is accused of shooting his patrol car.
Da'Shaun Carr, 23, of Clayton allegedly fired his personal handgun once through the front windshield of a police vehicle on the night of Oct. 3, authorities said Friday.
Carr, a part-time Class II Special Law Enforcement Officer, also activated an emergency button in his vehicle "and communicated by radio that his vehicle had been fired upon," the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.
Related: Winslow police SUV slams into Berlin Dunkin Donuts
The incident brought a heavy police response to the shooting scene in New Brooklyn Park, the prosecutor's office noted.
"Officers from the Winslow Police Department, New Jersey State Police, Camden County Sheriff's Office and Camden County Prosecutor's Office responded to the scene and searched the area," the statement noted.
Carr allegedly shot from outside the vehicle, the statement said. It said bullet fragments were found inside the vehicle, and the results of ballistic testing were pending.
Related: Cordless drill allegedly used in bank robbery
Carr, who joined the Winslow force a year ago, has been suspended without pay. He was charged with making false public alarms and was released on his own recognizance.
An attorney for Carr could not be reached Friday.
The shooting followed a similar incident in Pemberton Township, where a single shot hit the roof of a parked patrol car on Sept. 24.
Related: Violence at S.J. Wawas: 2 stabbed, 1 shot
An officer in the Pemberton Township car was unhurt, authorities said.
The status of an investigation into the Pemberton Township shooting could not be determined Friday.
Reach Jim Walsh at jwalsh@courierpostonline.com or (856) 486-2646. Tweet him @jimwalsh_cp.
Read or Share this story: http://on.cpsj.com/1zKOHfKBLOEMFONTEIN (Reuters) - South Africa’s “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius was found guilty on Thursday of murdering his girlfriend, in an appeal court ruling that could see him sent back to prison for at least 15 years.
The Supreme Court upgraded the 29-year-old Paralympian’s sentence on appeal to murder from “culpable homicide”, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence.
Pistorius was released from prison and placed under house arrest on Oct. 19, having spent one day less than a year behind bars for shooting dead model Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013, in a case that attracted worldwide interest and continues to fascinate and divide South Africa.
Members of the ruling African National Congress party’s Women’s League welcomed the new ruling, dancing and singing outside the court. They have attended the court sessions since the trial began in solidarity with Steenkamp’s family and in support of women’s rights.
Pistorius had been meant to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest on his uncle’s property in a wealthy suburb of the capital Pretoria.
A new sentence for the Paralympic champion will be handed down at a later date. Pistorius is expected to remain on parole until then, unless a court rules otherwise, officials said.
In their appeal, prosecutors argued that Pistorius should have been convicted of murder for firing four shots through a locked toilet door. They said he intended to kill Steenkamp and that she had fled to the toilet during a row.
“This case involves a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions,” Judge Eric Leach said as he read out the ruling.
“A young man overcomes huge physical disabilities to reach Olympian heights as an athlete. In doing so he becomes an international celebrity, he meets a young woman of great natural beauty and a successful model, romance blossoms, and then, ironically on Valentine’s Day, all is destroyed when he takes her life.”
Leach added that “as a matter of common sense, at the time the fatal shots were fired the possibility of the death of a person behind the door was clearly an obvious result.”
Pistorius denies deliberately killing Steenkamp, saying he mistook her for an intruder at his home. [L8N13S19R]
The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime. Some rights groups had said the white track star got preferential treatment.
South African Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius listens to the verdict in his trial at the high court in Pretoria September 12, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
Anneliese Burgess, the Pistorius family’s spokeswoman, said the family would wait for lawyers advice on what to do next.
Some legal experts said Pistorius’ lawyers could appeal the court’s ruling at the constitutional court, where they could argue that the heavy media coverage of his trial had infringed upon his right to a free trial. Others disagreed, saying Pistorius had received a fair trial and had been allowed to testify.
“It will be a long shot if they approach the constitutional court, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do,” Johannesburg-based lawyer and legal analyst Ulrich Roux said.
ERROR OF JUDGMENT
At the original trial last year, Judge Thokozile Masipa ruled that the state had failed to prove intent or “dolus eventualis”, a legal concept that centers on a person being held responsible for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.
Judge Leach said Judge Masipa had erred in the application of the concept, however.
Dolus eventualis refers to whether a person foresees the possibility that his or her action will cause death but carries on regardless. Some legal experts were worried that the verdict by Judge Masipa could have set a bad legal precedent in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world.
Slideshow (3 Images)
Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated when he was a baby but who went on to become a global sporting hero, was not at the court session in Bloemfontein, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Johannesburg.
Steenkamp’s mother June, who has said she does not want retribution, attended the court session. She shed tears as she left the court after the new judgment was handed down.
Barry Steenkamp, Reeva’s father, welcomed the new verdict.
“It’s a big relief. I feel it’s a fair decision that the judge gave,” Steenkamp said in a brief interview on local television station ANN7, before breaking down in tears.0 of 5
Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team has one word to sum up its 2013-14 campaign.
Unfulfilling.
After starting the season with 25 victories against no losses and achieving a No. 1 ranking in the NCAA, the Orange fell back to earth and sputtered into the postseason and finished the season 3-6, including a disappointing loss to Dayton in the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament.
In the world of Orange basketball, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts in terms of where the team failed.
With a freshman point guard coming in and the team losing three of its top-four scorers, expectations for Syracuse were that the team would be good, but would take time to develop.
The team developed right away and after beating Duke in a thrilling overtime game at the Carrier Dome on Feb. 1, it seemed the Orange were a shoo-in for an ACC championship in their inaugural season.
The basketball gods had something else in mind.
In what could only be described as an institutional collapse, anything that could go wrong with the Orange went wrong.
Aside from losing sophomore forward DaJuan Coleman for the season after a win over No. 8 Villanova on Dec. 28, the Orange's campaign in the new year became a laundry list of unfortunate events.
Trevor Cooney, who started the first half of the season shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc, lost his shooting touch. Rakeem Christmas, while being an effective defender, never found his scoring touch. Tyler Ennis, who had one of the greatest freshman seasons of all time at Syracuse, became a tad sloppier with his play in clutch moments, where earlier in the season it was inconceivable.
Jerami Grant’s back went bad. Baye Keita suffered through a leg injury, and for as good as C.J. Fair has been through his career, he had difficulty handling the ball and struggled to create his own shot.
All of this added up to a team that could defend very well, but as competition became familiar and unafraid, baskets were very difficult to come by.
Without dwelling on it any further, Syracuse sent out a message early that it was going to be a tough out in the NCAA tournament, and to its credit, it was a tough out, for Dayton.
In the wreckage of the season, Syracuse fans are left to look forward and hope the new stable brought in by Jim Boeheim and company can right the ship. Fortunately, the Orange have a stockpile of talent on the bench and some exciting newcomers who may help ease the pain of the memories of a season lost.
Syracuse will bid adieu to Fair, Keita and Ennis, and the word is not yet out on Grant. Coming in are point guard Kaleb Joseph and forward Chris McCullough, who are two of the more exciting freshmen to step on campus for Syracuse in quite a while.
We will now take a look at those freshmen and the biggest questions facing next season’s Syracuse Orange.UPDATED with more details: The SAG Awards nominations this morning gave Fox Searchlight’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri a leading four mentions including a slot in the marquee Ensemble category, which is the nearest the actors guild gets to a Best Picture designation.
20th Century Fox
Three Billboards was joined on the Ensemble list by Amazon/Lionsgate’s The Big Sick, a notable no-show at the Golden Globes noms on Monday; Jordan Peele’s Get Out from Universal; A24’s Lady Bird; and Netflix’s Mudbound. The Martin McDonagh film scored acting noms for stars Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, giving Fox Searchlight a studio-topping seven noms thanks to its other pics The Shape of Water and Battle of the Sexes.
Lady Bird was the only other pic to receive more than two noms today as the guild spread the wealth on the film side. Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf picked up noms in the leading and supporting categories. Among the notable noms: James Franco for playing Tommy Wiseau in The Disaster Artist, a fairly rare comedy slot in the Leading Male Actor category.
In TV, Netflix swept to a leading 19 nominations and dominated the lead female acting categories, with shows on the streaming service scoring eight of the 10 overall noms in the category. Last year’s winner Stranger Things returns to the Ensemble Drama Series category (remember David Harbour’s fantastic acceptance speech? — he’s nommed again this year) along with The Crown for Netflix, HBO’s Game of Thrones, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale and NBC’s This Is Us.
Stranger Things also scored a co-leading four noms, tied with HBO’s Big Little Lies which continues its sweep through awards season — it scored three acting noms today for Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon all in the TV Movie or Limited Series category, joining Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon from FX’s Feud: Bette and Joan.
Among the newcomers making noise today: Netflix’s GLOW (Comedy Ensemble, noms for Alison Brie and Marc Maron, and a Stunt Ensemble nom). It joins two other rookies on the Ensemble lists along with NBC’s This Is Us and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale both on the drama side.
Here’s the full list of nominees:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
JUDI DENCH / Queen Victoria – “VICTORIA & ABDUL” (Focus Features)
SALLY HAWKINS / Elisa Esposito – “THE SHAPE OF WATER” (Fox Searchlight)
FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight)
MARGOT ROBBIE / Tonya Harding – “I, TONYA” (Neon)
SAOIRSE RONAN / Lady Bird McPherson – “LADY BIRD” (A24)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET / Elio – “CALL ME BY YOUR NAME” (Sony Pictures Classics)
JAMES FRANCO / Tommy Wiseau – “THE DISASTER ARTIST” (A24)
DANIEL KALUUYA / Chris Washington – “GET OUT” (Universal Pictures)
GARY OLDMAN / Winston Churchill – “DARKEST HOUR” (Focus Features)
DENZEL WASHINGTON / Roman J. Israel, Esq. – “ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.” (Columbia Pictures)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
MARY J. BLIGE / Florence Jackson – “MUDBOUND” (Netflix)
HONG CHAU / Ngoc Lan Tran – “DOWNSIZING” (Paramount Pictures)
HOLLY HUNTER / Beth – “THE BIG SICK” (Amazon Studios/Lionsgate)
ALLISON JANNEY / LaVona Golden – “I, TONYA” (Neon/30West)
LAURIE METCALF / Marion McPherson – “LADY BIRD” (A24)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
STEVE CARELL / Bobby Riggs – “BATTLE OF THE SEXES” (Fox Searchlight)
WILLEM DAFOE / Bobby – “THE FLORIDA PROJECT” (A24)
WOODY HARRELSON / Willoughby – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight)
RICHARD JENKINS / Giles – “THE SHAPE OF WATER” (Fox Searchlight)
SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon – “THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI” (Fox Searchlight)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
THE BIG SICK (Amazon Studios/Lionsgate)
ADEEL AKHTAR / Naveed
HOLLY HUNTER / Beth
ZOE KAZAN / Emily
ANUPAM KHER / Azmat
KUMAIL NANJIANI / Kumail
RAY ROMANO / Terry
ZENOBIA SHROFF / Sharmeen
GET OUT (Universal Pictures)
CALEB LANDRY JONES / Jeremy Armitage
DANIEL KALUUYA / Chris Washington
CATHERINE KEENER / Missy Armitage
STEPHEN ROOT / Jim Hudson
LAKEITH STANFIELD / Andrew/Logan King
BRADLEY WHITFORD / Dean Armitage
ALLISON WILLIAMS / Rose Armitage
LADY BIRD (A24)
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET / Kyle Scheible
BEANIE FELDSTEIN / Julie Steffans
LUCAS HEDGES / Danny O’Neill
TRACY LETTS / Larry McPherson
STEPHEN McKINLEY HENDERSON / Father Leviatch
LAURIE METCALF / Marion McPherson
JORDAN RODRIGUES / Miguel McPherson
SAOIRSE RONAN / Lady Bird McPherson
ODEYA RUSH / Jenna Walton
MARIELLE SCOTT / Shelly Yuhan
LOIS SMITH / Sister Sarah Joan
MUDBOUND (Netflix)
JONATHAN BANKS / Pappy McAllan
MARY J. BLIGE / Florence Jackson
JASON CLARKE / Henry McAllan
GARRETT HEDLUND / Jamie McAllan
JASON MITCHELL / Ronsel Jackson
ROB MORGAN / Hap Jackson
CAREY MULLIGAN / Laura McAllan
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (Fox Searchlight)
ABBIE CORNISH / Anne
PETER DINKLAGE / James
WOODY HARRELSON / Willoughby
JOHN HAWKES / Charlie
LUCAS HEDGES / Robbie
ŽELJKO IVANEK / Desk Sgt.
CALEB LANDRY JONES / Red Welby
FRANCES McDORMAND / Mildred
CLARKE PETERS / Abercrombie
SAM ROCKWELL / Dixon
SAMARA WEAVING / Penelope
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“BABY DRIVER” (TriStar Pictures and MRC)
“DUNKIRK” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
“LOGAN” (20 th Century Fox)
“WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES” (20 th Century Fox)
“WONDER WOMAN” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
TELEVISION PROGRAMS
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
LAURA DERN / Renata Klein – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)
NICOLE KIDMAN / Celeste Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)
JESSICA LANGE / Joan Crawford – “FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN” (FX Networks)
SUSAN SARANDON / Bette Davis – “FEUD: BETTE AND JOAN” (FX Networks)
REESE WITHERSPOON / Madeline MacKenzie – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH / Sherlock Holmes – “SHERLOCK: THE LYING DETECTIVE” (WGBH/Masterpiece)
JEFF DANIELS / Frank Griffin – “GODLESS” (Netflix)
ROBERT DE NIRO / Bernie Madoff – “THE WIZARD OF LIES” (HBO)
GEOFFREY RUSH / Albert Einstein – “GENIUS” (National Geographic)
ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD / Perry Wright – “BIG LITTLE LIES” (HBO)
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
MILLIE BOBBY BROWN / Eleven – “STRANGER THINGS” (Netflix)
CLAIRE FOY / Queen Elizabeth II – “THE CROWN” (Netflix)
LAURA LINNEY / Wendy Byrde – “OZARK” (Netflix)
ELISABETH MOSS / Offred/June – “THE HANDMAID’S TALE” (Hulu)
ROBIN WRIGHT / Claire Underwood – “HOUSE OF CARDS” (Netflix)
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
JASON BATEMAN / Martin “Marty” Byrde – “OZARK” (Netflix)
STERLING K. BROWN / Randall Pearson – “THIS IS US” (NBC)
PETER DINKLAGE / Tyrion Lannister – “GAME OF THRONES” (HBO)
DAVID HARBOUR / Jim Hopper – “STRANGER THINGS” (Netflix)
BOB ODENKIRK / Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman – |
dramatic shifts of direction and changes in character. The review was founded in 1960 out of a merger of two existing journals, Universities and Left Review and the New Reasoner, the former representing an upsurge of political and cultural radicalism in the late 1950s, especially strong in universities, that repudiated the reformism of the Labour party, while the latter provided a rallying ground for those communists and ex-communists who, post-1956, disowned orthodox Stalinism. New Left clubs were formed around the country, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament provided a mobilising and unifying focus. For a brief period, the review was part of a wider movement. But after the 1962 changeover, it focused more exclusively on preparing the theoretical ground for "revolution" (it can be hard now to remember what an everyday term "revolution" was in the 1960s and 1970s). One of the NLR's most notable services was in importing and disseminating European ideas, especially the rich tradition of Hegelianised Marxisms, but also other styles of work in, for example, sociology and psychoanalysis. In 1970 a publishing house was set up – New Left Books, which mutated into Verso – and this helped to make many classic works of European social thought available in English at a time when the expanding system of higher education was hungry for such texts. Established socialist thinkers such as Isaac Deutscher and Raymond Williams were important to the review in its early years; for a while the example of the Belgian Trotskyist economist Ernest Mandel was influential; at various points there was particularly sustained engagement with the ideas of Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser.
In the course of the 1980s, the political imagination of the left had to be re-fashioned to acknowledge the dramatic transformations of that decade, including the end of "actually existing socialism". This and the following decade saw ructions and resignations at the review itself, as well as attempts to remedy its comparative neglect of now prominent issues such as feminism and the environment. Its denunciation of "the American empire", especially through the so-called humanitarian wars of the 1990s, was one constant; its attempts to uncover the global operation of the new forms of capitalism were another. But questions about what it now meant to be committed to "a socialist future" became more insistent and invited a more fundamental rethinking of the function of the journal itself. NLR 238, published at the end of 1999, was to be the last of the original series.
The first issue of the new series appeared at the beginning of 2000, with a dramatically improved layout and appearance (high-minded left asceticism had tended to favour journals that looked like cyclostyled parish magazines), a regular book review section and signed editorials. The first of these consisted of a stern, unsparing assessment by Anderson of the challenges facing the left at the start of the new century. Some readers were shocked by its Olympian bleakness. "The only starting point for a realistic left today is a lucid registration of historical defeat." (I can't help admiring the sentence as well as the sentiment here, especially that last phrase with its indomitable commitment to lucidity about the wreck of one's dreams.) Anderson found "neoliberalism" triumphant across the globe: no effective countervailing radical force existed. But that, it was implied, is all the more reason to seek a properly explanatory understanding of the forces at work in the world today. Only on that basis – a systematic, deeply informed, international analysis – could even the most tentative steps be taken towards formulating a viable alternative. The message may have been bleak, but the tone was resolute: the guiding principle for the review should be "the refusal of any accommodation with the ruling system, as of any understatement of its power".
Over the years, NLR had shown a proper regard for Gramsci's celebrated motto "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will", but many readers thought Anderson's 2000 editorial overdid the pessimism and gave precious little nourishment to the optimism. A French critic, in a reproach that must have stung the famously nonparochial and francophile Anderson, accused him of viewing things too narrowly from one side of la Manche: various forms of resistance, it was suggested, were much more visible in France, while others felt that forms of protest elsewhere in the world were similarly being undervalued. But, a decade on, Anderson's pessimism on this score scarcely seems exaggerated: in so far as the imperium of neoliberalism is being curbed, which is not far, it does not appear to be primarily the outcome of organised and politically effective opposition.
Anderson also announced another kind of change in the character of the journal, which was henceforth to be open to a greater variety of voices. Again, there were murmurs about betrayal and elitism – NLR as a virtual club for global intellectuals rather than a getting-its-hands-dirty helper in local struggles – but perhaps such objections mistake what a progressive journal of ideas can and should do. Personally, as a relative outsider to this milieu, I much prefer the hospitable pessimism of the current NLR to the excluding optimism of its more sectarian days. But there's no doubt that its present character raises again the question of what a journal of "the left" should be aiming at when it is not in constructive relations with any organised radical or progressive movements beyond its pages.
Now, in this anniversary issue, the editorial by Susan Watkins takes stock once more. Attention focuses on the financial crash of 2008 and on the banks' subsequent recovery. The former might have seemed to offer the left some hope: the "system" was imploding, as in Marxist or post-Marxist theory it was meant to do. Those famous "contradictions of capitalism" were coming home to roost. Except, as Watkins coolly insists, they haven't; so far there has been adjustment rather than apocalypse. Moreover, this convulsion of the world's financial system seems to have generated precious little political turmoil or popular insurgency. In one of those steely sentences that the modern NLR is so good at, she writes: "That neoliberalism's crisis should be so eerily non-agonistic, in contrast to the bitter battles over its installation, is a sobering measure of its triumph."
So what is there left to do – and what is there to do that is left? Plenty, it turns out. There may be no "immediate practical project", so the concern has to be with the longue durée. "To attend to the development of actually existing capitalism remains a first duty for a journal like NLR." Or again: "A priority for the Review in the coming years should be a new typology of development outcomes in the age of global finance. Another is a map of the global proletariat – locations, sectors, differentials – alive to contemporary makings and unmakings of class."
To some, this may seem like little more than keeping that "registration of defeat" up to date, but the commitment to information and understanding seems admirable to me. In the final paragraph of her editorial, Watkins appears momentarily tempted by a form of optimism: "But perhaps the very rarity of a serious left forum in these times makes a journal like NLR more valued." I think that's true, but a forum is, precisely, a space in which to meet and talk, an agreed place in which to disagree. The metaphor signifies a distance from political action, as well as the distance the journal has travelled from the hopes of the 60s. "Can a left intellectual project hope to thrive in the absence of a political movement?", she asks. "That remains to be seen." Even "thriving" may be a lot to ask for. "Fail better" may be as high as the mark should be set for now, with an unblinking awareness of the piquancy that attends the conjunction of political allegiance and Beckettian motto.
Perhaps a sense of having been chastened by world history is becoming to a journal in middle age. Just occasionally, I still feel queasy when confronted by the familiar abstractions, confidently used in the singular. When I'm told, for example, that "the thought-world of the west" is increasingly determined by "Atlantic-centred structures of wealth and power", dragging academic disciplines in tow, I find myself feeling that the search for pattern and causation is starting to lose sight of something no less important – the uneven, awkward diversity that is apparent when viewed from a little closer. All intellectual inquiry is a see-sawing between abstraction and particularity, and NLR's inheritance can still make it seem more indulgent of the former than the latter. Interestingly, the language of "determinants" and "system" falls away when it comes to self-description. "NLR stands outside this world," Watkins writes, "defines its own agenda." Excellent, but might not some other elements in "the thought-world of the west" be doing the same, in their own way? Still, the audacity is admirable: I like the thought that a specially unillusioned, independent, global perspective on what's happening is to be had from a side street in Soho.
When so much of even the so-called "serious" media is given over to celebrity-fuelled ephemera and the recycling of press releases and in-house gossip; and when the academic world is struggling to mitigate the worst effects of funding-driven overproduction and careerist modishness; and when national and international politics seem to consist of bowing to the imperatives of "the market" while avoiding public relations gaffes; then we need more than ever a "forum" like NLR. It is up to date without being merely journalistic; it is scholarly but unscarred by citation-compulsion; and it is analytical about the long-term forces at work in politics rather than obsessed by the spume of the latest wavelet of manoeuvring and posturing. Despite its self-description in its guidelines for contributors, the journal is not in any obvious sense "lively". It is downright difficult (but none the worse for that), because what it tries to analyse is complex and its preferred intellectual tools are often conceptually sophisticated. It is difficult where being easy would be no virtue, difficult where aiming to be "accessible" would mean patronising its readers, difficult where ideas need to be chewed rather than simply swallowed. That's what I admire above all about NLR: its intellectual seriousness – its magnificently strenuous attempt to understand, to analyse, to theorise.
So, no balloons, and definitely no party lines. No cheap consolation, either. But hey, respect: no question.
• This article was amended on 24 February 2010 to delete a sentence saying that NLR's finances were unclear with rumours suggesting that Anderson family money subsidised it. It has been replaced with a sentence saying the publication has long been self-financing.Gamers didn’t have a lot of new releases to pick up from retailers last month, and that dragged the industry down a little bit.
Consumers spent $605.2 million on new gaming products at United States retailers in January, according to industry-intelligence firm The NPD Group. That is down 4 percent from $627.6 million last year during the same period. Hardware and software sales were down. While, once again, the plummeting sales of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are the biggest culprits, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One purchases also saw some regression.
Video game hardware sales were $157 million for January. That was down 15 percent from $185.4 million last year.
“Recently, hardware declines typically were a result of [Xbox 360 and PS3] generation console and portable declines exceeding growth in [the current] generation hardware sales,” NPD analyst Liam Callahan said. “In January 2016, however, the sales of [current] generation consoles declined by 8 percent, despite relatively flat unit sales, as average prices dipped by 6 percent as a result of price cuts that took place between January 2015 and January 2016.”
Those price cuts came in conjunction with an 81 percent dropoff in sales for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii as well as 21 percent decline in sales for 3DS and PlayStation Vita.
Game sales were $212.7 million, which is a 10 percent year-over-year decrease from $235.6 million.
Only peripherals, which includes the interactive toy market (products such as the interactive action figures for Disney’s Infinity and Nintendo’s Amiibo), saw growth. It was up 15 percent from $206 million in 2015 to $235.5 million in 2016.
As always, we like to point out that NPD’s numbers are only for new games and consoles sold at U.S. retailers. That means these figures do not reflect the performance of used games, digital games (such as those you buy from Valve’s Steam store or Xbox Live), or mobile. With that in mind, it’s best to take a look at these figures and use them as a small windows into a much larger and more dynamic market.
With that out of the way, let’s do the game chart.
Software
Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC) Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC) NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3) Star Wars: Battlefront (Xbox One, PS4, PC) Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC) Minecraft (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3) Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Xbox One, PS4, PC) Madden NFL 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3) Lego: Marvel Avengers (PS4, Xbox One, 360, Wii U, PS3, 3DS, Vita) FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
The first thing this chart reveals is that triple-A publishers — those that make the biggest blockbuster games like Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed — took January off. The only new game on this list is Lego: Marvel Avengers. That game cracked the top 10, but it is also notable because it is one of the first times that a franchise primarily aimed at children sold better on PlayStation 4 than the Xbox One in its first month of release (you can tell which console had the better sales by the order of the platform in the parenthesis). It’s possible that is just about the Marvel brand, or maybe Sony has shifted from the hardcore to the console of choice for everyone in the family.
“New physical software declined by 10 percent in January 2016 versus last January,” said Callahan. “Part of this decline stemmed from a dearth of new launches this month compared to last year with new launches generating 51 percent fewer dollar sales than January 2014 launches.”
Last year, we got a surprising hit in Dying Light in January, and 2016’s first month had nothing like that. NPD points out that Dying Light had 239 percent more unit sales than Lego Marvel Avengers.
Besides Lego, we’ve seen everything else on this list since at least December. Call of Duty: Black Ops III shows that Activision’s military shooter series really is as strong as ever. And Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell forever.
“This is the third consecutive January where Grand Theft Auto V was a Top 5 title,” said Callahan. “Astonishingly, the game has moved up in ranking placement from fifth place in January 2014, to third in January 2015 and to the second-best selling game in January 2016.”
But those games that launched in the quarter of 2015 look a little weak as well.
“This month’s new physical software decline also stemmed from softness from the performance of Q4 launches in January, which were down 19 percent from last year’s Q4 launches,” said Callahan.
One of the other more interesting aspects of this month’s chart is that if a system had a bundle for a game, it sold better on the competitor’s hardware at retail. For example, Black Ops III is bundled with PS4s, but it sold better on Xbox One. Fallout 4, which is bundled with Xbox One, but sold better on PS4. The same is true for Star Wars: Battlefront, Madden NFL 16, and FIFA 16. This is likely because bundled software is not included in this list.
The only exception to this rule is Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, which has an Xbox One bundle but also sold better on Xbox One at retail than PlayStation 4. This is further proof that Microsoft is still generating a ton of spending from its gamers for companies like Ubisoft even if the world has way more PlayStation 4 gamers.
Sony did point out that the PlayStation 4 was No. 1 for software sales in January.
Finally, when ranking games per SKU — meaning that you don’t compile a games sales numbers together from different platforms — Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam for the 3DS ranked No. 10 on the sales chart.
Hardware
The PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One and Wii U in January, according to Sony.
“Thanks to our fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top-selling platform and software sales leader in January, according to NPD,” a Sony spokesperson said in a statement provided to GamesBeat. “PS4 also saw impressive year-over-year growth in both hardware and software sales. We appreciate the support and will continue to deliver on our promise to bring the best entertainment experiences to gamers.”
We’ve asked Microsoft and Nintendo for an update on how their hardware performed as well. We’ll update this story once we get a comment from each of those companies.
But NPD points out that the industry has essentially completed the transition from last gen to the current gen. So Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony shouldn’t count on sales from Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
“As we enter 2016, the majority of console hardware sales will occur on [current] generation consoles as evidenced by the 96-percent share of console hardware sales from [current] generation consoles, which is up from 84 percent in January 2015,” said Callahan.Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes have revealed the 2017 Kawasaki Racing Team colours as it seeks to defend its World Superbike riders' and manufacturers' crowns.
After successfully retaining his World Superbike title last year, Rea is targeting an unprecedented third consecutive world championship with the factory Kawasaki squad with which he has dominated the series since joining the team in 2015.
Rea is once again partnered by 2013 World Superbike champion Tom Sykes, preparing for his eighth consecutive year with KRT, who narrowly finished runner-up in the riders' championship last year and ensured Kawasaki swept the manufacturers' title for a second straight season.
With a year of experience under their belts with the new Kawasaki ZX-10R the two KRT riders are hot favourites again in 2017 against the likes of the factory Ducati, Honda, Yamaha and Aprilia efforts.
Rea is relishing the chance to make new history in World Superbikes by targeting a third straight riders' title.
"It is really nice that every year KRT really pull out all the stops for our team launch," Rea said. "It is nice to jump into my new leathers, see the finished bike and have so many other people around to share in the excitement of a new season.
"After celebrating the championship I have just refocused on testing since then. We have had such a productive off-season and now I am excited for the year to start."
Sykes, who is focusing on adjusting his riding style to extract the full potential from the ZX-10R, has echoed his team-mate's sentiments as he prepares to attack from the off in Australia.
"There has been a lot of work and preparation put in during the off-season from everybody and now we are announcing the team officially," Sykes said. "I am hoping to go to Phillip Island and be very competitive in the opening round.
"I have been trying my hardest in the winter to adapt to the bike. I would like to arrive strongly in the first round in Australia."
The Kawasaki Racing Team will head off to Phillip Island for a final pre-season test just days before the 2017 season opener at the Australian track on the 24-26 February.Better Soldiers From how they’re trained to how they perform in combat, soldiers today are working with a variety of new technologies. In conjunction with the U.S. Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments (AEWE) program, tech company AimLock Inc. is transforming every soldier into a sharpshooter. Their AimLock System-equipped rifles use a combination of software and hardware to increase accuracy when firing at moving targets and eliminate shooter error. Soldiers can now remain underwater for up to two hours using a new Soldiers can now also remain underwater for up to two hours using a new military rebreathing device that converts the air they breathe out into pure oxygen, doubling the time allotted by the average scuba tank. Next year, the U.S. plans to launch a first-generation version of its Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS), a “supersoldier” suit that will not only protect soldiers from bullets and other projectiles and increase their mobility and strength. The U.S. is even using the latest advances in off-world technology to prepare for threats to space-based infrastructures with a plan titled “Space Mission Force: Developing Space Warfighters for Tomorrow.” These soldiers are being trained to combat attacks on the nation’s satellites, and as we continue our efforts at off-world colonization, what is now just a small piece of the military could become an integral part of what keeps citizens safe from enemy threats.
Better Warfare? This trend toward increasingly high-tech warfare should, in theory, save lives. Better armor for soldiers should mean fewer casualties, and the use of autonomous weaponry should reduce the number of soldiers that ever even reach the battlefield. However, the situation is far from cut and dry. Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and thousands of other artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics researchers released an open letter in 2015 urging the world’s governments to ban artificially intelligent soldiers and other autonomous weapons. They argue that the creation of such devices will inevitably lead to a global arms race. Once the technology becomes available to all significant military powers, it’s only a matter of time before it hits the black market and reaches the hands of any terrorists or individual with the money to buy it. If that were to happen, it would be much more difficult to stop attacks such as assassinations, ethnic cleanings, or government takeovers. The more high-tech our military becomes, the more we risk becoming detached from the brutalities of war. The detachment that comes with the decision to use weapons like combat drones or autonomous fighter jets could make going to war seem like a better option to our government leaders than, say, extensive peace negotiations or non-violent compromises. The militaries with the most autonomous weapons could become the most trigger-happy, leading to increases in unnecessary casualties for both enemy civilians and military personnel.
The men and women making the decisions to go to war may think that there is less risk for military personnel with drone warfare, and while it’s true that fewer soldiers in combat situations would lead to fewer in-battle fatalities and injuries, it does little if anything to prevent soldiers from having post-war psychological problems like PTSD, and does not account for enemy casualties or civilian casualties of war. Additionally, advancements in military technology could lead to downsides faced by other industries, like job loss. Between its active and reserve personnel, the U.S. military employs just under 3 million people. If more military systems become automated, that could lead to fewer low-level military jobs. One Army general even proposed that the number of soldiers in a brigade could be cut by 25 percent. Not only would this add to the rising unemployment rates for those who see the military as a career, it would also remove a valuable stepping stone as many receive training and educational opportunities via the military to jumpstart their post-service lives. The use of high-tech weaponry in war is a nuanced subject, and each new innovation will need to be weighed carefully before implementation. However, one wholly positive impact of technology on warfare is the ways in which it is enabling us to help soldiers after their time in battle is over. We’re developing neural-interface technologies to replace lost limbs, using virtual reality to treat PTSD, and creating virtual “twin” skeletons for soldiers that can be used to 3D-print new bones in case of combat injury.
There is and will be controversy and great challenges with this new technology, and while the reality that this progress could eliminate suffering for millions of soldiers and veterans is promising, there could be incredible downsides. Either way, these technological developments are not slowing down anytime soon, so hopefully, we can look forward to a future with a safe, high-tech military.THE WEB Fonts Wiki has a page listing fonts you can legally embed in your site designs using the CSS standard @font-face method. Just as importantly, the wiki maintains a page showing commercial foundries that allow @font-face embedding. Between these two wiki pages, you may find just the font you need for your next design (even if you can’t currently license classics like Adobe Garamond or ITC Franklin and Clarendon).
The advantages of using fonts other than Times, Arial, Georgia, and Verdana have long been obvious to designers; it’s why web design in the 1990s was divided between pages done in Flash, and HTML pages containing pictures of fonts—a practice that still, bizarrely, continues even in occasionally otherwise advanced recent sites.
Using real fonts instead of pictures of fonts or outlines of fonts provides speed and accessibility advantages.
Currently the Webkit-based Apple Safari browser supports @font-face. The soon-to-be-released next versions of Opera Software’s Opera browser, Google’s Webkit-based Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox will do likewise. When I say “soon-to-be-released,” I mean any day now. When this occurs, all browsers except IE will support @font-face.
IE has, however, offered font embedding since IE4 via Embedded OpenType (.EOT), a font format that enables real fonts to be temporarily embedded in web pages. That is, the reader sees the font while reading the page, but cannot download (“steal”) the font afterwards. Microsoft has “grant[ed] to the W3C a perpetual, nonexclusive, royalty-free, world-wide right and license under any Microsoft copyrights on this contribution, to copy, publish and distribute the contribution under the W3C document licenses,” in hopes that EOT would thereby become a standard. But so far, only Microsoft’s own browsers support EOT.
Thus, as we consider integrating real fonts into our designs, we must navigate between browsers that support @font-face now (Safari), those that will do so soon (Opera, Chrome, Firefox), and the one that possibly never will (IE, with a dwindling but still overwhelming market share).
The person who figures out a designer-friendly solution to all this will either be hailed as a hero/heroine or get rich. Meanwhile, near-complete solutions of varying implementation difficulty exist. Read on:
“Instead of making pictures of fonts, the actual font files can be linked to and retrieved from the web. This way, designers can use TrueType fonts without having to freeze the text as background images.” An introduction to @font-face by Håkon Wium Lie, father of CSS.
Is there life after Georgia? To understand issues surrounding web fonts from the type designer’s perspective, I interview David Berlow, co-founder of The Font Bureau, Inc, and the first TrueType type designer.
A discussion that shows why the W3C may not be able to resolve this conflict. (It’s kind of like asking the Montagues and Capulets to decide whether the Montagues or the Capulets should rule Verona.)
Mike Davidson’s scalable and accessible remix of Shaun Inman’s pioneering use of Flash and JavaScript to replace short passages of HTML text with Flash movies of the same text set in a real font. The Flash movies are created on the fly. If JavaScript or images are turned off, the user “sees” the HTML text; text set in sIFR can also be copied and pasted. sIFR was a great initial solution to the problem of real fonts on the web, but it’s only for short passages (which means the rest of the page must still be set in Georgia or Verdana), and it fails if the user has a Flash block plug-in installed, as half of Firefox users seem to. It’s also always a pain to implement. I don’t know any designer or developer who has an easy time setting up sIFR. In short, while sIFR is an awesome stop-gap, real fonts on the web are still what’s needed. Which also leads us to…
Simo Kinnunen’s method of embedding fonts, regardless of whether or not a browser supports @font-face.
Kilian Valkhof: “Everyone wants @font-face to work everywhere, but as it stands, it only works in Safari and the upcoming versions of Firefox and Opera. In this article I’ll show you how to use Cufón only if we can’t load the font through other, faster methods.”
Why Adobe supports Microsoft’s EOT instead of @font-face.
Update May 28, 2009: Working with Jason Santa Maria, Jeff Veen’s company Small Batch Inc. introduces Typekit:
We’ve been working with foundries to develop a consistent web-only font linking license. We’ve built a technology platform that lets us to host both free and commercial fonts in a way that is incredibly fast, smoothes out differences in how browsers handle type, and offers the level of protection that type designers need without resorting to annoying and ineffective DRM.
Read more
Web Fonts, HTML 5 Roundup: Worthwhile reading on the hot new web font proposals, and on HTML 5/CSS 3 basics, plus a demo of advanced HTML 5 trickery. — 20 July 2009
Web Fonts Now, for real: David Berlow of The Font Bureau has proposed a Permissions Table for OpenType that can be implemented immediately to turn raw fonts into web fonts without any wrappers or other nonsense. If adopted, it will enable type designers to license their work for web use, and web designers to create pages that use real fonts via the CSS @font-face standard. — 16 July 2009
[tags]fonts, webfonts, webdesign, embed, @font-face, EOT, wiki, css, layout, safari, opera, firefox, chrome, browsers[/tags]A senior member of the Muslim community in Manchester and a law enforcement official who requested anonymity said Mr. Abedi had been barred from the mosque in 2015 for expressing his support for the Islamic State, and he came to the attention of intelligence agencies at the time as “a person of interest.”
In raising the threat level, Mrs. May cited information gathered Tuesday in the investigation into the Manchester bombing and said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, the body responsible for setting the level, would continue to review the situation.
“The change in the threat level means that there will be additional resources and support made available to the police as they work to keep us all safe,” Mrs. May said.
“I do not want the public to feel unduly alarmed,” she said. “We have faced a serious terrorist threat in our country for many years, and the operational response I have just outlined is a proportionate and sensible response to the threat that our security experts judge we face.”
It was only the third time that Britain had raised the threat level to critical.
The first was on Aug. 10, 2006, after the government foiled a plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid bombs. The second was on June 30, 2007, after two men slammed an S.U.V. into entrance doors at Glasgow Airport and turned the vehicle into a potentially lethal fireball.
After the prime minister’s announcement, Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement that “we are flexing our resources to increase police presence at key sites, such as transport and other crowded places, and we are reviewing key events over the coming weeks.”Slash is one mean turtle from Dimension X and one of my favorite TMNT characters next to Chrome Dome and Armaggon. I had to do his justice in the new 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line so I went to work. His base body is a Leonardo figure with sculpted mouth, claws, back shell fins, and belt. I carved him a ridged carapace to differentiate him from the other turtles and squinty eyes, a style I preferred for his comic art instead of the large yellow one. His kneepad spikes are steel nails! A bo-spear, saw sword, and chain mace gave him a nice array of weapons to battle the turtles with and a detailed paint job befitting of a snapping turtle.
Looking to buy some custom action figures like the ones you see here? Look no further! You can find Marvel Legends, Transformers, GI Joe, DC Comics, video game characters, and other great customized toys in the links below.By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
The end of most UN and European sanctions on Iran and the likely end of US third party sanctions are shaping how regional states see the Vienna agreement between Iran and the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany.
Iran is expected to restore its pre-2012 level of petroleum exports, i.e. 2.5 million barrels a day (it is now down to 1.5 million barrels a day because of US arm-twisting of countries such as South Korea, Japan and those in the European Union).
With what is likely a permanent slowdown of the Chinese economy as it matures, demand for petroleum is already weak. China grew 10 percent a year from the mid-1980s until just a few years ago. It is now slowing to 7 percent a year. Even that level may be difficult to sustain given the country’s current stock market meltdown. Until other Asian economies begin rapidly growing and their citizens begin driving, that demand could remain weak for two or three years. After that, demand could pick up if Indians and Indonesians go toward automobile ownership.
The addition of a million barrels a day from Iran in this market could depress prices further.
Low oil prices benefit non-oil states with large populations.
Pakistan is therefore extremely excited about the deal. Its leaders had been working on a gas pipeline from Iran into Pakistan and perhaps thence to India or another neighboring country. Pakistan gets about half of its electricity from natural gas. But because of the US financial blockade on Iran, the Asian Development Bank in Manila pulled out of financing the pipeline. Now, the gas pipeline into Pakistan is plausible again. Pakistan suffers from extreme electricity shortages, which can cripple its factories and interfere with export of e.g. textiles. Its drivers and transporation infrastracture will benefit from low oil. Pakistan could also earn tolls if pipelines across its territory to China.
Also Egypt will benefit, even if it would be impolitic for its leaders to admit it, given the pledges of billions of dollars in aid Cairo has gathered up from Saudi Arabia, which opposes the deal. Egyptian transportation costs will fall. Shipped goods will be cheaper and there could be increased traffic in the Suez Canal, which Egypt is widening to allow two-way traffic. Egypt collects tolls on goods going through the canal, so this income should increase.
Dubai will benefit, because its banks do a lot of business on behalf of Iranian firms. Its import-export merchants will recover access to the Iranian market.
Morocco, another populous country that lacks its own hydrocarbons, will benefit from lower petroleum prices.
Because the extra million barrels a day will flood the market and drive down prices, the big losers are the Gulf oil states. They will see oil income fall. Saudi’s Stock Market fell on the news of a breakthrough. Saudi Arabia will likely also have smaller reserves, which it is squandering on bombing Yemen. So the development has postive geopolitical implications for the producers, weakening Saudi Arabia.
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Related video:
Press TV: ” Pakistan to complete Iran gas project after nuclear agreement”DAY6 and their fans are celebrating two years since their debut!
JYP Entertainment band DAY6 debuted on September 7 of 2015 when they released their first mini album “The Day.” They band has taken on an ambitious monthly project this year in which they release singles and perform concerts each month, with their beautiful September track “I Loved You” shared just yesterday.
On September 7, Jae took to Twitter to write a message to fans, in which he looked back on the past two years and shared his thanks.
It's been a heck of a ride during these past two years. There have been highs and lows but I'm just glad yall were here for both. Thank you. — Day6 Jae (@Jae_Day6) September 6, 2017
Fans have also been celebrating the group’s second anniversary on Twitter with plenty of love and great memories!
I love you to the moon and back??? let's stay together for a really long time~~?#앞으로도_같이_걸어가자#TwoYearsAndForeverWithDay6 pic.twitter.com/FmyniKlWWb — ساره (@sara_mmmoh) September 6, 2017
I'm soooo proud of how much you guys achieved within these 2 years.Thank u for bringing me happiness,i love u?? #TwoYearsAndForeverWithDay6 pic.twitter.com/dOnHmweK85 — sara #everyday6 (@yerimlimkim) September 6, 2017
Thank you DAY6 for debuting and thanks for always being the band that puts a smile right back on my face?? #TwoYearsAndForeverWithDay6 pic.twitter.com/toCF7c9X6l — 이잔찬 (@izanChans) September 6, 2017
Happy 2nd Anniversary to the five stars that shine the brightest. #TwoYearsAndForeverWithDAY6 @day6official pic.twitter.com/Wt4Khq739Y — jackie? (@deisikseu) September 6, 2017
Though we may not have all been here at the start, if Day6 leads, My Days'll follow till the end;#TwoYearsAndForeverWithDay6#앞으로도_같이_걸어가자 pic.twitter.com/eExA3rxwq6 — coffee&birthdays (@jaelavie) September 6, 2017
Happy anniversary, DAY6!The Alabama State Bar just released the following report:
Thirty-four percent of Fall 2011 new admittees who responded to a survey conducted by the Alabama State Bar indicated they graduated from law school with educational debt in the range of $100,000 to $180,000. Every year, law students embark on a three-year course of study that will prepare them for a rewarding profession. Unfortunately, this course of study will also leave many of them with a considerable amount of student loan |
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VI.The space located above the national territory to the extent and according to rules established by international law on the subject.
Article 43.(16) The integral parts of the Federation are the States of Aguascalientes, Baja California, Campeche, Coahuila, Colima, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas, the Federal District, and the Territories of Baja California Sur, and Quintana Roo.
Article 44. The Federal District shall embrace its present territory, and in the event of the removal of the federal branches to some other place, it shall be erected into the State of Valle de México, with such boundaries and area as the General Congress shall assign to it.
Article 45.(17) The States and Territories of the Federation shall keep their present area and boundaries as of this day, provided no difficulties arise concerning them.
Article 46. The States having pending boundary questions shall arrange or settle them as provided in this Constitution.
Article 47. The State of Nayarit shall have the territorial area and boundaries which at present comprise the Territory of Tepic.
Article 48.(18) The islands, keys, and reefs of the adjacent seas which belong to the national territory, the continental shelf, the submarine shelf of the islands, keys, and reefs, the inland marine waters, and the space above the national territory shall depend directly on the Government of the Federation, with the exception of those islands over which the States have up to the present exercised jurisdiction.
TITLE III
Chapter I
Division of Powers
Article 49.(19) The supreme power of the Federation is divided, for its exercise, into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Two or more of these powers shall never be united in one single person or corporation, nor shall the legislative power be vested in one individual except in the case
of extraordinary powers granted to the Executive, in accordance with the provisions of Article 29.
Chapter II
The Legislative Branch
Article 50. The legislative power of the United Mexican States is vested in a General Congress, which shall be divided into two chambers, one of deputies and the
other of senators.
Section I
Election and Installation of Congress
Article 51. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of representatives of the Nation, all elected every three years by the Mexican citizens.
Article 52.(20) One proprietary deputy shall be elected for each two hundred thousand inhabitants or fraction of over one hundred thousand, according to the general census of the Federal District and of each State and Territory; but in no case shall the representation of a State be less than two deputies, and that of a Territory whose population is less than that fixed by this article shall be one proprietary deputy.
Article 53. For each proprietary deputy there shall be elected one alternate.
Article 54.(21) The election of deputies shall be direct, subject to the provisions of Article 52, and will be supplemented, in addition, by party deputies, in both cases according to the provisions of the electoral law, and in the latter case according to the following rules:
I.Every national political party, if it obtains two and one half percent of the total vote of the country in an election, shall have the right to five deputies from among its candidates, and to one more, up to twenty as a maximum, for each additional one half percent of the votes cast;
II.If a party obtains a majority of the votes in twenty or more electoral districts, it will not be entitled to party deputies, but if it is successful in less than that number of districts, as long as it obtains the two and a half percentage referred to in the preceding paragraph, it will be entitled to twenty deputies, including those elected directly and those by percentage.
III.These will be accredited in strict order, in accordance with the percentage of votes they have received in relation to other candidates of the same party, throughout the country.
IV.Only national political parties that have registered in accordance with the federal electoral law at least one year prior to election day may accredit deputies under the terms of this article; and
V.Majority deputies and party deputies, being representatives of the Nation as stated in Article 51, are of the same rank and have equal rights and obligations.
Article 55. The following are the requirements to be a deputy:
I.To be a Mexican citizen by birth, in the exercise of his rights;
II.To have attained twenty-five years of age by the day of the election;
III.To be a native of the State or Territory in which the election is held, or a resident thereof with effective residence for more than six months prior to its date. Residence is not lost by absence in the discharge of elective public office;
IV.Not to be in active service in the federal army nor to hold command in the police or rural gendarmería in the district where the election is held, within at least ninety days prior thereto;
V.Not to be secretary or subsecretary of state, nor magistrate of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, unless he shall have definitively resigned from his position ninety days before the election. The governors of the States cannot be elected in the districts of their jurisdiction during their term of office, even though they may have definitively resigned their position.The secretaries of government of the States, federal magistrates and judges or those of the States, cannot be elected in the districts of their respective jurisdictions unless they definitively resign their position ninety days before the election;
VI.Not to be a minister of any religious cult; and
VII.Not to be subject to any of the incapacities specified in Article 59.
Article 56. The Chamber of Senators shall be composed of two members for each State and two for the Federal District, all directly elected every six years.
The legislature of each State shall declare elected the person obtaining a majority of the votes cast.
Article 57. For each proprietary senator one alternate shall be elected.
Article 58. To be a senator the same requisites must be met as to be a deputy except that of age, which shall be thirty-five years of age attained by the date of the election.
Article 59. Senators and deputies to the Congress of the Union cannot be reelected for the immediately following term. Alternate senators and deputies may be elected for the immediately following term as proprietaries, provided that they have not been serving (in the office of their principals); but proprietary senators and deputies cannot be elected for the immediately following term in the capacity of alternates.
Article 60. Each chamber shall be the judge of the elections of its members and shall decide any questions with respect thereto. Its decision shall be final and
unimpeachable.
Article 61. Deputies and senators are inviolable for opinions expressed by them in the discharge of their offices and shall never be called to account for them.
Article 62. Proprietary deputies and senators, during their terms of office, may not hold any other commission or employment of the Federation or of the States for which they receive a salary, without prior permission from the respective chamber; but their representative functions shall thereupon cease, while they are holding the new position. The same rule shall apply to alternate deputies and senators when serving (as principals). Infraction of this provision shall be punishable by loss of the
status of deputy or senator.
Article 63.(22) The chambers cannot open their sessions nor exercise their duties without the presence, in the Senate, of two thirds, and in the Chamber of Deputies,
of more than half of the total number of members; but those present in either chamber must assemble on the day appointed by law and compel the absentees to attend within thirty days following, with the warning that if they do not do so it shall be understood that by that sole fact they do not accept their office, and the alternates shall be immediately called and must present themselves within a like period, and if they fail to do so, the postion shall be declared vacant and a new election shall be called. It is also understood that deputies or senators who fail to attend for ten consecutive days, without justifiable cause or previous leave from the president of their respective chamber, of which the chamber shall be advised, renounce their attendance until the next period, and their alternates shall be called at once. If there shall be no quorum to install either chamber or to exercise their functions when once installed, the alternates shall be called immediately to present themselves within the shortest possible time, to discharge their office until the expiration of the thirty days above mentioned. Anyone elected deputy or senator who does not present himself and assume the office, without justifiable cause as determined by the respective Chamber, within the time limit indicated in the first paragraph of this article, shall be held responsible and subject to the sanctions prescribed by law. National political parties that have entered candidates in an election for deputies or senators but which agree that those elected shall not present themselves to assume office, will likewise be held
responsible and punishable by the same law.
Article 64. Deputies and senators who, without justifiable cause or without permission of the president of the respective chamber, do not attend a session, shall have
no right to remuneration for the day on which they were absent.
Article 65. The Congress shall meet on the first day of September of each year in regular session, when it shall occupy itself with the following matters:
I.To audit the public accounts of the preceding year, which shall be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies within the first ten days after the opening of the session. The audit shall not be limited to investigation as to whether the amounts expended are or are not in accord with the respective items of the budget, but shall extend to an examination of the exactness and justification of the expenditures made and of any responsibilities arising therefrom. There can be no secret items other than those considered necessary because of that character in the budget itself and which the secretaries shall employ by written order of the President of the Republic.
II.To examine, discuss, and approve the budget of the following fiscal year and to impose the necessary taxes to cover it;
III.To study, discuss, and vote on all bills which are introduced, and to decide on all other matters which pertain to it according to this Constitution.
Article 66. The period of regular sessions shall continue for the time necessary to dispose of all matters mentioned in the preceding article; but it cannot be prolonged beyond December 31 of the same year. If the two chambers are not in accord as to the termination of the sessions before the date indicated, the President of the Republic shall decide.
Article 67. The Congress or only one of its chambers, when a matter exclusive to it is concerned, shall meet in extraordinary sessions whenever the Permanent Committee shall convoke them for that purpose; but in both cases they shall occupy themselves only with the matter or matters which the said Committee submits to their attention, which shall be stated in the respective call.
Article 68. The two chambers shall reside at the same place and cannot remove to another unless they previously agree to the removal and on the time and manner of so doing, designating the same place for the meeting of both. But if the two in agreeing on removal, differ in regard to the time, manner, and place, the Executive shall settle the difference by choosing one of the two extremes in question. Neither chamber may suspend its sessions for more than three days without the consent of
the other.
Article 69. The President of the Republic shall attend the opening of the regular sessions of the Congress and shall submit a report, in writing, in which he shall indicate the general state of the administration of the country. At the opening of extraordinary sessions of Congress, or of only one of the chambers, the Chairman of the Permanent Committee shall report as to the motives or reasons that led to the call.
Article 70. Every resolution of the Congress shall have the character of a law or of a decree. The laws or decrees shall be communicated to the Executive signed by the Presidents of both chambers and by a secretary of each, and shall be promulgated in this form: "The Congress of the United Mexican States decrees (Text of the law or decree)."
Section II
Introduction and Enactment of Laws
Article 71. The right to introduce laws or decrees belongs:
I.To the President of the Republic;
II.To the deputies and senators of the Congress;
III.To the legislatures of the States.
The bills submitted by the President of the Republic, by the legislatures of the States or by deputations thereof shall be referred at once to Committee. Those which are introduced by deputies or senators shall be subject to the procedure prescribed in the regulations on debate.
Article 72. Every bill or proposed decree, the resolution of which does not pertain exclusively to one of the chambers, shall be discussed successively in both, the regulations on debate being observed as to form, intervals of time, and mode of procedure in discussions and voting.
a.A bill approved in the chamber of its origin shall be referred to the other for discussion. If the latter approves it, it shall be sent to the Executive who, if he has no objections to make, shall immediately publish it.
b.Every bill shall be regarded as approved by the executive branch if it is not returned to the chamber of its origin within ten business days; unless, during this time, the Congress shall have adjourned or suspended its sessions, in which case the return must be made on the first business day on which the Congress nex meets.
c.A bill or proposed decree rejected in whole or in part by the Executive shall be returned, with his objections, to the chamber of origin. It must be discussed anew by the latter, and if it is confirmed by a vote of two thirds of the total membership it shall again be sent to the revisory chamber. If it is sanctioned by the latter by the same majority, the bill shall become a law or decree and shall be returned to the Executive for promulgation
The voting on a law or decree shall be by roll call.
d.If any bill or proposed decree is rejected in its entirety by the chamber of revision, it shall be returned to that of its origin with the objections made by the former. If upon examining it anew, it is approved by an absolute majority of the members present, it shall be returned to the chamber that rejected it, which shall again consider it and if it approves it by the same majority, it shall be sent to the Executive for the purposes of section (a) above; but if disapproved, it cannot be again introduced in the same period of sessions.
e.If a bill is rejected in part, or amended or added to by the revisory chamber, the new discussion in the chamber of origin shall be confined to the part rejected or to the amendments or additions, without alteration in any way of the articles approved. If the additions or amendments made by the revisory chamber are approved by an absolute majority of votes present in the chamber of origin, the entire bill is sent to the Executive for the purposes indicated in section (a). If the additions or amendments made by the revisory chamber are disapproved by a majority of the votes in the chamber of origin, they shall be returned to the former for consideration of the reasons of the latter, and if the amendments or additions are rejected in this second revision by an absolute majority of votes present, the bill, insofar as it has been approved by both chambers, shall be sent to the Executive for the purposes indicated in section (a). If the revisory chamber insists, by an absolute majority of votes present, upon such amendments or additions, the entire bill shall not be again presented until the following period of sessions unless both chambers agree, by an absolute majority of their members present, that the law or decree be issued only with the approved articles, and those added or amended shall be reserved for examination and vote at the following sessions.
f.In the interpretation, amendment, or repeal of laws or decrees, the same procedure shall be followed as that established for their enactment.
g.Every bill or proposed decree which is rejected in the chamber of its origin, cannot be again introduced in the sessions of that year.
h.The enactment of laws or decrees may commence in either of the two chambers, without distinction, with the exception of bills dealing with loans, taxes, or imposts, or with the recruiting of troops, all of which must be discussed first in the Chamber of Deputies.
i.Bills or proposed decrees shall preferentially be discussed in the chamber in which they are introduced, unless one month elapses since they were sent to the reporting committee without a report being made, in which case the bill may be discussed in the other chamber.
j.The Federal Executive cannot offer objections to the resolutions of the Congress or of either chamber, when they exercise functions of an electoral body or of
a jury, nor when the Chamber of Deputies declares that a high functionary of the Federation should be impeached for official crimes.
Neither may he do so in regard to a decree of convocation to extraordinary sessions issued by the Permanent Committee.
Section III
Powers of Congress
Article 73. The Congress has the power:
I.To admit new States and Territories into the Federal Union;
II.To erect the Territories into States when they shall have a population of eighty thousand inhabitants and the resources necessary to provide for their political existence;
III.To form new States within the boundaries of existing ones, for which purpose it shall be necessary:
1.That the section or sections seeking to be made a State shall have a population of at least one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants.
2.That it be proven before Congress that they possess the resources necessary to provide for their political existence.
3.That the legislatures of the States involved be heard as to the feasibility or infeasibility of the formation of the new State, and they shall be required to render their report within six months from the date that the respective communication was submitted to them.
4.That the Executive of the Federation likewise be heard, who shall transmit his report within seven days from the date on which it was requested of him.
5.That the creation of the new State be adopted by a vote of two thirds of the deputies and senators present in their respective chambers.
6.That the resolution of the Congress be ratified by a majority of the legislatures of the States, with a copy of the record before them, provided that the legislatures of the States whose territory is involved have given their consent.
7.If the legislatures of the States whose territory is involved have not given their consent, the ratification mentioned in the foregoing section must be given by two thirds of the legislatures of the other States.
IV.To arrange permanently the boundaries of the States, settling any differences that may arise between them in regard to the demarcation of their respective territories, except when these differences may be of a contentious character.
V.To change the seat of the supreme powers of the Federation.
VI.To legislate on all matters concerning the Federal District and Territories, subject to the following bases:
1.The government of the Federal District shall be entrusted to the President of the Republic, who shall exercise it through the organ or organs that are prescribed by law.
2.The government of the Territories shall be entrusted to governors who shall depend directly on the President of the Republic, who shall freely appoint and remove them. The Territories shall be divided into Municipalities, which shall have a land area and number of inhabitants sufficient to be able maintain themselves on their own resources and contribute to their ordinary expenditures. Each Municipality in the Territories shall be entrusted to an ayuntamiento elected by direct popular vote.
3.The governors of the Territories shall communicate with the President of the Republic through such channels as are specified by law.
4.(23) Appointments of the magistrates of the superior court of justice of the Federal District and of the Territories shall be made by the President of the
Republic and submitted for the approval of the Chamber of Deputies, which shall grant or refuse such approval within a period of ten days, without extension. If the Chamber does not act within such time, the appointments shall be considered approved. Without the approval of the Chamber, the magistrates appointed by the President of the Republic cannot take possession. In the event that the Chamber of Deputies does not approve two successive appointments with respect to the same vacancy, the President of the Republic shall make a third appointment) which shall be effective at once, as provisional, and which shall be submitted to the approval of the Chamber at the following regular period of sessions. At this period of sessions, within the first ten days' the Chamber must approve or disapprove the appointment, and if it approved it, or makes no decision, the magistrate appointed provisionally shall continue to serve permanently. If the Chamber rejects the appointment, the provisional magistrate shall cease to function at once, and the President of the Republic shall submit a new appointment for the approval of the Chamber, under the terms indicated. In cases of temporary inability of magistrates to act for more than three months, they shall be replaced by appointments which the President of the Republic shall submit to the approval of the Chamber of Deputies, and during its adjournment, to that of the Permanent Committee, in either instance by observing the provisions of the preceding clauses. In cases of temporary inability which do not exceed three months, the Organic Law shall determine the manner of making the substitution. If a magistrate should cease to act because of death, resignation, or incapacity, the President of the Republic shall submit a new appointment for the approval of the Chamber of Deputies. If the Chamber is not in session, the Permanent Committee shall give provisional approval, until the Chamber meets and gives final approval. The judges of first instance, and the minor and correctional judges of the Federal District and the Territories, shall be appointed by the supreme court of justice of the Federal District; they must have the qualifications which the law prescribes and shall be replaced during their temporary inability to act, in the manner provided by law. The remuneration which magistrates and judges receive for their services cannot be decreased during their terms of office. The magistrates and judges to whom this basis refers, shall continue in office for six years; but they may be removed from their positions when guilty of bad conduct, in accordance with the final part of Article 111 or after corresponding action for responsibility.
5.The public ministry in the Federal District and in the Territories shall be in charge of an attorney general (Procurador General), who shall reside in Mexico City, and such number of agents as shall be determined by law; and he shall depend directly on the President of the Republic, who may freely appoint and remove him.
VII.To levy the necessary taxes to cover the Budget.
VIII.To fix the bases upon which the President of the Republic may borrow on the credit of the Nation; to approve such loans and to acknowledge and order payment of the national debt. No loan may be effected except for the construction of works which directly produce an increase in the public revenues unless for purposes of currency regulation, conversion operations or loans contracted during some emergency declared by the President of the Republic within the terms of Article 29.
IX. To prevent the establishment of restrictions on commerce from State to State.
X. To legislate throughout the Republic on hydrocarbons, mining, the motion picture industry, commerce, games of chance and lotteries, credit institutions, and electric power, to establish a single bank of issue under the provisions of Article 28 of the Constitution and to enact labor laws regulating Article 123 of this Constitution.
XI.To create and abolish public offices of the Federation and to fix, increase, or decrease their salaries.
XII.To declare war, in the light of information submitted by the Executive.
XIII.(28) To enact laws pursuant to which captures on sea and land must be declared good or bad; and to enact maritime laws applicable in peace and war.
XIV.To raise and maintain the armed forces of the Union, to wit: army, navy and air force, and to regulate their organization and service.
XV.To prescribe regulations for the purpose of organizing, arming, and disciplining the national guard, reserving to the citizens who compose it the appointment of their respective commanders and officers, and to the States the power of training them in accordance with the discipline prescribed by such regulations.
XVI.To enact laws in regard to nationality, the legal status of foreigners, citizenship, naturalization, colonization, emigration and immigration, and the general health of the country.
1.The General Health Council shall depend directly upon the President of the Republic, without the intervention of any Secretariat of State, and its general provisions shall be compulsory throughout the country.
2.In case of serious epidemics or danger of invasion of the country by exotic diseases, the Department of Health shall be required to dictate immediately the necessary preventive measures, subject to subsequent approval by the President of the Republic.
3.The health authority shall be executive and its provisions shall be obeyed by the administrative authorities of the country.
4.The measures which the Council shall have put into effect in the campaign against alcoholism and the sale of substances which poison the individual and degenerate the race shall afterwards be examined by the Congress of the Union, in cases within its competency.
XVII.To enact laws concerning general means of communication, and in regard to posts and post offices; to enact laws on the use and utilization of waters underfederal jurisdiction.
XVIII.To establish mints, fix the standards of coins and coinage, to determine the value of foreign currencies, and to adopt a general system of weights and measures.
XIX.To establish rules for the occupation and alienation of vacant lands and fix their price.
XX.To enact laws for the organization of the Mexican Diplomatic Corps and Consular Corps.
XXI.To define crimes and offenses against the Federation and to prescribe the punishments to be imposed for them.
XXII.To grant amnesties for crimes within the jurisdiction of the federal courts.
XXIII.To prescribe its own rules and adopt necessary measures to enforce the attendance of absent deputies and senators, and to correct the offenses or omissions of those present.
XXIV.To enact the organic law governing the Auditor General's Office (Contaduría Mayor).
XXV.(29)To establish, organize, end maintain throughout the Republic rural, elementary, superior, secondary, and professional schools, and schools for scientific research, of fine arts, and of technical training; practical schools of agriculture and mining, of arts and crafts, museums, libraries, observatories, and other institutions concerning the general culture of the inhabitants of the Nation, and to legislate on all matters relating to such institutions; to legislate on matters concerning archeological, artistic, and historic monuments, the conservation of which is of national interest; and also to enact laws designed to distribute feasibly between the Federation, the States, and Municipalities the exercise of the educative function and the appropriations corresponding to this public service, seeking to unify and coordinate education throughout the Republic. The diplomas issued by the aforementioned establishments shall be valid throughout the Republic.
XXVI.To grant leave of absence to the President of the Republic, and to constitute itself as an electoral college and designate the citizen who is to replace the President of the Republic, as either an interim or provisional substitute, under the terms of Articles 84 and 85 of this Constitution.
XXVII.To accept the resignation from office of the President of the Republic.
XXVIII.To examine the account which the executive branch must submit to it annually, which examination must include not only conformity of the items expended within the budget of expenditures, but also the correctness and justification of such items
XXIX.(30) To levy taxes:
1.On foreign commerce.
2.On the utilization and exploitation of natural resources included in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 27.
3.On institutions of credit and insurance companies.
4.On public services under concession or operated directly by the Federation.
5.Special taxes on:
a.Electric power
b.Production and consumption of processed tobacco
c.Gasoline and other products derived from petroleum
d.Matches and "cerillos"
e.Maguey and its fermented products
f.Forestry exploitation
g.Production and consumption of beer(31)
Federal entitites shall share in the revenues from these special taxes in the proportion fixed by secondary federal law. The local legislatures shall fix the percentage corresponding to the Municipalities from revenues obtained from the tax on electric power.
XXX.To enact all laws that may be necessary to enforce the foregoing powers, and all others granted by this Constitution to the branches of the Union.
Article 74. The exclusive powers of the Chamber of Deputies are:
I.To constitute itself as an electoral college in order to exercise the powers assigned to it by law with respect to the election of the President of the Republic.
II.To supervise, through a committee drawn from its body, the correct performance of the functions of the Auditor General's Office.
III.To appoint the chiefs and other employees of that office.
IV.To approve the annual budget of expenditures, after first discussing the taxes which, in its judgment, must be levied to cover it.
V.To take cognizance of accusations against public officials mentioned in this Constitution, for official crimes, and in proper cases to present impeachment before
the Chamber of Senators; and to constitute itself as a grand jury in order to decide whether or not to proceed against any of the public officials who enjoy
constitutional prerogative, when they are accused of common crimes.
VI.To grant or refuse its approval of appointments of magistrates of the superior court of justice of the Federal District and of the Territories, submitted to it by the President of the Republic.
VII.To declare justified or unjustified the petitions for removal of judicial authorities made by the President of the Republic, under the terms of the final part of Article 111.
VIII.Any others which this Constitution expressly confers upon it.
Article 75. The Chamber of Deputies, upon approving the budget of expenditures, may not fail to fix the remuneration which corresponds to an office which is established by law; and in the event that for any reason it fails to fix such remuneration, the amount fixed in the previous budget or in the law which established the office shall be understood to be designated.
Article 76. The exclusive powers of the Senate are:
I.To approve the treaties and diplomatic conventions made by the President of the Republic with foreign powers.
II.To ratify the appointments which said official makes of ministers, diplomatic agents, consuls general, superior employees of the Treasury, colonels and other superior chiefs of the national army, navy and air force, in accordance with provisions of law.
III.To authorize him also to permit the departure of national troops beyond the borders of the country, the passage of foreign troops through the national territory, and the sojourn of squadrons of other powers for more than one month in Mexican waters.
IV.To give its consent for the President of the Republic to order the national guard outside of its respective States or Territories, fixing the necessary force.
V.To declare, whenever the constitutional powers of a State have disappeared, that the condition has arisen for appointing a provisional governor, who shall call elections in accordance with the constitutional laws of the said State. The appointment of a governor shall be made by the Senate from a list of three proposed by the President of the Republic, with the approval of two thirds of the members present, and during adjournments, by the Permanent Committee, according to the same rules. The official thus appointed cannot be elected constitutional governor in the elections held pursuant to the call which he issues. This provision shall govern whenever the constitution of a State does not make provision for such cases.
VI.To settle political questions which may arise between the powers of a State, whenever any of them shall apply to the Senate for the purpose, or whenever, by reason of such questions, the constitutional order shall be interrupted through a conflict of arms. In this event the Senate shall declare its decision, subjecting itself to the general Constitution of the Republic and to that of the State. The law shall regulate the exercise of this and of the foregoing powers.
VII.To constitute itself as a grand jury to take cognizance of official crimes of the officials which this Constitution expressly designates.
VIII.To grant or deny its approval of the appointments of ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, and of requests for leaves of absence and of the resignations of these officials, which the President of the Republic may submit to it.
IX.To declare justified or not justified petitions for removal of judicial authorities made by the President of the Republic, under the provisions of the final part of
Article 111.
X.Any others which this Constitution may assign to it.
Article 77. Each of the chambers, without the intervention of the other, may:
I.Dictate economic resolutions relating to its internal organization.
II.Communicate with the co-legislative chamber and with the Executive of the Union, through committees of its own body.
III.Appoint the employees of its secretariat and prescribe the internal regulations thereof.
IV.Issue a call for extraordinary elections for the purpose of filling vacancies of its respective members.
Section IV
The Permanent Committee
Article 78. During the adjournment of Congress there shall be a Permanent Committee composed of twenty-nine members, of whom fifteen shall be deputies and fourteen senators, named by their respective chambers on the eve of the close of the sessions.
Article 79. The Permanent Committee, in addition to the powers which this Constitution expressly confers upon it, shall have the following:
I.To give its consent for the use of the national guard, in the cases mentioned in Article 76, section IV.
II.To administer the affirmation or oath of office (protesta) of the President of the Republic, the members of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, and of the magistrates of the Federal District and Territories, if the latter officials should be in Mexico City.
III.(33) To decide on matters within its competence; during the adjournment of the Congress of the Union, to receive the bills introduced and proposals addressed to the chambers and turn them over for action in the committees of the chamber to which they are addressed, so that they may be acted upon at the next period of sessions.
IV.To issue on its own motion or on the proposal of the Executive, the convocation of the Congress or of a single chamber to extraordinary sessions, in both cases the vote of two thirds of the individuals present being necessary. The call shall set forth the purpose or purposes of the extraordinary sessions.
V.To grant or deny its approval of appointments of ministers of the Supreme Court and magistrates of the superior court of justice of the Federal District and of the territories, and also of requests for leaves of absence of the ministers of the court which the President of the Republic may submit to it.
VI.To grant a leave of absence for thirty days to the President of the Republic and to appoint a President ad interim during such absence.
VII. To ratify the appointments made by the President of the Republic as ministers, diplomatic agents, consuls general, higher employees of the Treasury, colonels and other higher ranks of the national army, navy, and air force, in accordance with provisions of law.
Chapter III
The Executive Branch
Article 80. The exercise of the supreme executive power of the Union is vested in a single individual who is designated "President of the United Mexican States."
Article 81. The election of the President shall be direct and under the terms prescribed by the Electoral Law.
Article 82. In order to be President it is required:
I.To be a Mexican citizen by birth, in the full enjoyment of his rights, and the son of Mexican parents by birth.
II.To have attained 35 years of age at the time of the election.
III.To have resided in the country during the entire year prior to the day of the election.
IV.Not to possess ecclesiastic status nor be a minister of any cult.
V.Not to be in active service, in case of belonging to the army, within six months prior to the day of the election.
VI.Not to be a Secretary or Subsecretary of State, chief or secretary general of an administrative department, Attorney General of the Republic, nor the governor
of any State or Territory, unless he shall have resigned such position six months prior to the day of the election.
VII.Not to be included within any of the grounds for incapacity indicated in Article 83.
Article 83. The President shall assume the duties of office on the first of December for a term of six years. A citizen who has held the office of President of the Republic, by popular election or by appointment as ad interim, provisional, or substitute President, can in no case and for no reason again hold that office.
Article 84. In the event of the absolute disability of the President of the Republic, occurring during the first two years of his term, if the Congress is in session, it shall immediately constitute itself as an electoral college, and if there is at least two thirds of the total membership present, it shall name by secret ballot, and by an absolute majority of votes, an interim President; the same Congress shall issue, within ten days following the designation of the interim President, a call for the election of a President to complete the respective term; between the date of the call and that designated for holding the election, there must be an interval of not less than fourteen
months nor more than eighteen. If the Congress is not in session, the Permanent Committee shall immediately name a provisional President and shall call Congress in extraordinary session in order
that it, in turn, may designate an interim President and issue the call for presidential elections as indicated in the preceding paragraph. When the disability of the President occurs within the last four years of his term, if the Congress is in session, it shall designate a substitute President to complete the
term; if the Congress is not in session, the Permanent Committee shall name a provisional President and shall convoke the Congress in extraordinary session in order that it may constitute itself into an electoral college and elect the s ub stitute Pr e s ident.
Article 85. If at the commencement of a constitutional period the President-elect does not present himself, or if the elections have not been held and the results declared on December first, the President whose term has ended shall nevertheless cease to function, and at once the executive power shall be entrusted to an individual whom the Congress shall designate as interim President, or if Congress is not in session, to an individual whom the Permanent Committee shall designate as provisional President; proceeding according to the provisions of the preceding article. When the disability of the President is temporary, the Congress, if in session, or if not, the Permanent Committee, shall designate an interim President to function during the period of the disability. When the disability is for more than thirty days and the Congress is not in session, the Permanent Committee shall convoke an extraordinary session of the Congress in order that it may decide upon the leave of absence, or as the case may be, name an interim President. If the temporary disability becomes absolute, the procedure described in the preceding article shall be observed.
Article 86. The office of President of the Republic can be resigned only for grave cause, which shall be passed upon by the Congress of the Union, to which the resignation must be presented.
Article 87. The President, upon taking possession of his office, shall make before the Congress of the Union, or if in adjournment before the Permanent Committee, the following affirmation: "I solemnly promise that I will observe and enforce the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the laws enacted |
a couple libraries in JS which help with defining and using union types.
Flow includes union types and TypeScript has Enums to serve the same role.
Product type
A product type combines types together in a way you're probably more familiar with:
// point :: (Number, Number) -> {x: Number, y: Number} const point = ( x, y ) => ({ x, y })
It's called a product because the total possible values of the data structure is the product of the different values. Many languages have a tuple type which is the simplest formulation of a product type.
See also Set theory.
Option
Option is a sum type with two cases often called Some and None.
Option is useful for composing functions that might not return a value.
// Naive definition const Some = ( v ) => ({ val : v, map ( f ) { return Some ( f ( this. val )) }, chain ( f ) { return f ( this. val ) } }) const None = () => ({ map ( f ) { return this }, chain ( f ) { return this } }) // maybeProp :: (String, {a}) -> Option a const maybeProp = ( key, obj ) => typeof obj[key] ==='undefined '? None () : Some (obj[key])
Use chain to sequence functions that return Option s
// getItem :: Cart -> Option CartItem const getItem = ( cart ) => maybeProp ('item ', cart) // getPrice :: Item -> Option Number const getPrice = ( item ) => maybeProp ('price ', item) // getNestedPrice :: cart -> Option a const getNestedPrice = ( cart ) => getItem (cart). chain (getPrice) getNestedPrice ({}) // None() getNestedPrice ({item : {foo : 1 }}) // None() getNestedPrice ({item : {price : 9.99 }}) // Some(9.99)
Option is also known as Maybe. Some is sometimes called Just. None is sometimes called Nothing.
Function
A function f :: A => B is an expression - often called arrow or lambda expression - with exactly one (immutable) parameter of type A and exactly one return value of type B. That value depends entirely on the argument, making functions context-independant, or referentially transparent. What is implied here is that a function must not produce any hidden side effects - a function is always pure, by definition. These properties make functions pleasant to work with: they are entirely deterministic and therefore predictable. Functions enable working with code as data, abstracting over behaviour:
// times2 :: Number -> Number const times2 = n => n * 2 [ 1, 2, 3 ]. map (times2) // [2, 4, 6]
Partial function
A partial function is a function which is not defined for all arguments - it might return an unexpected result or may never terminate. Partial functions add cognitive overhead, they are harder to reason about and can lead to runtime errors. Some examples:
// example 1: sum of the list // sum :: [Number] -> Number const sum = arr => arr. reduce (( a, b ) => a + b) sum ([ 1, 2, 3 ]) // 6 sum ([]) // TypeError: Reduce of empty array with no initial value // example 2: get the first item in list // first :: [A] -> A const first = a => a[ 0 ] first ([ 42 ]) // 42 first ([]) // undefined // or even worse: first ([[ 42 ]])[ 0 ] // 42 first ([])[ 0 ] // Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property '0' of undefined // example 3: repeat function N times // times :: Number -> (Number -> Number) -> Number const times = n => fn => n && ( fn (n), times (n - 1 )(fn)) times ( 3 )( console. log ) // 3 // 2 // 1 times ( - 1 )( console. log ) // RangeError: Maximum call stack size exceeded
Dealing with partial functions
Partial functions are dangerous as they need to be treated with great caution. You might get an unexpected (wrong) result or run into runtime errors. Sometimes a partial function might not return at all. Being aware of and treating all these edge cases accordingly can become very tedious. Fortunately a partial function can be converted to a regular (or total) one. We can provide default values or use guards to deal with inputs for which the (previously) partial function is undefined. Utilizing the Option type, we can yield either Some(value) or None where we would otherwise have behaved unexpectedly:
// example 1: sum of the list // we can provide default value so it will always return result // sum :: [Number] -> Number const sum = arr => arr. reduce (( a, b ) => a + b, 0 ) sum ([ 1, 2, 3 ]) // 6 sum ([]) // 0 // example 2: get the first item in list // change result to Option // first :: [A] -> Option A const first = a => a. length? Some (a[ 0 ]) : None () first ([ 42 ]). map ( a => console. log (a)) // 42 first ([]). map ( a => console. log (a)) // console.log won't execute at all // our previous worst case first ([[ 42 ]]). map ( a => console. log (a[ 0 ])) // 42 first ([]). map ( a => console. log (a[ 0 ])) // won't execte, so we won't have error here // more of that, you will know by function return type (Option) // that you should use `.map` method to access the data and you will never forget // to check your input because such check become built-in into the function // example 3: repeat function N times // we should make function always terminate by changing conditions: // times :: Number -> (Number -> Number) -> Number const times = n => fn => n > 0 && ( fn (n), times (n - 1 )(fn)) times ( 3 )( console. log ) // 3 // 2 // 1 times ( - 1 )( console. log ) // won't execute anything
Making your partial functions total ones, these kinds of runtime errors can be prevented. Always returning a value will also make for code that is both easier to maintain as well as to reason about.
Functional Programming Libraries in JavaScript
P.S: This repo is successful due to the wonderful contributions!This is the July 2017 entry of Metagame Build Orders.
Vs. Protoss
Terran generally use the typical Reaper expand into 1-1-1 now, and players make minor changes accordingly when they move to the 3-1-1 convergent point. You can read about it in the June entry.
Since Protoss go for one Gateway expand into Stargate half of the time, I think it is nice to have certain planned reaction against that. I like MajOr’s recent build in WCS Valencia, and this is what I am going to show below.
14 – Supply Depot
15 – Refinery
16 – Barracks
@100% Barracks – Reaper and Orbital Command
@400 mineral – Command Centre (@100% – Orbital Command)
@100 gas – Factory
@100% Reaper – Reactor (@100% – Marine production)
@75 mineral – Refinery
@100 mineral – Supply Depot
Constant Marine production and build Supply Depot accordingly hereafter
@100% Factory – Widow Mine, and proxy Factory
@100% Widow Mine – Cyclone
@100% Factory (proxy) – Cyclone
Commence attack with Marines and Cyclone when the first Cyclone from the proxy Factory is ready. Bring some Scvs for repair.
This is a reaction against an one Gateway expand into Stargate build, and it is based on the standard 15 gas Reaper expand 1-1-1. The build order difference is to proxy a Factory instead of Starport. You just put down two Barracks and one Starport in your main to transition out.
Vs. Terran
The metagame is still these three: 15 gas Reaper expand, 15 and 17 double gas Reaper tech aggression, and proxy Reaper. Since I used 15 gas Reaper in the last MBO post, I will share a double Refinery build this time. You can read more about it here.
14 – Supply Depot
15 – Refinery
16 – Barracks
17 – Refinery
@100% Barracks – Reaper, Orbital Command and Factory
20 – Supply Depot
@100% Reaper – Reaper
@100% – Factory – Cyclone and Starport
27 – Supply Depot
@100% Reaper – Tech Lab
@100% Cyclone – Hellion
@100% Starport – Swap Starport onto Tech Lab for either Raven or Banshee
@400 mineral – Command Centre
The two vods below are fresh from IEM Shanghai. The first vod is against proxy Reaper, and the second vod is against Reaper expand. If you are not confident in holding against proxy Reaper with Reaper expand, this is a good alternative opening.
Vs. Zerg
Since the Zergling, Baneling, and Hydralisk composition is so popular now, I recommend a standard Hellion and Raven build. Obviously, it does not directly counter the composition, but it has a minor edge in the mid game. A weakness of this composition is its inability to kill a Raven parked at the dead air space behind the mineral line. You can continuously send the Ravens to drop Auto-Turret at the Zerg mineral line all game long until Zerg put down a spire. I have not seen a pro-player does exactly the build I show below, because I sort of build on other builds to fit my idea.
14 – Supply Depot
15 – Refinery
16 – Barracks
@100% Barracks – Reaper and Orbital Command
@400 mineral – Command Centre (@100% – Orbital Command)
@100 gas – Factory
@100% Reaper – Reactor
@75 mineral – Refinery
@100 mineral – Supply Depot
@100% Factory – Starport. Swap the Factory onto the Reactor for 2x Hellions. Build a Tech Lab with Barracks next to the Starport
Constant Hellion production until you have made six.
@100% Starport – Swap Starport on Tech Lab for a Viking, and a Supply Depot.
Build Supply Depot accordingly hereafter.
@25 gas – Tech Lab on Barracks (@100% – Stim)
@100% Viking – Raven (@100% – Raven)
This is a basic Reaper expand into Hellion and 1-1-1. Previously, players like to get a Raven then Banshee (read the April entry), and later most go for Banshee straightaway after the Raven patch. The general idea is still the same.
Opponent expects you to make a Raven when the Overlord scouts the Starport with Tech Lab but no research. They will make Spore Crawler accordingly, and they will pay extra attention to the Auto-Turret at the start. They may even position the Queens to anticipate the Raven before it can go into the dead air space. There is actually nothing wrong to just go for a Raven, but the benefit of an early Viking outweighs the benefit of a Raven that opponent is prepared for. The main goal is to ensure the two Raven survive until the mid game, whereby you can drop Auto-Turret in mineral lines while you attack from the front with your bio. Below vod does not use this build, but it shows how effective it is in the mid game when Zerg do not have Mutalisk or Corruptor.
If you enjoyed this article, I’d love you to share it with one friend. You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you really like my work, you can help to sustain the site by contributing via PayPal and Patreon. See you in the next article!Hezbollah members and supporters carry the coffin of Jihad Mughniyeh during his funeral in Beirut's suburbs, January 19, 2015.
An Iranian general killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria was not its intended target and Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking guerrillas, a senior Israeli security source told Reuters on Tuesday.
The source declined to be identified because Israel will not confirm or deny whether it carried out the strike.
A photo of Mohammad Allahdadi taken from Iranian media.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Mohammed Allahdadi was killed along with a Hezbollah commander and the son of the group's late military leader, Imad Muughniyeh, in Sunday's attack on a Hezbollah convoy near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, said six of its members died in the strike.
Tehran has vowed to strike back. "These martyrdoms proved the need to stick with jihad. The Zionists must await devastating thunderbolts," Revolutionary Guards' chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted on Tuesday as saying by Fars news agency.
"The Revolutionary Guards will fight to the end of the Zionist regime... We will not rest easy until this epitome of vice is totally deleted from the region's geopolitics."
Asked if Israel expected Iranian or Hezbollah retaliation for the air strike, the source said: "They are almost certain to respond. We are anticipating that, but I think it's a fair assumption that a major escalation is not in the interest of either side."
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Troops and civilians in northern Israel are on heightened alert and Israel has reportedly deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor unit near the Syrian border.
"We did not expect the outcome in terms of the stature of those killed - certainly not the Iranian general," the source said. "We thought we were hitting an enemy field unit that was on its way to carry out an attack on us at the frontier fence."
"We got the alert, we spotted the vehicle, identified it was an enemy vehicle and took the shot. We saw this as a limited tactical operation."
Israel has struck Syria several times since the start of the Syrian civil war, mostly destroying weaponry such as missiles that Israeli officials said were destined for Hezbollah, Israel's longtime foe in neighbouring Lebanon.
Hezbollah has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's forces in the four-year-old Syrian conflict.Abstract Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a large group of environmental pollutants that can interfere with the endocrine system function of organisms at very low levels. One compound of great concern is trenbolone, which is widely used as a growth promoter in the cattle industry in many parts of the world. The aim of this study was to test how short-term (21-day) exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration of 17β-trenbolone (measured concentration 6 ng/L) affects reproductive behaviour and fin morphology in the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). The mosquitofish is a sexually dimorphic livebearer with males inseminating females using their modified anal fin, the gonopodium, as an intromittent organ. Although the species has a coercive mating system, females are able to exert some control over the success of male mating attempts by selectively associating with, or avoiding, certain males over others. We found that females exposed to trenbolone approached males less and spent more time swimming away from males than non-exposed (control) females. By contrast, we found no difference in the behaviour of exposed and non-exposed males. Furthermore, exposure did not affect the anal fin morphology of males or females. This is the first study to demonstrate that exposure to an androgenic EDC can impair female (but not male) behaviour. Our study illustrates how anthropogenic contaminants can have sex-specific effects, and highlights the need to examine the behavioural responses of environmental contaminants in both sexes.
Citation: Saaristo M, Tomkins P, Allinson M, Allinson G, Wong BBM (2013) An Androgenic Agricultural Contaminant Impairs Female Reproductive Behaviour in a Freshwater Fish. PLoS ONE 8(5): e62782. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062782 Editor: Andrew Iwaniuk, University of Lethbridge, Canada Received: February 4, 2013; Accepted: March 24, 2013; Published: May 3, 2013 Copyright: © 2013 Saaristo et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by the Finnish Academy, the Australian Research Council, Monash University and The Centre for Aquatic Pollution, Identification and Management (CAPIM). CAPIM is funded by The Victorian Science Agenda Investment Fund managed by the Department of Business and Innovation (DBI) (www.innovation.vic.gov.au) with partner funding contributed from Melbourne Water, Department of Primary Industries (Victoria), and Environment Protection Authority (Victoria). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction Over the last few decades, concern has been mounting over a group of environmental contaminants known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs are causing concern because they disturb the endocrine function of organisms, often at very low concentrations (nanograms per litre levels), with potentially catastrophic effects. Infamous examples include eggshell thinning in birds [1], developmental abnormalities in alligators [2], and birth defects, gametogenesis and cervical cancer in humans [3], [4]. However, until now, studies have focussed mostly on estrogenic EDCs, with far less attention given to understanding the impacts of EDC pollutants with androgenic effects [5]–[9]. The androgenic steroid trenbolone acetate is widely used as a growth promoter in the beef industry in many parts of the world. In vivo, the compound is rapidly converted to the biologically active steroid 17β-trenbolone (hereafter referred to as trenbolone), which is an extremely stable compound, with a half-life up to 267 days measured in animal waste [10]. Trenbolone enters the environment through livestock urine and manure, and has been detected at levels from <5 ng/L to 20 ng/L in run off from cattle feedlots [11], [12] and up to 162 ng/L in fields receiving animal waste [13]. The morphological impacts of trenbolone on aquatic organisms, particularly fish, have been well documented, with effects ranging from reduced fecundity [6], [7] to complete sex reversal resulting in an all-male population [8], [9]. Our understanding of the behavioural effects of trenbolone exposure, however, is limited, even though behaviour has the potential to be a much more sensitive (and powerful) indicator of aquatic pollution than morphological biomarkers [14]–[19]. Trenbolone is known to bind to androgen receptors with three times the affinity of testosterone [20] and is therefore an extremely potent androgenic steroid in the environment. Considering its potency and the fact that androgens are known to affect the expression of sexual and agonistic behaviours, we would expect trenbolone to influence behaviour. So far, however, only two studies have specifically looked at the behavioural effects of trenbolone – and the results have been equivocal. Specifically, while embryonic exposure (50 ug) was observed to suppress copulatory behaviour in Japanese quail [21], trenbolone exposure (20 ng/L) had no effect on zebrafish courtship behaviour [8]. EDC-studies, to date, have also tended to focus only on male behaviour. In nature, however, both sexes are likely to be exposed to the same pollutants simultaneously and the effects on one sex could be very different in the other. As a result, it is important to investigate how EDCs might affect both males and females contemporaneously. Recent studies have found that exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of trenbolone can also induce morphological changes in fish. Ankley et al. [6], for example, found that female fathead minnows Pimephales promelas, exposed to trenbolone for 21 days developed dorsal tubercules – structures normally present on mature males. Also, trenbolone concentrations as low as 9.2 ng/L were found to cause irreversible masculinisation of zebrafish after 60 days of exposure [9]. Whether trenbolone exposure induces similar morphological changes in other species, however, remain unknown. The eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, is an excellent model organism for studying the effects of androgenic EDCs because of its widespread, cosmopolitan distribution in shallow freshwater habitats in both urban and agricultural areas [22]. The mosquitofish is a sexually dimorphic livebearer, with males inseminating females using their gonopodium, as an intromittant organ [23]. Male mosquitofish do not court females but, instead, attempt forced copulations by thrusting their gonopodia towards the female’s genital pore [24], [25]. Despite the coercive mating system, evidence suggests that female mosquitofish are choosy [26]–[28] and may be able to exert some control over the success of male mating attempts by, for example, selectively approaching certain males over others [26]. Due to their internal mode of fertilisation, male mosquitofish need to be in close proximity to females before any mating attempts can be made, and both sexes clearly associate with each other during the breeding season [29]. Thus, as with other poeciliids [30]–[32], the time spent by females associating with males can have a direct bearing on mating outcomes and is a widely used measure of mating intentions in behavioural studies [28], [31], [33] Morphologically, previous research on mosquitofish has also found that embryonic exposure to androgenic hormones can increase the length of the modified anal fin (i.e. gonopodium) of males in relation to body size [34], [35], and induce gonopodial development in females [34], [36]–[37]. However, it is unknown whether EDCs might affect anal fin morphology once fish have reached maturity. Accordingly, the aim of our study was to investigate the impact of trenbolone on male and female reproductive behaviour and fin morphology. In particular, we were interested in effects arising from short-term exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration (6 ng/L). This is ecologically important because agricultural pollutants enter the environment in pulses and previous work suggests that exposure to EDCs need not to be permanent to have long-lasting, detrimental effects [6]–[9], [38].
Materials and Methods Ethical Statement The methods for animal housing, handling and experimental protocols were assessed and approved by the Biological Sciences Animal Ethics Committee at Monash University (permit number: BSCI/2011/07). Because mosquitofish are a noxious species under State laws, the terms of the collecting permit (Department of Primary Industries Victoria, permit number NP191) did not allow them to be returned to the wild and hence fish were euthanised. Exposure Set up Mosquitofish were collected from Brodies Lake in Victoria, Australia. This is a relatively pristine site located adjacent to a reservoir that supplies drinking water to parts of suburban Melbourne. Fish were caught during the breeding season (February) using dip nets and transported in coolers back to the laboratory. In total, 280 fish were collected, of which 140 were females and 140 males. Fish were separated by sex and acclimated to laboratory conditions (12∶12 h light regime) for 10 days in 54 L tanks (20 fish per tank). After acclimation, fish were randomly placed into separate-sex ‘exposure’ tanks (60 cm×30 cm×24 cm; 20 fish per tank), the set up of which followed the design of Saaristo et al. [17] with a few modifications. Briefly, 14 tanks were assigned to one of two treatments, namely, (1) a 17β-trenbolone exposed treatment (TB), and (2) a freshwater control. In total, 280 fish were exposed: seven tanks were allocated to the TB treatment (4 tanks for males and 3 tanks for females) and seven tanks were allocated to the control treatment (4 tanks for males and 3 tanks for females). We randomly took four fish from each of the holding tanks and placed them into each of the exposure tanks. This was continued until all of the fish from the holding tanks had been assigned to an exposure tank. Thus, each exposure tank had fish from several holding tanks. Male and female mosquitofish tanks in the TB treatment were exposed to trenbolone at a nominal concentration of 15 ng/L (measured concentration = 6 ng/L; see below for details on how trenbolone levels were monitored) via a flow-through system for 21-days. Mosquitofish tanks in the control treatment were connected to an identical, but separate, flow through system over the same period but, in contrast to the TB tanks, the flow through system supplied only freshwater to the fish during the exposure period. The water supplied to these fish tanks was fed through a mixing tank into which either trenbolone from a stock solution (in the case of the TB treatment) or freshwater (in the case of the control treatment) was pumped using a peristaltic pump (Watson Marlow 323 U/MC). From the mixing tanks, the water was channelled into the fish tanks using silicon tubing. The flow rate was kept constant (2.25 L/h) or all tanks using flow meters (BES Flowmeters, MPB Series 1200) and adjustable valves. For the trenbolone exposure, a fresh stock solution was prepared once a week and the stock solution tank was changed every third day to minimize the possible deterioration of TB. Water temperature in the tanks was monitored daily and ranged from 19–23°C. Fish were fed ab litium with commercial fish flakes (Otohime Hirame, Aquasonic) once a day during the exposure period. Monitoring of Trenbolone The level of trenbolone used was achieved by firstly dissolving 17β-trenbolone (4,9,11-estratrien-17-ol-3-one; Novachem, Germany) in 100% ethanol (600 ug/L, 1% of ethanol) to create a stock solution, which was then diluted in the flow-through system to achieve the desired concentration. The final solvent concentration was 0.00006% in the exposure tanks. The concentration of trenbolone in the exposure and control tanks was monitored by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To do this, a 100 mL water sample was taken from each exposure tank once a week. Water samples were acidified by adding a mixture of 1% acetic acid methanol, then loaded onto a conditioned solid phase cartridges (Strata×33 u, 500 mg,/6 mL; Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA). The cartridge was then eluted with methanol (2×4 mL), with the eluate dried under nitrogen stream. Samples were reconstituted with 100 uL methanol and 900 uL of deionised water. Measurement of trenbolone was undertaken using commercial ELISA kits in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions with a minor modification (Trenbolone ELISA kit; EuroProxima, Arnhem, The Netherlands). In short, a total of thirty samples and trenbolone calibration standards (freshly made in 10% methanol water) were dispensed (50 uL) in duplicate into an antibody coated 96 well plate by an auto dispenser (epMotion 5070, eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany). Thereafter, 25 uL of HRPO conjugate and 25 uL of antibody were dispensed into the wells. After 1 hour incubation at room temperature in the dark, the plate was washed three times with wash buffer by a microplate washer (Atlantis, ASYS HITECH, Eugendorf, Austria), and 100 uL of substrate was added to all wells. The plate was then incubated for a further 30 minutes at room temperature in the dark. Finally, 100 uL of stop solution was dispensed into all wells, and the absorbance of the solutions in the wells measured at 450 nm by a microplate reader (UVM40, ASYS HITECH, Eugendorf, Austria). Calculation of sample concentrations was undertaken by 4 parameter logistics method after creating a calibration curve using a series of standard calibration solutions (0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 ug/L) made up in 10% methanol. In order to verify calibration accuracy, check standards (i.e. standards from the kit run as samples) were run in duplicate on each ELISA plate during each ELISA test. The detection limit of trenbolone ELISA was 2.0 ng/L. The ratio of nominal concentrations and measured values were 90%, which indicates that the calibration curve provided good (accurate and precise) sample concentration values provided the ELISA response was within the upper and lower bounds of the calibration curve. A spike recovery experiment was conducted in triplicate using a 5 ng/L 17β-trenbolone solution. The average recovery was 97%, providing confidence that trenbolone in water samples was efficiently extracted, and that measured values were neither under nor over estimates of sample concentrations. Behavioural Trials All behavioural trials were conducted in tanks (60 cm×30 cm×24 cm) containing freshwater with a 2 cm layer of gravel on the bottom as substrate. One male and one female from the same treatment group (i.e. either TB or control) were randomly assigned to an experimental tank and allowed to freely interact. We specifically paired fish from the same treatment groups because, in the wild, both sexes would typically be exposed to the same environmental contaminants simultaneously. Male and female behaviours were recorded with a video camera. Filming began when the male and female were released into the tank. Fish were filmed for 15 minutes and the behaviour of each sex was analyzed using JWatcher software, which calculates the total time and frequency of each quantified behaviour during this period. For females, we quantified whether or not the female was interacting with the male and, if so, whether she was actively associating with the male (i.e. swimming towards him), exhibiting aggressive behaviour (i.e. biting and performing tale beats), or trying to avoid the male by swimming away from him. For males, we quantified whether or not the male was showing an interest in the female. If so, we noted whether the male was orienting towards the female (within 5 cm of her body), chasing her, or engaging in gonopodial thrusts. We also noted the time the male took to perform the first chase. Trials were replicated 19 times for the trenbolone treatment and 18 times for the control. Each trial had a new pair of fish. We used 12 tanks for behavioural trials and ran 12 trials per day (6×TB and 6×control). For each tank, we alternated between TB and control trials to avoid tank effects. Morphological Measurements After each behavioural trial, fish were euthanized with an overdose (40 mg/L) of anaesthetic clove oil [39]. Fish were then weighted and measured from the tip of the snout to the end of the caudal fin, and preserved in 70% ethanol for further anal fin measurements. The male gonopodium and female anal fin were analysed using the morphometric analysis described by Angus et al. [34]. The anal fin was photographed using a moticam 3.0 mounted on a Motic SMZ-168 stereomicroscope. From these images, ray 4 and ray 6 were measured to the nearest 0.001 mm using Motic Digilab II (Motic Instruments Inc., Hong Kong). The R4:R6 ratio is known to be influenced by EDCs in both the male gonopodium [40], [41] and the female anal fin [35], and was thus calculated (dividing length of R4 by R6) for both sexes. Statistical Treatment of Data Data was checked for normality and heterogeneity of variance. In our analyses of female and male behaviour, the data did not conform to a normal distribution and we were unable to render them normal with transformation. Therefore, the effect of treatment on behavioural variables were analysed using Mann-Whitney tests. For the morphological (length and anal fin) data, independent-sample t-tests were used to test differences between TB-exposed and control fish. SE = standard error of mean. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (19.0).
Discussion We found that female and male mosquitofish responded differently to trenbolone. Trenbolone-exposed females approached males less and spent more time swimming away from males. This was true even though exposed males did not differ in their behaviour from control males. Because short-term exposure affected only female behaviour, this finding suggests that females may be more sensitive to trenbolone than males. To our knowledge, this is the first study to not only show that exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration of androgenic EDC can impair female reproductive behaviour, but that the behavioural consequences of EDC exposure can differ between the sexes. When females were exposed to trenbolone, they approached males less often. A previous study by Toft et al. [42] showed that lifetime exposure to androgenic paper mill effluent decreased the time mosquitofish females stayed close to the male. The authors of that study described this as social ‘attending’ behaviour, but in the light of our findings, females might also have actively avoided the close distance of males. Although mosquitofish breed via a coercive mating system, females can nevertheless exert some control over fertilisation success and skew copulations by actively approaching and associating with certain males over others [26]. Hence, exposure to trenbolone could have implications for females by affecting their motivation to mate. Lack of interest is supported by the fact that exposed females actually spent more time swimming away from males even though trenbolone males did not harass females more. The impact of trenbolone on male mating behaviours, however, was less clear. Testosterone is known to mediate male aggression and courtship behaviour [43]. Therefore, we hypothesised that trenbolone, which is more potent than testosterone, would increase male harassment (e.g. chasing, or engaging in gonopodial thrusts) of females. However, we did not find this to be the case. Why? Androgens, such as testosterone, are typically converted to estrogens in target tissues [44]. This increased concentration of estrogenic hormones can lead to a down-regulation of androgen production [43], which can in turn influence behaviour. However, this scenario is unlikely to occur with trenbolone. Previous work has shown that trenbolone is relatively non-estrogenic, because it is not a substrate for the aromatase enzyme that converts androgens to estrogens [20]. Therefore, exposure to trenbolone is likely to impact behaviours that are controlled by androgens rather than estrogens. It is unknown what impact trenbolone might have at higher concentrations on males but in our study, 6 ng/L was not sufficient to induce any significant behavioural changes. Clearly, further investigation into the behavioural impacts of trenbolone is required. We did not observe any abnormal anal fin development amongst trenbolone-exposed males or females. Hormonally-dependent processes, such as anal fin development, are known to be particularly sensitive to EDC exposure [34], [36]–[37], [40], [45]–[46] Recent research has revealed that trenbolone can also influence gonopodial development in mosquitofish, with Brockmeier et al. [47] and Sone et al. [48] observing masculinisation of the female anal fin amongst trenbolone-exposed mosquitofish after 21 and 28 days of exposure respectively. However, in contrast to previously published studies, there are two possible reasons why we found no effect of trenbolone exposure on gonopodial morphology. First, we used a particularly low exposure concentration (6 ng/L compared to 10 µg/L used by Brockmeier et al. [47] and Sone et al. [48]). Second, we only exposed adult fish to the hormone. The male gonopodium, which is under androgenic control [36], forms via elongation of the anal fin during sexual development [22]. Therefore future studies may benefit from exposing fish to trenbolone from birth through to sexual maturity. What are the potential population-level consequences of trenbolone-induced changes to behaviour? Recent studies have suggested that altered behaviours could have important population effects [16]–[19], [49]–[53]. At the beginning of the breeding season, mosquitofish densities are typically low, and sex ratios are female-biased [54]. Moreover, despite the persistence of males in trying to secure matings, actual copulatory success is extremely low [55]. Thus, selective female association could play an important role in reproductive success, particularly at low densities. As we have shown, trenbolone-exposed females not only approached males less than control fish, but they also actively avoided them more. This suggests that at times of low population density, trenbolone exposure has the potential to impact reproductive success and overall population viability. Such a possibility warrants further investigation. In conclusion, we showed that exposure to an environmentally relevant concentration of trenbolone affected female reproductive behaviour. During the last decade, research has demonstrated that estrogenic EDCs can weaken reproduction and reproductive behaviour in a wide range of species [18], [50]–[52], [56]–[57]. Androgens, such as trenbolone, however, have been neglected, even though laboratory and field studies have demonstrated severe morphological effects [5]–[7], [58]. Not only does our study uncover a previously unknown behavioural impact of exposure to androgenic EDCs, but highlights how anthropogenic contaminants can have sex-specific effects, thus underscoring the need to examine both female and male responses contemporaneously.
Supporting Information Table S1. Trenbolone concentration in the control and exposure tanks. ELISA = enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay. LOR = limit of reporting. https://doi.org |
from Europe, and the rest from countries including China, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
“World leaders’ concern about the escalating inequality crisis has so far not translated into concrete action – the world has become a much more unequal place and the trend is accelerating,” Oxfam International’s executive director, Winnie Byanima, said in a statement accompanying the report.
“We cannot continue to allow hundreds of millions of people to go hungry while resources that could be used to help them are sucked up by those at the top,” Byanima added.
About $7.6 trillion of individuals’ wealth sits in offshore tax havens, and if tax were paid on the income that this wealth generates, an extra $190 billion would be available to governments every year, Gabriel Zucman, assistant professor at University of California, Berkeley, has estimated.
As much as 30 percent of all African financial wealth is held offshore, costing about $14 billion in lost tax revenues every year, Oxfam said, referring to Zucman’s work.
This is enough money to pay for healthcare that could save 4 million children’s lives a year, and employ enough teachers to get every African child into school, Oxfam said in its report.
“Multinational companies and wealthy elites are playing by different rules to everyone else, refusing to pay the taxes that society needs to function. The fact that 188 of 201 leading companies have a presence in at least one tax haven shows it is time to act,” Byanima said.
Ensuring governments collect the taxes they are owed by companies and rich individuals will be vital if world leaders are to meet their goal to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030, one of 17 Sustainable Development Goals set in September, Oxfam said.
EXTREME POVERTY FALLING
The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen by 650 million since 1981, even though the global population grew by 2 billion in that time, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Much of this change has been because of the rise of China, which alone accounted for half a billion people moving out of extreme poverty.
Most of the world’s poorest no longer live in the poorest countries, but in middle-income countries like India, the OECD said in a recent report.
The inequalities are partly to do with differences in income, especially between urban and rural areas, but also differences in access to healthcare, education and jobs, the OECD said.
“The figures suggest that the biggest causes of poverty are... political, economic and social marginalisation of particular groups in countries that are otherwise doing quite well,” development economist Owen Barder is quoted as saying in the OECD report.
Barder is director for Europe at the Center for Global Development.
Although taxes and transfers help reduce income inequality in developed countries, these systems are less robust in many developing countries, according to the OECD.
An exception is Brazil, which makes payments to more than 13.3 million poor families on condition they enrol children in school and take part in health programmes.
“That has helped to reduce rates of both child poverty as well as inequality,” the OECD report said.Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration.
The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would likely bolster the GOP’s prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015.
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The industry complaints come less than a week after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to downplay concerns about rising premiums in the healthcare sector. She told lawmakers rates would increase in 2015 but grow more slowly than in the past.
“The increases are far less significant than what they were prior to the Affordable Care Act,” the secretary said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.
Her comment baffled insurance officials, who said it runs counter to the industry’s consensus about next year.
“It’s pretty shortsighted because I think everybody knows that the way the exchange has rolled out … is going to lead to higher costs,” said one senior insurance executive who requested anonymity.
The insurance official, who hails from a populous swing state, said his company expects to triple its rates next year on the ObamaCare exchange.
The hikes are expected to vary substantially by region, state and carrier.
Areas of the country with older, sicker or smaller populations are likely to be hit hardest, while others might not see substantial increases at all.
Several major companies have been bullish on the healthcare law as a growth opportunity. With investors, especially, the firms downplay the consequences of more older, sicker enrollees in the risk pool.
Much will depend on how firms are coping with the healthcare law’s raft of new fees and regulatory restrictions, according to another industry official.
Some insurers initially underpriced their policies to begin with, expecting to raise rates in the second year.
Others, especially in larger states, will continue to hold rates low in order to remain competitive.
After this story was published, the administration pointed to some independent analyses that have cast doubt on whether the current mix of enrollees will lead to premium hikes.
ObamaCare also includes several programs designed to ease the transition and stave off premium increases. Reinsurance, for example, will send payments to insurers to help shoulder the cost of covering sick patients.
But insurance officials are quick to emphasize that any spikes would be a consequence of delays and changes in ObamaCare’s rollout.
They point out that the administration, after a massive public outcry, eased their policies to allow people to keep their old health plans. That kept some healthy people in place, instead of making them jump into the new exchanges.
Federal health officials have also limited the amount of money the government can spend to help insurers cover the cost of new, sick patients.
Perhaps most important, insurers have been disappointed that young people only make up about one-quarter of the enrollees in plans through the insurance exchanges, according to public figures that were released earlier this year. That ratio might change in the weeks ahead because the administration anticipates many more people in their 20s and 30s will sign up close to the March 31 enrollment deadline. Many insurers, however, don’t share that optimism.
These factors will have the unintended consequence of raising rates, sources said.
“We’re exasperated,” said the senior insurance official. “All of these major delays on very significant portions of the law are going to change what it’s going to cost.”
“My gut tells me that, for some people, these increases will be significant,” said Bill Hoagland, a former executive at Cigna and current senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Hoagland said Sebelius was seeking to “soften up the American public” to the likelihood that premiums will rise, despite promises to the contrary.
Republicans frequently highlight President Obama’s promise on the campaign trail to enact a healthcare law that would “cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”
“They’re going to have to backpedal on that,” said Hoagland, who called Sebelius’s comment a “pre-emptive strike.”
“This was her way of getting out in front of it,” he added.
HHS didn’t comment for this article.
Insurers will begin the process this spring by filing their rate proposals with state officials.
Insurance commissioners will then release the rates sometime this summer, usually when they’re approved. Insurers could also leak their rates earlier as a political statement.
In some states, commissioners have the authority to deny certain rate increases, which could help prevent the most drastic hikes.
Either way, there will be a slew of bad headlines for the Obama administration just months before the election.
“It’s pretty bad timing,” said one insurance official.
Other health experts say predictions about premiums are premature.
David Cutler, who has been called an architect of Obama-Care, said, “Health premiums increase every year, so the odds are very good that they will increase next year as well. None of that is news. The question is whether it will be a lot or a little. That depends in part on how big the insurers think the exchanges will be.”
Jon Gruber, who also helped design the Affordable Care Act, said, “The bottom line is that we just don’t know. Premiums were rising 7 to 10 percent a year before the law. So the question is whether we will see a continuation of that sort of single digit increase, as Sebelius said, or whether it will be larger.”
The White House and its allies have launched a full-court press to encourage healthy millennials to purchase coverage on the marketplaces.
HHS announced this week that sign-ups have exceeded 5 million, a marked increase since March 1.
White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday claimed the administration has picked up the pace considerably, saying months ago reporters would have laughed if he “had said there would be 5 million enrollees by March 18.”
It remains unclear how many of those enrollees lost their insurance last year because of the law’s mandates. Critics have also raised questions about how the administration is counting people who signed up for insurance plans.
Political operatives will be watching premium increases this summer, most notably in states where there are contested Senate races.
In Iowa, which hosts the first presidential caucus in the nation and has a competitive Senate race this year, rates were expected to rise 100 percent on the exchange and by double digits on the larger, employer-based market, according to a February 2013 article in the Business Record.
Sheila Timmons contributed.
This story has been updated to note that the Business Record article was published in 2013, not 2014.Ever got to grips with a problem? Picked up a new skill? Grasped a difficult concept? The language of learning is full of references to parts of the body outside the brain. Perhaps that’s because these phrases hint at something deeper. Researchers are discovering that learning is easier, quicker and more long-lasting if lessons involve the body as well as the mind – whether it’s gesturing with the arms or moving around a room. Can these insights enhance teaching and learning in the future? And should it inform the way technology is employed in the classroom?
In some ways, the idea that the body can aid learning should come as no surprise. Consider that many of us probably began to understand basic arithmetic by counting on our fingers before learning to count in our head instead.
“In the past, people have argued that as we learn we become more able to think abstractly,” says Andrew Manches, a teacher turned psychologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. “Young children depend on physical objects to help them, but if I’m asked in a meeting now to work out a calculation and I get out a set of blocks to help me – obviously I’m going to look silly.”
Conventional thinking might suggest that teachers should help wean children off physical objects and body gestures to prepare them for the adult world. But in truth, the physical world never really leaves our thinking. For example, when we process verbs such as lick, kick and pick, medical scanners show that the parts of our brain that control the muscles in our face, legs and hands, respectively, light up with activity. And even the most abstract of concepts may have grounding in the real world.
Body and mind
This theory is called embodied cognition, and it suggests that what goes on in our minds stems from our actions and interactions with the world around us. It means that encouraging children to think and learn in a purely abstract way might actually make lessons harder for them to understand and remember..
Science is beginning to back up the idea that actions really might speak louder than words in the classroom. Spencer Kelly, a psychologist at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, has found that people spend three times as much time gesturing when they think it is particularly important that they get a message across, suggesting that even if only at the subconscious level, we appreciate the communicative value of our body language. Kelly has also found evidence that people like a teacher better when that teacher uses arm and hand movements to emphasise points.
Yet body movements can do more than simply raise a teacher’s popularity. Studies show that young children learn more if their teacher uses gestures when explaining a concept. Meanwhile, Susan Wagner Cook, a psychologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, has found that children pick up new concepts more effectively if they are taught to mirror and repeat the gestures their teacher uses, and that lessons involving words and gestures live longer in a student's memory than lessons using words alone.
Tech tricks
There’s a place for technology in all of this – particularly with the rise of gesture-recognition devices like the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Kinect add-on for the Xbox and touchscreen tablet PCs. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, turned two Wii-mote video game controllers into a device that helps children visualise equivalence ratios – for instance, understanding how if one plant grows twice as fast as another, the difference between their respective heights will become larger over time.
This can be a tricky concept for children to understand. When asked to use their hands to represent the different growth rates, some students will place one hand slightly higher than the other, but then raise both hands at the same speed. The Berkeley team’s device gives the children dedicated and instant feedback, helping them work out when their hand gestures correctly match what would happen as the two plants grow. Afterwards, even struggling students can articulate in words that they actually understand why moving their hands at different speeds is the correct response.
The Kinect sensor, meanwhile, is being used in studies to help children learn to more accurately map numbers onto physical space – a simple skill but one that is fundamental to our understanding of mathematics. Most people know, for instance, to place the number 50 exactly midway along a line marked “0” at one end and “100” at the other. Researchers at Eberhard Karls University in Tuebingen, Germany, found that seven-year-olds can place numbers along such a line more accurately if they physically walk the line on the floor – with their motion captured and analysed by the Kinect sensor – than if they use a mouse to interact with a computer screen representation of the line.
Manches has begun exploring whether Kinect offers a way to re-imagine traditional children’s blocks. The technology allows children to pick up and manipulate virtual blocks on the screen using the same gestures they would use to play with real blocks – but the virtual blocks can do new things like change colour as they are pulled apart into smaller units, giving children fresh ideas about the way numbers can be broken down.
Ramp up activity?
In light of all this, it’s tempting to conclude that teachers, and their students, should be jumping up and down, or waving their arms about like windmills during lessons. Manches, however, advises caution. The trouble is, science has not quite worked out exactly how the relationship between body and mind effects work. “You can’t jump into the prediction and intervention stage too early,” says Manches.
This isn’t to say there aren’t working theories for what’s going on, particularly when it comes to understanding why gesturing helps lodge information more firmly in the mind, says Cook. The lessons we learn at school usually involve declarative memory – these are the facts that we can consciously recall or ‘declare’ at a later date. But some of our memories are non-declarative – things we can remember without really being able to explain why. The classic example is how we never really forget how to ride a bike. Physical movements seem to be particularly suitable fodder for making non-declarative memories, and so by both speaking and gesturing, we may encourage our brains to make two independent memories of an event, boosting our chances of remembering the event later.
Even though researchers like Manches and Cook remain reluctant to set out prescriptive guidelines for teachers, their caution is beginning to weaken. “Five years ago I might have said there’s potential for real harm in giving teachers instructions from this research,” says Cook. Today, she is less worried of the potential to do damage – in part because none of her studies to-date has uncovered any evidence of detrimental side effects.
“In every study that we’ve tested the importance of gesturing, we’ve found it works,” she says. “Even in the experimental settings where we thought gesturing wouldn’t work.”
If you would like to comment on this, or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook or Google+ page, or message us on Twitter.Photo: npyskater/Instagram
Instagram got a new logo yesterday and app loyalists immediately freaked out about the change. And while change is always hard — especially when logos change — it’s possible nobody had bigger cause for concern than Gregorio Feliciano, a 27-year-old Florida man who four years ago had a version of the now-passé logo tattooed to his arm.
“It’s a simple camera design with what most people do identify as the Instagram logo stripes,” Feliciano told me via Twitter DM. “I actually got them because of the old Polaroid cameras that had stripes on them, but it’s also a modern twist on Instagram.” (The earliest version of Instagram logo, designed by CEO Kevin Systrom in 2010, was actually a tiny Polaroid camera, colored stripes included.)
He said that people assume “all the time” that the tattoo (which is Feliciano’s fifth and favorite) is the Instagram logo. “I tell people, ‘sure, yeah, it’s from Instagram,’ just because it’s what most people know,” he explained. “When I say it’s an old vintage camera, they don’t know what I’m talking about.”
#XProII #Polaroid #Tattoo #MyInstagramLogo A post shared by Gregorio Feliciano (@npyskater) on Feb 20, 2012 at 6:17pm PST
As for his thoughts on Instagram’s newly redesigned look, Feliciano says its “neat,” but that he definitely won’t be getting it inked on his body.Each week, we'll look at players with favourable matchups or may otherwise present good value for TSN Fantasy Football, CFL Edition, presented by Moores.
Sometimes fantasy football comes with wrinkles that can't be ignored. With the Toronto Argonauts playing twice in Week 11, and both games counting in the weekly fantasy schedule, there is a decided tilt towards Toronto for value this week:
Ricky Ray, QB, Toronto – Injuries have cut into the veteran’s production, and he hasn’t had a 300-yard passing game yet this season, but two games from Ray, who has an impressive ratio of nine touchdowns to one interception, is enough to take advantage of his price this week.
Brandon Whitaker, RB, Toronto – Again, the two-game schedule is a factor here, but Whitaker has been productive, with 693 yards from scrimmage through eight games. The trouble is that he has found the end zone just once. Can that change in matchups with B.C. and Hamilton?
Travon Van, RB,Ottawa – Back in the Redblacks’ lineup, the rookie runner out of Montana gained 80 yards and scored a touchdown last week and that is his lowest yardage total in three CFL contests. Going up against a struggling Alouettes squad should present a good opportunity for Van to keep driving the ball down the field.
Emmanuel Arceneaux, WR, B.C. – The season started a little slowly for the Lions’ top wideout, but he’s been pretty solid lately (aside from getting shut down in Calgary a couple of weeks ago). He has at least 80 receiving yards in four of the past six games and gets to face an Argos defence that has had some leaky moments this season.
Terrence Toliver, WR, Hamilton – Pricing hasn’t caught up to the Tiger-Cats wideout, who can still be had at a bargain price even though he’s accumulated 500 yards and four touchdowns in the past four games. Getting the Argos on their second game of the week could be an extra-favourable matchup for Hamilton, too.
Kenny Shaw, WR, Toronto – Toronto’s leading receiver has 503 yards on the season, even after he was held to one catch for 10 yards against Edmonton last week. He had at least half a dozen catches in each of the previous four games, though, so might as well keep Shaw in the game plan for this two-game week.
Winnipeg Defence - They've scored the most fantasy points in the league, thanks to a league-leading 18 interceptions, and yet they are priced at a bargain rate for a matchup against last-place Saskatchewan. Don't ask questions, just take that value.
Week 11 Picks PLAYER TEAM POS FANTASY PRICE Ricky Ray Toronto QB 220K Brandon Whitaker Toronto RB 160K Travon Van Ottawa RB 110K Emmanuel Arceneaux B.C. WR 130K Terrence Toliver Hamilton WR 90K Kenny Shaw Toronto WR 100K Winnipeg Defence $120K
Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.caAs of last night, what purports to be a “master key” for HDCP has leaked. HDCP, or High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, is an Intel-developed DRM [digital rights management] protocol that prevents the copying of digital and audio content via a set of 40 56-bit keys. What’s more, HDCP keys can be revoked if a set of keys has been found to be “compromised,” rendering them unplayable. HDCP is currently the DRM standard for HDMI and other transmissions.
But if this master key leak, which was reported last night by Engadget, is legitimate — ZDNet has reproduced a copy of the alleged key — it will be possible for anyone to generate their own source and sink keys, rendering HDCP protections all but useless.
Engadget:
Who discovered this and by what technique isn’t immediately clear, but as early as 2001 security researcher Niels Ferguson proposed that it could be easily revealed by knowing the keys of less than 50 different devices. Hardware HDCP rippers like the HDfury2 and DVIMAGIC have been around for a while and various AACS cracks easily allow rips of Blu-ray discs but if this information is what it claims to be, then the DRM genie could be permanently out of the bag allowing perfect high definition copies of anything as long as the current connector standards are around. While it’s unlikely your average user would flash their capture device with a brand new key and get to copying uncompressed HD audio and video, keeping those early releases off of the torrents in bit perfect quality could go from difficult to impossible.
So: If the master key holds up, torrent quality and availability will get better, fast. Granted, things like video capture cards already exist to record high-quality TV recordings straight to your hard disk as they play, but an HDCP master key would present a true crack rather than a workaround, and would be of symbolic as well as practical import. It seems likely that the content providers that use HDCP will want to develop or switch to an as yet uncracked DRM format as fast as they can to prevent the supposed profit leak this represents, although ‘as fast as they can’ may not mean very much in this case. An HDCP crack would hardly kill DRM or the philosophy behind it, but it would represent a free-for-all on a ton of content currently protected by HDCP.
(Engadget via TechDirt)Today IHS revealed the results of their new Teardown of the Apple Watch to find the real cost of Apple's newest iDevice. According to IHS and its Teardown Mobile Handsets Intelligence Service, the much-anticipated Apple Watch has the lowest hardware costs compared to retail price of any Apple product to date.
The teardown of the Apple Watch Sport by IHS Technology estimates that the actual hardware costs are only about 24 percent of the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP). Estimated hardware cost to MSRP ratios for other Apple products reviewed by IHS are in the range of 29 to 98 percent.
The teardown of the Apple Watch Sport 38 mm by IHS Technology shows a bill of materials of $81.20 with the cost of production rising to $83.70 when the $2.50 manufacturing expense is added. The retail price of the Apple Watch Sport 38 mm is $349.00.
The IHS Technology analysis does not include logistics, amortized capital expenses, overhead, SG&A, R&D, software, IP licensing and other variables throughout the supply chain such as the EMS provider.
Kevin Keller, senior principal analyst-materials and cost benchmarking services for IHS Technology noted in the report that "It is fairly typical for a first-generation product rollout to have a higher retail price versus hardware cost. While retail prices always tend to decrease over time, the ratio for the Apple Watch is lower than what we saw for the iPhone 6 Plus and other new Apple products, and could be of great benefit to Apple's bottom line if sales match the interest the Apple Watch has generated."
New Features and Manufacturing Methods
There are several new features and manufacturing methods used in the Apple Watch Sport, including: a Pulse Oximeter, Force Touch sensor, "Taptic Engine" feedback, encapsulated modular printed circuit board (PCB) assembly and stacked-die integrated circuits (IC).
Keller notes that "While these features have been promoted by Apple and none are necessarily revelatory, it is noteworthy that many features are appearing for the first time – in combination – in one device. It could be a bellwether for other future Apple products."
The Taptic Engine built into the Apple Watch, and integrated with the loudspeaker, contains a linear actuator which provides haptic feedback and vibrations. Keller points out that they "found that the device consumes a substantial amount of space inside the watch, and we would expect further miniaturization of this function in future iterations of the product."
The preliminary results of the teardown do not show any big surprises in the IC content; all of the manufacturers identified so far were expected. The Apple Watch NAND memory is a Toshiba Flash 8GB and DRAM is a Micron SDRAM 512MB. Broadcom, STMicro, Maxim, Analog Devices and NXP are used for connectivity and interface. One noteworthy change is a shift from Invensense to STMicro for the accelerometer/gyroscope.
Keller added that "The display is LG's plastic OLED display and the touchscreen overlay module is a TPK Slim GG utilizing their 'Force Touch' technology. Force Touch was recently incorporated into the latest MacBook and is expected to be found in the next iPhone generation."
Apple "Unibody" Tradition Continued
The fabrication of the enclosure continues the Apple "Unibody" tradition of precision machining from a single block of aluminum. Apple is now extending this design philosophy into a highly miniaturized realm, mating the legacy of precision watchmaking with Apple's specialized manufacturing practices. As with their previous products, Apple has taken fabrication techniques – once typically restricted to low-volume manufacturing and prototyping – and scaled them into a high-volume production environment.
Keller says that "The encapsulation of the entire printed circuit board assembly into a single monolithic module is especially noteworthy. Whereas many products might have some form of semi-flexible encapsulant applied to the board for protection, shock and vibration purposes, Apple has effectively created one large IC out of the entire assembly. This encapsulation is done by encasing the board in the same plastic/epoxy material used for conventional ICs. Indeed, many of the devices found inside the assembly are already encapsulated, effectively creating an IC-within-an-IC affair."
Further, Keller notes that "To provide electromagnetic shielding, the encapsulated PCB assembly is further treated with a metalized coating deposited over the surface. This shielding process is used in place of conventional stamped sheet metal shielding, saving a significant amount of space, as well as cutting down slightly on weight."
About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 7pm PST and sporadically over the weekend.After working on Wall Street for over a decade at banks and hedge funds, Shane Gadbaw has seen his fair share of corporate entertaining, company retreats, and blowout parties. So after he and his business partners bought their own Utah ski resort, he did something almost no other major resort in this country can match - he started renting the whole place out to private groups.
Because ski resorts are heavily dependent on season ticket sales, often good every day the mountain is open for its scheduled season, big name resorts simply cannot close and sell their slopes to a private party, no matter how much money is thrown at them. But Eagle Point and its stunning 450-inch annual average of famously dry Utah powder, so good the state has trademarked it “The Greatest Snow on Earth,” is normally only open to the public - and season ticket holders - Thursday to Sunday (except holiday weeks).
That means that for three days each week, Gadbaw can do pretty much anything he wants, and that includes renting the resort out to corporate groups and even individual celebrations. At the prices he charges, the private ski resort experience is not limited to giant tech companies, but equally well suited to things like birthday parties or ski clubs seeking to take their annual trips up a notch. But the bread and butter target audience is convention, corporate groups and staff retreats from Las Vegas, one of the world’s top convention cities - just three and a half hours away.
Located in Southern Utah, a world apart from the better known Park City and Cottonwood Canyons resorts, Eagle Point is roughly equidistant from Vegas and Salt Lake City, and easy enough for companies in either to hire a bus to transport clients or staffers. I recently wrote more about the less-well publicized but uniquely attractive Southern Utah ski experience for USA Today's travel section, which you can read here. Since Gadbaw and his partners control every aspect of the self-contained resort, from food and beverage to lodging, it is easy for them to customize overnight packages, add open bar or dinner, and even bring in Vegas deejays and live bands. Eagle Point is essentiality two interconnected mountains, one aimed more at beginners and intermediates, the other at intermediates and experts, and guests can also rent just one side for lower prices. But anyway you slice it, these takeovers are bargains compared to other sorts of private island or exclusive use resort deals. A total one day and one night takeover of the entire resort, all its lifts and trails, plus all the available condo lodging - sleeping a group of 200 people - is $10,000. Back in Vegas, lots of high-rolling visitors have been known to spend that on a single bottle of wine at a celebratory dinner, and this is for high-quality skiing with 199 friends. The price goes down with less overnight guests or only half of the resort.
“We call it the ‘As You Wish’ package because we can do pretty much whatever they want. We are very flexible with the accommodations, skiing, food and entertainment,” Gadbaw told me. In the few years since he took over, they have done a few such outings each season. Most of the lodging is in standard condos, many within walking distance of the two base lodges, but Eagle Point also has a handful of more luxurious larger homes, sleeping up to 15 with hot tubs and other amenities. While largely unknown in the ski world, Eagle Point is actually higher and gets considerably more snow than many of Utah’s famous resorts, with its base at 9,100-feet and 40-plus marked trails for all abilities plus a terrain park and a significant amount of gated side-country and hike-to terrain, with backcountry guides available. The resort has five lifts, including a recently added quad, and two sno-cats for taking skier beyond the chairs. On average, it is sunny eleven out of every twelve days, and the resort enjoys nearly forty feet of ultra-high quality snow annually.
Follow Me on Twitter Here"This moon's been in orbit for a million years. How is this happening, and why now?" ―Han Solo [src]
The destruction of Sernpidal, also known as the First Battle of Sernpidal, occurred in 25 ABY when the Praetorite Vong—an advance force of the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong invaders—employed the tactic Yo'gand's Core, pulling the moon Dobido to Sernpidal's surface. A small team led by Han Solo and Chewbacca successfully rescued a number of Sernpidalians during the destruction.
Contents show]
History Edit
Background Edit
"If you are to be discovered, it will likely come from there." ―Nom Anor [src]
As a prelude to their main invasion of the galaxy, agents of the Praetorite Vong had stirred up chaos in the far edges of the Outer Rim Territories. The Praetorite Vong expeditionary force had established a bio-engineered yammosk on icy Helska IV to coordinate their warships. Meanwhile, one of their agents, Nom Anor, had stirred up a war between the twin-planets Osarian and Rhommamool in the Expansion Region to spread the New Republic and the Jedi thin.[3][4]
Another agent, Yomin Carr, had secured the remote ExGal-4 outpost on remote Belkadan due to its proximity to Vector Prime—a small hole where the Yuuzhan Vong fleet could penetrate the energy field surrounding the galaxy.[3] This site was also chosen due to its proximity to the New Republic/Imperial Remnant border; allowing for a weaker military response from the Republic. Due to Sernpidal's close proximity to Belkadan and its status as the most heavily populated enemy world in the Dalonbian sector, there was a chance that the Republic would quickly discover the Praetorite Vong's presence on Belkadan and destroy the yammosk; setting back the Yuuzhan Vong invasion plans.[3]
The expeditionary force's commander Prefect Da'Gara and his charge Nom Anor, who had returned from Rhommamool, discussed strategies including destroying Sernpidal's environment. However, Nom Anor suggested destroying Sernpidal and killing as many enemies as they could. This disaster would lure some of the New Republic warships into the region where they would be ambushed and destroyed.[3]
In the end, Da'Gara agreed and suggested deploying Yo'gand's Core tactic to destroy Sernpidal. This involved planting a gravity-focusing dovin basal on the planet and using it to drag down an orbiting planetoid; in this case Sernpidal's smaller moon Dobido. The resulting collision would destroy Sernpidal's atmosphere, killing its people and rendering the world uninhabitable.[3]
A Fateful Run Edit
"But something else. It's more than fear especially with the ones like that. It's almost..."
"Religious?" ―Anakin Solo and the Mayor of Sernpidal City [src]
After being sent on a cargo run to the planet by Lando Calrissian, the Millennium Falcon arrived at Sernpidal City's docking bay. Being rudely ignored by several Sernpidalians, Han, Anakin Solo, and Chewie were unable to obtain any help unloading the cargo that Lando had requested be dropped off. Han was eventually greeted by an elderly man who, seemingly calmer than the rest, informed Han that he would have no trouble unloading his cargo.[3]
Venturing into the city, the three found that its citizens were in complete disarray. The old man, who had introduced himself as the Mayor of Sernpidal City, informed them that the cause of the pandemonium was the locals' belief that the goddess Tosi-karu was arriving. The Mayor realized Han's confusion and pointed toward the sky at the approaching moon. Upon seeing that the moon was headed on a direct collision course with the planet, Han decided to investigate.[3]
After having circumnavigated the moon several times, Han concluded that Sernpidal had, at the most, seven hours before the collision. Anakin was also able to deduce that something was pulling the moon down each time it revolved around Sernpidal.[3]
After arriving back on planet, Anakin was able to sense that whatever was pulling Dobido down was located east of Sernpidal City. Han, knowing that Anakin would be the only one able to find it, reluctantly allowed his son to go search for the cause along with the Mayor, who had offered to accompany him. Meanwhile Han and Chewbacca began loading as many people as they could onto the Falcon.[3]
Destruction Edit
"Seven hours. How are we going to get all these people off the planet in seven hours?" ―Han Solo [src]
Upon arriving, they discovered that the cause of Dobido's descent was a Dovin basal—a bioengineered Yuuzhan Vong creature. Anakin, in an attempt to destroy the basal, fired upon it with a blaster, though this proved ineffective. The Falcon then arrived to assist Anakin and the Mayor. However, the Mayor was reluctant to leave and stated that he would not allow the basal to escape the planet's destruction. Jumping into the basal's hole, the mayor used a thermal detonator to destroy it, sacrificing himself in the process.[3]
After arriving back in Sernpidal City, Han Solo was able to organize a refugee convoy through the use of the Falcon and several other freighters. As the winds picked up, Anakin was knocked into the distance, forcing Chewbacca to rescue him. Chewbacca, although able to bring Anakin to the safety of the Falcon, was himself knocked away by another burst of wind, placing him directly into the path of the fast-approaching moon. Anakin, who had piloted the Falcon while his father stood on the entrance ramp in an attempt to rescue the stranded Chewbacca, flew away from Sernpidal City when he realized it was too late to save Chewbacca. The Wookiee stood in the moon's trajectory, bellowed his last heroic roar, and was crushed along with the countless number of Sernpidal citizens who could not, or refused to, escape.[3]
Unknown to the refugee convoy, the Yuuzhan Vong had arranged for a swarm of grutchin to ambush the convoy. During this time Kyp Durron, having lost his Dozen and Two Avengers to a similar grutchin attack, was rescued by Han Solo. The refugee convoy was able to fight off the grutchin only to find coralskippers chasing them. The convoy eventually arrived at Dubrillion, but only to find that they would be forced back into battle when the Yuuzhan Vong attempted to invade that planet.[3]
Aftermath Edit
"You left him. You turned away and ran while Chewie stood his ground and died." ―Han Solo to his son Anakin [src]
The death of Chewbacca had a severe impact on the entire Solo family, as well as many others. Han blamed Anakin for leaving Chewbacca behind, and it would be many months before the two were able to reconcile. Anakin, however, also blamed himself, and delved further |
combat…
I recommend 3-6 players for the full mod. (1 player for the solo edition)
If you don’t know many people that play Diablo, I recommend trying to find others who are trying to assemble groups on either the official Hell Unleashed forum or the battle.net forums. Or if you have no interest in multiplayer download the solo edition!
INSTALLATION:
1.) Download Hell Unleashed and verify it is not corrupted and verify you are running Diablo LoD 1.10! If don't have Lod 1.10 you can download the 1.10 patch files below. HU will only work with 1.10, it is not compatible with 1.11+ 1.11 or 1.12 -> 1.10 http://files.arimyth.com/HU/LoD_110.rar 1.0x -> 1.10 http://files.arimyth.com/HU/LODPatch_110.exe 2.) Extract HU 1.2 into the Diablo 2 directory and replace all files... 3.) Run D2modsetup and install the mod. "If D2MOD is already installed, it will ask if you wish to remove the mod, answer yes, run it again and install it again" 4.) If there is a data directory in the Diablo II directory, delete it. This directory contain the files from previous, older versions of HU will conflict with the new version. 5.) Be sure to use Hell Unleashed.bat to play NOT Diablo II.exe UNINSTALL: 1.) Run D2modsetup again and remove the mod. 2.) Simply download and extract the Diablo II LoD 1.10 patch files and over-write all existing files… You can find those files here. This will return you to an unpatched 1.10 http://files.arimyth.com/HU/LODPatch_110.exe MULTIPLAYER: Multiplayer will function with TCP/IP, open battle.net, or the closed realm. For anyone who doesn’t know how to use TCP/IP, one player hosts the game, gives other players their IP address, and players connect using the “Join Game” button under Multiplayer TCP/IP.
To play on the Closed Realm select Gateway and choose "Arimyth Network" and connect, create an account and make sure you choose “Hell Unleashed” as the Realm. You cannot connect to the official Battle.net servers with Hell Unleashed installed… If you wish to continue doing so it’s best to copy Diablo II to another directory and install Hell Unleashed to one of them. FEATURES:
Difficulty has been increased greatly for normal, nightmare and hell, which will appeal toward new players as well as veteran players. Character level range across all 3 difficulties is intended to be, normal 1-60, nightmare 60-80, hell 80-100 … Experience gain, monster levels, dungeon levels and item levels have been adjusted accordingly. Improved enemy AI Many of the dungeons have "vastly" increased in size and altered to better compensate for multi-player adventures and also focused more towards going through a dungeon once rather then the same dungeon numerous times for additional experience and items. "Although your still welcome too"
Many existing skills and items have been re-balanced, some more effective, some less effective. In my opinion, much needed changes. These balancing changes have been based on constant community feedback over the numerous previous versions of Hell Unleashed to ensure the most balanced HU to date! A few brand new class skills and many new monster and boss skills. New optional side quests and rewards. Many additional and altered music tracks including a slew of new dungeon musics as well as boss musics, each Act final boss has it's own unique boss music. The loudness of music has also been increased. The new music ranges from more intense fast paced tunes as well as the dark, traditional music, which greatly adds to the feel of Hell Unleashed. Many new additional bosses and superunique monsters have been added, each new boss with their own unique vocal taunts; all bearing strategic elements having and different AI styles with numerous and new spells/skills, auras, abilities and counter attacks.
There are now a total of 47 bosses, not including superunique named monsters like Corpsefire, Rakanishu and Bishibosh.
The existing bosses have all been greatly improved with additional spells, abilities and counters of their own and all stronger, faster and more terrifying then ever, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and strategies. Each of the 47 bosses will provide you with an intense and challenging showdown, where death or retreat is harshly punished. Numerous additional monster graphics/animations from Baldur's Gate II, Icewind Dale II and Planescape Torment curtosy of Infinitum. The majority of these graphics are used for most of the additional new bosses like the, Hellforge Dragon, Beholder, and the Chimera to name a small few. If the bosses are not harmed in anyway or left idle for roughly 20 seconds they will recover and return to full HP, this is to prevent retreating, restocking, dying and resuming where the fight left off...
Now if you are wiped out or forced to retreat, expect the boss to be at full power when you return... To over come bosses you will need tactics and skill as traditional in most action-rpg's, not simply persistence and tediousness. New area's have been added such as the Haunted Morgue in Act I, The Collapsed Escape Tunnel under the Harem in Act II, The Arcane Observatory (2nd part to the Sanctuary) and Izual's Isolated Purgatory (A hellish cave beneath the plains of despair) and a new and terrible Hell Only difficulty dungeon.
To name a small few. Many existing dungeons have also been altered!
Each act will feature a couple new area's which will house new surprises including many new superunique class monsters.
Some area's use expanded tilesets new graphics. The tower entrance of the Countess's keep for example uses a brand new tileset and the Arcane Observatory uses an expanded tileset! Elite monsters have been added and randomly spawn in certain areas, they’re similar to Champions but more powerful and most of them use new graphics, such as the Berserks, Wyrms, and Mariliths.
Adjusted character hp/mana growth and altered how stats effect these and other attributes. Characters also start with low base stats, but are given 60 stat points to allocate where they want at level 1, as well as a starting skill point. Strength and Dexterity play a much larger role in damage bonus on weapons. Stat requirements for weapons have been altered to reflect the stat(s) they depend on for their damage bonus. Strength: Swords, Axes, Polearms, Maces, Hammers, Scepters, Staves Dexterity: Bows, Xbows Half str, half dex: Javelins, Throwing, Wands, Daggers, Claws, Spears
Repair costs have been reduced and repair runes have been added.
Shops and Gambling have been greatly improved offering better equipment in the later acts and offering nightmare and hell equipment in nightmare and hell difficulties, gems and runes are also sold in the shops, but very costly prices.
This will give gold more of a use them throwing it away gambling all the time.
Item drops for rare, unique and set items has been increased slightly and the treasure drop system has been revamped. Bosses and superuniques now drop better items, most superunique monsters will drop yellow items, bosses will drop unique’s and set items quite commonly for better boss rewards and to compensate for more players.
Inventory size, stash size and cube have been increased by 50% Players start with Cube. Quest requirements have been added to certain portals. “For example to enter Andariel’s Chamber, the Countess quest must be completed” If you cannot enter a red portal, changes are you have failed to meet the quest requirement. Durability of all weapons and armor has been doubled.
Throwing Weapons and Javelins spawn in stacks of 300 and can now have sockets.
All unique items and set items have had changes made to them Magic and rare items have had their customization and properties improved. Crafted items have all been revised and improved upon as well as new crafting sets for Topaz(Elemental), Skulls(Death) and Diamonds(Holy) and also higher level crafting recipes for exceptional and elite weapons and armor. Many new unique items and new rare and magic properties All official runewords enabled including the 1.11 runewords as well as numerous new and altered runewords! Life or mana cannot be drained from any undead. Many n ew cube recipes including the ability to add sockets to weapons and armor via new items simply called sockets, which spawn about the same frequency as gems do.
1 single socket + one magic item or non magic item = add's one socket to that item
2 single sockets + one rare item or crafted item = add's one socket to that item
1 dual socket + one magic item or non magic item = add's two socket to that item
2 dual sockets + one rare item or crafted item = add's two sockets to that item
You get the deal. Here are additional cube recipes below.
3 Single Sockets = Dual Socket
3 Dual Sockets = Triple Socket
3 Triple Socket = Quad Socket
3 Quad Socket = X Socket (Add’s 1 socket to a unqiue or set item)
3 perfect gems will now make a starstone gem (Next level above perfect)
3 star stone will now make a moonstone gem 3 moonstones will now make the highest level of gem Upgrading runes has also changed beyond a certain level of rune. Mithril and Adamant's Glyph's have been added and can be used with weapons and armor.
Mithril Glyph + One magic item = new magic item of the same type with enchantments based on the items level, the higher level the better enchantments can spawn, destroys sockets and gems if there are any.
Adamant Glyph will do the same for rare items and yes 3 Mithril glyphs in your cube will create an Adamant Glyph. Mithirl and Adamant hammers have been added in and are used in upgrading and crafting recipes Color dye's have also been added, which will permanently dye any weapon, shield, helmet or armor and these dye's will make quite an intense color shift to whatever you dye... You can create dyes with a gem of any color of the dye you want and a potion of any color of the dye you want placed in your cube together. You cannot re-dye in all cases, sometimes it lets you, sometimes it doesn’t, so it’s best to pick a color your planning on sticking with.
1 chipped ruby + 1 heal potion = red dye
1 skull + 1 antidote potion = black dye
1 chipped emerald + gas potion = green dye.
There are 9 different colors in total. New and u pgraded Mercenaries. Merc's will no longer gain resistances based on level. But can now equip belts, gloves, boots, rings and amulets and also have a larger range of equipment to select from... For example, rogue's can use crossbow class weapons. They also have access to new and improved skills, mostly on the higher difficulty settings. There are 4 new mercenary types!
Level requirements of all equipment is now equal to the equipments level… Though this will not really be noticed, as by the time you find or buy these items you’ll already be in the proper level. This is mainly to curb hand-me-downs to prevent extremely new characters for using high-level equipment given to them. The level req though really isn’t anything steep though.
Gold loss from the stash in multiplayer games has been removed. You can carry twice as much gold, as the stash can also hold twice as much. Bosses have special Hitpoint Bars different from normal enemies and much bigger.
Town Portal has been removed "I know what your thinking, please read the rest". This mainly due to it being easily exploitable on multiplayer games and I also wanted to give players the feel of a more ruthless wilderness/deep dungeon atmosphere, besides that waypoints are often never to far away. Most visits to town are done for repairs, stocking up and selling or dumping equipment... With the increased inventory size and extra durability, visits to town wont be required as often.
And no easy retreats back to town during a boss fight to recover and re-stock on potions.
And a stronger desire to avoid death. Since honestly, death is barely even a slight inconvenience in Diablo II unless your playing hardcore.
We had our doubts about this at first, but it has been working out very well. You'll have to see for yourself, but in our opinion it is certainly an over-rated privilage that makes things a bit too convenient and one we have come not to miss in the slightest.
Town Portal Orbs however, which function much like portal shrines, have been placed at the entrances of all boss dungeons that don’t have waypoints inside of them, and inside some of the longer dungeons themselves. PARTY:
As normal, there are numerous possabilities for character templates and party combinations, the bare minimum assential is for your party to have atleast one primary tank, one means of long range support and one means of party support… How you wish to achieve that and beyond that will be whatever party your group wants to put together.
CONCLUSION:
That about sums it up. There are other subtle changes and additions I haven't mentioned but you get the theme of it by now.
This is geared toward fresh new multiplayer characters who will fight through the legions of the prime evil's as a close group, somewhat poetic in a D&D fashion, of course only great dangers would deture you from wandering off from the group, Im sure there are some brave enough, or foolish? Who would scout ahead or split up.
This is also very oriented toward climactic boss battles and there are many of them!
This will appeal to both veteran and newer players, many surprises await.
ADDITIONAL HINTS:
1.) Save resistance items for when you go up against bosses who focus more in specific elementals. Example, if you have low poison resistance against a poison oriented boss, you can expect to feel the consequences.
2.) Solo treasure hunting can help if your getting the shaft for items or if your group has a poor treasure splitting system.
3.) Stay with your group as often as you can.
4.) Many of the chalanges and bosses you’ll go up against will require a certain level of strategy, don’t be discourged if your group is whalloped by a situation the first time, pay attention to the situation and find out how to better tackle it. SOLO EDDITION SPECIFICS: For the solo edition, certain hardcore aspects of Hell Unleashed have been tonned down to allow single player for those who have no interest, time, or opportunity for multiplayer. These changes include… Monsters have less HP Monsters do less damage Monsters have decreased skill levels 0/+5/+10 rather then +1/+7/+12 Monsters have decreased AC and Attack Rating. Town Portal scrolls spawn once again. Full Rejuv potions will spawn once again, rarely. Rejuv potions spawn more frequently. Heal and Mana potions slightly stronger. Experience gain is increased. Resist Penalty per difficulty is –45/-90 rather then –60/-120 Freeze and Curse penalty versus monsters is restored to default. Life/Mana leech from the prime evils is possible in Hell difficulty again. Immunities are less frequent and easier to break. CREDITS: Community of Hell Unleashed HU Modder/Developer: "Soulmancer" Terry McDonald HU 1.2 Assistants: LmT "Leslie" Blue Myriddn "Dan" HU Server: Jimbolia "Jim" Phrozen Keep Contributions & Assistance http://phrozenkeep.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/ D2MOD Plugin: SVR Coding: Myhrginoc, Nerfarius and SVR Monster Graphics: Phrozen Heart & Intinitum http://infinitum.d2mods.com/ Map Tools: Paul Siramy Map Plugins: Onyx and Volf http://diabolic.planetdiablo.gamespy.com/cont.php Special Thanks to everyone in the Hell Unleashed community for your on going support and interest in the project, as well as all those at Phrozen Keep who helped me through a lot of problem solving as well 3rd party tools and plugins! Hell Unleashed would not have come this far without all of you.One of the speakers at Larry Klayman’s rally launching the Second American Revolution was Belinda Bee, a coordinator of 2 Million Bikers to DC. The group initially came together in protest of a 9-11 event called Million American March Against Fear (which some dubbed the Million Muslim March). At the time the biker group was denied a permit to protest, which Bee told Fox News was part of a “political agenda.” In the end, thousands of bikers did roll through Washington that day. At Klayman’s rally, Bee expressed contempt for President Obama – she referred to him as “whatever it is in office over there” – and for the federal government. “We are homeland security. We are our own government. The government does not tell us what to do. We’re supposed to tell them.”
By teaming up with Klayman and his call for Americans to overthrow the current government and start over, the biker group seems to have expanded its vision far beyond an annual 9-11 protest. Bee’s remarks were heavily focused on America’s relationship with God, and she seemed to call for abandoning every constitutional amendment after the first ten:
Our mission statement starts off with: We at 2 Million Bikers to DC do believe in God, Country, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights – as written. That means there should not be change. We don’t care about all of those Bill of Rights that came after the original. We want to go back to our Founding Fathers’ views and beliefs. We are one nation under God, and without God, we are not America. I’m gonna tell you right now, the first thing that I hear somebody talk about is ‘I have freedom from religion.’ No sir that’s not what it says, it says freedom of religion. Do not preach to me about this not being a God country. It was founded on God. They came over here and left to come here to be able to have the freedom to be a Christian, and to have the God that we have, that brought this country together, that this country was created after.
Bee may want to think through her position: getting rid of all those later amendments and returning to the vision of the founders would not only make slavery legal and abolish women’s right to vote, it would also allow President Obama to run for a third term.
Bee also targeted the supposed threat of Sharia law and churches that accept “perversion” – presumably homosexuality.
You know what, y’all? I want to explain something. This is no longer about Democrat. This is no longer about Republican. This is about getting rid of those who are trying to enslave us. This is about getting rid of those who are trying to push their Sharia law on us. Let me tell you something. [audience: “Christian blood in this earth!”] That’s it. We are God’s people and if we don’t get our own churches to stand up and quit submitting and talking about, it’s ok for us to be different. Perversion is perversion and per the Bible it is not acceptable in God’s eyes. And we’ve got to quit letting others tell us it’s ok. It’s not. … And who are we? We are God fearing Americans. We are homeland security, and we’re taking our country back.
Bee and a colleague said the group is launching political organizations in every state, will mount a major campaign in 2014, and is preparing to launch a social networking site that will be based outside the United States and therefore beyond the prying eyes of the NSA.KRABI — An official who was murdered alongside his entire family Monday was at the forefront of efforts to crack down on land encroachment, a relative said.
Gunmen in army fatigues shot and killed Worayuth Sanlang, 46, and seven of his family members – including his three young children – at their home in Krabi on Monday night. Central police have taken over the case, but police commanders on Tuesday refused to disclose details of their investigation to the media, including the possible motive behind the killings.
“We have not concluded anything yet,” police commissioner Chakthip Chaijinda told reporters Tuesday in a series of non-answers. “I cannot tell you anything yet. We are working on the matter.”
Gunmen in Army Fatigues Murder Family of 8: Police
The shootings at the Sanlang family residence left eight people dead. Three people, a woman and two young children, survived the incident but remain hospitalized. All of them were shot in the head.
While police would not publicly speculate on the motive, Worayuth’s father-in-law said the killing could have been related to his duty as a village administrator for Ban Klang community.
Jare Bootterb, whose daughter was also killed in the massacre, told reporters Tuesday that Worayuth spearheaded a campaign to take back more than 100 rai of public lands occupied illegally by local residents.
Worayuth also filed lawsuits against a number of officials for negligence, Jare said, without naming any of them.
Land Wars in Krabi
Similar to its neighboring provinces in the resource-rich southern region, Krabi is fraught with a history of land disputes and misuse of land concessions granted by the government to farmers, commonly known as S.P.K. deeds.
Although the law says S.P.K. concessions can only be granted to low income farmers on the condition that the lands cannot be used for commercial operations, business owners are known to pay farmers to serve as their nominees and build resorts and economic crops on the lands.
Officials vow action on this practice on a yearly basis, and the current military regime that came to power in a 2014 coup is no different. In August the junta invoked its absolute power under Section 44 and seized 10,000 rai of allegedly misused lands in Krabi alone.
An unnamed police source was quoted by some media agencies as saying that Worayuth had recently filed lawsuits against eight residents in Krabi province for land encroachment.
CCTV Missing
The killings of Worayuth and his family attracted much attention – and speculation – due to their audacious nature, even by the standards of a country known for frequent gun violence.
Citing survivors’ accounts, police said a group of armed gunmen dressed in army camo entered the Sanlang family home at about 4pm on Monday. The gunmen reportedly identified themselves as soldiers on a drug raid and detained everyone in the residence as they waited for Worayuth to return home.
Once the village chief returned, he was held alongside his family before the gunmen opened fire, police said. Worayuth’s car also went missing, presumably stolen by the perpetrators in the aftermath.
The dead include Worayuth; his wife Duangporn Salang, 36; and his daughters, whose identities have not been disclosed, aged 13, 11 and 6. His relatives Suriya Sanlang, 28; Sutthipong Primdam, 29; Anna Bootterb, 26; and 6-year-old Kingthian Sanlang were also killed.
Investigators from the central police force have been dispatched to take over the case, but police said they have been instructed not to give interviews to the media.
“I cannot give you any news. Please talk to the commander,” investigator chief Suthin Sappuang said by phone.
A number of media agencies also quoted police sources as saying the gunmen took off with a hard drive containing footage from security cameras installed at Worayuth’s residence.
In an interview with reporters, police commissioner Chakthip would not confirm the report and only said police are investigating all possible leads.
It is also unclear whether the gunmen were security officers or impersonators. Speaking at Tuesday’s news conference, junta chairman Prayuth Chan-ocha urged the public to wait for police to solve the case.
“Police will have to investigate everything [including] whether they are officials,” Gen. Prayuth said. “If they are indeed officials, then we must find them and jail them. Why would that be so difficult?”This blocky monolith occupying an entire city square on Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill is the Rayburn building, built in the 1960s as new office space for the House of Representatives. It’s design frequently evokes soliloquies on “monstrous,” “soul deadening,” and “fascist” architecture.
The layout of the Rayburn building resembles a corrupted letter “H,” with tentacle stubs jutting outward off the center and inward on the ends.
The “H” shape has two unintended impacts on the building. First: its windowless hallways are impossible to navigate. To get from one corner to the opposite you need to make a right, a left, another right and another left. Second, it occupies the maximum amount of real estate with the minimum amount of usable space. Less than 20 percent of the Rayburn’s floorspace is offices. The rest is taken up by corridors, garages, cafeterias, elevators, and so on.
Rayburn has a five-acre footprint, and looming four stories over the Hill it is larger than the nearby Capitol building. The height is even more pronounced at the southwestern corner of the building, where a drop in elevation exposes the subbasement level and gives the appearance of a six-story building.
The entire facade is clad in seven million pounds of blank white marble. It can be difficult to appreciate the overbearing scale in photographs, but standing at its base it is impossible to ignore how Rayburn dwarfs its human inhabitants and much more restrained neighboring offices.
The sparse decorations come across as random, bizarre, and a little amusing. One one side of the building you can find an unidentified topless Art Deco statue with an enormous sword; another is adorned by horses with drinking horns rising out of their hindquarters. Don’t be embarrassed if you miss the symbolic meaning of these statues; there is none.
Architectural quirks abound on the inside of the Rayburn building. When it opened, the Washington Post called out the numerous “stairways that lead nowhere” and baffling designs that result in “hot and cold air blowing into offices at the same time.” The building also used to have an underground swimming pool and Capitol Police shooting range (recently abandoned because of bounce-back bullets.)
The building was designed by a congressional commission headed by powerful Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, and it was built under the guidance of George Stewart. Stewart was a former congressman, and college dropout, lacking any formal training in architecture.I'm glad I got an assortment of various things. was like digging into a Xmas stocking. It was a shame that it didn't arrive in time for Xmas but what can you do. The Polish sweets were like different flavoured turkish delight type sweets. taste pretty good. Saving the chocolate bar for later but I'm not really a connoisseur of chocolate so I'm sure it'll taste like chocolate. Same with the Oreos, they'll be saved for later. The Youth Olympics stuff was a bit random but I appreciate the enthusiasm into the event. A hand fan will come in use I'm sure and the pins I can wear in support and confuse people when they ask what they are. I love that I now own my own pair of chopsticks. They're definitely something I never knew I wanted but now that I have them, They'll be use at every opportunity. They're the gift I'm most pleased with. Now the plate is a great gesture, but a little odd. My mum loves it so, hey, You made her happy, although it's unfortunate that it got chipped in shipping. So thank you, I really appreciate your gifts and hope you had a great Xmas and continue to have a fantastic new year.Image copyright Ed Miller Image caption Nirmal Sethia has been selling tea for more than 50 years
"Tea is like a beautiful woman," says Nirmal Sethia.
"You look for the deep characteristics. There's no need to concentrate on the appearance."
For someone who has worked in the tea industry for more than 50 years, Anglo-Indian businessman Nirmal Sethia has lost none of his passion for the drink.
Now in his 70s, he also still takes tea very seriously. "Tea is life," he says. "Tea is religion, tea is music."
The co-founder and boss of upmarket brand Newby Teas, Mr Sethia's relationship with tea started in London after the end of World War Two.
However, Mr Sethia, the son of a successful third-generation Indian businessman, initially just wanted to have fun in life.
Looking back on his teenage years, he says: "I was a rebel.
"I used to see all the boys smoking in London and wanted some of that. Smoking, and drinking, and girls looked exciting to me, even at 13."
It was then that he told his father that he didn't want to go to school any more.
"I knew that route wasn't for me. I didn't want to do exams, and wanted something more exciting."
Image copyright NK Sethia Image caption The teenage Nirmal Sethia initially had other interests
A chance encounter one day with someone who worked in a tea supplier led to Mr Sethia becoming an apprentice tea taster for one of the biggest tea merchants in London, something he believes was the hand of God guiding him.
"It was my first lucky break," he says. "Divine intervention I suppose.
"Someone I knew saw me smoking outside the tea offices, and seemed to see something in me. He worked there and introduced me to the boss."
'No money'
That first encounter on a London street in the late 1950s started a lifelong love affair with tea for Mr Sethia.
He was soon working for one of biggest tea importers in the Republic of Ireland as a buyer in India, tasked with buying tea at auctions in Kolkata (formerly called Calcutta).
Image copyright Newby Teas Image caption Mr Sethia says tea drinking should never be rushed
His father was impressed with how his son had taken to working in the tea industry, and encouraged him to do more.
So with his dad's support, the young Nirmal Sethia started his own business - Sethia Tea Estates - from the family's home in Kolkata, buying and selling teas from all over the world, for tea merchants the length and breadth of the UK and Republic of Ireland.
By then tea had really taken over his life, and Mr Sethia bought a tea plantation in the north eastern Indian state of Assam.
"I didn't have any money [left over]... I used to sleep on the veranda of one of the buildings in the tea garden and drink tea," he says.
"I taught myself about the different characteristics and subtleties in flavour.
I seemed to have a gift for tasting tea. I was able to distinguish and discern teas from different parts of India and beyond, something that impressed the buyers I met."
Wife's support
Having made a success of his tea business, Mr Sethia's destiny took a different path in 1965 when he started his own company dealing in jute, a vegetable fibre used to make rope and bags.
He says: "My uncle was running the family business, but I didn't think he was doing a very good job of it.
Image copyright ADRIAN WOOLFE Image caption Mr Sethia says his late wife Chitra was his rock
"I thought I could do better. The arrogance of youth, I suppose.
"I went to my father who loved the idea of me thinking I could do better than his brother. The sparkle in his eye assured me I had to make this business a success, which I did."
This new company, N Sethia Group, became Mr Sethia's main interest and over the years has expanded across a number of business sectors, including banking and property.
However, his love of tea remained. Fast forward a few decades, and tea was once again to come knocking at his door.
Mr Sethia says: "My nephews wanted to start a tea business in early 2000."
Image copyright Newby Teas Image caption Newby sells a number of different teas
"They knew I still had contacts in the tea business and asked me for help, something I was willing to give them."
And so Mr Sethia became a co-founder of Newby Teas.
However, the business struggled in its early years, and lost money.
Mr Sethia was going to quit, but his late wife Chitra Devi Sethia persuaded him not to.
He says: "She said one thing to me. If anyone can make it work you can.
Image copyright NK Sethia Image caption Mr Sethia owns one of the world's largest collections of tea accessories
"That's when I knew she was right. With her support I could do anything. She was my rock, always there to stop me from falling."
So Mr Sethia knuckled down, and turned around the business.
Today it has a turnover of around $15m a year (£10m) a year.
While its teas are for sale in the UK, Russia is its largest market, and it is expanding into the US.
No milk
Mr Sethia says he is on a mission to teach people about tea, and struggles to think about the cheap tea that many people drink.
Yet he concedes that Newby's prices - nearly 40 pence per teabag, compared with around 2p for a regular - might be seen by some as too expensive.
Image copyright Newby Teas Image caption Newby's teas are processed at its own factory in India
Whatever tea you drink, he says you shouldn't add anything to it.
"Tea shouldn't have sugar, or milk, or rose water, or anything else added to it," he says. "The subtle flavours should be obvious.
"You don't slurp tea, you sip it. It's not supposed to be drunk quickly, it's to be savoured and enjoyed."
He adds: "A good cup of tea is like a journey to the heavens. It's there to delight in."Hi, I’m Clayton Weller. I’m a director, performer and writer. I would most definitely consider myself an artist. I’ve worked for years to hone my craft. I’ve taken classes, held myself to a relentless production schedule, and worked under people who have been producing art for longer than I’ve been alive.
Still, the best thing I’ve ever done for my art was … working in a tech startup.
A little over a year and a half ago, I was working in a non-profit arts organization thinking to myself: “I’ve made it. This is how artists make it. I’m a professional artist.” It didn’t matter that I was actually working in an office, or that I was getting paid well below market after a four month unpaid internship. It didn’t even matter that my artistic contribution was precisely… nothing. Art!
Then, through friend of a friend, I got hooked up with Kyle Kesterson and Dwayne Mercredi. We formed what became Freak’n Genius, and I plunged feet first into the Seattle startup community. A first hackathon, an accelerator, five offices, and $500,000 of funding later — I’m fundamentally changed.
The startup scene is vibrant and is constantly reinventing itself. While running Freak’n Genius, I stayed active in the arts community and I finally had some perspective. At a startup, I was doing satisfying work, getting paid to do it, and wondering: “Why isn’t art like this?”
I couldn’t answer it. I didn’t know why artists starve — why “theater is dying,” why arts organizations are struggling, etc. I couldn’t come up with a satisfactory reason.
Despite how awesome my life was, I felt a moral imperative to leave the tech community and take what I learned over to the world of art.
I’ve learned a bunch about apps, engineers, programming languages, servers, and all that tech specific stuff. But, that’s not the reason the tech startup community is absolutely killing it. It’s how the community is oriented. You grab the world with both hands, shake it, and demand its attention. Here’s how you do it:
Business isn’t what artists think it is
When you say the word “business” to someone, especially an artist, they automatically assume you’re talking about something stuffy, rigid, uncompromising, and [insert horrible adjective].
You say “business” but they hear “bureaucracy.” THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING!
To treat them as such is the equivalent of saying “art” and “hipsters” are equivalent.
To eschew something because it can be done poorly, is a disservice to yourself, and might rival einsteins famous definition of insanity (look it up plebes!).
Startup methodology makes sense
One of the first things I did when I began my startup awakening was to read The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. This book blew my mind. It made sense. Every page was: “Of course!” *forehead slap*.
Talking directly to people, iterating ideas before execution, creating a feedback loop with measurable data; it all makes perfect sense.
By doing this you create a real connection with your customer (audience) and develop a product (art) people will not only tolerate, but will clamor for. In terms that an artist would use: your art becomes relevant.
That’s a big deal.
The average artist does NONE of these things. Not only that, they intentionally avoid them. They lock themselves away to pursue their secret “vision.” When they receive negative criticism, they blame their audience (customer). WHAT?!?
There IS money out there
Get ready for the craziest thing that artists say: “There’s just no money out there.” That’s simply not true.
It’s a rationalization for them not making any money. It’s a way for them to feel OK with not being immediately successful. Let’s crunch some numbers, because that’s what I’ve learned in the Startup community:
Even the most frugal of Americans spent over $1,000 on entertainment in 2010 (the national average was around $2,500). Extrapolated for the total population of Seattle, we have a minimum of half a BILLION dollars.
In 2009, that average per capita income of a Seattleite was about $40,000. That means we could pay 12,500 people to do nothing but art if we wanted to.
If we gave up ice cream, we could employ another 750.
(Entertainment stats – Income stats – Ice cream stats – Population from Google. Math done by yours truly)
You don’t have to just take my word for this.
I’ve been in the arts community for a little over a month now. In that time, I’ve rallied people behind these “new” ideas and have started changing things already.
I launched a |
Reprocessing is expensive, however, and has generally been more expensive than simply buying fresh fuel from the mine.
Another possibility is to breed Pu-239 from the U-238 through neutron capture, or various other means. In order to do this, higher energy neutrons are required, which means they cannot be moderated as in a conventional reactor. The simplest way to achieve this is to further enrich the original fuel well beyond what is needed for use in a moderated reactor, to the point where the U-235 maintains criticality even with the fast neutrons. The extra fast neutrons escaping the fuel load can then be used to breed fuel in a U-238 assembly surrounding the reactor core, most commonly taken from the stocks of depleted uranium. The Pu-239 is then chemically separated and mixed into fresh fuel for conventional reactors, in the same fashion as normal reprocessing, but the total volume of fuel created in this process is much greater. In spite of this, like reprocessing, the economics of breeder reactors has proven unattractive, and commercial breeder plants have ceased operation.
Fusion basics [ edit ]
Fusion reactors typically burn a mixture of deuterium (D) and tritium (T). When heated to millions of degrees, the kinetic energy in the fuel begins to overcome the natural electrostatic repulsion between nuclei, the so-called coulomb barrier, and the fuel begins to undergo fusion. This reaction gives off an alpha particle and a high energy neutron of 14 MeV. A key requirement to the economic operation of a fusion reactor is that the alphas deposit their energy back into the fuel mix, heating it so that additional fusion reactions take place. This leads to a condition not unlike the chain reaction in the fission case, known as ignition.
Deuterium can be obtained by the separation of hydrogen isotopes in sea water (see heavy water production). Tritium has a short half life of just over a decade, so only trace amounts are found in nature. To fuel the reactor, the neutrons from the reaction are used to breed more tritium through a reaction in a blanket of lithium surrounding the reaction chamber. Tritium breeding is key to the success of a D-T fusion cycle, and to date this technique has not been demonstrated. Predictions based on computer modeling suggests that the breeding ratios are quite small and a fusion plant would barely be able to cover its own use. Many years would be needed to breed enough surplus to start another reactor.
Hybrid concepts [ edit ]
Fusion–fission designs essentially replace the lithium blanket with a blanket of fission fuel, either natural uranium ore or even nuclear waste. The fusion neutrons have more than enough energy to cause fission in the U-238, as well as many of the other elements in the fuel, including some of the transuranic waste elements. The reaction can continue even when all of the U-235 is burned off; the rate is controlled not by the neutrons from the fission events, but the neutrons being supplied by the fusion reactor.
Fission occurs naturally because each event gives off more than one neutron capable of producing additional fission events. Fusion, at least in D-T fuel, gives off only a single neutron, and that neutron is not capable of producing more fusion events. When that neutron strikes fissile material in the blanket, one of two reactions may occur. In many cases, the kinetic energy of the neutron will cause one or two neutrons to be struck out of the nucleus without causing fission. These neutrons still have enough energy to cause other fission events. In other cases the neutron will be captured and cause fission, which will release two or three neutrons. This means that every fusion neutron in the fusion–fission design can result in anywhere between two and four neutrons in the fission fuel.
This is a key concept in the hybrid concept, known as fission multiplication. For every fusion event, several fission events may occur, each of which gives off much more energy than the original fusion, about 11 times. This greatly increases the total power output of the reactor. This has been suggested as a way to produce practical fusion reactors in spite of the fact that no fusion reactor has yet reached break-even, by multiplying the power output using cheap fuel or waste. However, a number of studies have repeatedly demonstrated that this only becomes practical when the overall reactor is very large, 2 to 3 GWt, which makes it expensive to build.[7]
These processes also have the side-effect of breeding Pu-239 or U-233, which can be removed and used as fuel in conventional fission reactors. This leads to an alternate design where the primary purpose of the fusion–fission reactor is to reprocess waste into new fuel. Although far less economical than chemical reprocessing, this process also burns off some of the nastier elements instead of simply physically separating them out. This also has advantages for non-proliferation, as enrichment and reprocessing technologies are also associated with nuclear weapons production. However, the cost of the nuclear fuel produced is very high, and is unlikely to be able to compete with conventional sources.
Neutron economy [ edit ]
A key issue for the fusion–fission concept is the number and lifetime of the neutrons in the various processes, the so-called neutron economy.
In a pure fusion design, the neutrons are used for breeding tritium in a lithium blanket. Natural lithium consists of about 92% Li-7 and the rest is mostly Li-6. Li-7 requires neutron energies even higher than those released by fission, around 5 MeV, well within the range of energies provided by fusion. This reaction produces Tritium and Helium-4, and another slow neutron. Li-6 can react with high or low energy neutrons, including those released by the Li-7 reaction. This means that a single fusion reaction can produce several tritiums, which is a requirement if the reactor is going to make up for natural decay and losses in the fusion processes.
When the lithium blanket is replaced, or supplanted, by fission fuel in the hybrid design, neutrons that do react with the fissile material are no longer available for tritium breeding. The new neutrons released from the fission reactions can be used for this purpose, but only in Li-6. One could process the lithium to increase the amount of Li-6 in the blanket, making up for these losses, but the downside to this process is that the Li-6 reaction only produces one tritium atom. Only the high-energy reaction between the fusion neutron and Li-7 can create more than one tritium, and this is essential for keeping the reactor running.
To address this issue, at least some of the fission neutrons must also be used for tritium breeding in Li-6. Every one that does is no longer available for fission, reducing the reactor output. This requires a very careful balance if one wants the reactor to be able to produce enough tritium to keep itself running, while also producing enough fission events to keep the fission side energy positive. If these cannot be accomplished simultaneously, there is no reason to build a hybrid. Even if this balance can be maintained, it might only occur at a level that is economically infeasible.
Overall economy [ edit ]
Through the early development of the hybrid concept the question of overall economics appeared difficult to handle. A series of studies starting in the late 1970s provided a much clearer picture of the hybrid in a complete fuel cycle, and allowed the economics to be better understood. These studies appeared to indicate there was no reason to build a hybrid.
One of the most detailed of these studies was published in 1980 by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Their study noted that the hybrid would produce most of its energy indirectly, both through the fission events in its own reactor, and much more by providing Pu-239 to fuel conventional fission reactors. In this overall picture, the hybrid is essentially identical to the breeder reactor, which uses fast neutrons from plutonium fission to breed more fuel in a fission blanket in largely the same fashion as the hybrid. Both require chemical processing to remove the bred Pu-239, both presented the same proliferation and safety risks as a result, and both produced about the same amount of fuel. Since that fuel is the primary source of energy in the overall cycle, the two systems were almost identical in the end.
What was not identical, however, was the technical maturity of the two designs. The hybrid would require considerable additional research and development before it would be known if it could even work, and even if that were demonstrated, the end result would be a system essentially identical to breeders which were already being built at that time. The report concluded:
The investment of time and money required to commercialize the hybrid cycle could only be justified by a real or perceived advantage of the hybrid over the classical FBR. Our analysis leads us to conclude that no such advantage exists. Therefore, there is not sufficient incentive to demonstrate and commercialize the fusion–fission hybrid.
Rationale [ edit ]
The fusion process alone currently does not achieve sufficient gain (power output over power input) to be viable as a power source. By using the excess neutrons from the fusion reaction to in turn cause a high-yield fission reaction (close to 100%) in the surrounding subcritical fissionable blanket, the net yield from the hybrid fusion–fission process can provide a targeted gain of 100 to 300 times the input energy (an increase by a factor of three or four over fusion alone). Even allowing for high inefficiencies on the input side (i.e. low laser efficiency in ICF and Bremsstrahlung losses in Tokamak designs), this can still yield sufficient heat output for economical electric power generation. This can be seen as a shortcut to viable fusion power until more efficient pure fusion technologies can be developed, or as an end in itself to generate power, and also consume existing stockpiles of nuclear fissionables and waste products.
In the LIFE project at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LLNL, using technology developed at the National Ignition Facility, the goal is to use fuel pellets of deuterium and tritium surrounded by a fissionable blanket to produce energy sufficiently greater than the input (laser) energy for electrical power generation. The principle involved is to induce inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in the fuel pellet which acts as a highly concentrated point source of neutrons which in turn converts and fissions the outer fissionable blanket. In parallel with the ICF approach, the University of Texas at Austin is developing a system based on the tokamak fusion reactor, optimising for nuclear waste disposal versus power generation. The principles behind using either ICF or tokamak reactors as a neutron source are essentially the same (the primary difference being that ICF is essentially a point-source of neutrons while Tokamaks are more diffuse toroidal sources).
Use to dispose of nuclear waste [ edit ]
The surrounding blanket can be a fissile material (enriched uranium or plutonium) or a fertile material (capable of conversion to a fissionable material by neutron bombardment) such as thorium, depleted uranium or spent nuclear fuel. Such subcritical reactors (which also include particle accelerator-driven neutron spallation systems) offer the only currently-known means of active disposal (versus storage) of spent nuclear fuel without reprocessing. Fission by-products produced by the operation of commercial light water nuclear reactors (LWRs) are long-lived and highly radioactive, but they can be consumed using the excess neutrons in the fusion reaction along with the fissionable components in the blanket, essentially destroying them by nuclear transmutation and producing a waste product which is far safer and less of a risk for nuclear proliferation. The waste would contain significantly reduced concentrations of long-lived, weapons-usable actinides per gigawatt-year of electric energy produced compared to the waste from a LWR. In addition, there would be about 20 times less waste per unit of electricity produced. This offers the potential to efficiently use the very large stockpiles of enriched fissile materials, depleted uranium, and spent nuclear fuel.
Safety [ edit ]
In contrast to current commercial fission reactors, hybrid reactors potentially demonstrate what is considered inherently safe behavior because they remain deeply subcritical under all conditions and decay heat removal is possible via passive mechanisms. The fission is driven by neutrons provided by fusion ignition events, and is consequently not self-sustaining. If the fusion process is deliberately shut off or the process is disrupted by a mechanical failure, the fission damps out and stops nearly instantly. This is in contrast to the forced damping in a conventional reactor by means of control rods which absorb neutrons to reduce the neutron flux below the critical, self-sustaining, level. The inherent danger of a conventional fission reactor is any situation leading to a positive feedback, runaway, chain reaction such as occurred during the Chernobyl disaster. In a hybrid configuration the fission and fusion reactions are decoupled, i.e. while the fusion neutron output drives the fission, the fission output has no effect whatsoever on the fusion reaction, completely eliminating any chance of a positive feedback loop.
Fuel cycle [ edit ]
There are three main components to the hybrid fusion fuel cycle: deuterium, tritium, and fissionable elements. Deuterium can be derived by separation of hydrogen isotopes in sea water (see heavy water production). Tritium may be generated in the hybrid process itself by absorption of neutrons in lithium bearing compounds. This would entail an additional lithium bearing blanket and a means of collection. The third component is externally derived fissionable materials from demilitarized supplies of fissionables, or commercial nuclear fuel and waste streams. Fusion driven fission also offers the possibility of using Thorium as a fuel, which would greatly increase the potential amount of fissionables available. The extremely energetic nature of the fast neutrons emitted during the fusion events (up to 0.17 the speed of light) can allow normally non-fissioning U-238 to undergo fission directly (without conversion first to Pu-239), enabling refined natural Uranium to be used with very low enrichment, while still maintaining a deeply subcritical regime.
Engineering considerations [ edit ]
Practical engineering designs must first take into account safety as the primary goal. All designs should incorporate passive cooling in combination with refractory materials to prevent melting and reconfiguration of fissionables into geometries capable of un-intentional criticality. Blanket layers of Lithium bearing compounds will generally be included as part of the design to generate Tritium to allow the system to be self-supporting for one of the key fuel element components. Tritium, because of its relatively short half-life and extremely high radioactivity, is best generated on site to obviate the necessity of transportation from a remote location. D-T fuel can be manufactured on site using Deuterium derived from heavy water production and Tritium generated in the hybrid reactor itself. Nuclear spallation to generate additional neutrons can be used to enhance the fission output, with the caveat that this is a tradeoff between the number of neutrons (typically 20-30 neutrons per spallation event) against a reduction of the individual energy of each neutron. This is a consideration if the reactor is to use natural Thorium as a fuel. While high energy (0.17c) neutrons produced from fusion events are capable of directly causing fission in both Thorium and U-238, the lower energy neutrons produced by spallation generally cannot. This is a tradeoff which affects the mixture of fuels against the degree of spallation used in the design.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Citations [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]That old tradition of stopping to pick up a heads-up penny has lost some of its luster in the digital age.
One bank, however, is trying to bring that custom back in a big way — and is even offering the chance to win $1,000 to those who find the “lucky” ones.
As WXYZ-TV notes, it’s all part of Ally Bank’s “Lucky Penny” program:
As Ally announced on Wednesday, they’ve hidden 100 “Ally Lucky Pennies” in 10 cities across the U.S.:
Austin, Texas
Charlotte, N.C.
Chicago
Denver
Detroit
Los Angeles
Miami
New York City
San Diego
Washington, D.C
If you’re lucky enough to live in one of these cities, Ally is dropping hints about where to find them through social media:
https://twitter.com/Ally/status/788412228345167872
https://twitter.com/Ally/status/788412549020745729
These fake pennies are the same copper color as their genuine counterparts, but there are few very notable differences.
While they’re slightly larger than real pennies, it’s the imprints on the front and back that really stand out.
On the front is printed Ally Bank’s logo:
While on the back is a reminder of the coin’s value, along with the words “Lucky You”:
Most importantly, perhaps, is that if you’re lucky enough — or clever enough — to find one, you could earn $1,000 by entering the penny’s code at AllyLuckyPenny.com.
As Ally’s Chief Marketing Officer Andrea Riley explained, though, the campaign’s goal is about more than the search:
“Ally’s Lucky Penny initiative is a great example of how we Do It Right for consumers by inviting them to be a part of the search, thus raising awareness and creating opportunities for new conversations about money. We hope that people will have fun searching for Ally Lucky Pennies in their cities and that the campaign will inspire people to look at money in a different way.”
The pennies can be redeemed online through the end of the year.
So, if you find yourself in one of these ten cities over the next few months, it just might be worth making some time for a scavenger hunt.Biological organisms are wondrous little molecular factories, their enzyme catalyzed reactions often accomplishing in a single step what would confound a chemist in a well-stocked laboratory. Researchers have attempted to harness these biosynthetic pathways to create complex molecules not easily synthesized by conventional methods.
Psilocybin is produced via a biosynthetic grid where enzymes act on various closely related intermediate compounds in turn. The enzymes do not appear to be particularly picky about the compounds they modify. For instance, dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is hydroxylated to 4-HO-DMT naturally in psilocybin mushrooms. Other precursor compounds like tryptamine and methyltryptamine are also hydroxlyated to 4-hydroxy-tryptamine and 4-hydroxy-methyltryptamine respectively.
If an entirely new synthetic tryptamine of similar structure was introduced to these mushrooms, would the same enzymes act on it? This could produce a new and unique psychedelic compound where some of the heavy lifting of synthesis is accomplished by the biological expertise of the mushroom itself and not by conventional laboratory chemistry.
Jochen Gartz decided to attempt this by adding diethyltryptamine (DET, a close relative of DMT) to the fruiting body of psilocybe cubensis. He hoped that it would be hydroxylated to 4-HO-DET, or possibly phosphorylated even further to 4-PO-DET. He first colonized a mixture of cow dung and rice grain with psilocybe cubensis, and then injected it with a solution of DET. Within four weeks mushrooms were produced, and five total flushes of mushrooms were obtained.
First Second Third Fourth Fifth 4-HO-DET 2.5% 0.2% 3.1% 3.3% 2.1% 4-PO-DET – 0.8% 0.01% – 0.02%
all values % by weight of dry mushroom
The project was a success, with significant amounts of 4-HO-DET produced. No DET was found in the dried mushrooms. A mass balance was not conducted to determine the efficiency of the conversion and possible losses in the fruiting body itself. The demonstrated non-selectivity of the enzymes in psilocybe cubensis toward other tryptamine derivatives opened to the door to the possibility of producing truly exotic and difficult to synthesize compounds such as 4-HO-5-MeO-DMT.
Despite this little additional data is available on the tryptamine derivatives that are able to be substituted in the fruiting body and the repeatability of the experiment. Some have found little success, noting only a decrease in the size of the mushrooms produced. Other attempts have discovered perhaps a qualitative difference in potency and character of the psychedelic experience, but this has not been substantiated by quantitative measurement.
Biotransformation of tryptamine derivatives in mycelial cultures of Psilocybe. Gartz, J. Journal of Basic Microbiology, Volume 29, Issue 6, Pages 347-352 (1989).
Related Posts:The Truth
January 15, 2010
“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.”
-Benjamin Franklin
It is now official. A majority of Americans are willing to give up liberty in order to be safer from terrorism. A stunning new McClatchy-Ipsos poll has found that 51 percent of Americans agree with this statement: “it is necessary to give up some civil liberties in order to make the country safe from terrorism.”
Only 36 percent of those polled agreed with this statement: “some of the government’s proposals will go too far in restricting the public’s civil liberties.”
So are Americans really this stupid?
Have they really been brainwashed into willingly giving up their essential liberties just so they can feel a little safer?
Maybe they have.
After all, a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll says that 78 percent of Americans approve of the new full body scanners that the U.S. government wants to install in all U.S. airports.
[efoods]So almost 4 out of 5 Americans are perfectly fine with letting airport security officials gawk at their naked bodies just so they can feel a bit safer from terrorists.
How sick is that?
The truth is that when Americans allow themselves to become so wimpy and so fearful that they are willing to throw many of their most important freedoms out the window, those responsible for the terror scares have won.
In fact, Amerika (formerly America) is very quickly becoming a brutal police state where privacy is a thing of the past and where free speech and alternative points of view are openly repressed.
For example, in a 2008 academic paper President Barack Obama’s appointee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs advocated “cognitive infiltration” of groups that advocate “conspiracy theories”.
Infiltration of groups with alternative viewpoints that the government doesn’t like?
Do we live in East Germany?
Apparently we do.
Americans do not care about their freedoms and liberties anymore, so now they are being taken away.
And apparently the message of the most recent polls is that Americans are perfectly fine with that.Will Anderson managed to sit down with music composer Lorne Balfe after arriving from his latest tour and chat about the launch of two of his projects – Beyond: Two Souls and Skylanders: SWAP Force, as well as the role of music in video games and more.
Lorne Balfe: Hello Will, how are you?
Will: Hi! Not too bad. How are things over in England?
Balfe: I think great. I think I just slept all day. [laughs] My jet lag’s so bad…I flew over and got into Paris. And then, had to go and do things for promoting Beyond, and it all just caught up on me now. […] I woke up 3 minutes ago. Perhaps a waste of a day, but anyway. [laughs]
Will: Well, yeah, I imagine you have been pretty busy with Beyond coming out, and you’ve also got Skylanders (Giants), I know, so that’s probably keeping you a little busy too
Balfe: Well yeah, and also I’m in the middle of 4 other films at the moment. I think I spent about 2 days straight at the studio before I got on the plane.
Will: [laughs] Holy cow!
Balfe: Yeah, so. I couldn’t believe it! I opened my eyes, and my phone was reminding me that I had stuff to do today. It was a wonderful start.
Will: Well, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your super busy schedule to do this.
Balfe: Oh my pleasure!
Will: I’ll try not to take too much of your time here. So, obviously, you’re very busy with a lot of projects right now. One of which is Beyond: Two Souls. I’m sure the studio work is done, with a lot of appearances and everything…. But it releases next week, so that was one of the reasons we wanted to sit down and chat with you about Beyond and composing the music, and taking over from Mr. Normand Corbeil. So first off, what’s it like in a typical day for Mr. Lorne Balfe, when you’ve got all these projects [going on]?
Balfe: A typical day – oof. I think…there is no typical day. Because, the thing is that with games…well, when you work on a film, you’ll have, normally – and this is normally – you’ll have a finished product; you’ll have the complete film. They’ll still be editing it, they’ll still have to colour correct it, and they could be adding visual effects to it – but you have the structure of the film. So when you start writing, you can get into it, and really start creating a long arc of musically telling what the story is. Now with a game, that takes a bit longer, because they’re developing that game over 2-3 years. So you can be busy working on it, and then all of a sudden there’s silence for a couple of weeks and there’s nothing to do, because the scenes haven’t been created. So, I find that that’s why some projects can take a long time. I think Beyond, I was on for over a year and a half. Mainly because there would be scenes to do at the beginning, but then there would be quietness. So basically every day is slightly different. There is no straight structural order to my days – fortunately, because I think if there was, I’d probably go mad. [laughs]
W: [laughs] So, you’re one of the few game composers in the industry that has a lot of experience going back and forth with film work and videogames. I know you do a lot of work with Hans Zimmer, with – I believe – Pirates [of the Caribbean], and a couple other movies.
B: Quite a few… more than a couple. I started work with Hans about eight or nine years ago. My first real film with him was the first Batman, and then every Batman since.
W: So, with having that contrast between the film industry and the games industry, what would you say the bigger difference is, other than the schedule, when going about the composing?
B: Absolutely no difference.
W: No?
B: Absolutely nothing. I think there used to be a big segregation between game music, film music, and also television music. And now those borderlines have gone. [Back then] when you were a TV composer, that was you, and it was difficult to be branching out into a different medium. And that is gone now. And you’re seeing it more and more common for film composers having a go at the game world. I think the game world is far more complicated than writing for films. For films, you sit there and you write an hour-and-a-half of music and you know exactly how much music you have to write. But for a game, like Beyond, I think I wrote three-to-four hours’ worth of music. So you’re writing far much more, and you don’t necessarily know where the music going to end up sometimes. With a film, you can write the whole score, and then you step back and then you start taking it out sometimes, because the director, the editor and you then slowly start realizing you have too much music. And with a game, like with Assassin’s [Creed], it’s unimaginable to be able to fathom how much music there is going to be in the game… [There’s] almost 28-29 hours’ worth of gameplay, you can’t have 28-29 hours of constant music, and it’s got to be selectively not so continuous and that’s a difficult task. And certainly with Beyond, it was very complicated, because there are so many options, and different ways the route of Jody’s life can go; there has to be different musical interpretations of what those decisions have to be, which never happens in a film. Sometimes in a film, there will be a different ending, and they could go and film two-to-three different ways of the film ending. With Beyond, you can end up with [many] different ways. So it’s a very difficult process.
W: Oh, I can imagine.
B: But the actual writing of the music is the same process, no matter what medium it is. It’s just that with games, it’s far grander, and there are more options that it makes it more complicated
W: Ok. You mentioned that there used to be a segregation between the different mediums (film, videogames, and television), and we’ve noticed in recent years, big film composers have been experimenting a little bit with coming over with the video games. Hans Zimmer, I see, joined you as producer for this game; Steve Jablonsky did Gears of War 2.
B: Yep and Clint Mansell
W: Yep. So do you feel that it’s just technology, or that the industry has gotten so big that there’s that demand, or is it the cinematics? What is it that you feel is drawing people into the game industry?
B: To me, it’s obvious what the reason is. It’s another platform for people to express and write to. The jump… why I wanted to get into writing music for films, is because I loved being part of a team that’s created a story… and games now… well I think Beyond itself is really what it’s all about; it is a total cross platform. I was reading on YouTube, some people were questioning ‘Is it a film or is it a videogame?’ And composers want to be able to push themselves, and games are naturally the way the future is heading. Games like Beyond: Two Souls, is the future, because it’s a mixture of both, and people are wondering: ‘Oh, it’s a cinematic experience, but also I’m actually playing.’ So to me, it’s going to become more and more composers working on games. And also the cinematics in games are getting… there’s far more of them, and there’s more storytelling, and I think in films – you get beaten quite a lot by the director that you’re punctuating dialogue and properly helping tell the story. So that’s how games are now becoming: instead of running around and shooting people, now there’s very complicated storylines that need help with punctuation and telling the story.
W: Let’s shift gears a little bit here, let’s talk about Two Souls. Obviously, you had to pick up the game midstream. […] From your perspective, as far as the process of coming into this and seeing the game, (I’m not going to ask you details as far as what happens or anything) I’m interested to get your take on the kind of feelings you get when you see Beyond: Two Souls on the screen, and where it drove you to take the music on this one.
B: Well, working backwards, last night in Paris, we watched in [La Grand] Rex Cinema, we played 45 minutes of the game. And it was very surreal, because it was what we would normally regard as a cinema experience: people sitting in seats, eating popcorn, and looking at a big screen. So the buildup to the film being shown was like a film premiere, and watching it on the screen was like watching something what was a CGI-based film, and all of a sudden things would come up onscreen giving options of what decision to make, and automatically you would go, ‘Wait a minute, now I’m in a game’. And I think when you start a project… David had lived with the character of Jody for years, and had a very clear sound of what he wanted. I knew this wasn’t going to be…I think accidentally, the first thought in my head was to not try and do this as an action game, because it’s not really an action game; it’s the story of a life… you chronicle her life right from the very beginning. I think a lot of game music is very loud, and very percussive, and I’ve done enough games where that’s what you do, because you’re trying to get the gamer through this adventure. But the difference with this game was that because there’s that much storytelling, you were able to breathe and think slowly and not make fast decisions, which I think happens quite a lot in games…
So the main thing about was trying to create space musically, and when you see the visuals of the game, just like working on a film, the colours of what you see visually and what is on the screen helps you come up with the sound and colours of your music. So that to me is also the major factor when I saw the Jody character and I saw the scenes, the colours in the scene contribute to the actual sound of the score.
W: Excellent. Now that you’ve seen the story from your perspective and everything, just a kind of general opinion: What’s your feeling of the game and the direction that they took it in?
B: I think… you know, it’s interesting, some people have problems with this kind of platform game. And I don’t understand why. Because to me… I love film, and if I was good at playing games, I would love games. Unfortunately I’m just rubbish at playing games. And the thing is that, this to me is the most perfect experience you can have. It is what you dream of. You sit there, and it’s like being in the film. And also the fact you see characters like Willem Dafoe and Ellen Page that you can relate to, and you automatically feel like you’re in a film. And this is the future, this is the way things are going to go. It lets people that aren’t necessarily hardcore gamers into the world of gaming. Because I know a lot of people who have no interest in playing games, but I know are going to be playing this in a week’s time, because it’s all they’re talking about. So to be opposed with this medium of playing, I just find it’s narrow-minded; I don’t understand why.
W: I know especially with Beyond… actually Quantic Dream’s previous game, Heavy Rain, was a very, very cinematic type experience with a control scheme that didn’t really match up with the traditional action or platformer type of game; it was a very interactive experience from a life perspective. With Beyond, it’s kind of interesting, because it’s one of two or three games that has been featured in the Tribeca Film Festival, where the game is crossing over into that entertainment media, and being recognized for being so cinematic. So it is really interesting seeing where things are going with it.
B: Yeah. And the whole reason we are where we are with games, is because people have taken risks and progressed. And it’s the same with filmmaking: If we don’t take a risk, we don’t progress, it’s that simple. And we have to do things that are not the norm or the predictive. And what David is doing is fantastic, and if some people have problems with it, just don’t play it! It’s very simple. It’s like when people have problems with my music– just don’t listen to it!
W: Absolutely.
B: We’re never going to keep everybody happy. It’s just impossible, and if that’s your aim in life, you might as well not wake up, because you just can’t do it. And I went through, when I took over the Assassin’s Creed franchise, I never knew how passionate gamers were for music, having come from the film world. Because the film world, I never truly understood how important the music was to games than it was to films, because in a film, you have that 2-hour experience where you sit, you watch, and then you move on with your life. With games, you’re living and breathing this world, and that music becomes your DNA for several months. And boy when a game comes out, they’ll get onto Twitter and they’ll destroy you sometimes. [laughs] It’s like “Why’s there no ambient music? Where’s the ambient music? I hate you because you didn’t give me ambient music!” Strangely enough, some people don’t want ambient music! It’s very hard to win these things.
W: It really is. Well obviously you can’t please everyone all the time. But I do get what you’re saying. It’s very interesting the way that technology has progressed and everything. It’s only just about 15 years that we were listening to videogame music created through MIDI, and I think the technological progression has given gamers – they expect more: the bigger graphics, the higher resolutions, and with it comes the better sound and better music.
B: And I’ve only relatively been in the game world really recently. And I know that when I started, references to music was always based on film. So you would go and talk to the game developers and they would reference films: “We like Bond” or “We like Dark Knight”, […] and now, I never hear anybody reference films. Because games have now realized: “Why do we want to copy films? We should be trying to create our own path in life” which I think is fascinating. Because it is its own identify, and why be cheap, and rip off another world when this is your own unique world?
W: Yes, absolutely. So, you’re always working on new projects, and I know that you’ve done every Skylander game, haven’t you?
B: Uh-huh, yes.
W: And Skylanders: SWAP Force is just around the corner – where do you find time to just sit down and relax? I have to ask!
B: Well, when you do a project like Skylanders, you’re kind of relaxed because I’m kind of allowed to do everything I’m not allowed to do in other projects. If you listen to it, you can kind of tell that the rules don’t exist. That’s the best and joyful thing about Skylanders, because visually it’s crazy! It just looks nuts! And what I love about doing the music for it is that there are no rules really. You can do anything you want musically and use any instruments. You can be using a harmonica and mix it with a classical violin – it’s just its own world of organized chaos. It’s straight fun doing it |
do damage, no matter how threatening they are. The Second Amendment is clear that Americans have a right to arm themselves for protection. Even the loons.”
"The people with the power to do something about this have made the decision to do nothing," Blow argues. "They have calculated that the blood running through our streets is an acceptable level of collateral damage to secure and maintain an increasingly unfettered right to bear arms."
The NRA—and its pet politicians—plays on Americans' latent racism, convincing them that crime is up everywhere, despite all evidence to the contrary, and that the only way to prevent it is unlimited access to automatic weapons. Blow argues that we need a new conversation about gun control altogether, that we "have to develop language for having a conversation that centers on the deconstruction of fear and the elevation of public health and safety, rather than solely on the right to purchase and possess particular kinds of weapons."
It's going to be the definition of an uphill battle. After all, "Republicans made a blood pact with the NRA, and that has prevented us from making any progress. Individual Americans are going to have to awaken to the reality that our gun hoarding has become a hysteria and we are actually safer as a country with fewer weapons, rather than with more of them."
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Let's hope hundreds more don't have to die before we finally do.New polls in the last few days suggested that Mrs. Clinton had regained some ground against her closest competitor, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and that Mr. Biden, if he did jump in, had lost some traction. The polls suggested his absence from the field would give her a more commanding position.
Mr. Sanders, who now emerges as the lone figure seriously challenging Mrs. Clinton for the nomination, welcomed Mr. Biden’s decision. “Joe Biden is a man who has devoted his entire life to public service and to the well being of working families and the middle class,” Mr. Sanders told reporters in New York. “He made a difficult decision based on the needs of his family and his view of his future, and I respect the decision that he made.”
Republicans, for their part, used the decision to needle Mrs. Clinton. “I think Joe Biden made correct decision for him and his family,” Donald J. Trump, the leader in most polls for the Republican presidential nomination, said on Twitter. “Personally, I would rather run against Hillary because her record is so bad.”
Mr. Biden’s ambivalence about running was rooted in raw, and understandable, emotion: By his own account, the vice president has not been entirely himself since Beau Biden died. In public appearances in recent months, he has at times appeared morose and emotionally fragile.
Through most of his vice presidency, Mr. Biden had seemed largely resigned to the idea that he would not run in 2016. But he had seen Beau, the former attorney general of Delaware, as his heir, and some close to him said Mr. Biden began thinking about running to honor his late son.
At the wake for Beau, Mr. Biden told friends that his son in his final days had said he hoped his father would run for president. Mr. Biden shared that story repeatedly in the weeks to follow, striking many who heard it as a form of therapy for a grieving man and not necessarily an indication that he would run.
But questions about Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server and the surge of liberal support for Mr. Sanders as an alternative helped persuade the vice president that there could be an opening.The UK would consider making payments to the EU after it leaves the bloc to secure the best possible access to the EU single market, Brexit Secretary David Davis has said.
Mr Davis told MPs the "major criterion" was getting the best access for goods and services to the European market.
"And if that is included... then of course we would consider it."
But Brexit-backing Tory Peter Bone said "people would be absolutely outraged" if the UK continued to pay the EU.
Later, in a speech to CBI Wales in Cardiff, Mr Davis sought to reassure business leaders that immigration controls after Brexit will not be imposed "in a way that it is contrary to the national and economic interest".
On Thursday in the Commons, Labour MP Wayne David asked Mr Davis: "Will the government consider making any contribution in any shape or form for access to the single market?"
Mr Davis replied: "The major criterion here is that we get the best possible access for goods and services to the European market - and if that is included in what you are talking about, then of course we will consider it."
His comments prompted sterling to rise by 1% to $1.26 against the dollar.
But Mr Bone told the BBC: "People will be absolutely outraged if we came out of the EU and then carried on paying them £15bn a year, £20bn a year, whatever the figure is - no I don't think it's going to happen."
However, Chancellor Philip Hammond said Mr Davis was "absolutely right not to rule out the possibility that we might want to contribute in some way to some form of mechanism".
He said: "You can't go into any negotiation expecting to get every single objective that you set out with and concede nothing along the way - it will have to be a deal that works for both sides."
But prominent Leave campaigner and former Conservative cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said Mr Davis had been simply not ruling anything in or out of the government's Brexit negotiations.
"I don't think there's any way in which you can reach a deal where you can say 'I'll pay some money in and therefore you allow us access' because you might as well have tariff barriers," he told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme.
'Strange' negotiations
And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was sceptical about Mr Davis's suggestion. "The idea of paying for access? I'm not really sure what that means," he said.
"If Europe puts tariff barriers against products coming from Britain, the government's going to pay all the tariffs - that sounds a very strange way of entering the negotiations when you're trying to get market access both ways. It doesn't sound a very well thought-out policy."
What is the single market?
In the early 1990s the European common market grew into the single market we know today.
At its heart is a free trade area, which is a market where there are no tariffs or taxes on trade between countries. While its members can trade freely with each other, they also impose common tariffs on imports from non-EU countries.
Being a member of the single market means a country gets the benefit of any trade deal struck between the EU and other countries - the flip side is that member states cannot set their own tariffs.
But the EU's single market is much more than a straightforward free trade area, because it also includes the free movement of goods, people and capital.
Crucial to the single market is a common framework of regulations that mean companies in countries such as the UK, France, Italy or Poland have to abide by common standards - whether they trade across the EU or not. That is to stop one business or country having an unfair advantage. Most countries in the single market also have a single currency - the euro - but the UK did not adopt it.
Reality Check: Who has access to the single market?
The prime minister's spokeswoman said the Brexit secretary had only been repeating government policy on leaving the EU.
"What he said in the House this morning is consistent with what we have said... that it will be for the UK government to make decisions on how taxpayers' money will be spent," she said.
"As we approach these negotiations we want to get the best possible access for British business to trade with, and operate within, the single market, while also taking back control of immigration."
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron accused the government of "sending mixed signals" and of being "in an absolute mess".
He added: "How can the government claim they have a mandate for their Brexit deal when they don't even know what it is themselves?"
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Iain Duncan Smith tells The World At One that paying for single market access would be the same as tariffs
Mr Davis confirmed that Article 50, which sparks the formal legal process for leaving the EU, would be triggered by 31 March, 2017 and said the government was seeking "a smooth and orderly exit" from the EU and was "examining all possible options, focusing on the mutual interests of the UK and the European Union".
The Brexit secretary also defended Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who according to Sky News had privately told four EU ambassadors he backed free movement.
Mr Davis said the comments were "at odds" with what he knew of Mr Johnson's views.
"He believes very clearly - and he made this very clear in the Leave campaign because he was a much more major part of it than I was - that some immigration is useful. We all agree on that," he said.
"That's not the same as thinking free movement of people as it now stands is a good idea. It's a problem."
In a speech to business leaders in Wales later he said that "no-one wants to see labour shortages in key sectors" and that Britain "must win the global battle for talent".
"As we take back control of immigration by ending free movement as it has operated before, let me also say this: We won't do so in a way that it is contrary to the national and economic interest," he said.
Speaking from Rome, Mr Johnson insisted he had told the ambassadors during a breakfast meeting "that immigration had been a good thing for the UK in many respects - but it had got out of control and that we needed to take back control. I think you will find the record reflects that".Despite no charges being filed against Ezekiel Elliot after his then-girlfriend accused him of assaulting her on five separate occasions between July 17–25, 2016, Adam Schefter reported this week that there is “a growing sense” that Zeke will face a suspension by the League.
Seemingly to ensure this outcome, Zeke has found himself on the wrong end of several off-the-field stories since his NFL-leading rookie year that saw him dash for 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns. Here is a list of Zeke’s offseason incidents that we know about:
February 17: Zeke enters a Columbus bar with a friend who is carrying a firearm. Zeke speaks with police, his friend is arrested.
March 13: Videos show Zeke exposing a woman’s breast at a Dallas St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.
April 4: Zeke is ticketed for driving 100 mph in a 70 mph zone. He is later convicted of a misdemeanor, which he is now appealing.
July 17: Zeke is involved in a late night altercation at a Dallas bar. While no arrests have been made at this time, this DJ’s nose is broke af…
This is what happens when you don’t play the Cupid Shuffle after Zeke requests it three times.
True, the incidents and accusations above vary in their range of severity. But, for a guy you would assume is trying to avoid a suspension, it sure seems like Zeke is doing everything he can to get suspended. Zeke is two decades too late, he would have thrived on a 90’s Cowboy team.
If I was in the Cowboys’ front office, I would already be annoyed at Zeke’s behavior, and I would be more than a little nervous about the seemingly endless off-the-field issues that follow Zeke wherever he goes. But, I’m not in the Cowboy’s front office, and neither are you. We are fantasy players, so no need to panic about a possible suspension. In fact, we should relish in it. A suspension will only increase Zeke’s value in fantasy this year. Here is why.
Potential Draft Slide
Zeke is a first round talent. Period. It does not matter if he is suspended 1, 2, 3, or even 4 games. For the record, if Zeke does get suspended — which is looking like a smaller and smaller “if” each passing day — I suspect it will be for 2 games, or 3 at the most. Zeke’s current ADP is sitting at 3.0 overall in standard and 3.7 overall in PPR leagues. If Zeke is suspended, expect to see his ADP slip to the latter stages of the first round or even the top of the second.
Last year, Lev Bell was in a similar position. He faced a 3-game ban to start the year and we saw him drafted at the end of the first round, and even in the second round of almost every draft. As my old friend George W once said, “fool me once, shame on… shame on you? You fool me…you can’t get fooled again.” So, don’t get fooled again.
The ONLY players I would take over Elliott, even if he is suspended are David Johnson, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown. An argument can be made for Julio Jones or ODB, but I prefer a suspended Zeke over both.
If you find yourself sitting in the 5, 6, or 7 spot of your draft and you are waffling between an Odell Beckham Jr., LeSean McCoy, Melvin Gordon, Devonta Freeman, or Ezekiel Elliott. Do not over think it. Take Zeke. He is younger, better, fresher, owns his backfield, and runs behind a better line.
If you are in a league where everyone tends to overreact, and you see Zeke fall even further than #7 overall, good for you — make sure to stay in that league forever.
Increased End of Year Production
Running back is the skill position that takes the biggest year over year punishment— by far. It is hard to present an empirical based argument that Zeke’s end of year stats will be better off if he is suspended based off one year of statistics. Logic and common sense, however, tell us that a guy who takes 2–3 games less physical abuse than his counterparts, will have fresher legs in the latter stages of the season.
Zeke had a torrid streak between weeks 3–6 last year. During that time, he averaged 24 carries, 142 yards, and 6.3 yards per carry. Those are some pretty gaudy numbers. While he did put up strong weeks 14 and 15, (I am nit-picking here because he never fell below 86 yards and scored a bunch of TDs in this timeframe) in weeks 8–13 he only eclipsed the century mark once. As I said, not the best empirical argument.
Still, I don’t mind Zeke missing a few games in to start the year if it means I can get him at a better price and his legs are fresher in the playoffs and championship round — that is when it truly matters.
Here is to hoping Zeke gets a short suspension and then wakes up and gets his act together.On an island in the middle of the Nemunas River, beside the Lithuanian city of Kaunas, sits a basketball madhouse. It is Žalgiris Arena, the nearly 16,000-seat home of Žalgiris Kaunas, one of the top clubs in Europe. The team was founded in 1944 — two years before the NBA — and when its players don their green-and-white uniforms for big home games, the atmosphere is like a crazed mash-up of college hoops and European soccer. The supporters club is called “Green Death,” and for good reason. When former NBA player Rudy Fernandez visited in March with his Real Madrid squad — on the heels of a previous dust-up with Žalgiris — fans came with signs at the ready and showered him with boos, taunts, and chants of “Fuck you, Rudy.” One giant bedsheet held up in the stands declared:
ACTOR
DUMB
COWARD
SCURVY
I fear something was lost in translation on the final insult, but there wasn’t much ambiguity after the game, when a Žalgiris supporter physically assaulted Fernandez as he was leaving the arena.
The attack on Fernandez — always a bit of a flopper — however, was not the most shocking moment of the Žalgiris season. Something much more surprising happened two months earlier, in a much quieter place: a bank, less than a mile away from the arena, on a tree-lined street called Laisvės Alėja, translated into English as Freedom Avenue. It was here on a cold January day that the point guard for Žalgiris, Ibby Jaaber, arranged to voluntarily return every penny he’d earned from the team.
He remembers stepping off the busy street and into the bank. Jaaber, 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, and a month shy of his 29th birthday, looked his usual self — skinny and angular — but he says something had changed inside of him. A lightning-fast guard from Elizabeth, New Jersey, he had played for the University of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2007, where Jaaber used his long arms and quick hands to set the Ivy League record for career steals. He also took home three Ivy League championships, twice being named the league’s player of the year. Since graduating, he’d built a lucrative career playing for top teams in Europe. He’s got 12 siblings, and his success had helped support the Jaabers back home. His one-year deal with Žalgiris was worth more than $500,000.
But the money was no good to him anymore. The team’s jerseys featured the logo of a beer company called Kalnapilis: a small red triangle with the brewery’s name in script below it. As a devout Muslim, the beer ad offended Jaaber. So did the squad’s scantily clad cheerleaders, with their low-cut tops and barely there bottoms. The cheerleaders’ racy routines weren’t so different from anything you’d see in an NBA arena — OK, maybe there were a few extra thrusts and gyrations — but as Jaaber put it, “To me, they’re naked women.” He even found the music pumped through the arena to be too profane.
He’d been with the team for more than three months and things were going smoothly, but then it hit him one day like a basketball to the head: To keep his faith, he had to go. “It was really like an epiphany,” Jaaber says. He told the team that he would be leaving immediately and that, since the money he’d earned from them was tainted, he didn’t want it anymore. So here he was at the bank, meeting a Žalgiris official. “I laughed with the team manager about the situation,” Jaaber says. “How can somebody do this? Everybody lives for money.”
The bank teller confirmed the transfer. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were wired from Jaaber’s account to the team’s. He walked out of the bank and prepared to leave Kaunas with his wife and newborn son.
“I understand that maybe I will never earn money from basketball because of this decision,” he said at the time, “but I am ready to do such a sacrifice for my beliefs.”
Jaaber is hardly the first Muslim — or even the first devout religious person — to play professional sports. But he is the first, or at least one of the very few, to quit so suddenly and so dramatically due to his faith.
What makes him different? Forget Lithuania — to find that answer, you’ve got to start in New Jersey.
It’s now June, and Jaaber is sitting on a panel at the New Jersey Dawah Conference, an Islamic convention being held at a highwayside Marriott in Whippany. Seated at the head of a function room, he’s dressed in a white thobe that flows down to his ankles, with a maroon kaffiyeh on his head. The crowd is about 50 or 60 deep, with men sitting on one side of the room and women, all covered, on the other. The current speaker, Ammar AlShukry, is ticking through best practices for converting nonbelievers, emphasizing the need to sell Islam without disparaging others’ religions. “They’re not going to say thank-you for insinuating that my grandparents are in the hellfire,” he says, and the audience chuckles. Jaaber — with his wide face, high cheekbones, and a beard springing out from his chin — watches intently. When AlShukry finishes, they do a role-play: Jaaber pretends to be a non-Muslim and AlShukry tries to convert him. Jaaber’s acting isn’t very convincing — when I grab him after the panel wraps up, he makes a joke about how hard it was to pretend to not be Muslim.
We start to walk out of the function room and toward the convention space, where Jaaber’s new company, Color Me Muslim, has a booth set up. After leaving Žalgiris, Jaaber did a quick stint playing in Iran — the basketball was bad and the religious aspect left something to be desired. “I’m more strict, as compared to them,” he says. When he returned home, he started Color Me Muslim, a small publishing and production outfit with the goal of promoting Islam and reaching out to Muslim youth. On the table next to us are an array of Muslim-themed T-shirts, wristbands, DVDs, and books. Jaaber has long been involved with performing spoken-word poetry, and Color Me Muslim promotes his different events, often at conventions like this. He tells me he has also spent much of his newfound free time doing community work out of his mosque in Elizabeth.
When I had talked to him on the phone a few weeks before the convention, he sounded like he still couldn’t quite believe he’d returned all that money. “Yeeaaah, yuuuuup,” he began, when I brought it up. “Well, the thing is, Islamically, the money is considered to be unlawful … If I’m leaving this situation because it’s unlawful, then the money isn’t lawful.” Laughing, he’d added, “I pretty much played four months of basketball for free.”
Now, though, he says he never had any doubts about the decision. When he signed the money away, he says it felt good. “It was a very liberating experience,” he explains. His family supported him all the way.
One of the books for sale at Jaaber’s booth is a reflection on the American Muslim experience, written by his father, an imam named Muhammad ibn Heshaam Jaaber, and we get to talking about Jaaber’s childhood. After being born in Brooklyn, he bounced around with his family between North Carolina and Virginia. When he was 13, his father took him to Morocco to spend a year studying Arabic. He came back to Virginia for another year before the family moved to New Jersey, where his grandfather, a former associate of Malcolm X, lived.
In Elizabeth, the family was never desperately in need, but life wasn’t easy. Both Jaaber’s parents worked hard. “It was a grind,” he says. “We always had that talk about your needs and your wants,” his mom, Aisha, recalls. “The needs are important and you get to wants sometimes.” Islam was always a big part of Jaaber’s life, but as a teenager in New Jersey, he says he struggled with his religious identity. “I was really sensitive, shy,” he says. “Even though I had a strong love for Islam, I wasn’t as courageous about being outspoken.”
One place where things came easy, though, was the basketball court. It was clear early on that he could play, which, in Elizabeth, was a good thing. “I dodged bullets just by being in the gym,” Jaaber says. “A lot of guys I went to high school with are basically in the ground now. A lot of guys who were more talented than me as an athlete and as a basketball player — even the football players — got involved in the wrong things.”
Elizabeth was one of the country’s true high school hoops hot spots, boasting powerhouses like St. Patrick High School, which produced the likes of Kyrie Irving, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, and Al Harrington. But Jaaber attended the public school, Elizabeth High, where there wasn’t quite so much tradition to fall back on. His coach, Pat Brunner, was only at the school for a couple of years, but he recalls having to kick some players off the team for disciplinary reasons when he arrived. With Jaaber, though, there were never any problems. And his family showed up at every game to cheer him on (they were easy to pick out in their Muslim attire). After the games, Aisha remembers, “He used to run up in the bleachers and give me a hug and a kiss.” For a high schooler, that’s bold behavior.
“Ibby was a great kid,” Brunner says. “Ibby was one of those kids that kind of was a little bit older than his age.” Jaaber fasted during Ramadan, but still managed to make it through games and practice without tiring. Other than that, Brunner says, religion never came up. He remembers Jaaber more for the kind of player he was. “Ibby was very competitive. Always wanted to cover the other team’s best player,” he says. “He covered Randy Foye three times that year.”
Despite leading Elizabeth to the Union County Championship title in his senior year, 2002, Jaaber, skinny as a rail, was lightly recruited. Rather than take a scholarship at Division II Stonehill College, he opted for a postgraduate year at the Peddie School, in Hightstown, New Jersey. It was there that he started to attract notice, including that of Penn assistant coach Dave Duke. “He really had good body control for a skinny guy, could dunk easy, shot the 3, great defender, drove, could get to the foul line,” Duke says. Jaaber’s maturity and good grades sealed the deal. Head coach Fran Dunphy came down for a look, and he also came away impressed. The Ivy League hadn’t even been on Jaaber’s radar, but now the kid from Elizabeth had earned a chance at a golden ticket. He was on his way to Philadelphia.
Cranberry vodka. That was the official drink of the Penn basketball freshman class of 2003, according to Steve Danley, Jaaber’s old college teammate. Or at least that was the joke on the team. “That’s all Ibby would drink,” Danley explains, “because he didn’t like the taste of alcohol.” Jaaber didn’t drink before coming to Penn, but he and his teammates liked to tip a few back at the campus bar, a sticky-floored place called Smokey Joe’s. It was nothing crazy, but Jaaber enjoyed being out, going to parties, and working the athlete circuit. “He was religious, but didn’t really have it too much in my face,” says Mark Zoller, his teammate and freshman-year roommate. “We lived a normal college life. Went to parties, hung out with girls,” Zoller says. They played a lot of video games — especially the latest NBA2K titles. I attended Penn while Jaaber was there, and although I didn’t know him personally, I remember seeing him slink around the school’s West Philadelphia campus, most often in a hoodie and sweats, looking like any other college kid too lazy to get dressed.
In reality, though, Jaaber was having a tough time adapting to college. He’d done fine that year in Morocco, but Penn was different. Specifically, it was different from Elizabeth. “He talked about adjusting,” his mom, Aisha, says, “and I think it did have a lot to do with people around him having money.”
Just his dorm alone was enough to blow you away — it was located in the Quad, a gargoyle-studded complex of 19th-century gothic buildings covering two city blocks. The place practically had privilege oozing out of the cracks in its walls (not to mention radiating from the designer clothes of many of its inhabitants). “It was a little bit of a culture shock,” Jaaber says. “It was like an entirely different world from where I came from. It was like a movie.”
As a Catholic, Danley bonded with Jaaber over their mutual devotion to religion. After practice, they’d go eat at a dining hall and, before starting, Danley would cross himself while Jaaber performed a cleansing ritual. Danley, a 6-foot-8 big man from Germantown, Maryland, remembers how his teammate took pride in being different, of coming from a tough neighborhood.
The hoodie and sweats, it turned out, weren’t Jaaber being lazy. It was his way of striking back at what he saw around him: He wasn’t going to wear fancy clothes to impress a bunch of wealthy kids from the suburbs — at least that’s how he saw things back then. “I had a chip on my shoulder,” Jaaber says. “I felt like a lot of people doubted me, a lot of people underestimated me, on and off the basketball court.”
One of the first friends he made at school was Chris Mizell, a 6-foot-4 tight end from the Bronx who played on Penn’s football team. They bonded over coming from tough neighborhoods, and Mizell remembers how, even though Jaaber was plenty popular on campus, he often had his friends from home come visit. It was clear that maintaining that connection meant something to him. “Penn’s got plenty of kids with money, plenty of kids without money, plenty of kids from all sorts of neighborhoods,” Mizell says. “It’s a very diverse place. But on the whole, I don’t think people really understood where he was from. One, because he was from Elizabeth, and two, because he was a very strict Muslim. People would always make sure to respect Ibby’s religion when they could, but he wasn’t always willing to let them do that. He was very private about it.”
One way Jaaber dealt with all the thoughts whirring around inside his head was to write — since high school, he’d kept a journal and he continued scribbling down prose and poetry during his years at Penn. “I was still somebody who really was a mystery to a lot of people,” Jaaber says. “I had a place for myself that nobody could come into.”
He opened up in part by joining the campus spoken-word group, called the Excelano Project. Danley, who’d also joined Excelano, remembers that they used to sit in the back of the bus during road trips and write and perform and freestyle. One night at a party, he says, Jaaber got up and freestyled for 45 minutes straight. “He almost considered himself a philosopher, especially on urban and social issues,” Danley says. “It was a lot about the culture of the street and what that’s like and what sports means to that culture. What hip-hop means to that culture. And what it means to be academic in that culture. What does it mean that he loses street cred when he goes back to a community having gone to Penn?”
Just like in high school, though, life became simpler to navigate on the basketball court. Jaaber made an immediate impression his freshman year — especially in practice. He wasn’t afraid to challenge the older guys on the team, to let them know that he should be getting their minutes. “He definitely wasn’t a guy who was going to back down,” says Jeff Schiffner, the team’s star senior when Jaaber was a freshman. “He had that type of swagger.”
By his sophomore year, Jaaber was starting, helping lead the Quakers to an Ivy League crown. It was already clear that he could take over games with his defense, but, in his junior year, his offensive production shot up from 11.5 to 18.2 points per game. Penn won another title and Jaaber nabbed his first league player of the year honor. As in high school, Jaaber impressed his coaches and teammates with his ability to keep his game up while fasting during Ramadan. But other than that, Dunphy says religion hardly ever came up. Jaaber grew into a leader on the team — he wasn’t a rah-rah guy, but whether it was busting his ass during conditioning drills or focusing before games, he set the example that everyone else followed. There was only one Penn basketball jersey available for sale at the team’s souvenir store: Jaaber’s no. 2.
It was around that time that Jaaber realized he might be able to play professional ball, either in the NBA or in Europe. He’d seen the alums who returned to campus after making big bucks abroad, and it dawned on him that he could smoke those guys. “I would be like, ‘How much is he getting? And he’s in the top league? Wow,'” Jaaber says. “And I took it to another level: I started lifting and taking basketball a little bit seriously.”
His teammate Zoller says that when Jaaber dedicated himself to something, it was impossible to knock him off course. Now, he was zeroing in on a chance to support his family. “That was something that definitely we spoke about openly,” Zoller says. “He was definitely more focused on providing for his family.”
Jaaber’s new commitment to training was on display during one particularly memorable play at the end of Penn’s home opener at the Palestra his senior year. The Quakers were hosting Florida Gulf Coast, and as the clock was winding down on a Penn blowout win, Jaaber went streaking down the left side of the court. His old roommate Zoller lobbed an alley-oop, but the pass was off and Jaaber, already in midair, had to reach far behind his head to catch it with one hand and throw it down. It was the kind of elite-level athletic play you just didn’t see in the scholarship-free world of the Ivy League. As Jaaber crashed to the floor, the house came down with him. “That was one of the most amazing experiences,” Jaaber says. “That single play.”
Jaaber was changing off the court, too. His whole time in college, he’d been wrestling not just with the disparities between Penn and Elizabeth, but with the balance between fitting in on campus and following his faith. “It was an internal struggle,” he says. “When you feel like you’re supposed to be doing one thing and you’re actually doing another, if you’re a conscious person and you have a sincere heart, then at some point it’s going to be overwhelming to you. And from time to time that would happen. I would be kind of overwhelmed with the culture shock.”
By his senior year, Jaaber’s answer was to push toward a deeper level of religious orthodoxy. As a result, he pulled back from Penn’s social scene. There were no more parties or cranberry vodkas. “I was in places that I wasn’t supposed to be,” Jaaber says. “Bars, mixing environments.” As he continued to excel on the court — leading the Quakers to a three-peat of Ivy League championships — Jaaber spent more time writing, thinking, and being around a smaller inner circle of friends. By the time he graduated in 2007, he was a different person from the one who’d enrolled four years earlier.
“He’s a guy who’s always going to ask a lot of questions,” Danley says, “and religion seemed to provide a lot of answers.”
That July, Jaaber played for the Detroit Pistons’ summer league team, but rather than stay in the U.S. and chase the NBA, he opted for sure money abroad. He signed with a team in Greece, called Egaleo, and after tearing up the Greek league — he led it in steals (2.8) and points per game (22.4), including one 40-point outburst — bounced up a level to Roma. There, he turned heads playing alongside U.S. high school phenom Brandon Jennings, who had decided to spend a year in Europe while waiting to become eligible for the NBA draft.
Come the summer of 2010, Jaaber was turning heads again, this time in America, playing for the Lakers’ summer league team. “He’s had a really good 10-day period with us,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak told a reporter for ESPN Los Angeles at the time. But Jaaber wasn’t interested in sticking around to try to take a shot at the roster. “A lot of people don’t know I’ve got 12 brothers and sisters,” he told a Lakers reporter that summer. “So I try not to be selfish in my decision making. When I say secure my future, I’m not talking just about myself, I talk about the people around me I have the part of helping.”
In other words, he planned on heading back to Europe. “I think financially to secure my future, it’s better to get the money while it’s available,” he added. Soon after, Jaaber signed a two-year deal with AJ Milano reportedly worth more than $1.5 million.
Things were on the up-and-up and, feeling more settled in life, Jaaber decided he was ready to get married. College had been a culture shock, but he felt like he was hitting his stride in Europe. “After I had been removed from all the negativity and purified myself, I was actually prepared to be married,” Jaaber says. There was a woman who was the daughter of longtime family friends and, as Jaaber put it, “the call was made.” They met first over the phone and then got to know each other in person. Soon, they wed.
Sitting in the lobby of the Marriott, I ask him if he’d dated much before deciding to get married. After all, he’d spent that time in college with Zoller and his teammates, hanging out with girls and going to parties. “Da-ted?” he responds, rolling the word around in his mouth like some bitter candy. “I don’t date. We don’t date.” The “we” seems to refer to the steady stream of people in thobes and hijabs walking by us in the convention space.
In 2011, after the end of the NBA lockout, Jaaber went to camp with the Houston Rockets. He didn’t make the roster, but Rockets GM Daryl Morey thinks he could have stuck in the league. “If the right opportunity/team fit came along,” Morey e-mailed, “he had a solid chance to be an NBA roster player and an outside chance to be a rotation player.” At one point the Washington Wizards brought Jaaber in for a workout — their vice-president of basketball administration, Tommy Sheppard, put it another way: “If jersey numbers were roster spots, he’d be number 16.”
While Jaaber bounced around Europe, his faith continued to grow on the same trajectory it followed toward the end of college. He was churning through books on Islam. His mom noticed the uptick in his reading — “I don’t think it was Harry Potter,” she says. After the Rockets cut him, Jaaber decided to take some time off to go on his hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are supposed to make at least once in their lives.
Come this past fall, though, he was ready for basketball again, and signed with |
]
Whitmore's casualties were recorded as 19 killed or missing and 20 wounded, with the heart of one soldier cut from his body and another later cooked and eaten.[10] Only one of Tītokowaru's force was killed in the encounter.
The battle was regarded as the worst reverse suffered by government troops on the West Coast, surpassing even the Te Ngutu disaster. Colonel W.E. Gudgeon, who described it as "the most desperate engagement fought in the Māori War", claimed: "Whitmore's return did not give nearly our casualties. I made it at the time 52 out of fewer than 200 actually engaged."[10] Whitmore offered his resignation to the Defence Minister, but was given government support and retained.[10] Historian James Cowan described the Moturoa expedition as "Whitmore's one great blunder", but strong criticisms of Whitmore's strategy were rejected by Belich, who said the commander's one mistake was to underestimate the Moturoa deceptively strong defences. Although he claimed Whitmore had greatly exaggerated the strength of his enemy – reporting Tītokowaru had as many as 600 warriors at Moturoa – he concluded: "Whitmore was simply unfortunate enough to be a good general matched against an excellent one."[1]
In the wake of the Moturoa defeat, Whitmore moved his base further south to Nukumaru, forming an entrenched camp ready to defend Wanganui's outlying settlements with a force of 350. Tītokowaru responded by following him, establishing an elaborate fortification for his 400 warriors[1] at the Māori village of Tauranga-ika close to the Europeans' military base and just 29 km, or a day's march, from Wanganui. The new pā was sited alongside a road running from Kai-Iwi to the Waitotora River and provided a commanding view to the coast, with impenetrable bush behind it. From his new base he launched a night-long assault on the Weraroa Redoubt, overlooking the Waitotara River. Whitmore promptly abandoned Weraroa, moving its 50 Wanganui militia to join him at Nukumaru. As tensions continued to rise on the West Coast, the country learned of the massacre by fugitive East Coast guerrilla fighter Te Kooti of 50 men, women and children at Poverty Bay on 9/10 November. Defence Minister Haultain immediately ordered Whitmore to withdraw his entire force another 11 km to build a defensive line on the south side of the Kai-Iwi River[10] and transfer some of his force to the East Coast to eradicate Te Kooti's threat. Whitmore convinced Haultain that it would be easier to concentrate first on defeating Te Kooti before returning with a stronger, more disciplined force to successfully act against Tītokowaru.[1] He sailed from Wanganui for Poverty Bay on 2 December with 212 Armed Constabulary, leaving Wanganui's defence in the hands of about 620 Imperial troops, Armed Constabulary and militia and volunteers. Whitmore remained away from the West Coast for five weeks, during which time the colonial forces at Wanganui swelled to almost 2000 men.[1]
Cross-section of firing positions at Tauranga-ika Pā, 1869.
Tītokowaru used those five weeks to demonstrate his hold on the Wanganui hinterland, burning farms and abandoned military posts and driving off stock, but also laboring over the fortifications at Tauranga-ika until it became one of the most formidable modern pā ever built.[1] The pā had been built in a diamond shape, 135 metres long on each side, complete with trenches, rifle pits, parapets and a double line of stockade.[11] The palisade, attached to 30 cm-thick posts, reached 5m above the ground, with a gap at its base to allow defenders in the trenches to fire beneath it. Inside the pā were trenches, covered walkways and shellproof underground shelters roofed with strong timbers, packed earth and galvanised roofing iron. At one corner was a 10m-high taumaihi,[12] providing a third level of fire. Inspecting it later, Whitmore said, "No troops in the world could have hewn their way through a double row of strong palisades, backed by rifle pits and flanked by two-storey erections, such as are constructed in this fortification, defended by excellent shots and desperate men."[13]
Whitmore returned to Wanganui on 18 January 1869 and immediately began preparing for a major offensive against Tītokowaru. A week later he set off with 800 Armed Constabulary and Wanganui and Kai-Iwi Mounted Corps, as well as 200 kupapa under Major Kepa, clinging to the coast to avoid the danger of bush ambushes. On 1 February he was at Nukumaru and the force dug itself in 100m away from the stockade. Two Armstrong guns were brought up on 2 February and used to shell the pā, causing little damage and no casualties.[12] Two Coehorn mortars were used to fire on the pā the next day in preparation for a possible assault, when a reconnaissance mission by some Armed Constabulary discovered the pā was empty, its inhabitants – men, women and children – having slipped out through the rear during the night.
Tītokowaru's army immediately began to disperse, with entire hapu splitting from his force.[1] No clear evidence exists why his forces would abandon a fortress so apparently unassailable, or why the chief's support from Taranaki Māori quickly evaporated, though Kimble Bent, who was sheltering with Tītokowaru's hapu after deserting from the 57th Regiment, told Cowan 50 years later the chief had lost his mana tapu, or sacred power, after committing adultery with the wife of another chief.[12]
Whitmore professed no regret that Tauranga-ika had been taken without resistance: "My object was to gain possession of the district and if I could do this without loss and without putting too heavy a strain on my raw troops they would be encouraged."[12]
Whitmore began pursuing Tītokowaru, with soldiers offered rewards of ₤10 for the head of a chief and ₤5 for the head of any others of his half-starved forces. Straggling warriors were shot and prisoners were decapitated as European troops and kūpapa competed in the race for blood money, collecting sacks of human heads.[14] Whitmore suffered several casualties from a rearguard defence near the Waitotara River, but caught up with them on 13 March at Otautu, north of Patea, when six colonial soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in an attempted assault on the Māori camp.[1] Eleven days later a group of Tītokowaru's followers, by now starving and subsisting on foraged food including fungus and grubs,[12] surrendered in a swamp hideout at Ngaere, near modern-day Eltham, while their chief evaded soldiers and settled at Kawau Pa in the Upper Waitara Valley.[15] The Government abandoned attempts to pursue him further and apart from mopping-up actions to capture his former allies in South Taranaki, the war had come to an end.[1]
Although Tītokowaru had fought the entire war without direct assistance from the Māori King Movement, it is possible the Kingites had attempted to intervene in February 1869 with a raid on the Pukearuhe Redoubt in Taranaki's far north – in which a woman, three children, a missionary and three military settlers were killed – and again in March when a force of Kingite warriors massed at Mokau, reportedly preparing to invade Taranaki. The raid, if planned, did not eventuate and the intervention plans, if they existed, came too late to assist Tītokowaru.[1]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Steve Bannon is on his way out at the White House – but the fiery, anti-establishment conservative who helped Donald Trump win the presidency says he's getting ready to wage his populist campaign from the outside.
“If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents -- on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon told Bloomberg on Friday.
Still, the outgoing White House chief strategist told The Weekly Standard the country would see a new kind of presidency without him there. “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”
Bannon returned to work late Friday at Breitbart News, the populist news site he once ran that rails against the political establishment in both parties.
He spent just over a year formally working for the president. On Friday, his job with Trump came to an end.
STEVE BANNON OUT AT THE WHITE HOUSE
“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said. “We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.”
Breitbart announced Friday that Bannon returned as executive chairman. He chaired its evening editorial meeting Friday, the site said.
“The populist-nationalist movement got a lot stronger today,” said Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow. “Breitbart gained an executive chairman with his finger on the pulse of the Trump agenda.”
Ben Shapiro, a former writer at Breitbart News, predicted Bannon will go back to the site and "declare himself the conscience of the nationalist populist movement that he helped build.”
"He's going to use that power to smash the president when he thinks the president is wrong," Shapiro told Fox News anchor Sandra Smith.
A source close to Bannon told Fox News there is “no way” the outgoing adviser will go to war against Trump himself. He will “100 percent have POTUS’ back,” the person said.
Another source close to Bannon, reached Friday, suggested Breitbart is gearing up for a fight now that its leader is no longer restrained by his job in the White House.
“Winter is here,” the person told Fox News.
Kurt Bardella, a former Breitbart staffer who now criticizes the outlet and President Trump, speculated Bannon would “continue to use his weapon of choice, Breitbart, to attack his adversaries inside the West Wing.”
Targets, Bardella said, could be Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn as well as congressional Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell.
Bannon has also sparred with national security adviser H.R. McMaster and his deputy, Dina Powell.
“In many ways, I think Steve will feel liberated,” Bardella said.
He added, “Now, he will be able to operate openly and freely to inflict as much damage as he possibly can on the 'globalists' that remain in the Trump administration.”
Bannon submitted his resignation in writing on Aug. 7, Fox News learned.
Bannon told The Weekly Standard he spoke with the president and Chief of Staff John Kelly last week about resigning on Aug. 14, his one year mark working for Trump. But the events in Charlottesville last weekend delayed his departure.
“I’d always planned on spending one year.... I want to get back to Breitbart,” he said.
Bannon said he feels “jacked up” as he returns to the conservative news site.
“Now I’m free,” he said. “I’ve got my hands back on my weapons. Someone said, ‘it’s Bannon the Barbarian.’ I am definitely going to crush the opposition. There’s no doubt.”
He added, “I built a f---ing machine at Breitbart. And now I’m about to go back, knowing what I know, and we’re about to rev that machine up. And rev it up we will do.”
Earlier this week, Trump briefly addressed the speculation about Bannon's future during a wide-ranging Q&A with reporters at Trump Tower.
“I like Mr. Bannon, he’s a friend of mine,” Trump said, though downplaying his impact in the 2016 campaign. “I like him. He’s a good man.”
The president added, “We’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon.”
Fox News’ John Roberts and Ed Henry contributed to this report.Key to Game 5: Manu Ginobili was hot...
And LeBron James was not.
It turns out that all Manu Ginobili needed to get his game going was a chance to start.
Ginobili’s 24 points and plenty of 3-pointers from Danny Green were the keys to supporting another big game from Tony Parker on the offensive end, and a different look for LeBron James was huge on the defensive end and pivotal to the Spurs taking a 3-2 advantage in this series.
Let’s break down the statistical highlights.
Difference Maker: Ginobili’s great game
The Elias Sports Bureau noted that Ginobili became the first player to start an NBA Finals game after not starting a game all season since Marcus Camby for the 1999 Knicks.
Manu Ginobili vs Heat
Ginobili made Gregg Popovich look very smart. His 24 points nearly matched the 30 points he had in the first four games of the series.
Ginobili got 50 touches of the basketball in this game and drove the ball to the basket a dozen times, both numbers far exceeding what he’d done previously in this series.
The Spurs outscored the Heat 45-33 on drives in Game 5, including 14 points when Ginobili kept the ball on his drives, and nine points on drives during the Spurs 19-1 run.
The Heat shot a series-low 39 percent on drives, including 4-of-12 from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James (who were a combined 11-of-15 for 26 points in Game 4).
Green makes it look easy
Danny Green matched Ginobili’s 24 points and made six more 3-pointers.
That gave him 25 3-pointers for the series, breaking Ray Allen’s record for most 3-pointers made in an NBA Finals. He made only 28 3-pointers in the previous three rounds of the playoffs combined.
Green was equally good whether the shot was open (3-for-5) or contested (3-for-5) in this game. He's 18-for-24 on open 3-pointers in the series, 7-for-14 when contested.
Boris Diaw: Defensive Stopper
The other big adjustment the Spurs made was to throw one more look his way-- putting Boris Diaw on him for an extended period of time.
LeBron James by Defender, Game 5
James was 1-for-8 shooting against Diaw in Game 5, and 7-of-14 against all other defenders.
James’ first four shot attempts against Diaw were all at least 19 feet from the basket, and when he changed course and posted up, he was 0-for-3 on those attempts.
The Spurs did a good job at thwarting the Heat both from inside and outside. They contested eight of Miami's 12 shot attempts from beyond 10 feet in the first quarter. The Heat missed all eight of those shots.
Looking ahead …
The winner of Game 5 of the Finals when a series is tied, 2-2, has won seven of 10 possible titles under the 2-3-2 format.
The Heat will try to become the fourth team within that format (which dates to 1985) to win Games 6 and 7 at home in the Finals after trailing, 3-2. The other three are the 1988 Lakers, 1994 Rockets and 2010 Lakers.
The last team to defeat the defending NBA champ in the Finals was the 2005 Spurs who beat the Detroit Pistons.
The Heat have not lost consecutive games since January 8-10. Losing on Tuesday would end their streak and their season.
The Spurs are 14-2 in potential series-clinching games played on the road since the start of the 2002-03 postseason. The rest of the NBA is 61-75 in that span."One of the interesting things about security is that a lot of what you see on television isn't actually that far from the truth; the actual hacking isn't nearly as colorful, but the outcome is usually closer to realistic possibility than absurd fiction," Nielsen says.
Nielsen suggests that many seemingly absurd uses of technology on TV aren't incorrect, per se, but they are often ahead of their time.
"We're putting computers in more things every day, from critical infrastructure to fitness bands, and they all run software -- vulnerable software -- and we aren't putting nearly as much effort into making that software secure," he says. "So we can laugh about how ridiculous the hacking UIs or 'two-hands' hacking scenes from NCIS are, but the threats are real."
On that ominous note, let's once again distract ourselves from the problems of real life with TV.
Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family
In "Welcome to the Dollhouse" (season 5, episode 26), four young women convicted of a serious crime ride in the back of a police van. They're talking and hugging -- there's no one monitoring them, of course -- when suddenly, bam. The van swerves violently and crashes to a stop. As it turns out, the creep who has been stalking and torturing these girls for years was able to hack into the onboard computer and remotely take control of the van.
"The biggest issue here is that most automobiles have (reachable) computers in them, but even the smartest of smart cars don't go so far as to let the computer fully control the car -- yet," Nielsen says. "Usually an attacker can send information that will cause the car to apply the brakes, but they wouldn't be able to steer. So for now, remotely steering a vehicle is unrealistic."
Later in this episode, a group of young men, friends of the girls, discuss what happened and what they plan to do about it. One of these boys is an 18-year-old technology prodigy. He's hacking quickly, but he's extremely worried about the girls, as are his buddies: a rookie cop and a high school English teacher. They call the stalker "A." Here's the transcript of this scene:
Caleb got into the PD's command center.
And if you cross-check the van's GPS system with the PD's system, it goes dead right here.
On Route 30 near the railroad crossing.
That's when A hacked into the van's computer system and took remote control of the vehicle.
OK, so, A would have needed to be in the area to keep the van on the road.
The overpass would have given A a clear view and also cover from the deputies.
Are there any traffic cameras in the area that you can hack into?
I am one step ahead of you. I'm backing up that footage now.
Nielsen says that a big issue with this scenario is that the boys are flying blind. They don't know the hardware's specific location, which is oftentimes the hardest part of a successful hack.
"Even if hacking into the kind of computer that a certain police station uses, or a certain CCTV camera, is easy, you still have to find the right target," he says. "That can be much more difficult than the hack itself. So tapping into a certain camera based on its location in real time is also pretty unrealistic, at least over the internet -- if they were in physical proximity of the camera, it'd be easier, but then they wouldn't need the camera."
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Mostly unrealistic
MY VERDICT: Never trust a hacker who says something as redundant as "GPS system."
Sherlock, BBC
This one involves a similar technological override that occurs in two separate episodes: "The Reichenbach Fall" (season 2, episode 3) and "His Last Vow" (season 3, episode 3).
In "The Reichenbach Fall," it's modern-day London, and Sherlock Holmes enters a cab after a rough day of chasing down clues. An advertisement plays on the TV in front of his seat, and he asks the driver to turn it off. Instead, the ad cuts out and is replaced with a video of Holmes' nemesis, Jim Moriarty. The video is only for Holmes, and it's only playing in his cab. The twist: After Holmes leaves the cab in a daze, he sees that the driver is Moriarty.
"The interesting question here is not whether compromising a cab's display is possible -- it is -- but how Moriarty knew not only which cab Sherlock was in, but how to find that cab on any network he may have compromised," Nielsen says.
Jump to "His Las Vow," the season 3 finale, and someone -- possibly Moriarty -- is able to cut into every TV channel in the UK at the same time. The nation watches in shock as a mocking, terrifying video plays on loop with no interruptions. Two government officials converse in horror:
How is this possible? We don't know. It's on every screen in the country, every screen simultaneously.
"As for compromising TV channels, sure, it's possible, but nothing really stops the people working at the TV stations from switching off the compromised feeds, so an attacker in a real-world scenario would have to speak very quickly," Nielsen says.
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Mostly unrealistic
MY VERDICT: Cab displays can definitely be compromised; good to know.
Scandal, ABC
Scandal centers on Washington, DC's top political communications expert, Olivia Pope, and in the first episode of season 4, "Randy, Red, Superfreak and Julia," we see her lounging in luxury on an island so remote, it doesn't appear on any map. A boat with supplies arrives, including five bottles of a rare and highly sought-after wine. Along with the wine, Pope receives a letter prompting her to return home. Later, it's revealed that a colleague, an amateur, yet gifted hacker, found Pope by tracking shipments of fine wine -- something that she can't live without -- across the globe.
"International shipments have to specify contents and their value for custom purposes, and that information is saved in databases, so it's not unrealistic at all to imagine somebody with a laptop compromising the internal network of a shipping company, and looking up all 'Wine' shipments where the value is also very high, and finding the location/shipment that way," Nielsen says. "The hardest part would be to get the note into the package, but is also conceivable with a little social engineering. My question is, how would a shipping company find an island that's not on any map?"
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Plausible
MY VERDICT: These are terrible times; times when I can't even trust wine to keep my secrets.
Agents of SHIELD, ABC
This Avengers offshoot features a ton of futuristic and alien technology, so to help Nielsen warm up, we started with a line from season 1, episode 4, "Eye Spy."
In this episode, the highly trained, super-smart operatives of SHIELD are scanning through hundreds of photos of the same people, pulled from photo-recognition software scanning multiple online sources.
It's amazing. Every year, this part of our job gets easier. Between Facebook, Instagram and Flickr, people are surveilling themselves.
Nielsen calls this line "poignant."
"We have all seen the technology that tells us we showed up in one of our friends' photos [i.e., tagging], and 'Would we like to post it to our timeline?' There is no technical reason why that same technology can't be used to find any specific person in all of the photos the company has, or why an attacker who has compromised the company can't."
The bulk of this particular Agents of SHIELD episode focuses on a woman with a high-tech camera implanted in her eye. Skye, SHIELD's go-to hacking expert, locates this camera's broadcast source -- she doesn't know that it's an in-eye system just yet -- and successfully reverse-engineers it.
I think I can recover the data signature of that encrypted broadcast. I don't understand it yet, but that's how she was watching us. Give me an hour. Maybe we can start watching back.
"I mean, they use real words, but it's not clear what the real-world equivalent would be," Nielsen says. "It may be that they found a clue as to the origins of the broadcast and that was enough to pinpoint the attacker's network/IP address, which they then compromised."
Nielsen doesn't see a problem with remotely compromising the security of Skye's in-eye camera; it's entirely plausible. It's the turnaround time on the actual hacking, however, that he finds problematic.
"What makes this unrealistic (based on the description) is how the SHIELD agents discover a completely new technology and then figure out how to compromise it in a few seconds or minutes. Actually, this is a very long and arduous process. Real-world attacks are usually incredibly fast, with no fancy animations or windows popping up on the screen, but are based on scripts and programs designed to exploit vulnerabilities that may have taken months or years to find and analyze."
This hack reminds Nielsen of a recent paper about side-channel attacks on encryption.
"A few years ago, Adi Shamir, a well-known cryptographer, and his team published a paper showing how you could extract [an] encryption key from a computer simply by listening to it. In February this year, they showed how you could do it with a radio by sensing the electromagnetic emanations coming from a computer. Your computer leaks information all over -- noise, electromagnetic waves, heat -- and it all means something. Clever attackers can extrapolate all kinds of information from this."
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Mostly unrealistic
MY VERDICT: In-eye cameras aren't actually that far off -- at this rate, they're likely closer than Facebook's Oculus Rift
Arrow, The CW
In "Home Invasion" (season 1, episode 20), we enter a warehouse-turned-bunker lined with exercise equipment and high-tech gadgets. Felicity Smoak, hacker extraordinaire to secret vigilante Oliver Queen, is on an online fact-finding mission. She hacks into ARGUS, a government organization, and ends up lurking in their systems for days, even weeks at a time.
I thought it would be helpful to track ARGUS' manhunt for Deadshot, so I decrypted their communication logs. Which means, I just hacked a federal agency. Which kinda makes me a cyberterrorist, which is bad because I can't see myself fitting in well at Guantanamo Bay.
Nielsen says this one largely checks out. "Compromising a company and stealing information from their databases, whether it's logs, customer records, or something else, is an everyday occurrence, and we often find the attacks have gone on for months or years before they were discovered."
Later, Smoak demonstrates her computer skills again with the following description:
I had a remote-access Trojan scour the internet for Edward Rasmus. His name just popped up on a flight manifest, 8:15 to Shanghai.
This one is a little more complex, Nielsen says.
"Writing a Trojan that'scours the internet' for somebody, or something, is something we've seen in some advanced malware like Stuxnet, which did very little but spread itself unless it got access to a certain kind of control system thought to be used by Iranian nuclear reactors. The difference between the reality of nation-state attacks and TV is that the nation states, too, have to spend a lot of time finding the vulnerabilities and indicators they want to exploit and trigger on. There's no such thing as a Trojan that simply infiltrates everything, including flight-booking systems, unless it was designed to do so."
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Plausible
MY VERDICT: The most unrealistic aspect of Arrow is all of the ridiculously chiseled abs.
CSI: Cyber, CBS
Ah, the mother lode. In CSI: Cyber, Special Agent Avery Ryan and her team hunt down cybercriminals, but in "Fire Code" (season 1, episode 4), the damage is all in real life. Someone has figured out how to remotely start house fires. Ryan and Dawson (sorry!) Agent Elijah Mundo hunt down one of their criminal informants, a hacker who hands them a USB stick with "a hot new piece of code." Back in the lab, agent and white-hat hacker Daniel Krumitz admires the USB drive before getting to work.
The connection's secure. Just plug in the flash drive.
He plugs it in.
"Plugging in a flash drive is actually very risky, no matter if you're online or not," Nielsen says. "On a lot of computers, it can give an attacker full access to your entire system, not just by running software in your operating system, but by reading memory at the hardware layer, below the operating system. They can also fry your computer. I wouldn't plug in a USB stick I don't trust just because somebody says, 'It's fine.'"
Continuing the scene, once the data on the flash drive loads, Krumitz hits a button and the printer starts trying to print something -- and it immediately catches fire.
Your CI gave us code hidden inside a firmware update that disengages the thermal switch of a printer. That switch regulates the temperature of an ink fuser, keeping it from overheating. Now, when the paper loads, touching the blazing-hot fuser, it sparks and the paper in the tray ignites, causing it to catch on fire.
So the fuser is the match and the paper is the fuel.
Code sent from a computer did all this?
It's pretty amazing, huh?
This description is realistic, Nielsen says. Maybe a little too realistic.
"I lost track.... Am I reading the transcript from the CSI episode, or the researchers' paper?" he asks. "I would certainly give CSI: Cyber plus points for basing the script off of real research, and not just 'writing a GUI interface using Visual Basic to track the killer's IP address.'"
KASPERSKY VERDICT: Plausible
MY VERDICT: Plugging in an unchecked, random flash drive is silly, so remember to always use protection (no, we're not talking about a Trojan).
These scenarios are, of course, a sampling of the wild and wacky ways Hollywood portrays technology on TV. But overall, it seems even the craziest ideas aren't too far off the mark. There is still one caveat, though, and that's price.
"For all of the attacks that I labeled realistic, the cost is in time and knowledge. But money can speed up the process," he says. "It takes time to learn how to do this stuff, and to do the research needed to compromise certain systems, especially if you need to compromise a kind of device that's hard to get your hands on, like a certain type of CCTV. One person with a laptop could potentially perform all of the attacks, mainly using exploits that other people have written, but it'd take longer than a large, well-funded group of people doing the same. Even the attacks that I labeled as unrealistic are possible if you include nation-state-level attacks, i.e., the kinds where money and other resources are no issue."Coming into the 2017 draft, the Grizzlies had no picks and it was looking like it would stay this way throughout the majority of the first half of the draft. The front office decided to make not one, but two moves in order to get into this year’s draft. The transactions on draft night are as follows:
Grizzlies acquire 35th pick (Ivan Rabb) from the Orlando Magic for Brooklyn’s 2019 second round pick.
Grizzlies acquire 45th pick (Dillon Brooks) from the Houston Rockets for a 2018 second round pick.
Unless you’ve been really keeping up with college basketball, these names might not ring a bell to you. So who exactly are Ivan Rabb and Dillon Brooks and how could they help the Grizzlies?
Ivan Rabb
Rabb is a 6’10” power forward from the University of California. His wingspan is a long 7’2″ with a 32.5″ vertical posted in the 2017 Draft Combine. During his two year tenure in college, Ivan averaged 13.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.1 blocks on 54% shooting from the field.
He uses his athleticism to help his rebounding and defense. Offensively, his post up game is his strength being able to finish with both hands. Even though he is listed as a power forward, he has more of a centers game. To further his game in the pros he would need to develop more of an outside shot and gain some size to compete with the NBA bigs.
This move was most likely made in anticipation of either Randolph or Green leaving this off season. He would see some time in the G-League starting out, but could easily transition into a bench role before the season is over. Before his sophomore season, he was predicted to be a lottery pick, so the potential is there for the young big.
Oh, and Ivan has been showing love for the Grizzlies since 2013 (via Twitter):
Dillon Brooks
Brooks is a small forward with a listed height of 6’6″ and has very good size for his position with a listed weight of 220 pounds. His vertical at the combine was listed as 37.5″ and combined with his 3 point shooting of 40% last season, Brooks is a very deadly player for his position and could be a huge steal for the Grizzlies.
Over his three years at Oregon, Dillon posted averages of 14.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 0.9 blocks on 47% shooting from the field, 36% from behind the arc, and 79% from the free throw line. He has the size to punish smaller defenders and is fast enough to speed past bigger defenders, it is unsure is this will be able to transition in the NBA, but he has definitely shown the ability to continue this play. Defensively, he is a liability with an average wingspan and lateral quickness but this can easily be worked on knowing what the Grizzlies expect out of their players.
Since it is unsure of how many games Parsons will play this season and if a minutes restriction will be on him, this was a smart addition in case Allen and Carter both do not resign (knock on wood). Whether it is Rade Zagorac or Dillon Brooks, both are solid players to have in our back pocket.
And who can’t look forward to someone who can hit shots like this:
Matthew Starnes | @MatthewHStarnesIt appears to be a paradox: ultra-thin material that absorbs all the incident light. Nonetheless, it does exist.
Ideal light detector
Two researchers, Eduard Driessen, MSc, and Dr Michiel de Dood, have demonstrated that at a thickness of 4.5 nanometer niobiumnitride (NbN) is ultra-absorbent. They have recorded a light absorption of almost 100%, while the best light absorption to date was 50%. This research brings the ideal light detector a step closer.
A cell made of this material can already collect light and convert it into an electrical signal. The high number of downloads indicates that this research is very special.
Angles and polarisation
Materials that could potentially absorb a lot of light have the problem that they reflect the incident light; they are generally very good mirrors. But how much light is reflected and how much is absorbed depends on two factors: the angle at which the light falls onto the material, and the polarisation (the direction of oscillation) of the light. Light has two kinds of polarisation: s and p polarisation.
Polaroid sunglasses make good use of this characteristic. The light absorption of a thin slice of NbN is at its maximum if the light falls on it at an angle of 35º and only consists of s-polarised light. The absorption achieved is then 94%. The p-polarised light is reflected in full. At an angle of 46º the absorption for both polarisation directions is 80%, which is still extremely good.
Applications
This discovery gave Driessen and De Dood the idea for building a special detector. They want to use this detector to view individual light particles, photons. To date this has been very difficult because the absorption was not high enough. The most important part of the detector is a lattice of ultra-absorbent NbN filaments. When an s-light particle falls on the lattice, it is absorbed. A p-particle is reflected. This p-particle can then in turn be collected by a second detector so that all the light is detected.
Calculations show that the wavelength (colour) of the light particle has hardly any influence. The detector can therefore also be used for particles with completely different wavelengths, such as detection systems for telecommunications and infra-red equipment.
The research is being carried out in collaboration with the TU Delft and will be part-funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Foundation for Fundamental Materials Research (FOM).I do not need anyone to teach me about the Palestinian Nakba. It is the defining moment of my existence. I do not need anyone to lecture me about it either.
During the war in 1948, my family had already fled our home in Talpiot in southeast Jerusalem and taken shelter in a monastery. I distinctly remember the early morning when, as a six-year-old boy, I was awakened and hurriedly dressed by one of my sisters after our oldest sister had been shot and hospitalized. We quickly gathered some possessions and climbed down and up the mountain to Bethany, and then to Jericho. We eventually resettled as refugees in Arab East Jerusalem.
Because I was a graduating medical student at the American University of Beirut during the war of 1967, I became a double-refugee. After finishing my residency training in the United States, I returned to Jerusalem to practice medicine but Israeli military officials denied me permission to stay. In their eyes I did not qualify as a "resident" because I happened to be studying abroad during the war. My young family and I then embarked on our new life in America.
Thus it is that I became part of the first generation of my family in over 600 years to build a life outside of Jerusalem. Mine is one of three families studied by the Israeli historian Drori Ze'evi in his book about Jerusalem in the 1600s. I did not only lose my home. Our family religious endowment, or waqf, lost 11 properties, demolished to make room for a Plaza around the Wailing Wall after Israel took control of the city in |
Trust, and in it she says the only thing, the only thing that could cause Trump any trouble whatsoever is if he flip-flops on immigration, goes amnesty. It looks like he’s getting close to it, and she’s just beside herself with this. I mean, what timing.”
“I don’t see a lot of people preparing to abandon Trump over this,” he said later in the program. “Maybe Coulter. Who knows what she’s gonna do. I mean, her book hits, and it’s just had the rug pulled out from under it.”
Listen above, via The Rush Limbaugh Show.
[Image via screengrab]
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Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comAbout This Game
Build your fleet from 7 different ship classes each with different hardpoint locations for mounting different weapons, different mobility, and different hit locations.
Use small caliber guns to pinpoint your shot and switch to devastating salvo mode, forcing all available guns in range and firing arc to fire at the same location.
Equip your ships with a wide variety of weapons including AA guns, torpedoes, and a plethora of different caliber naval artillery.
Utilize or neutralize a variety of aircraft, including recon planes, fighters, and bombers, launched from island bases, aircraft carriers, or cruisers.
Ship captains gain experience with each Campaign battle.
Play the strategic single player campaigns, random skirmish mode, full cross-platform multiplayer, or even hotseat multiplayer.
Pacific and Atlantic campaigns with historical and clean slate modes for each.
Use recon to clear Fog of War and defeat enemy ground based airfields and coastal artillery.
Deploy Strategic Command Cards to surprise your enemies with special actions like deploying mines, sabotage, enhanced aiming, airstrikes and more!
Battle Fleet 2 features full 3D models of WW2 era ships.
VR Support for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift
Your mission is to select a fleet of warships, arm them by selecting their weapons, assign captains and destroy the enemy fleet. You'll have complete control of this mission, all the way down to what angle and how much power should be put into each shot. Battle Fleet 2 is at your command, Admiral!is the radically improved sequel to the original and has kept the “Worms” / “Scorched Earth” style angle+power mechanic, but now features full 3D modeling of terrain, ships, and ship hit locations. Hit the the engines and cripple the enemy's maneuverability, or aim for the command center and disable the ship for an entire turn. Ships are more realistic in which weapon compliments they can carry, and aiming/firing, as well as moving, is more intuitive.also now features Fog of War, allowing for stealth tactics and surprise attacks to be a viable strategy as well as adding the importance of using ships and aircraft for recon as well as attacks. With a full featured campaign and a variety of single play scenarios,will keep even the saltiest of sea-dogs satisfied.Battle Fleet 2 has full VR support allowing you to play the entire game in VR and even battle against friends who are playing on desktop. The VR support is experimental so please report any issues you find and we will continue to improve the VR interactions and features.Theresa May has congratulated Donald Trump on his bombshell election as US President and insisted the'special relationship' between Britain and the US will remain'strong'.
The Prime Minister, who has previously criticised Mr Trump, said she looks forward to working with him in the White House and promised Britain will stay as 'close partners on trade, security and defence'.
As she issued her statement this morning - shortly after the Republican's shock victory was declared - other British politicians denounced the new president-elect for his 'racist and sexist' campaign.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pointedly refused to congratulate Mr Trump in his response this morning but suggested his victory was a good omen for his radical left-wing agenda for Britain.
He said Mr Trump's election was 'an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment,' adding: 'After this latest global wake up call, the need for a real alternative to a failed economic and political system could not be clearer.'
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon did congratulate Mr Trump but urged him to'reach out to those who felt marginalised by his campaign' and reassure the'real sense of anxiety' he caused.
Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, has congratulated Donald Trump on his bombshell election as US President and insisted the'special relationship' between Britain and the US will remain'strong'
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured today, pointedly refused to congratulate Mr Trump in his response this morning but suggested his victory was a good omen for his radical left-wing agenda for Britain
Labour, Lib Dem and Scottish nationalist MPs were united in denouncing Mr Trump's election victory. SNP MP Carol Monaghan warned: Xenophobic, racist, sectarian and sexist rhetoric has just been legitimised. We should all be very afraid,' while Lib Dem MP Tom Brake declared: 'This is the end of the world' and former shadow minister Luciana Berger said she had woken up to a 'nightmare'
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who also publicly condemned Mr Trump last year after he criticised London's police, wrote on Twitter this morning: 'Congratulations to Donald Trump and much looking forward to working with his administration on global stability and prosperity.'
His welcoming words come less than a year after he became embroiled in a public spat with Mr Trump after the Republican claimed some parts of London were 'no-go areas' because of Muslim extremism.
Mr Johnson, then the Mayor of London, hit back: 'The only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.' He even declared Mr Trump 'unfit' to serve as President.
British MPs were deeply split in their reaction to Mr Trump's shock victory today.
While MPs from Labour, Lib Dem and Scottish nationalists condemned Mr Trump's 'hate-filled campaign,' some Tory MPs hailed the billionaire as the 'Reagan for our times, saying his presidency would be good for Britain as we prepare to leave the EU and praised his 'positive' approach to the UK.
Former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett didn't hold back in expressing her anger against Mr Trump today. She told Sky News this afternoon: 'This is a vile and horrible man, who fought a vile and horrible campaign.'
Mrs May also criticised Mr Trump last year over his policy to ban all Muslims from entering America, describing him as 'plain wrong'. Former Prime Minister David Cameron described the policy as 'divisive, stupid and wrong'.
But today Mrs May struck a much more conciliatory tone as she responded to his election victory.
In a statement she said: 'I would like to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the next President of the United States, following a hard-fought campaign.
Britain's politicians were divided as they reacted to Donald Trump's shock election victory. Pictured, the Republican pumps his fist as he made his first public appearance since the result was announced this morning
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, pictured meeting with his Croatian counterpart Davor Ivor Stier in Zagreb today, publicly condemned Mr Trump last year after he criticised London's police but congratulated the Republican on his election victory today
Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson congratulated Donald Trump on Twitter and said he was 'looking forward to working with his administration on global stability and prosperity'
'Britain and the United States have an enduring and special relationship based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.
'We are, and will remain, strong and close partners on trade, security and defence.
'I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump, building on these ties to ensure the security and prosperity of our nations in the years ahead.'
Rival political leaders reacted differently, with Lib Dem leader Tim Farron saying the 'liberal values of moderation, freedom, respect for the rule' were 'defeated' in the US last night.
In his statement this morning, Mr Corbyn said: 'Trump's election is an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn't working for most people.
'It is one that has delivered escalating inequality and stagnating or falling living standards for the majority, both in the US and Britain.
'This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.'
Former shadow minister Luciana Berger said she had woken up to a 'nightmare' while Brendan Cox, the husband of the late Jo Cox, who was tragically killed a week before the EU referendum, urged people not to'mourn' but to 'organise' to fight back against the likes of Donald Trump. Meanwhile the Tory donor Lord Ashcroft said Trump's presidency will be good for Britain
Theresa May, pictured in Downing Street today, said she looks forward to working with Donald Trump after he was elected the 45th President of the United States
He added: 'But some of Trump's answers to the big questions facing America, and the divisive rhetoric around them, are clearly wrong.
'I have no doubt, however, that the decency and common sense of the American people will prevail, and we send our solidarity to a nation of migrants, innovators and democrats.'
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale (pictured) issued a damning statement, saying she had watched 'with great sadness' as the results came in, adding: 'Today is a dark day for those of us who believe in compassion, tolerance and equality'
The Muslim Council of Britain said there is 'justifiable concern' about Mr Trump's election and called on him to take a more'reconciliatory approach' to ensure his victory 'is not a green light for bigotry for the rest of the world'.
The Scottish government has clashed with Mr Trump for years over his plans to develop luxury golf courses on protected land.
Today Ms Sturgeon, another UK leader who has publicly criticised him, was forced to change her tone towards the billionaire.
She said in a statement: 'While this is not the outcome I hoped for, it is the verdict of the American people and we must respect it. I congratulate president-elect Trump on winning the election.
'We value our relationship with the United States and its people. The ties that bind Scotland and the US - of family, culture and business - are deep and longstanding and they will always endure.'
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale issued a damning statement, saying she had watched 'with great sadness' as the results came in, adding: 'Today is a dark day for those of us who believe in compassion, tolerance and equality'.
'Donald Trump was responsible for a hate-filled campaign that was dominated by lies, misogyny and racism,' she said. As president-elect, he now has a responsibility to America and the world to heal the deep divisions he has caused.'
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon did congratulate Mr Trump but urged him to'reach out to those who felt marginalised by his campaign' and reassure the'real sense of anxiety' he caused
Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg, pictured left, pointed to remarks from Mr Trump that under his presidency Britain would be 'at the front of the line' for a trade deal after Brexit. But Tim Farron, pictured right, condemned Mr Trump and said the 'liberal values of moderation, freedom, respect for the rule' were 'defeated' in the US last night
Lib Dem MP Tom Brake declared: 'This is the end of the world', while former shadow minister Luciana Berger said she had woken up to a 'nightmare'.
And SNP MP Carol Monaghan warned: 'Xenophobic, racist, sectarian and sexist rhetoric has just been legitimised. We should all be very afraid.'
Their scathing comments on Mr Trump contrasted with more positive remarks from Tories, such as David Morris, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, who told the Mail: 'I think he will be a Reagan for our times and recalibrate America and the world in a steady business-like manner.'
UK ECONOMY IS ROCKED BY TRUMP'S VICTORY AS CHOAS HITS MARKETS When the FTSE 100 opened on Wednesday morning it opened 2 per cent down, wiping £37 billion off the off stock markets. Within half an hour it had risen following Trump's victory speech Britain's unstable economy was plunged further into turmoil today as markets reacted to Donald Trump's shock election as US President. An alarming £37billion was wiped off the UK's top listed companies as London's FTSE 100 Index dropped as much as 2 per cent this morning, but there was a boost for the UK pound this morning as sterling rose to a high of $1.25. In scenes reminiscent of the turbulent market reaction to June's Brexit vote, the UK's blue-chip took a dramatic nosedive, falling 147 points to 6696.3, while the FTSE 250 was down 300 points. But markets recovered some of the earlier losses after Mr Trump delivered a relatively conciliatory victory speech at 8am, which contained none of his confrontational rhetoric from his campaign. Investors were calmed as Mr Trump instead focused on his pledges to reunite America, invest millions in large infrastructure projects and business tax cuts. By 9am BST the FTSE100 recovered slightly and overall losses were around 0.5 per cent at 6810.5 points. The market volatility was likened to the aftermath of June's Brexit vote, although today's reaction was not as drastic and did not have the help of the Bank of England pumping out millions to stave off further losses. But the further uncertainty delivers a blow to Britain's economy as Theresa May prepares to start negotiations to leave the EU. She has already been forced to abandon the Treasury's spending targets and Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, is expected to announce a significant fiscal package in this month's mini-budget. However, Mr Trump's victory delivered a financial boost for British pharmaceutical firms due to his pledge to scrap Obamacare and Hillary Clinton's hardline stance on the industry. Shares in GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca rose this morning.
Tory MP Jacob Rees Mogg pointed to remarks from Mr Trump that under his presidency Britain would be 'at the front of the line' for a trade deal after Brexit, in contrast to Barack Obama's pre-referendum warning that the UK would be at the 'back of the queue' if it voted for Brexit.
He told MailOnline: 'Donald Trump has spoken positively about the UK especially regarding a trade deal saying we would be at the front of the line. This is more positive than the hostile approach taken by Obama so I am optimistic about Anglo American relations.'
And Philip Davies, another hardline Eurosceptic Tory MP, congratulated Mr Trump for his'stunning election victory.'
He said: 'He has always made clear his support for the UK and for our decision to leave the EU and I therefore look forward to very close UK and US relations and I hope we can look forward to a trade deal which is in the best interests of people in the UK and the US.'
Mr Davies, who was the only MP to openly back Mr Trump during the election campaign, added that Hillary Clinton'represents everything I hate about politics'.
The happiest politician in the UK was undoubtedly Nigel Farage, the interim Ukip leader, who caught the first flight to America this morning after Mr Trump's shock victory.
He hailed Donald Trump's shock election victory as 'bigger than Brexit' this morning as he caught the first flight to America to congratulate his Republican ally.
The Ukip figurehead, who oversaw the first seismic political shock this year with his lead role in Britain's exit from the EU, said it was another victory for the 'little people' protesting against the establishment.
He said Mr Trump's presidency would be good for Britain, saying: 'There'll be a friend in the White House – someone who likes this country – rather than the Obamas and Clintons, who look down on us.'
Mr Farage, nicknamed 'Mr Brexit' by his friend Mr Trump, was all smiles as he watched the results come in at the US presidential election night party at the US embassy in London.
And as he laughed and joked with journalists this morning, he was already outlining a role he could fulfill: President Trump's ambassador to the EU.
Senior Tory MP Steve Baker said the warning signs of a Trump victory were all to clear.
'For all my time in politics, I have said we were heading into a profound crisis of political economy,' he said.
'Big government, high taxes, crony capitalism, excess borrowing and easy money created the present developing global phenomenon.
'The answer is limited government, lower taxes, balanced budgets, honest money and free markets, that is, Conservatism of the old liberal kind.'
Brendan Cox, who has become a figurehead for the fight against hate crime since his wife and Labour MP Jo Cox was tragically killed a week before the EU referendum, urged people not to give up the fight against extremist politicians like Mr Trump.
He wrote on Twitter: 'History will judge us for how we respond. This must galvanise the political centre not shatter it. There is too much at stake.'
Mr Cox added: 'Jo would not want to rest in peace. In death as in life she will forever be an activist. A passionate force for good in the world.'
'This is bigger than Brexit!' Nigel Farage flies to America TODAY in a bid to be Donald's ambassador to the EU
Nigel Farage speaks to the media outside the US presidential election night party at the US Embassy in London earlier this morning
Nigel Farage hailed Donald Trump's shock election victory as 'bigger than Brexit' this morning as he caught the first flight to America to congratulate his Republican ally.
The Ukip figurehead, who oversaw the first seismic political shock this year with his lead role in Britain's exit from the EU, said it was another victory for the 'little people' protesting against the establishment.
He said Mr Trump's presidency would be good for Britain, saying: 'There'll be a friend in the White House – someone who likes this country – rather than the Obamas and Clintons, who look down on us.'
Mr Farage, nicknamed 'Mr Brexit' by his friend Mr Trump, was all smiles as he watched the results come in at the US presidential election night party at the US embassy in London.
And as he laughed and joked with journalists this morning, he was already outlining a role he could fulfill: President Trump's ambassador to the EU.
Nigel Farage has helped Donald Trump in his campaign to win the presidency, joining him on stage in Jackson, Mississippi in August, pictured, where the Republican introduced the interim Ukip leader as 'Mr Brexit'
Appearing on LBC Radio, Mr Farage said: 'Is he going to offer me a job? I'm hoping he might do.
'He will be in need of a proper Eurosceptic ambassador in Brussels for the European Union. I would rather like that job.'
He added: 'Being a foreigner will not disqualify me. As long as we can bring the EU down, it doesn't matter how we do it.'
Mr Farage, who is serving as interim Ukip leader until next month, said he would do the job'very well' having been an MEP in Brussels for nearly two decades.
Mr Farage was so confident Mr Trump will win the presidential race that he's booked a flight to the US for later this morning.If you’re a child of the 80’s, a lover of robots or have a heart, you’re probably a fan of Voltron.
If so, rejoice, because your childhood fantasies could be made real. The Defender of the Universe could be turned into an official LEGO set.
Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s worth noting that The LEGO Group (TLG) hasn’t become involved in this, not yet at least. They have a system set up called LEGO Ideas in which fans can submit their ideas for new sets.
Once an idea has been submitted with a mock-up build and some information, fans can vote on it to show their interest. If an idea can get 10 000 votes, TLG will officially put their hat in the ring and begin the arduous process producing the idea as a retail set.
This process has brought us great sets in the past. You can buy yourself a LEGO Wall-E, Back to the Future DeLorean, and even the famous set of The Big Bang Theory.
Now a new idea titled “Voltron – Defender Of The Universe” has reached the required number of votes in less than a month.
A render of the model. A render of the individual lions. A render of the individual lions.
This all sounds great so far, but we wouldn’t start setting money aside just yet. Even though TLG now has to review the project, there are many, many hoops these lions will need to jump through before you can buy them.
The idea will now be internally reviewed. This is an extremely involved process which looks at the feasibility of the design being turned into a set which meets their strict internal rules as well as satisfying the intellectual property owners of Voltron. We imagine this may be a great time for the publicity, however, as Voltron is currently airing a brand new show on Netflix.
Hopefully we get to see this turned into a physical set, no matter how expensive it’s going to be. If you do want a nostalgic trip in the form of a LEGO robot, you may be in luck, because Johnny Five is very close to being a real set.
[Source – LEGO IdeasFARGO, N.D. -- Brock Jensen threw three touchdowns on 138 yards passing as North Dakota State rolled over Delaware State for a 51-0 win on Saturday.
The Bison (3-0) did not disappoint with the ESPN College GameDay crew in town, as the two-time defending FCS champions improved to 31-2 since the start of the 2011 season with the win over the Hornets (0-3). The victory made coach Craig Bohl the all-time leader in wins at North Dakota State, improving to 92-32 during his tenure.
All of Jensen's work came in the first half, as he was replaced after the Bison built a 41-0 second-quarter lead.
North Dakota State racked up 548 yards of total offense compared with 189 for Delaware State. The Bison rushed for 305 yards as a team, led by 85 yards rushing from John Crockett.
North Dakota State held Delaware State to 34 yards rushing and 4-15 on third-down conversions.I do believe I promised something a bit more action-packed this week, although now that I think about it Mount And Blade has plenty of action. But I meant monsters jumping out of shadows and guns firing a staccato of panicked percussion. There are almost a million games that could scratch that particular itch, the one on your trigger fingers, but with the age of Rage almost upon us, I’ve decided to take a look at some mods for Doom. Or should that be Dooms? To the past, gentlemen and ladies, to the past.
The obvious place to start a trip through Dooms is with a remake of the shareware episode of the first game in the series remade in the engine of the last game in the series. Classic Doom 3 is just such a thing, demonstrating that it is still possible to capture at least a portion of that old-fashioned Doom feeling. As well as filling your ears with music that, to gamers of a certain age, actually sounds like the maps it accompanies, Classic Doom 3 recreates those maps incredibly well. It’s a bit too moody and dark for my liking but that’s Doom for you, I suppose. It’s easy to forget how garish the first two games could be, with glowing power armour, and shiny blue orbs littering the corridors.
As well as recreating the details of the levels, Classic Doom 3 elevates the Doom Marine back to his position of demon destroyer extraordinaire. Doom 3 reduced the number of enemies but increased their power relative to the player. This may have been for technical reasons, as a design choice or to create a more frightening atmosphere (I suspect all three played their part), but on the whole it’s fair to say it wasn’t a popular decision. Classic Doom 3 is not only a reminder of how good the level design in Doom 1 was, but also a study in which parts of the old design work in the new engine and which parts don’t. I’d argue that it’s a more enjoyable experience in deathmatch rather than as a singleplayer mod. It’s a great experiment, but it makes me want to play Doom rather than a modernised remake of Doom. So let’s do that.
For the purposes of these mods, let’s assume I’m talking about Doom 2 because that’s where most of the support is. So dust off your copy and get ready for a some very good things indeed and some very strange things indeed. If you’re running through ZDoom, this thread should help you with Wad usage. If you’re playing without, try this. If you still aren’t having any luck, there are incredibly helpful communities here and here, and the answer should already be available.
Here’s something you may not know about your PC, the one attached to the monitor that you’re presumably reading these words on right now. If that happens to be your work PC in the offices of Grumpy McGrumpy, the grumpiest boss in Grumptonville, don’t actually try this because what I’m talking about is computer-generated Doom levels. Let me run that by you again. Your computer can create levels for Doom. It’ll just churn them out. Most of them will obviously be rubbish but Slige, the program that makes this magickery possible, does have some restrictions and parameters so the hit-to-miss ratio isn’t as small as you’d think. That’s not really the point though. I think there’s just something terribly exciting about knowing that there are an infinite number of maps just waiting to be played. But don’t Mr McGrumpy know about it. He’d just grouch up his face like a festering knuckle and tell you to get back to the spreadsheets analysing falling lint production in Stoke.
So, there you go. I’ve given you infinite Doom maps. My work here is done, I can hang up my hat and go and enjoy the rare warmth of this uncanny English autumn. But I won’t because infinity is not enough. Before we move on from Slige though, it’s well worth checking out The Proving Grounds, a Doom 2 Wad made entirely using the random generator. It’s the best of its kind, which is to say it’s the best collection of maps made by an unthinking, unfeeling machine for a seventeen year old game that you may not own. Don’t say I never give you anything.
Cyberdemons were the first game enemy that actually caused me sleepless nights. I’d like to defy your expectations by saying that’s because I was staying up until the early hours killing them, but it wasn’t that at all. I was scared. It seems ridiculous now. I’ve braved Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia, I even played through necrophiliac point and click abomination Midnight Nowhere, an experience I’d like to share with you all one day over a very very strong drink – but I still remember with a certain spine-tingling dread the first time I saw a Cyberdemon and then heard the bastard thing stomping around, hunting me. It seemed unkillable, which is why it’d be a particular treat if I was to share a Wad that consisted entirely of puzzle-type levels all about killing Cyberdemons in imaginative ways. Imaginative doesn’t mean chainsaws and BFGs though, it means telefragging and friendly fire. The Wad is Cyberdreams and it’s quite the thing.
Each level is a self-contained challenge, tasking you with using the mechanics of the game to kill a Cyberdemon, or if you’re particularly lucky, a group of Cyberdemons. The level design is often brilliant and it shows how flexible iD’s creation was. Seeing demons turn on each other after being struck by a stray projectile was probably the first time I became aware of the possibility of that sort of emergent gameplay. It felt like I’d discovered that it could happen all by myself, as if it was an accident in the code that only I knew how to exploit. Great times. Using those tricks, among others, Cyberdreams makes Doom 2 into something else entirely.
The Sky May Be Wad has divided the Doom modding community since its release. Is it a work of abstract genius or is it the worst thing to happen in the world ever? It’s an entertaining mishmash of nonsense and surrealism, which as far as I can tell doesn’t make it either a work of genius or a thing worthy only of burning in a fire. I actually like it, though I suspect if it were more well known today, or had been created for a modern game in this modern era, it may well have generated a whole host of annoying memes. As it is, we are thankfully spared that, although here is the plot. Someone make some memes out of that.
The Great God Imp has shown mercy on your soul and cast you into the hellish pits of his virtual toybox. Running around the garish lego buildings, you become aware that the virtual toychest is actually running under windows 3.11. However the mouse is broken and the ALT and F4 keys have been removed. You must find a way to shut down the system and end this nightmare! Oh, and watch out for the Great God Imp. He may not be so kind next time He sees you.
Windows 3.11 and broken peripherals. I’m suddenly a penniless teenager again.
More oddness with Void, a Lovecraft meets Escher journey through some distinctly strange environments. My personal favourite of the far-too-many Wads I’ve played over the last fifteen years or so, Void adds all sorts to the base game and has an actual story. It doesn’t go in for the comedic surreality of Sky May Be, instead delivering a cohesive yet fractured experience. It’s the kind of thing I’d love to see attempted in Doom 3, which we’ll be going back to after this last step on our journey into the distant past.
If you only play one of these mods, make it Void. But if you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted into the sheer madness and bountiful plenty of computer-generated content and will be giving Slige a go as well. As always, do discuss other mods and Wads, great and small, in the comments below. I’ve intentionally missed out some of the big hitters, most of which can be found here, and many of which are still as good as anything created by a community of game fans.
Look at that, it’s Doom 3, not a massively ambitious Doom 1 total modification from 1997. However, it’s not just Doom 3, it’s the Conscientious Objector mod, made by some of the people behind Dear Esther. Don’t go thinking you’re going to get Dear Esther on a space station though, instead expect Doom 3 with rubber bullets. How does a man fight back hordes of the slathering undead when he’s incapable of putting them down for good? With great difficulty and shoulders buckled by despair, that’s how.
Doom 3 is an unlikely game to use as a platform to investigate not-killing, being a game mostly about definitely-killing, but that’s why Conscientious Objector works. Finding yourself backed into a corner, unable to defend yourself is a horrible experience, made more so when you realise you’re basically in that situation because of budget cuts. Real guns and equipment cost too much money. You’re going to have to make do with what your superiors found in the bargain bin.
To round us off, here’s another vision of what Doom 3 could have been. Rather presumptuously calling itself Perfected Doom 3, this mod doesn’t try to make Doom 3 into Doom 1, it doesn’t try to query the nature of death and it certainly doesn’t take place inside Windows 3.11. It’s just Doom 3 as many people wanted it, with weapon balancing, monster overhauls and numerous other tweaks to completely alter the pace of the game. I wouldn’t call it perfect but if you haven’t visited vanilla Doom 3 for a while and have even the slightest desire to do so, I think this is a superior way to fight through iD’s maps.
For the record, I enjoyed Doom 3 but it’s hard for me to work out how much of that was because of the way that I played it. Doom was one of the games that made me and it was always something of a collaborative experience, a journey I undertook in the company of friends and my sister, who is also a friend. Doom 3 is one of the last games me and my sister played through together when we still lived in the same city, meeting up and using our time-honoured method of alternating control after a level or a life. In a strange way, that made it the last game of my youth and it’ll always have a place in my heart, flawed as it may be. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy bringing it a little bit closer to perfection though.Thomas Howard, a linebacker who played parts of eight NFL seasons and was cut by the Falcons last week, is one of two dead after an early-morning high-speed car crash in Oakland.
According to police, Howard was driving north on I-880 at more than 100 mph shortly before 1 a.m. when he lost control of his BMW and struck the back of a truck. He veered into oncoming traffic and hit two cars, killing one driver and himself.
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Howard was a second-round pick for the Raiders out of UTEP in 2006 and spent five seasons with Oakland. He inked a two-year deal with Cincinnati, but spent most of 2012 on injured reserve with a torn ACL. In 2013, Atlanta signed Howard before Week 8 and he saw action in two games before being released on Nov. 12. He was 30 years old.
[KRON]Maybe you’ve heard of Reverend Robert Tilton. Or maybe you’re normal. He’s the original farting preacher known for his… “expressions of passion”.
Years ago, an 80’s TV appearance of his was uploaded to the internet, only it was overdubbed with farting sound effects. At just the right moments, sounds of flatulence kicked in, producing a clip that was not only hilarious, but just pure genius.
When the Reverend found out, he threatened a lawsuit and forced the uploader to take down his video. But of course, by then it was too late. The video was spread all over the internet as most internet phenomenons are.
The original clip spawned numerous off-chutes, some better than others; and as a result, I’ve compiled a list of the top 5 funniest farting preacher videos:
The Original Farting Preacher (Heaven Only Knows)
Here it is, the clip that started it all. The quality may not be up to par, but that’s because this was ripped from a VHS tape circulating in 1985. Word on the street is that the the tape was titled “Pastor Gas”.
Miss Farting Preacher
As the saying goes, “Behind every good man, there is a greater woman.” She really is “Cute sassy and gassy!” Honestly, I think she does it better.
Farting Preacher 2: Fart Harder
Here we have the sequel to the original. Judging from the quality, it was most likely done by the same people as Farting Preacher 1 and ripped around the same time.
A Screaming and Farting Preacher
As if farting wasn’t enough, this man had to bring in random screams. I find it hilarious when he gets a caller that doesn’t seem to feel “it”, or whatever “it” is that makes him scream for no apparent reason.
Farting Preacher 5 (The Most Popular)
If you’ve ever seen a farting preacher video before, then it was most likely this one. It was the last of the series to be removed off YouTube and therefore received the most views.
So the next time you’re flipping channels and come across a preacher, just think of these clips and you’ll have a little chuckle. Oh, and don’t forget to thank Jesus.
Can you say Amen?hyomin godtier Profile Blog Joined January 2010 Canada 367 Posts #1
I think at heart most of us are insecure people I mean I remember being in the pool once when I was in grade 7 and some girl asked who I was, this one dude who killed my self esteem over the years said, he sounds like a russian fob (im not russian but we sound the same) and that shit stuck with me for a while. Like I would be terrified all through highschool to do presentations or speak in front of new people just because of that guy lol.
So about a year ago I came across this youtube video, linked below. The guy tells his gf whos leaving to study in america, not to meet any yankee guys cause their noses are big. I was like wtf? I felt sorry for Jews having to deal with this shit now I find out that Koreans apply it to white people in general.
Hmm didnt want to bump any racist threads because this might not be racist also dosent deserve its own thread because its probably only bugging me.I think at heart most of us are insecure people I mean I remember being in the pool once when I was in grade 7 and some girl asked who I was, this one dude who killed my self esteem over the years said, he sounds like a russian fob (im not russian but we sound the same) and that shit stuck with me for a while. Like I would be terrified all through highschool to do presentations or speak in front of new people just because of that guy lol.So about a year ago I came across this youtube video, linked below. The guy tells his gf whos leaving to study in america, not to meet any yankee guys cause their noses are big. I was like wtf? I felt sorry for Jews having to deal with this shit now I find out that Koreans apply it to white people in general.
So anyways thats been in the back of my mind ever since and this morning I was going though some Korean newspapers when I came across this.
Whats more insulting, this is a Korean newspaper for english speaking foreigners.
Im starting to think this is a stereotype perpetuated throughout Korea, maybe even asia. Maybe our noses are bigger on average still its kind of mean to make fun of us over that. I just want to be loved (by this certain Korean girl) which would never happen in the first place but now there is a chance that she would be appalled by me in the first place!
Damn why cant I be this guy.
+ Show Spoiler + There is a reason for this guy specifically, and if you must know He is the |
outline of the Senate bill that I've seen — and there are a lot of specifics that I'm not yet aware of — it is a far more thoughtful and appropriate bill than the House version,“ Collins said Tuesday, “but there are a lot of unanswered questions yet.”
Still, there are plenty of unexpected disruptions that could occur.
For example, the Senate parliamentarian has warned Republicans that a provision preventing tax credits from being used on insurance plans that cover abortion is unlikely to be allowed under Senate rules. If that provision were not allowed, it could cause a major drop in conservative support from anti-abortion Republicans and require a workaround to be found.
And the Medicaid negotiations are continuing.
“We have a proposal out there for seven years,” Sen. Rob Portman Robert (Rob) Jones PortmanAddressing repair backlog at national parks can give Congress a big win Texas senator introduces bill to produce coin honoring Bushes GOP Green New Deal stunt is a great deal for Democrats MORE (R-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday. “And we'll see where we end up.”Kim Byung Man is in his sixth year on SBS’s “Law of the Jungle” and he opened up about how the show has changed him during the episode that aired on August 18.
When Jo Jung Sik told him, “You have such great stamina, I don’t think I’ve seen you rest since we got here. You can boss us around too, you know,” Kim Byung Man replied by saying, “I’m not very good at telling others what to do. I’m quite introverted.” He went on to say, “I was even more introverted when this show first started. I was always worried about what I should talk about with the guests who came to stay with me.”
This must be why Kim Byung Man has always used his actions more than his words to show how much he cares for those around him. His affection for his guests has often brought many cast members and viewers alike to tears over the years.
Kim Byung Man confessed, “This show has changed my personality and taught me what it means to be a leader. But it does get mentally taxing at times because I find myself constantly worrying about what I can do to make good memories for everyone.”
Over the years, it hasn’t just been the guests who have relied on Kim Byung Man for his leadership and direction, but the filming crew as well. It’s almost impossible to think of the jungle without thinking of Kim Byung Man.
When asked what he does to relieve the stress he feels from his responsibilities, Kim Byung Man responded, “I go skydiving. Because when you’re up there, the only thing you can think about is concentrating on what you’re doing. On that day, I can put everything else down and just focus on what I need to do in that moment.”
Kim Byung Man is unfortunately currently recovering from an injury incurred from a skydiving accident. While training for an international competition, he suffered from a compressed fracture on his second vertebrae. After undergoing surgery in the U.S. where he was training, Kim Byung Man has since returned to Korea and is currently taking a break from all activities to focus on a full recovery.
Catch up with the latest episode of “Law of the Jungle” below!
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Fargo just came back for its third season. I reviewed the premiere here, and I had a conversation with creator Noah Hawley about the first episode, how this season is and isn’t different from the ones that came before, whether his work on Legion impacted what he did here, and more, coming up just as soon as I confuse the word “singularity” with the word “continuity”…
(Two notes on the interview: 1. At the end of our conversation, Hawley uses the phrase “10-hour movie,” which you know gives me the hives, but I let it go both because we were out of time, and because Hawley’s shows in general have been great about having their cake and eating it, too, on this front: telling complicated season-long stories while also making sure that individual episodes are distinct and memorable. 2. This transcript has been lightly edited and condensed, including the removal of a stupid digression where I — my brain scrambled by too many actors on too many Peak TV shows — tried asking him if Michael Stuhlbarg and David Thewlis were the first actual Coen alums he’d employed on this show, followed by him politely saying, “Well, there was Billy Bob Thornton…”)
I want to start by talking about names. How much time at the start of each season do you spend figuring out what names you are going to give these characters?
Well, I take myself on a retreat to Hawaii and walk on the beach… No, you come up with them as you need them. I will say that Ray and Emmit Stussy, the name was just there with the idea, two brothers, so I didn’t ask too many questions about why they had to be called that, but they did. I think there’s this combination of wanting something that feels a little dated, like with Gloria: names that you don’t see around a lot anymore, but you don’t want to go too far. And then, what do you marry Gloria with? It wants to feel slightly heightened, but not so far that you’re in Thomas Pynchon or David Foster Wallace territory with names where you’re like, “Well, that’s not a real person.” So Gloria Burgle, or Donnie Mashman, the deputy, it’s sort of a smell test, I guess. And there are oftentimes that other writers in the room come up with character names and it’s just not how I see the character ultimately. It’s a sound test. It’s how the vowels look together on the page. Yeah, there’s something to that.
But, for instance, with Gloria, she’s a police officer and her last name is “Burgle.” In season one, Molly had “Solve” in the front of her last name. Is that something that’s even in the thought process, or that’s just how each of those instances turned out?
Yeah, it’s not conscious. I’m not trying to be cute. If I have been cute, then that horrifies me a little bit. I find puns to be the lowest form of humor, so I’m never going for that. It’s more just that Burgle is a funny word with a funny “ur” sound in the middle of it. And next to Gloria, it’s just … I don’t know. They pop into my head and they either work or they don’t.
With Gloria, saying someone’s a female cop can encompass a huge array of characteristics, but how do you look at her versus Molly versus Marge Gunderson? What are certain things that separate this character out from the other Fargo cops we know?
Well, she’s more taciturn; she’s lost more. Both Marge and Molly lived in this small-town bubble, and they came from a life that wasn’t luxurious, but everything made sense. And then over the course of the story, they were introduced to the idea that not everything makes sense, and how are they going to cope with that? Gloria, from the very beginning, is living in a world where things don’t make sense. Her husband left her for another man; she’s Chief of Police but she’s losing that title, so she’s sort of both Chief and not Chief at the same time. She’s starting to share custody of her son. And then her stepfather’s killed. So in that first hour, and certainly going into the second hour, I think she’s feeling like the rug’s been pulled out from under her. And she has, obviously, a layer of Minnesota nice, but she’s a little gripier, a little more stubborn, has a little harder edge to her. And her heart’s a little more on her sleeve; she can’t cover it as well as those other women.
And definitely, that’s a process — and one with the network as well. They’re looking for Marge Gunderson in that character, and I was like, “She’s not there. This is not the same woman. This is a very different person than Marge or Molly.”A $100 tablet that can run both Android and Linux is on the verge of becoming a reality. We wrote about the "PengPod" last month when its creators were seeking $49,000 on a Kickstarter-like site called Indiegogo. The project's deadline expired last night, with the PengPod getting a healthy $72,707 from more than 500 contributors.
PengPod tablets are made by a company called Peacock Imports, and will be able to dual-boot Android 4.0 and a version of Linux with the touch-friendly KDE Plasma Active interface. The dual-booting scenario involves running Android from internal memory and Linux from a bootable SD card. People who pledged $99 or more are promised a tablet, with an estimated delivery date of January 2013.
These tablets aren't going to be as slick as a Nexus 7, but if you want both Android and a full desktop operating system on a touchscreen device it doesn't get any more affordable than the PengPod. At the moment, the PengPod website doesn't provide a way to order the tablet, as the company was relying on the Indiegogo campaign. But with any luck, more will be available after the Indiegogo contributors receive theirs.
Update: The PengPod website is now taking pre-orders.Aisha Moodie-Mills has just been named the first Black and first female president of the Victory Fund and Institute, an organization devoted to increasing LGBT presence within the political realm.
Victory Fund board Chair Kim Hoover made the announcement in a statement earlier today. Moodie-Mills joins the organization from the Center for American Progress, where she worked as a senior fellow and researched race, sexuality and class since for the last five years.
“To us, Aisha represents the future of the LGBT movement,” Hoover said in the statement. “We are at a pivotal moment, and in order to continue our momentum, we need the insight and energy that Aisha brings to the job.”
As president of the fund, Moodie-Mills will focus her attention on communities who severely lack LGBT representation, particularly those in southern cities. She will also train members of the community on how to run for office.
“We have to go places and actually make sure that our constituents know that we care about the populations that’s there and that the people we are supporting to run reflect the demographics of the people there,” she told BuzzFeed.
Moodie-Mills has been striving for political equality since 2009, when she fought for the passage of a Washington DC marriage equality bill. Since then, she has been making an effort to listen to those who are underrepresented in the LGBT community to make sure that their voices are heard.
“What matters in Kansas City is who’s sitting on your city council that’s going to constantly be beating back religious attacks on freedom, in support of LGBT people,” she told BuzzFeed. “That’s what matters to your day-to-day quality of life. We need to stock more people like that.”As the U.S. moves toward holding death-sentence trials for six Guantánamo Bay detainees alleged to have plotted the Sept. 11 attacks, legal scholars and human rights advocates are questioning not only the six-year-long process and timing of the charges, but also whether the accused could ever receive fair trials.
On Feb. 11, charges were issued against the six, including the alleged chief organizer of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The U.S. military outlined 168 charges, including conspiracy, murder, attacking civilians, terrorism, and supporting terrorism.
All six accused will be tried together by military commissions highly-controversial criminal courts run by the U.S. armed forces at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. They will be the first trials of detainees held at Guantánamo.
One former detainee, David Hicks from Australia, pleaded guilty in March 2007 to providing support to a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to seven years in jail to be served in his home country. Given time off for his five years in captivity, he was released in December 2007.
Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan in 2002, more than 800 detainees have been imprisoned in Guantánamo. Hundreds have been released without charges. But about 275 are still held, 80 of whom the U.S. has said it expects to put on trial.
Before being taken to Guantánamo, five of the accused were held without charges or legal representation by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in secret prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. The George W. Bush administration has acknowledged that at least one of the defendants, Mohammed, was subjected to waterboarding while in custody.
Waterboarding simulated drowning has been long acknowledged as torture. The newly appointed U.S. attorney general, Michael Mukasey, has recently declined to say whether he agreed. But after World War II, the U.S. prosecuted Japanese soldiers for using the practice against its prisoners of war.
Vice President Dick Cheney has vigorously defended waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, referring to them as "a tougher program for a very few tougher customers."
Military authorities have declared that no evidence obtained through torture would be used in the upcoming trials. But many legal experts, including Columbia University law professor Scott Horton, have expressed skepticism about whether convictions can be obtained without using the evidence extracted under torture.
Horton told IPS that the timing of the trials was "politically motivated" to strengthen the Republican Party’s chances in the 2008 presidential election. Trying the accused by military commissions was likely to result in "a series of show trials," he added.
This view was shared by Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a New York-based legal advocacy group, which represents one of the defendants, Mohammad al-Qahtani, who has been held at Guantánamo for six years and claims to have been tortured during that time.
The military commission system had "none of the guarantees" of trials by normal civilian courts, Ratner told IPS.
He added: "Coerced and hearsay evidence can be used. There is no jury, only a group of military officers and a judge appointed by the Bush administration. Much of the trial can be held in secret and the defendant does not get to see all of the evidence. After this sham process, the defendant, if convicted, can receive the death penalty. There is a barbarity to the actions of the Bush administration that is without precedent."
Many military lawyers have expressed similar views.
The former head prosecutor at Guantánamo, Col. Morris Davis, resigned when he was placed directly under the command of the General Counsel of the Department of Defense a principal architect of the military commissions system.
Lifelong Republican John Hutson, a retired judge advocate general the military’s top lawyer has become a leading voice among former military officials criticizing the Bush administration’s policies on Guantánamo Bay. Hutson has opposed torture and the precedent it would set for future conflicts.
The Bush administration has argued that ordinary courts are not equipped to handle the sensitive national security considerations involved in trying terrorists.
A Pentagon legal adviser and spokesman, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, has said the trials would be "as open as possible." The accused would have the right to call their own witnesses, cross-examine prosecution witnesses, and see the evidence presented against them.
"There will be no secret trials," he has declared. The 12-member military commission would have to pass unanimous verdicts.
But Hartmann has declined to answer questions about the admissibility of evidence obtained by waterboarding.
The procedures of the military commissions have been repeatedly challenged in U.S. civilian courts, resulting in a number of stinging defeats for the Bush administration and contributing to the delays in holding the trails.
This legal saga began in 2001, when President Bush issued an executive order establishing military commissions to try those captured in the so-called "War on Terror." Four years of legal battling later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that military commissions as defined under the president’s executive order violated military law and the Geneva Conventions.
Congress then hurriedly enacted the Military Commissions Act of 2005, which Bush signed into law in early 2006. That law, which is still under challenge in the courts, has become the basis for the planned trials. If challenges to the military commissions are successful, the trials could be delayed even further.
Concern over the potential loss of U.S. standing in the world over the holding of military trials and what will emerge during them has been voiced by many American legal scholars.
David Cole, a leading constitutional authority, told IPS: "When the U.S. violates human rights in the fight against terrorism, it sends a message to autocrats and dictators worldwide that they, too, can deny human rights in the name of counterterrorism."
This view was echoed by Ratner, who said: "These trials are important because the U.S., a country that often criticizes torture and military tribunals in other countries such as Nigeria and Turkey is now using torture and trials outside its normal system to try the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators."
Rona Gabor, international legal director for the advocacy group Human Rights First, told IPS: "Much of the world considers the death penalty an international human rights violation even when imposed after the fairest of procedures. To impose it through an untested, ad hoc process that has not yet successfully completed a trial, even for a misdemeanor, will likely be viewed with deep skepticism."
Read more by William FisherBy By Sean Fraser Apr 15, 2014 in Odd News Mcdonald - A 15-year-old special education student was charged with disorderly conduct after he secretly used his iPad to record audio of his classmate bullying him. The victim, Christian Stanfield, said he was tired of the torment from his classmates and decided to make an audio recording of the bullying in hopes of getting the offenders in trouble. Stanfield suffers from ADHD, anxiety and comprehension delay disorders. Instead, Stanfield got himself in trouble and threatened with wiretapping charges by the principal. That prompted Stanfield's mother, 40-year-old Shea Love, to call for swift and decisive consequences. "What I want is for heads to roll,” Love said to SFHS principal Scott Milburn was presented with Stanfield's audio evidence on Feb. 12 and Milburn then ordered Stanfield to erase the file. When police arrived, the evidence was gone but Stanfield was still charged with disorderly conduct. He was found guilty on March 19 and fined $25 plus court costs. According to the hearing transcripts obtained by the “I wanted some help,” Stanfield said. “This wasn't just a one-time thing. This always happens every day in that class.” Love testified under oath that the recording included a portion where one student telling another to pull Stanfield's pants down. The teacher then told the students that if what they were talking about did not involve math, they needed to be quiet. Love claims the incident has affected her son's health. She claims he has lost 10 lbs. and has had to attend additional therapy sessions to deal with the stress, causing him to miss school. Love is pursuing an appeal that will be heard April 29. Johnathan Steele, Stanfield's attorney, expects to file a civil suit against the school for their handling of the incident. "The damage is done,” Steele said. “In terms of an apology, that’d be great, but the student has already suffered psychological damage, emotional trauma and increased therapy, which he truly needs because of what happened to him. He feels like a criminal.” The incident occurred at South Fayette High School in McDonald, Penn., during a special education math class.The victim, Christian Stanfield, said he was tired of the torment from his classmates and decided to make an audio recording of the bullying in hopes of getting the offenders in trouble.Stanfield suffers from ADHD, anxiety and comprehension delay disorders.Instead, Stanfield got himself in trouble and threatened with wiretapping charges by the principal.That prompted Stanfield's mother, 40-year-old Shea Love, to call for swift and decisive consequences."What I want is for heads to roll,” Love said to Fox News. “But he said to me, ‘Mom, it might make you feel better if people get fired, but that won’t change anything.’ He said there needs to be more compassion for people and changes to the zero tolerance policy."SFHS principal Scott Milburn was presented with Stanfield's audio evidence on Feb. 12 and promptly called police, claiming he had "a wiretapping incident" to report. It is illegal in Pennsylvania to secretly record audio.Milburn then ordered Stanfield to erase the file. When police arrived, the evidence was gone but Stanfield was still charged with disorderly conduct. He was found guilty on March 19 and fined $25 plus court costs.According to the hearing transcripts obtained by the Tribune-Review, Stanfield claimed he made the recording because be felt "like it wasn't me being heard."“I wanted some help,” Stanfield said. “This wasn't just a one-time thing. This always happens every day in that class.”Love testified under oath that the recording included a portion where one student telling another to pull Stanfield's pants down. The teacher then told the students that if what they were talking about did not involve math, they needed to be quiet.Love claims the incident has affected her son's health. She claims he has lost 10 lbs. and has had to attend additional therapy sessions to deal with the stress, causing him to miss school.Love is pursuing an appeal that will be heard April 29.Johnathan Steele, Stanfield's attorney, expects to file a civil suit against the school for their handling of the incident."The damage is done,” Steele said.“In terms of an apology, that’d be great, but the student has already suffered psychological damage, emotional trauma and increased therapy, which he truly needs because of what happened to him. He feels like a criminal.” More about Bullies, iPad, Teen, Pennsylvania, School More news from Bullies iPad Teen Pennsylvania School WiretappingToday is a good day for T-Mobile customers because they’re getting free T-Mobile Tuesdays gifts. For T-Mobile itself, though, this Tuesday isn’t quite as nice.
T-Mobile has been hit with a complaint from Huawei. The company alleges that T-Mobile has been using patents related to 4G wireless networking while refusing Huawei’s attempts to license the patents to T-Mobile on a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) basis.
In its complaint, Huawei claims that it reached out to T-Mobile on June 6, 2014, to talk about licensing and its 4G patents and that it wanted to enter into a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with T-Mo for the discussions. T-Mo refused, Huawei says, and after Huawei again suggested the two companies enter into an NDA, the company says that T-Mo refused once again.
Fast-forward to January 2016 and Huawei filed patent infringement actions against T-Mobile and again said that it wanted to get into patent licensing talks. T-Mobile then said that it’d enter into an NDA, and the two companies are said to have then gone back and forth on the details of the “mutually-acceptable NDA” and the licensing offer. Huawei goes on to say that T-Mobile rejected Huawei’s FRAND patent licensing offer and claimed that Huawei violated its commitment that it would license its patent on FRAND terms.
Finally, in June, Huawei says that T-Mobile agreed to an NDA but then refused to meet face-to-face with Huawei for discussions. Huawei alleges that it sent T-Mobile examples of how it’d infringed on Huawei’s patents and offered to meet face-to-face. T-Mobile has purportedly not responded to Huawei’s offer.
Huawei wants the court to rule that it has met its FRAND commitment in offering licensing terms to T-Mobile and declare T-Mo an unwilling licensee.
T-Mobile hasn’t issued an official statement on the lawsuit. Huawei claims that “T-Mobile cannot operate its core wireless network without the use of Huawei’s 4G Wireless Network Essential Patents,” though, so it’ll be interesting to see how T-Mo responds to Huawei’s complaint. While we wait for T-Mobile’s answer, you can read Huawei’s full complaint below.
Huawei vs. T-Mobile by Todd Bishop on Scribd
Via: GeekWireFor his most ambitious build to date, [Param] thought it would be a cool idea to have a LED matrix display spitting tweets out via a WiFi connection. The build is now done, and we’ve got to hand it to him for a very nice build.
The build is based on an Arduino with a Sparkfun WiFi shield providing the network connection. The Arduino pings a Javascript app that pulls down tweets from The Verge and displays them on an 8×8 LED matrix display.
What makes [Param]’s build so cool is its portable nature; the entire device is completely wireless, getting its power from a Sparkfun LiPower shield and an apparently extremely capacious LiPoly battery.
With a rat’s nest of wires hanging out the back of the LED display, [Param]’s build is crying out for a proper enclosure, but even given that it remains a quality project. You can see a video of the WiFi’d Twitter display after the break.UPDATE (April 23): The head of the newly created radical royalist cyber-vigilante group has filed a lèse majesté charge against Ms. “Rose” himself. In separate story on Wednesday, Kamol Duangphasuk, better known among the red shirts as a poet under his pen name “Maineung K. Kunthee” has been shot dead by unknown assailants. “Maineung” was also known to be an anti-lèse majesté activist.
ORIGINAL STORY (April 22)
As Thailand’s political crisis lingers on, the country’s draconian lèse majesté law is still being applied, as two related cases show. Moreover, a new online vigilante group is making sure it stays that way.
The words Wutthipong Kotchathammakhun spoke into the camera were as straightforward as they were blunt. The man more commonly known as red shirt activist and radio talk-show host “Ko Tee” has always been more outspoken than the mainstream umbrella red shirt organization, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), and he also doesn’t shy away from openly criticizing the monarchy.
In a documentary by VICE News on the current Thai political crisis posted on YouTube earlier this month, “Ko Tee” implies that anti-government protest leader Suthep Thuagsuban “is only the figurehead” and points to somebody higher behind the protest movement.
The reporter asks Kotee what the red-shirts’ demands are. Kotee replies: “We demand that they stop mob gatherings on the streets. We demand the electoral system. They say they love the country. But all they do is destroy it and the economy. I’m fighting the system that has dominated Thailand for a long time. Suthep is only the figurehead. I’m fighting the one who is really behind the mob. You know the meaning, right?” After a pause, he asks the reporter if she understands the implication of his gesture. He then says the name of the alleged de facto leader of the anti-government protest. “Hardcore red Kotee target of lèse majesté charge“, Prachatai English, April 9, 2014
The reactions were swift and even the Yingluck government were quick to pull the trigger, ordering the police to take legal actions against “Ko Tee”, who remains at large at the time of publishing. Furthermore, the authorities have also threatened the public not to share said video, since they could also be implicated for lèse majesté.
That wasn’t the only lèse majesté charge this month.
A Thai mother and father have sued their daughter, a vocal anti-establishment red-shirt residing in the UK, for posting video clips of herself defaming the monarchy after they received a storm of hate phone calls from Thai loyalists.
Thai media reported on April 17 that Surapong and Somchintra Amornpat filed a police complaint against their daughter Chatwadee Amornpat, 34, who is now working as a hair stylist in London and holds British citizenship. Declaring herself a “progressive red shirt” and republican, Chatwadee, aka Rose, recorded several video clips, voicing her opinions on the Thai political conflict and attacking the monarchy and published them on her Facebook profile. (…) Her parents decided to press charges against her because they were threatened by phone calls from people in Thailand. Pressing charges is to show that they do not condone their daughter’s actions, the parents said, adding that they have warned her to stop defaming the King. “I want people to understand that just because a daughter is doing something wrong, it doesn’t mean the parents are also guilty, because we don’t condone such actions,” Khaosod English quoted Surapong as saying. “Parents sue daughter for lèse majesté“, Prachatai English, April 19, 2014
While “Rose” is in the United Kingdom, she could be arrested if she returns in Thailand. What is more striking in this case is not only that the parents are filing a lèse majesté complaint against their own daughter, but also the apparent climate of fear in the form of the threats made against the parents.
Such a climate of fear and pre-emptive social obedience – something we have mentioned a few times here when it comes to (over-)emphasizing one’s loyalty to the monarchy – has now gained another supporter in form of an online vigilante group. The Facebook group, roughly translated to the “Organisation to Eradicate the Nation’s Trash” (“องค์กรเก็บขยะแผ่นดิน” in Thai), has taken it upon itself to, as the name implies, to “exterminate” those that in their view “insult, defame and discredit the monarchy.” The group, opened by a former military doctor called Dr Rienthong Naenna, has as of writing more than 140,000 likes since its launch a little over a week ago.
Pro-monarchist vigilantism online is not a new phenomenon in Thailand – at one point in recent history it was even state-sponsored. Those accused of being critical of the monarchy have often been the target of cyber witch hunts. Victims of such attacks have often have their personal details and contact information disclosed in public.
But the aforementioned group is seemingly upping the ante:
Mongkutwattana General Hospital director Rienthong Nanna, who unveiled his new Rubbish Collection Organisation (RCO) last Wednesday, yesterday warned critics that he would “respond with violence” to any violent attacks committed against his supporters. It came as Dr Rienthong claimed yesterday that about 7pm on Saturday he saw “suspicious-looking men” in three cars lurking outside his house on Chaeng Watthana Road. (…) Dr Rienthong said he was working on the establishment of a “People’s Army to Protect the Monarchy”, which would recruit people in every region (…). He also invited retired military and police officers who are loyal to the King to a meeting (…) to discuss the establishment of “a special task force of old soldiers” to help the National Police Office punish perpetrators of the lese majeste law. However, Dr Rienthong told the Bangkok Post that his “People’s Army” and the soldiers task force are not intended to persecute or use violence against fellow Thais. Their mission will be only to look for lese majeste suspects and bring them to justice. He denied the RCO is a rogue organisation and vowed that it will operate within the law, without links to political or business groups. “Monarchists vow to fight ‘armed threat’“, Bangkok Post, April 20, 2014
Even if the online mob does not translate its vigilantism into the real life, it does plant yet another dangerous seed in the already hatred-filled plains by naming their perceived enemies as “trash” and vowing to collect and “eradicate” them. The radical monarchists are setting a dangerous precedent, which some observers have compared to the Thammasat massacre of 1976. The holier-than-thou mindset of those claiming to defend the monarchy is further polarizing an already emotionally charged political crisis and could damage the monarchy in the long run more than they’re actually protecting it.
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About the author:
Saksith Saiyasombut blogs about Thai politics and current affairs since 2010 and works as freelance foreign TV correspondent. Read his full bio on about.me/saksith.Get the biggest Manchester United 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
The decision to put Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson on the front cover of FIFA 16 was greeted with puzzled looks, but thankfully Manchester United's Ashley Young has the answer.
With the game released on Thursday the United winger was at the Trafford Centre signing copies of the latest installment from EA Sports.
Taking the place on the front cover alongside Barcelona ace Lionel Messi the Liverpool midfielder was, inexplicably, voted as the Premier League player to appear on the game.
Clearly this wasn't going to go down well in Manchester and it's fallen upon United's own to fix the problem.
Young's excellent graffiti looks to have started something among disgruntled FIFA fans who want rid of Henderson on their beloved game and some are going to extreme lengths to make sure there is no Liverpool presence.It's been over a year since President Donald Trump issued an executive order promising to halt federal funding for cities that limit cooperation with immigration agents. After the order was made, mayors from across the country vowed to remain so called “sanctuary cities” anyway.
Amidst this backdrop of threat and resistance, Oakland resident Sharmila Kanagalingam remembers feeling confused and conflicted, wondering what exactly was at stake.
“Being a Democrat and a liberal, I am questioning whether or not sanctuary cities are doing a public good,” Kanagalingam says. “are they really compromising immigrant communities, or has it just become a way for liberals and Democrats to be anti the government of the day?”
So she reached out to our crowdsourced collaborative reporting project Hey Area and asked us to go past the divide, and find the meaning and history behind sanctuary cities.
The sanctuary movement
If you really want to understand the controversy of today, you might have to take a step inside an unlikely place: a church.
Back in the early 1980s, Jose Artiga lived inside the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in San Francisco’s Castro District. That was after he fled El Salvador, when a death squad — a group of government backed assassins — came looking for him.
“My sister came early Saturday morning as I was leaving the house I was staying at and told me, ‘You've got to go, there is no time for questions, no time for investigations, you got to go,’” Artiga remembers.
Artiga was not alone. Nearly a fifth of El Salvador’s population fled the country’s violent civil war. But the Reagan administration didn’t want to admit that the Salvadoran government, an ally in the fight against communism, was also funding death squads. Artiga says the U.S. government wanted to keep the violence under wraps.
“More and more refugees were coming from El Salvador to the United States,” Artiga says. “As people were applying for political asylum, after a few years we realized that something like 99 percent of the applications were being denied.”
But that didn’t stop the mass exodus. So, churches in the U.S. stepped up, declaring themselves public sanctuaries. Church leaders offered to feed, shelter, and provide attorneys for the thousands fleeing violence.
The raids
But many immigrants were still afraid of deportation and the police.
“The San Francisco police actually took part in several immigration raids during that era,” says Bill Hing, an immigration professor and director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at the University of San Francisco.
“The police were not trustworthy to the immigrant community. Even the lawful immigrant community, thought, ‘Why should we cooperate? We're afraid to report crimes we were victims of or witnesses to.’”
Hing remembers when police helped immigration agents raid a Mission District night club. Two hundred people were told they couldn’t leave the club unless they proved they were legal U.S. residents.
“It was quite upsetting, because it scared the heck out of immigrant communities, especially the Mission district, where many Mexicans lived, and there was an influx in Guatemalans and El Salvadorians at that time,” Hing says.
San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance
In response to the community’s outrage, Hing helped draft the city’s first binding sanctuary ordinance in 1989.
“The ordinance basically was a noncooperation statement,” Hing says.
The ordinance declared there would be no more using city resources to help federal immigration agents.
Refusing to cooperate with federal authorities was immediately controversial. By 1992, San Francisco was at risk of losing federal funding unless they changed the policy. So city officials said they’d start cooperating with immigration agents for people with felonies.
A controversial policy
But even with that change, people like former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California Peter Nunez, say sanctuary cities are still unconstitutional.
“To decide they can just opt out of a law Congress has passed is a nonstarter. Why didn't they just decide we're not going to follow the internal revenue code anymore?” Nunez says. “Why not just not follow any law? What makes immigration so different they can just decide, ‘No thank you?’”
Nunez is a board member of the Center for Immigration Studies, a research group that supports tighter controls for immigration. He says undocumented immigrants suspected of any crimes in San Francisco should be reported to immigration agents. But besides that, he says sanctuary city policies help encourage illegal immigration.
“If you're in country x, and you're poor, and you’re searching for a better life, and you read in the paper that if I can make it to San Francisco, I’m going to be protected, why wouldn’t you move to San Francisco?” Nunez says. “I mean, this is the greatest inducement for illegal immigration that you can imagine.”
While sanctuary cities tend to have higher populations of undocumented immigrants, it’s difficult to prove that it’s because of sanctuary city policies.
But there are studies that say that sanctuary cities are safer than non-sanctuary cities.
A breath of fresh air
When Maria Hernandez moved to San Francisco from Mexico in the early 1990s, she didn’t know about the city’s sanctuary policy.
“Before I learned what a sanctuary city was, or that San Francisco was a sanctuary city, I didn’t know I had any rights. I didn't feel safe at all reporting anything to the police,” |
activities, including the bombing of a commercial airliner that resulted in the deaths of 73 people.
Carriles, who’s lived with his family in Miami since 2007, was facing charges in Texas of lying to US immigration officers and entering the country illegally. The trial, which was just getting underway at time of this story’s publication, was mocked as a “farce” by some south American leaders.
Agiza and Alzery, the men who were allegedly tortured in Egypt, eventually had their deportations from Sweden overruled and were awarded damages totaling over $700,000 US dollars.
Lawyers for Julian Assange have suggested that the Swedish allegations were a facade for US efforts to have him extradited to the west, where he potentially faces torture or imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay. The US Department of Justice was considering filing charges of conspiracy or espionage against Assange, but no final decision had been made.
President Barack Obama has insisted that the US no longer tortures terrorism suspects.
A secret jury investigating WikiLeaks filed a subpoena last week, seeking personal information on all of the site’s followers on Twitter, with a member of Iceland’s parliament singled out as a person of interest in their probe.
Former Bush political strategist Karl Rove, an ardent critic of WikiLeaks and a proponent of prosecuting Assange for espionage, was reportedly contracted to aid the 2010 reelection campaign of Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. It was unclear whether he played a role in influencing the case against Assange.
(h/t Legal Schnauzer)Why This Boy Started Helping His Sister With Chores: #15Girls
Enlarge this image toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
This story is part of our #15Girls series, profiling teens around the world.
It's evening rush hour at a street market in the city of Pune, India. Fifteen-year-old flower seller Aniket Sathe is in his element — bargaining with customers, catching up with friends who drop by. They gossip about school, check out the motorbikes whizzing past and dream up crazy schemes. Like, what if they could get ahold of the balloons that the woman next to Aniket is selling?
Aniket points to a nearby building and grins. "If we took as many balloons as would fit in there and tied them to your hand you could fly in the sky," he says.
But lately all the fun Aniket is having in the market is making him feel a little sorry for his older sister.
"She can't come here," he says. "Every day she has work to do at home."
toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
That's a new insight for Aniket. The division of labor in his family — he sells flowers in the market, his sister is stuck at home washing clothes and cooking dinner — is something he never thought to question. That is, until recently, when he joined an unusual class.
Getting The Boys On Board
The class is run by a nonprofit group and meets every Wednesday. The night we stop by, 10 boys stand in an empty shop donated for community activities. They're playing Simon Says.
The games are just a hook to get the boys in the door. Soon the teacher, Suhas Kamble, is sitting the boys down in a circle for tonight's lesson. He starts with some questions about the traditional roles for husbands and wives.
"Who rules in the house?" Kamble asks.
"The man," answers Aniket.
"Who makes all the decisions?" continues Kamble.
"The man," says Aniket.
"So the woman is at the bottom and whatever the man says, she has to listen to," concludes Kamble. "She can never argue with the man or disagree."
Kamble then explains that this is just one of many ways the culture works against women in India. It's a point Kamble makes often. The nonprofit that sponsors this class — the Equal Community Foundation — has an ambitious mission: Persuade India's boys to help end discrimination against India's girls. India consistently ranks among the world's worst countries for women, with high rates of sexual violence and domestic abuse. Plenty of Indians are trying to fix this through programs to empower girls. But the staff at the Equal Community Foundation say that's not enough. You need to get the boys on board, too.
toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
Aniket and the other boys in this class seem receptive. They nod earnestly virtually every time Kamble speaks. But Kamble has his work cut out for him. So many other places these boys go — home, school, the street — they're picking up a different message: that girls should be subservient; that they're fundamentally inferior.
After class we ask the boys a question. What makes a good sister?
A 15-year-old named Prashant Hatangale tells us, "She should prepare food for me when we get home from school."
Next up is 13-year-old Krushna Sathe. "She shouldn't be flashy," he says. "She should wear modest clothes, traditional clothes."
And what does our flower seller, Aniket, think?
"She should not stay outside long," he says. "And she shouldn't be chatting with boys."
Basically, he's describing his older sister.
Not My Job
It's morning in Aniket's neighborhood, a maze of metal shacks. He's sitting on the family's one bed. He's in his school uniform. His older sister Aishwarya, 16, wears a traditional tunic and pants. She dropped out of school this year after failing one of the subjects on a national exam.
She's helping their mother prepare a breakfast of spiced rice and groundnuts. Rekha Sathe gives her daughter a smile.
toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
"She's a very good cook," Rekha says. "She's better than me."
We ask Rekha how old Aishwarya was when Rekha first taught her how to cook.
"Ten years old," says Rekha.
She didn't teach Aniket. She explains that her daughter needs to know how to cook for one important reason: "My expectation for her is that she find a good husband with a good job and a nice home."
So Rekha has been carefully training Aishwarya for married life.
"When she goes to her new home, if somebody comes home from work, she should offer them water and make them tea. She should serve food," Rekha says. "I should not get any complaints [from her in-laws] that she is not behaving properly."
Aishwarya listens to all this without objection. She doesn't oppose her mother's plans for her. Still, she says she does want her brother to pitch in on the chores. But when she'd ask him for help, Aniket would say, "Not my job."
"He was so arrogant," says Aishwarya. "I used to get mad at him and I used to fight with him. I would ask him why do you talk like that?"
He'd make fun of her skin tone — say she was too dark, and tell their younger sister she was fat.
Then one day, Aishwarya says, she found Aniket cleaning the house.
"Suddenly, when I'd ask him to do something, he would do it. I asked the teacher, 'What are you teaching him?'"
It turned out one of the assignments was to try a chore your sister normally does. But Aniket says what really spurred him to reconsider his attitude was a class discussion during which Kamble showed the boys some poems and pictures.
"The girls were doing all the work at home while the boys were allowed to go fly kites," he recalls. "I thought, 'That's like me and my sister. What would it feel like if I stopped doing everything for one day and only sat at home? That's how my sister must feel,' and that's why I started doing work at home."
toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
Aishwarya says Aniket is now a changed boy. He listens to her. He pitches in when she asks. And he's stopped the teasing. He's... nice.
The Cool Girl
The sun has set over the flower stand, and the talk between Aniket and his pals has turned to romance. A short kid in a yellow shirt plucks a slip of paper from his pocket and shows it to Aniket.
It's a love note from a girl at school. The kid wants to know, how do I get a message back to her? Aniket's got lots of advice.
toggle caption Poulomi Basu / VII Photo/for NPR
"Listen," he says, "leave it under her desk. But stick it there with chewing gum. Otherwise it could fly off and another girl could find it and tell the teacher."
Aniket is not speaking from experience. He says he's not exactly smooth with the ladies. Take this girl whose family runs a nearby fruit stand. Her parents let her hang out there until late. She wears a polo shirt and pants. She walks where she likes, banters with the boys. She's not traditional. Aniket watches as she wanders from stall to stall, helping the vendors make change, blow up balloons.
"I don't talk to her," he says.
He's too shy.
But does he like her?
"Yeah," he says. "Of course!"
She's cool.$9,500 Can Buy You a Piece of Stephen Curry’s Shoes
Stephen Curry is without question one of the most exciting and electrifying players to watch this year. Play after play, highlight after highlight, and game after game, the guy is making the headlines and viral streams of social media.
Just delivered to us by one of our Facebook fans is a link to where you can buy just a piece of Stephen Curry shoes for $9500 certified by Panini from the 2013-2014 season (auction). It should be noted that this piece of Steph Curry’s shoe is before his signature line with Under Armour.
Unlike many Nike, Jordan, and adidas game worn shoes, PEs of Under Armour and Steph Curry have been harder to find than other signature athletes. With so much value placed on Michael Jordan’s Game Worn shoes from the 1995-1998 era, one has to consider that Stephen Curry’s Under Armour Game Worn shoes will be something that memorabilia collectors will be chasing after.
Stay tuned next week as we will be posting an analysis of what Stephen Curry’s run to greatness the past two seasons might mean long term for Under Armor.The wealthy Republican donor at the center of an explosive lawsuit accusing Fox News of coordinating with the White House to publish a fabricated story connecting slain DNC staffer Seth Rich to WikiLeaks appeared Tuesday evening on CNN.
And, as you can imagine, it was a nutty affair.
Ed Butowsky, the Texas-based money manager named by Fox News contributor Rod Wheeler as having allegedly worked between the White House and Fox on the now-retracted story, opened the interview with host Chris Cuomo by accusing Wheeler of simply wanting a job.
CNN previously played voicemail recordings, provided by Wheeler, showing Butowsky bragging that the Rich conspiracy story had the “full attention of the White House” as a way to pressure Wheeler into making on-record claims about the DNC staffer’s unfounded connection to WikiLeaks.
Much to the astonishment of Cuomo, Butowksy explained away the voice recording as such: “The voicemail that I left for him about the full attention of the White House, that had to do with Joey Della-Camera, the D.C. detective and the D.C. detective wanted to come out and talk because he has a lot of information.”
“Why would a D.C. detective equal the White House in your voicemail?” Cuomo asked as Butowsky stammered to explain. “How does a D.C. detective get coded as White House? What does he have to do with the White House?”
While failing to give a coherent answer (“He wanted whistleblower status, according to Rod Wheeler,” was one attempt at it), Butowsky’s eyes darted around the camera. When asked why he wouldn’t have just called Della-Camera “the D.C. guy” instead of “the White House,” he once again failed to make much sense:
“Well, what I said was Rod Wheeler had asked me to see what we could do to see if I could help this guy and I just simply made some calls. I never talked to anybody at the White House,” he said. “By the way, I’ve never talked to President Trump in my life and President Trump nor the White House has anything to do with any of this.”
In addition to the voicemail, Wheeler provided a screenshot of a text message from Butowsky, in which the bankroller wrote that “president [Trump] just read the article. He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you. But don’t feel the pressure.”
Butowsky’s explanation? It was “out of context” because “Rod Wheeler had been asking me for a long time, and said, ‘Ed, when I get this case settled, the president’s gonna hire me’... So this was just tongue-in-cheek, talking, just texting, wasn’t serious because Rod Wheeler was always looking for a job because he has no money.”
Asked about his previous statement to NPR that the Trump-related text was just a joke, Butowsky once again sputtered: “It wasn’t a joke that was funny how—Rod Wheeler had been, y’know, talking to me all the time about how much he wanted to get a job. He said, ‘Get me on the Trump team, please get me with Sessions’... It was just two guys, me basically finding a way to just kinda chat with him about stuff he’s been talking to me about.”
The big-money man repeatedly suggested throughout the interview that his words were simply being taken out of context.
As Cuomo noted, however: “The problem is: They’re your words, Ed.”Click the blue hearts to load their associated settings
♥ The sound that relaxed me when I was a child, has exactly the same effect now 45 years later!
♥ I love to couple the street light sound with the Summer Night generator for relaxing and creating a positive headspace.
♥ Kind of sounds like when you touch the headphone plug.
♥ Sounds like my fan on the lowest setting.
♥ ← The Lamp In my Grandmas Guest-Bedroom
♥ Most pleasant sound. It connects us all.
♥ The sound of my air conditioner.
♥ Sounds like a substation under high load.
♥ Sounds like a fluorescent light.
♥ Reminds me the neon kitchen light we had. Replaced it with a less noisy and less flickering LED bar.
♥ The sound of a small substation seems relaxing to me.
♥ Reminds me of VHS audio distortions a little. I like it.
♥ This one is really nice reminds me of space colony ships maybe?
♥ Stimulates my mind that causes me to go wild. Not all people share this effect.
♥ Reminds me of the transformers on the poles outside my childhood home. Also reminds me of the looms you could hear in the Russell Mills factories when I lived in Alexander City, Alabama.
♥ Electric fence... in Jurassic Park.
♥ I really like it. I don't know why...
♥ Reminds me of my redneck childhood. Faulty bug zapper. lol.
♥ Finally we have control over the modern world's prime annoying noise!
♥ Yes it sounds just like the power grid in the US. I have over 200 gigabytes of FLAC files recorded at 96kHz sampling rate from an earth dipole antenna and you can hear motors, energy saving bulbs, oil burner ignitors and air conditioners turning on and off. This is nice to have when I'm at a friends house and I forgot to bring the MP3 player with me.
♥ Reminds me of cicadas during summer.
♥ I call it "opposites" like +/- completely different yet oddly harmonic with each other. This one focuses on low and high frequencies while still getting a backdrop from the middle, its good for anyone who needs to relax and forget about the day, or like me helps to focus on homework.
♥ For some the buzz of a light is the most annoying thing in the world, but sometimes if they're at the right frequency, it can sort of give off a focusing environment, but I'll leave that for you to decide.
♥ Reminds me of a road trip through the desert. We stopped at a gas station and near it was a big substation that sounded just like this.
♥ So relaxing...
♥ So much cinematic potential. Could be used in a film as an electricity sound effect.
♥ This is just Street Light 1, but it reminds me of a fantasy I've had many times that calms me down really well! Thank you!
♥ ← Old freezer soundTwo months of hard work had finally paid off. I had immersed myself in Remnant's culture, history, and science and come out with a plan that was now in motion. I knew that it would be months for the changes to become evident. There was so much friction to overcome within the corporate ranks even for the Schnee family and there was so much I had yet to learn. There were gaps in the knowledge that could lead to disaster, and I felt that perhaps I had already made mistakes. But I reminded myself that letting self-doubt control me, rather than guide me would only extinguish the hope that I wanted to share.
I wasn't under any illusions that it would be easy. There were almost too many things that could go wrong, too many enemies to make as we tried to pull the world out of the downward spiral of retaliation and escalation. But Weiss had been a reminder of the fact that we had allies in the waiting as well. It was only up to us to reach out to them.
The next step, I figured, was to remind the people of hope. I had discovered the Peace Charter that had been signed in the wake of the Faunus War and its message of peace and brotherhood between humans and faunus, and the mission it had entrusted to everyone to foster compassion and understanding between the two races, to heal old wounds and forge new bonds, to strengthen the tentative peace into a welcomed and lasting one.
It was a message of hope that had fallen by the wayside as greed, ignorance, and prejudice festered in the wounds left by the war. Bigots from either species had twisted the Charter's words and used them as weapons of hate and intolerance that escalated to the breaking point that resulted in the White Fang's change of heart.
Where there was once a yearning for equality, was now a thirst for blood.
But, I couldn't help but wonder if there were still others who held on to what the White Fang originally stood for. If so, where were they?
"Hey." Winter placed her hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked at her. "What're you thinking of?"
"White Fang." I said, then reassured her when that concerned look went on her face. "No, no. Not like that. I was just wondering if there are still members of the White Fang, or ex-members, who still believe in what they originally stood for."
"Well." She hummed. "If there are, they're really good at hiding, especially if they're still running with the White Fang."
I sat up and stretched my back. "True. Maybe we'll get informants that way. Maybe we won't."
"And it's risky too."
"And don't forget, if they find out you guys are involved the situation will go all FUBAR."
"FUBAR?"
"It's a military term from where I come from." I reached for the coffee pot and poured myself a cuppa. "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition."
"Ah." She poured herself a cup too, then grimaced after taking a sip. "Sounds useful. Wait a minute."
She stood up and answered her ringing Scroll, and I saw the mask go over her face once again while I respectfully didn't notice the details of her conversation with the military man on the other end of the line, judging by her use of'sir.' She frowned faintly several times, and she sighed in frustration when he finally hung up.
"Damnit! It's too early in the morning to be dealing with people like him." She seethed. "Sure. I'm all for using robots against the Grimm. That was what they were made for after all."
"But?"
"Colonel Glass wants to use them in ops against the White Fang, again!" She put her scroll down. "Even the Knights are terrible against sapient opponents. Everyone knows that. And there's the fact that they have no discretion! Just shoot to kill! Top it off with bad intel! Every op we're forced to send them ends up… FUBAR because of that!"
She took in a breath. "Schnee only makes the military programs them, but we still get the splash."
"Can't you appeal to General Ironwood?" It was my turn to put my hand on her shoulder, and she slumped tiredly into a chair.
"I can try, but it'll take months for him to get back to Atlas to assess the situation for himself because he's off managing security for the festival!"
"You could threaten to cut supply. Say that their usage of your robots doesn't meet the standards that SDC sets."
She winced. "We could have done that, but now that we're easing off the pressure on our competitors and allowing them to grow… Atlas now has a bunch of upstarts to choose from. Orange Psychotronics for example."
"The one with the crazy robots?"
"That one."
"What about a demonstration to prove precisely why that sort of programming is bad?"
"Something to discredit our own product?"
"No. something to discredit narrow-minded thinking."
"We're going to make a lot of enemies, aren't we?"
"Hey. At least we have each other."
She bit her lip, and then looked away.
Records of The Great War were unsurprisingly sparse and incomplete. The ruins of the Empire the people of Remnant were either long overgrown, or torn down to make room for new construction. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a Great War museum could be found in Atlas, and I immediately made plans to visit. But first, I needed to get rid of this headache.
The room spun a bit as I stood up, and I had to hold on to the chair to keep from falling. Maybe I'd contracted some sort of disease native to Remnant? I managed to get my 'going outside' clothes on and checked my pants for my wallet. It was there. I made my way to the pharmacy. I showed the lady behind the counter my ID and by prescription, then bought a bottle of water to help a pill down. It helped immensely and I sat down on a bench in the park to think.
I turned the bottle over in my hands, reading the label. Remnant medicines were essentially blends of various types of Dust. Traditional Remnant medicines were also made on the same principle and used various blends of dried plants and animal parts that also contained concentrations of Dust. It made sense, I suppose. The people of Remnant didn't generally get sick the same way we do. An Aura's passive healing effects took care of that, though there were some microbes and parasites that could survive an Aura's energies to wreak havoc on their host.
Instead, a great number of common illnesses were caused by imbalances in the flow of the Aura's energies throughout the body, and the intake of various combinations of Dust in the right amounts would correct the flow. I chuckled. I would have dismissed this as quackery on Earth. But I wasn't on Earth and things were different here on Remnant so I just took things as they were.
I sighed. I wondered what was happening on Earth, whether or not my family was alright, and whether or not that same stroke of luck that brought me here would happen again and bring me back.
A gaggle of schoolgirls, judging by the uniform and the chatter, brought me out of my thoughts. One of them came by and asked me if I could watch their stuff. Sure, I nodded. Then they all came over and dropped all manner of bags and purses and weapons on the empty space beside me. I had to adjust a spear that had fallen the wrong way and poked at my cheek.
They split off into two groups. One of the groups had gone to one of the sand beds to rake sand and meditate, the other went to another to drill and spar. Fighting was very much a cultural activity here on Remnant. Atlesian styles were very precise and motion-efficient while Mistralian ones were rather more graceful, but no less effective. Vale was a mixing pot of styles, though I guess their 'own' flavor was more of a brawl. Or was that Vacuo?
Schoolgirls took to the rocks in pairs and began fighting while the rest watched and cheered. I opened up my scroll and started drawing, analyzing how they fought as I sketched the motions. 'Raven', the girl with black hair, liked to move around and had a very fluid style that could switch from precise and efficient to very showy displays that used her hair as a distraction.
"Why doesn't she just grab on to the hair?" I asked the girl who was standing by the water fountain and filling bottles.
She looked at Raven and her partner, then to me. "Conditioner."
"Oh." That made some sense.
Raven's opponent had tried to do just that, and a kick to the gut had her sprawling in the sand. Only it did not. The girl used her semblance to stick herself to the rock and rebound with a headbutt, sending the girl with slippery hair into the sand.
"Hey, that's cheating!" Raven called out and the schoolgirls immediately divided into two camps arguing whether or not it was cheating.
The one filling the bottles sighed and rolled her eyes.
"This happens a lot, doesn't it?"
"Yeah. Hey, sorry about this." She turned to them and called out. "Why don't we all ask this guy?"
I quirked an eyebrow up at her and shrugged as they turned to me. "Well, if you were all using Semblance, then I don't see why it would be cheating. If you weren't, then it's cheating."
Apparently that was good enough because they carried on with their rounds.
Minutes later, the other group started screaming as a combatant flew into the air a dug a trench into their lot of sand and ruined all the rakework.
Calla, my sparring partner lashed out with a kick aimed at my jaw. It and threw her off balance enough that hooking my foot around her ankle and pulling sent her sprawling on the large, flat rock. She recovered quickly and flipped over her back and landed in a crouch. We had been in a stalemate for a minute or two since the match started. Her punches were pushed away by my Aura and I was too slow to get good hits in.
"C'mon, Cally!" One of the girls called out. "Hit him already!"
"I can't!"
"Why not! He's big!" The girls beside the one egging Calla on giggled. "NOT LIKE THAT!"
Truth be told, the top of her head was about chin level for me. And then suddenly we were face to face and her head was quickly approaching. I put my elbow in the way and swept my arm to the side, but she danced out of the way of that and jabbed at my kidney. I felt it connect this time, and I winced. The pain faded as I maneuvered to get some space, but she grabbed my arm, surged forward and tossed me over her shoulder and into the sand.
I rolled over onto my back and took the offered towel to wipe my face of sand.
"That sucked."
"That was actually pretty average." One of the girls said. "One minute and ten seconds. The very best of us can hold out against her for around three or four, and that's either Raven or Sandie."
"Thanks then." I stood up and stretched a bit before hopping up and down a little to get most of the sand off.
Twayblade, the water girl who had invited me to spar, tossed me a bottle of water. I caught it and drank about half before placing it with the other bottles. Cally came up and punched me in the shoulder with a grin.
"Up for round two, hot stuff?"
"Maybe. What time is it?"
"Around four past noon!" Someone offered.
"Well, I guess I'm not going to that museum, then." I shrugged. "Sure. Let's do round two."
Round Two started off similarly to the first bout. We circled each other for a bit as we sized each other up. Her stance was solid and spread, making her hard to push or throw but I knew from experience that she could move fast. I decided to stay light on my feet so I could more easily move out of the way. That saved me from getting thrown again, and I stepped back from her to gain some extra distance and time to think.
She could only move quickly in short bursts, and had to spend some time between each burst as well. So if I kept her moving, she would tire out and I would have the advantage. On the other hand, she had been at this for years while I had only been training for two months so she definitely had more endurance than me. I ducked under her punch and retaliated with a hook to the jaw. It connected and she smirked. And then she aimed a jab at my head. We were too close for my Aura to deflect it, and I screwed my eyes shut and covered my arms with my face in anticipation of the blow.
I felt an upwelling of power then and there, like a surge of energy traveling from my chest and into my arms, and then into the air. I felt static wash over my skin and a sensation of something being drawn from my chest. I opened my eyes.
Calla was frozen elbow deep in a shimmering display of light. Her arm had been truncated from the elbow down, and the missing parts stuck out of another light show a little bit behind my head. Everyone looked on with wide eyes. I blinked.
"You should probably get your arm out of that before it closes." I said.
She winced at the image I had probably given her and withdrew her arm. "Right." Her arm thankfully came out intact.
"So, were those glyphs?" She stepped back and flexed her arms. I noticed the rippling muscle and decided that I really didn't want to get hit.
"I guess so. I don't know?"
She charged once more, though more carefully than before and I ducked and leaned away from her punches with relative ease. Though I was able to strike back, it didn't seem to do much to her when they connected. I'd have to end it decisively or else I would end up in the sand again. She turned around and lashed out at me faster than I could react while I scrambled to get some space. She didn't let up though and electricity arced around her hands, and I blacked out as her fist smashed into my forehead.
I woke up on the sand dizzy and miserable as heads crowded my vision. My forehead throbbed painfully and I think my nose had been bleeding, because my lips were sticky and tasted like copper. I felt like I wanted to puke. Everything shifted in and out of focus.
"Oh Dust…" I heard Calla say, her face loomed in my vision. "Are you alright?"
I groaned painfully and screwed my eyes shut again. "Not really…"
I heard her apologize.
I blacked out again.Amazon's new Echo, image via TechCrunch
At an event in Seattle this morning, Amazon unveiled its next-generation Amazon Echo speaker, which features a new smaller design and better sound than the original Echo to compete with products like Apple's upcoming HomePod.Apple focused heavily on sound quality as a way to differentiate the HomePod from existing smart speakers like the Google Home and the Amazon Echo, with a 7 tweeter array, a 4-inch upward-facing woofer, and an A8 processor capable of advanced acoustic modeling and spatial awareness. Shortly after the HomePod was unveiled, rumors of a higher-end Echo surfaced Amazon's new Echo supports Dolby Audio and it has a dedicated woofer and tweeter, features Amazon says bring better sound. It also includes second-generation voice recognition capabilities, second-generation far-field microphone technology, and support for multi-room audio so several Echo devices can be used together.The Echo is made from metal and is wrapped in a fabric shell, which can be swapped out with other shells for customization much like the Google Home. Amazon is offering six shells for the Echo.Amazon plans to charge $99 for the new Echo, making it much more affordable than the HomePod, which will be priced at $349 when it launches in December. Pre-orders for the new Echo are available today.There's also a new Echo Plus, with built-in Zigbee functionality for smart home hub functionality and all of the same improvements in the new Echo model. It's designed to work with a wide range of smart home products right out of the box, with over 100 partners signed up. Echo Plus is similar in design to the original Echo, while the new $99 Echo is smaller and shorter. Amazon is charging $149 for the Echo Plus, and it comes with a free Philips Hue bulb.Echo Buttons, also new, are priced at $20 and are designed to allow Echo owners to play trivia games with the Echo, and the Echo Spot is a new Echo device that features a 2.5-inch circular display. It's a cross between an Echo and a smart alarm clock with a price tag of $130.Along with the new Echo models, Amazon announced the $35 Echo Connect, a device that's designed to plug into a phone jack on one side and an Echo on the other, allowing the Echo to be used as a telephone able to accept calls from a person's standard home phone number. The Echo Connect is also available for pre-order today. Amazon Echo speakers are also gaining call functionality that will let them make phone calls to any number.This is When’s Melee, your weekly source for Melee tournament stream and bracket information. If you know of any other events and their streams, please reach out on Twitter (linked below) or here in the comments with the relevant information.
Syndicate 2017 (9/23-24)
Region: Netherlands, UTC+2
Stream: GeekyGoonSquad
Featuring: Armada, Wizzrobe, ChuDat, Professor Pro, Trif, Overtriforce, Amsah, Android, Zgetto, Avalancer, Mahie, Jeapie, Daydee, Daumling, reaper, Baxon, SchlimmShady, FA0, Alpha Dash, Jadde, Moe, Maskless, Jim Morrison, and syndication.
» smash.gg: Brackets, Attendees | Schedule | Facebook
Norcal Validated 4 (9/23)
Region: NorCal, PDT
Stream: yung__dad
Featuring: Shroomed, PewPewU, Nintendude, Azusa, Spark, Boulevard, homemadewaffles, Darkatma, Reno, Kira, NMW, Ralph, Zorc, s0ft, ycz6, DiplomaticTucan, silentspectre, Imyt, L, Mooninite, Groovy Green Hat, Dr. Z, Kevbot, Kenji, Umarth, PoeFire, Chris Best, soccermom69, Azel, Frotaz, Machiavelli, and validation.
» smash.gg: Brackets, Attendees | Facebook
Friday, Sept. 22
Melee at the MADE #46 (NorCal, PDT)
Stream: TheMADEOakland
Featuring: PewPewU, Nintendude, Azusa, NMW, Chris Best, Zorc, and more top NorCal talent.
» smash.gg (coming soon) | Facebook
MoaL 175 (PGH, EDT)
Stream: PGHSmash
» Challonge | Organizer Facebook
Kent Combo 54 (Ohio, EDT)
Stream: KentStateSmash
» smash.gg | Organizer Facebook
Aurora Smash Heroes @ WIT (Ill, CDT)
Stream: AuroraSmash
» Challonge
Friday Night Turnip #69 (SoCal, PDT)
Stream: TopShelfEsports
» smash.gg | Organizer Facebook
SDSU Biweekly 71 (SoCal, PDT)
Stream: SDMeleeTV
» Challonge | Facebook
Smash @ Arcania #3 (Mex, UTC-5)
Stream: SmashTampico
» smash.gg | Facebook
Tuk House Weekly (Wash, PDT)
Stream: TukHouseSmash
» Challonge | Facebook
Saturday, Sept. 23
Scenic City 2017 (Tenn, EDT)
Stream: RecursionGG
Featuring: HugS, Crush, KPAN, Reeve, HT, Iori, Dublat, Googlyeyed, Michael, and a darn fine stream.
» smash.gg | Facebook
MMOM Bi-Monthly #8 (Mass, EDT)
Stream: MakeMoneyOffMelee
Featuring th0rn, Kalvar, Klap$, JoyBoy, Younger, Tian, BigFoig, Rasen, Mr. Lemon, Loadspiller, Yasu, bonfire10, Golden, and more good New England players.
» Challonge | Facebook
A September Smash Special (Man, CDT)
Stream: ManitobaSmash
Featuring: Ryan Ford, Sylarius, Star, CmG, and more of ranked central Canada.
» smash.gg
Precinct – September 2017 (U.K, UTC+1)
Stream: PhoenixDawnLive
Featuring: TimeMuffinPhD, ShiftingShadows, Socks, TTS, Hen, and more Scots.
» smash.gg | Facebook
The Birdhouse XI (Ill, CDT)
Stream: ISU_Smash
» smash.gg | Facebook
Aftershock 6 (Md, EDT)
Streams: BeccaMade and MetalMonstar
» Facebook | Smashboards
TCNJapes 2 (N.J, EDT)
Stream: TCNJMelee
» smash.gg | Facebook
Grand Capital Smash 5 (Ont, EDT)
Stream: StreamlandSSB
» smash.gg | Facebook
Nebulous Melee #99 (N.Y, EDT)
Stream: NebulousNYC
» smash.gg | Organizer Facebook
Event Match 28 (Penn, EDT)
Stream: R2DLiu
» smash.gg | Facebook
House of Smash 52 (Norway, UTC+ 2)
Stream: SmashNorge
» smash.gg
S@PS Weekly 47 (Penn, EDT)
Stream: PSUSmash
» smash.gg | Facebook
Sunday, Sept. 24
Horn |
the city’s residents could actually see rate increases that exceed the widely reported 33 percent figure. According to the group’s analysis, seniors with low water use will see their bill double by 2018 under the current plan, for example.
“Municipalities obviously need the money to do what they need to do to provide safe drinking water, but that drinking water doesn’t have to just be safe, it also has to be affordable,” Mitch Jones, a senior policy advocate at the organization, told The Huffington Post. “We have to make sure when we’re looking at rates that we have a structure in place that doesn’t put the burden on lower-income households.”
To address the issue of making infrastructure improvements without squeezing those households, the group suggests implementing an income-based water affordability program like one already in the works in Philadelphia.
In response to the criticism, Baltimore DPW spokesman Jeffrey Raymond pointed out that some of the city’s water users will actually see their water bill decrease as a result of the change, which will eliminate an existing minimum water charge.
The city also moved Wednesday to approve slightly increased assistance for eligible low-income water users — from $179 in annual support to $197 — and to increase the flexibility of its payment plans, Raymond noted.
Still, advocates like Jones say that’s not enough support to keep up with the level of need. Many Baltimore households — almost 24 percent of which are poor enough to receive food assistance — are already having a hard time keeping up with their water bills. And Baltimore isn’t the only city where residents are struggling, particularly as water rates have been on the rise nationally.
According to the latest data from Circle of Blue, a water-focused news site, water prices in the nation’s 30 largest cities increased 5 percent last year and are up 48 percent since 2010. In the last year, water rate hikes have also been approved or implemented in cities including Phoenix, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California.
Those high prices have correlated with high water shutoff rates in some of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods.
In Detroit, the city shut off water service to 23,000 homes last year. That’s about 13 percent of the utility’s entire base of residential customers.
And though Detroit has pledged to help struggling water users get on payment plans, the shutoffs have continued this year. The city has cut off water for about 150 homes per day since May.
_____At approximately 2:40 in the afternoon of March 22nd, British-born Khalid Masood — a violent criminal who had previously been investigated by MI5 for links to extremists — deliberately drove into pedestrians making their way across Westminster Bridge. He killed a mother on her way to collect her children from school, a pensioner, and two tourists. After crashing the rented vehicle into the gates of Parliament, Masood ran into New Palace Yard and stabbed an unarmed policeman to death before being shot and killed by plainclothes officers. In contrast to other recent attacks in Western nations, which have frequently (sometimes incorrectly) been labeled acts of “lone-actor” terrorism, Masood’s assault was followed by a volley of articles with titles such as “Remote-Control Terror,” “Don’t Bet on London Attacker Being a Lone Wolf,” and “The Myth of the ‘Lone Wolf’ Terrorist.” Analysts were keen to point out that “lone-actors” are very rarely truly alone and that instead they tend to emerge from within broader, extremist milieus. Moreover, what sometimes seems like lone-actor terrorism at first glance turns out to be connected to, if not directed by, foreign terrorist organizations. Yet the official word on Masood is that, regardless of his associations, he acted “wholly alone.” To accurately understand the nature of terrorism today, patient, measured analysis and consistent use of terminology are necessary. It is therefore important to re-examine the concept of lone-actor terrorism and to try and appreciate where it fits within the overall spectrum of jihadist terrorist activity in the West.
Many, if not most “lone-actor” jihadists (including Masood), are indeed connected to other extremists and terrorists in some shape or form. Such connections have been greatly facilitated by the growth of social media and encrypted communication applications, which have also enabled the rise of virtual “planners” or “entrepreneurs” and so-called “remote-controlled” or “enabled” attacks, such as those in Würzburg and Ansbach, Germany, in July last year. Moreover, the number of jihadists with bona fide connections to foreign terrorist organizations, including training and combat experience abroad, has risen sharply since the outbreak of conflict in Syria and Iraq. Western security services are currently bracing for a potential surge in the number of returning foreign fighters.
Nevertheless, lone-actors have not suddenly gone extinct. Recent dismissals of lone-actor terrorism are partly a reaction against widespread and often inaccurate use of the phrase “lone-wolf” in the media. However, these reactions are suggestive of quite rigid interpretations of a term, which refers to a varied and complex phenomenon and should not be taken literally. For instance, the observation that lone-actors are never truly alone is hardly a revelation, nor does it automatically invalidate the term. As researchers from the Dutch Institute of Security and Crisis Management noted a decade ago, lone-actors
often identify or sympathize with extremist movements. They may at one time have been a member or affiliate of an extremist organization or [even] have obtained some training or support.
The existence of connections to others, particularly members of terrorist organizations, is certainly significant. But especially in today’s social media-saturated world where connections to others are more easily-achieved than ever before, we must be careful not to overemphasize the nature of such links. The danger is that we exaggerate the power and reach of groups like the self-proclaimed Islamic State and assist them in achieving their goals by magnifying the threat.
So, What is Lone-Actor Terrorism?
At face value, the term “lone-actor” suggests someone operating in social isolation, absent any form of encouragement, support or control. However, the reality is more complex. As Daniel Byman, Rafaello Pantucci, and others have pointed out, there is a continuum of connections to likeminded extremists and most lone-actors display varying levels of communication and affiliation with others who share their worldview. Nidal Malik Hasan, for instance, was in contact with Anwar al-Awlaki — yet the nature of that contact was limited to ideological justification for, rather than planning of acts of violence. It thus appears that Hasan conceived and conducted his attack entirely on his own. Yassin Salhi, who decapitated his boss at a chemical plant in Lyon in June 2015, had been affiliated with extremists in France for many years. He was in contact with a friend named Yunes Sébastien located in Syria, who may even have influenced him to some degree. Yet the information we have suggests that he planned and conducted his attack by himself. Lone-actors occasionally even receive partial assistance from others who seem to have limited knowledge of their plans. In the case of the Nice attacker, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, French authorities have laid charges against nine suspected accomplices. However, it remains unclear whether any of them actually knew what he was planning. As far as we currently know, he ultimately acted alone in the absence of operational support or control. This is quite different to someone like the Jewish Museum attacker, Mehdi Nemmouche, who had trained with the Islamic State and was acting as a lone operative for that organization.
Crucially, the mere existence of connections to other extremists does not by itself mean that a person was acting as part of a broader network. We must look at the nature and content of those connections to know whether the person was acting independently or not. Even then — as the above examples illustrate — there are still many grey areas and it may often be debatable whether the lone-actor label is appropriate. With this in mind, most terrorism analysts focus on the issue of operational autonomy and specifically the absence of command and control as the central, defining feature of lone-actor terrorism. The question then becomes a matter of where contact ends and control begins, which is not always an easy call to make.
What difference does it make? From a psychological perspective, there are questions about what makes a person more-or-less independently decide to conduct an act of terrorism without the encouragement and support of likeminded peers (though this may or may not include contact with a terrorist organization). Very few jihadis appear to reach the stage of mobilization without some form of relevant social interaction and, in this sense, the “lone-actor” label is somewhat tenuous. But from a more practical standpoint, there are at least three additional pertinent issues that reveal the relevance of the term: visibility, predictability, and capability.
Despite a tendency to reveal their beliefs and sometimes even their plans to other people (referred to as “leakage”), lone-actors tend to be less visible due to their absence from or comparatively peripheral position within known extremist networks. This reduces the chances of detection or else obfuscates threat assessments, thereby limiting the likelihood of intervention. Ayanle Hassan Ali, who attacked soldiers at a Canadian Forces recruiting center in Toronto in March 2016 and was previously unknown to police, falls into this category. Lone-actors (such as Masood and Omar Mateen) also tend to be unpredictable, so that even when they show up on security services’ radar, frequently there are insufficient grounds for intervention and surveillance has to be dropped, only for them to conduct an attack weeks, months, or even years later. Finally, on a more positive note, due to lack of training, lone-actors also tend to be much less capable on the whole and typically rely on readily-available, low-tech weaponry.
Taking all three factors (visibility, predictability, and capability) into consideration, lone-actors are more likely to slip through the counter-terrorism net and actually execute their plans, but are less likely to achieve large-scale destruction and fatalities. Indeed, although Petter Nesser and his colleagues found that the majority of recent planned attacks within Europe were connected to the Islamic State, most of these were thwarted. My own research has shown that the majority of jihadist attacks which are executed in Western nations are done so by lone-actors who are lacking organizational support. Moreover, these attacks result in a much lower average rate of fatalities, compared to those committed by terrorist organizations.
Rethinking the Threat to the West
Based on the above discussion, we can conclude that lone-actor terrorists are untrained individuals who act independently of any terrorist organization to plan and conduct attacks largely by themselves. More broadly, homegrown jihadist terrorism in the West consists of a spectrum of actors and activities. A common approach is to divide this into three levels: inspired, enabled, and directed. Although not without utility, this method of categorization glosses over the complexity of connections between actors. Using a four-tier system (as depicted in table below), we can distinguish between those who are more-or-less socially isolated and inspired by the ideology; those who are connected to others yet operationally independent from them; those who are networked in the sense that they are embedded within and coordinate their activities together with broader extremist networks; and finally those who are organizationally supported, meaning they are trained, funded, and logistically supported by (networked) foreign terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State or al-Qaeda.
Lone-actors, as well as autonomous dyads and groups (such as the murderers of Lee Rigby), straddle the inspired and connected categories, depending on their particular connections. Remotely-enabled operatives are distinguished from lone- or other autonomous actors by the nature and degree of their connections to terrorist organizations. The encouragement and guidance they receive almost certainly makes a difference to their willingness to conduct attacks and to their operational decision-making.
In at least one such case in India described by Rukmini Callimachi, the degree of support has extended to include arranging access to weaponry in addition to the facilitation of in-country connections, which is indicative of tangible organizational support. This level of assistance has yet to be clearly documented in the West. In light of their more extensive connections with terrorist organizations, remotely-enabled attackers are at least theoretically more visible than lone-actor terrorists (despite their frequent use of encrypted communications) and are potentially more capable. Importantly, however, this potential has yet to be realized and (as depicted in the third column of the figure below) the average number of fatalities in remotely-enabled attacks is actually less than for lone-actors and autonomous groups. Of course, this difference in fatalities is small, the salient point being that remotely-enabled attacks are closer to acts of lone-actor terrorism in terms of physical destruction than to organizationally supported attacks.
By far the most devastating form of jihadist terrorism — yet also the most frequently thwarted — are attacks committed by organizationally supported operatives who have been trained in camps abroad and have received ongoing financial and logistical support. Importantly, this often includes continued, remote advice regarding the construction of improvised explosive devices. This appears to have been key to the success of the 7/7 bombings in London and may also have played a role in the Brussels attacks last year. However, notwithstanding outliers like the simple-yet-spectacular attack in Nice, there is no substitute for face-to-face training with weapons and explosives. Granted, it is possible, if not likely, that future remotely-enabled attacks will eventually result in mass casualties, but there is no concrete reason at present to believe they will become more effective on the whole. Indeed, jihadist terrorist attacks executed in the West remain largely amateur despite the mushrooming of connections to terrorists in the Middle East.
Why Does All This Matter?
There is a need for a degree of analytical clarity and consistency among terrorism researchers. There is no doubt that we are faced with a complex and varied threat and it is quite rare for any given case to fit neatly into a particular analytical category. Precisely because of this, it doesn’t make sense to treat categories as if they are literal or absolute descriptions of reality that are somehow mutually exclusive of one another. Lone-actor, remotely-enabled, organizationally supported — these are all relative terms and the lines between them are blurred. Moreover, the classification of any given case (and any conclusions we subsequently draw from this) is dependent on sufficient information, which is very often lacking, especially in the immediate aftermath of an attack and particularly concerning the existence, nature, and extent of any connections to terrorist organizations or others.
Perhaps the more important implication relates to how the threat is portrayed. By downplaying the role of lone-actors and autonomous groups, while emphasizing the controlling influence of the Islamic State, the threat of jihadist terrorism in the West appears even bigger and badder than it really is. Connections between terrorists are indeed common (more so in Europe than the United States), but this does not mean that lone-actors (untrained, largely autonomous individuals) don’t also play an important role. Remotely-enabled attacks are certainly an increasing issue of concern and they are indeed the work of the Islamic State, but not exclusively so. As Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens and Seamus Hughes point out, they represent a hybrid, a midway point between lone-actors and truly organizationally supported operations — a marriage of convenience if not necessity — and their extremely limited outcomes so far reflect this. If there is a myth that needs dispelling, it is not related to the reality of lone-actor terrorism, but rather to the belief in the omnipotent presence of the Islamic State. Groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda undoubtedly shape the ideological landscape and their tentacles reach far beyond their immediate territory. We are faced by a threat that is largely dominated by interconnected, ever-evolving and extremely dangerous transnational networks. Yet despite sporadic, devastating attacks, the majority of jihadist violence in Western countries is — thanks to the work of police and intelligence services — more “lone-actor” than it is the work of Islamic State external operations. In contrast to Khalid Masood, the recent truck attack in Stockholm appears to have been internationally connected, if not supported. The perpetrator, Rakhmat Akilov, claims to have been following direct orders from the Islamic State and was in contact with fellow extremists on WhatsApp. However, Swedish security services described Akilov as a “marginal character” within known extremist networks and the end result was much the same as in London. Indeed, Akilov displayed only the most basic level of skill, incapable of constructing a working improvised explosive device.
The threat to the West is real and we cannot afford to let down our guard, but our adversaries’ intent is far greater than their capabilities. Moreover, this is an indicator of largely successful counter-terrorism. Members of the general public and policymakers alike should understand and appreciate this.
Dr. Sam Mullins is a professor of counter-terrorism at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Germany, and an honorary principle fellow at the University of Wollongong, Australia. He is the Author of ‘Home-Grown’ Jihad: Understanding Islamist Terrorism in the US and UK. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the official position of the Marshall Center, the U.S. government, or the German government.
Image: CC, PriorymanA YOUNG woman, who was refused an abortion under the country’s new laws, had the baby delivered by Caesarean section after going on hunger strike.
A YOUNG woman, who was refused an abortion under the country’s new laws, had the baby delivered by Caesarean section after going on hunger strike.
The woman was in the second trimester of the pregnancy when she discovered she was pregnant and requested the abortion, which was refused.
In what is believed to be one of the first cases under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act, 2013, the woman sought an abortion as she claimed to be suicidal.
Her case was assessed by a panel of three experts, as set out under the legislation passed last summer.
The psychiatrists on the panel determined her life was at risk as she had suicidal thoughts. But the consultant obstetrician said the baby could be delivered as it was far enough into the pregnancy.
The panel decided the baby should be delivered. The child was born at 25 weeks and is understood to be doing well.
After initially refusing to have the baby delivered, the woman ultimately agreed.
"She applied for a termination and was rejected. She then went on a hunger and fluid strike," a source said.
Concerns for the well-being of her and her baby were heightened. The HSE went to the High Court to get a care order to prevent her from starving herself. A second court date was due for the HSE to set out its care plan.
However, in the intervening period, the woman agreed to have the baby delivered.
The woman was between 23 and 25 weeks pregnant when the baby was delivered last week.
"The psychiatrists would have assessed her as having suicidal ideation. The consultant leaned on the legislation which allows the baby to be delivered," a source said.
"The care order gave permission to hydrate her. She wasn't on hunger strike for long enough to be of danger to herself or the baby."
Identification
The young woman discovered she was pregnant quite late. The baby is expected to be taken into care. A court order preventing the identification of the woman is also in place.
The suicide clause of the law - section 9 of the act - was one of the most contentious parts of the legislation. Due to the 1992 X case, there is no time limit in the 2013 act as to when a pregnancy can be brought to an end.
But there is no obstacle in the act to prevent doctors from delivering a baby where the pregnancy is viable.
The HSE and the Department of Health both said that theydo not comment on individual cases.
"In response to your query, the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 commenced on January 1, 2014. Its purpose is to confer procedural rights on a woman who believes she has a life-threatening condition, so that she can have certainty as to whether she requires this treatment or not," a spokesman said.
Doctors have finally been issued with guidelines on the new abortion law. The rules say they can intervene to save the life of a mother even in cases where the pregnancy is well advanced. The guidelines point out that the law, passed last summer, has no time limit imposed for carrying out a procedure.
The document stresses that while doctors are required to "preserve unborn human life as far as practicable" they cannot compromise the woman's right to life.
The legislation sets out no time limit for doctors carrying out a medical procedure where a pregnant woman's life is in real and substantial danger due to physical complications or suicide risk.
The guidelines, drawn up over many months by an expert committee, are aimed at giving advice to doctors on the practical application of the law, setting out the form of assessment involved as well as their obligations to a woman whose pregnancy may put her life at risk.
Irish IndependentDenard Xavier Robinson (born September 22, 1990) is an American football running back for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Robinson was the starting quarterback in all 26 games for the 2010 and 2011 Michigan Wolverines football teams and played at the same position as a senior for the 2012 team as well as running back and wide receiver in the second half of the season.
As a sophomore in 2010, Robinson set the single-season Division I FBS record for rushing yards by a quarterback and became the only player in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history to both pass and rush for 1,500 yards. Robinson also broke the Big Ten Conference season record with 4,272 yards of total offense (2,570 yards passing and 1,702 yards rushing) and led the conference in rushing. In his second start at quarterback against Notre Dame, he set the Michigan single-game record with 502 yards of total offense. He was awarded the 2010 Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the Most Valuable Player in the Big Ten Conference and was selected by the Football Writers Association of America as a first-team All-American. He also set the Big Ten single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback and became the only player in NCAA Division I FBS history to both pass for 200 yards and rush for 200 yards in a regular season game twice.
As a junior in 2011, Robinson led a resurgent Michigan team to an 11–2 record and a victory over Virginia Tech in the 2012 Sugar Bowl. He threw for a career-high 338 passing yards in a come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame in the first night game played at Michigan Stadium. At the end of the 2011 season, Robinson had eight of the top 10 single-game total offense totals in Michigan history, including 948 yards in two games against Notre Dame. His total offense output in 2010 (4,272 yards) and 2011 (3,348 yards) rank as the top two single-season totals in Michigan history. As a senior in 2012, he extended his record with a third game with both 200 yards rushing and 200 yards passing.
As a freshman and sophomore, he also competed as a sprinter for the Michigan men's track and field team. He has run the 40-yard dash in 4.32 seconds, and he recorded the fastest competition time in 2010 among Michigan's sprinters in the 60-meter dash.
Early life [ edit ]
Robinson was born in 1990, the son of Thomas Robinson, Sr., and Dorothea Robinson.[1]
Nickname [ edit ]
Robinson began playing pee-wee football by age 10 and played the game with his shoes untied, thus earning the nickname "Shoelace" as a child. Those who saw him play at Westside Park in Deerfield Beach recall
Kids would go for his shoes on tackles, and he'd come up to the huddle in just socks. His coach couldn't stand it at first and neither could his parents. They'd tie wristbands around his shoes. When that didn't work, they tried athletic tape. They even rolled his socks over his shoes. He was a marvel, and he wasn't even finished with the sixth grade.[1]
Robinson continued to play football without tying his shoelaces and became known as "Shoelace."[2][3] One reporter who visited his family to watch a Michigan game noted, "To everyone in Deerfield Beach – everyone but his mother, that is – there is no Denard, just Shoelace."[1] Robinson's high school coach, Art Taylor, explained his rationale for accepting the practice
After 25 years coaching, if the kid can throw it 90 yards in the air and is accurate and the kid can run as fast as he does... as long as he feels comfortable, not lacing his shoes, fine with me. The kid's been doing it all his life, why mess with it?[4]
At the college level, his coaches at the University of Michigan also accepted Robinson's practice. After learning that Robinson could run the 100 meters in 10.4 seconds with his shoes untied, Michigan quarterbacks coach Rod Smith called it "the damnedest thing I've ever seen" and added, "Anybody that runs that fast I'm not going to tell him how to tie his shoes."[5] Robinson wears Adidas Reggie2 Superfly shoes with Velcro straps to secure them to his feet.[4]
High school career [ edit ]
Robinson at Michigan Stadium in September 2012
As a ninth grader, Robinson tried out for a spot as a defensive back for the varsity football team at Deerfield Beach High School in Deerfield Beach, Florida. The team's defensive coordinator at the time was former Buffalo Bills defensive back Manny Martin, who was also Robinson's algebra teacher. Martin later recalled that he had an experienced defensive backfield, but Robinson "was always in my ear: 'I can do it.'"[6] Robinson did not win a spot on the varsity team and instead played quarterback for the junior-varsity team as a ninth grader.[6]
Robinson became the starting quarterback for the Deerfield Beach varsity team as a sophomore and filled that position for three years from 2006 to 2008.[6] Deerfield Beach head coach Art Taylor recalled, "As soon as he stepped on that field his sophomore year playing varsity, we knew we had something special."[7]
In a 2007 state semifinal game played at the Orange Bowl, Robinson led his team to within two points of upsetting Miami Northwestern, the top-ranked high school team in the country. While warming up, Robinson noticed that a Miami Northwestern lineman had taped a photograph of Robinson onto the front of his helmet. Robinson started laughing and told the player, "You think that scares us?"[6] Robinson had Deerfield ahead in the game, 12–7, but Miami Northwestern completed a 99-yard touchdown drive with 18 seconds left to give them a 14–12 win.[6]
In October 2008 against St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Robinson was responsible for six touchdowns in a single game, passing for 342 yards and five touchdowns and rushing for 54 yards and a touchdown.[8] As a three-year starter for Deerfield Beach, Robinson totaled nearly 6,000 yards of total offense with 4,784 passing yards (262 for 576 passing) and 1,132 rushing yards (5.2 yards per carry).[9]
In addition, Robinson competed in track for Deerfield Beach. In March 2009, he ran the 100 meters sprint in 10.44 seconds,[10] and finished third in the 100-meter dash at the 2008 Florida 4A Track & Field State Championships.[9] He also ran the 40-yard dash in 4.32 seconds.[11] He was also a member of the 2008 Florida High School Athletic Association state champion 4 x 100 metres relay team.[9]
College recruitment [ edit ]
As a high school senior, ESPN ranked Robinson seventh in the country as a general athlete and 101st regardless of position. Rivals.com ranked him 14th as a general athlete and 188th overall.[12][13] Scout.com categorized him as a cornerback and ranked him 16th in the nation.[14] Robinson received scholarship offers from Florida, Georgia, Kansas State, Michigan, and other programs.[15] Michigan initially recruited Robinson as a defensive back, and Robinson declined.[16] Robinson recalled that it was one of his goals to play quarterback at the college level.[16] After observing his passing abilities, Michigan recruited Robinson as a quarterback. On February 4, 2009, Robinson announced that he had signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Michigan.[17][18]
College career [ edit ]
Robinson enrolled in the University of Michigan's School of Kinesiology in the fall of 2009. During Michigan's 2009 summer training camp, Robinson was in competition for the starting quarterback position with fellow freshman Tate Forcier and junior Nick Sheridan.[19][20] Forcier, who enrolled early and participated in spring practice,[21] was named the starting quarterback, but Robinson saw significant playing time as a true freshman, appearing in all 12 games.[9]
On September 5, 2009, in Michigan's season opener against Western Michigan, Robinson scored a touchdown on his first collegiate (fumbled) snap. As the ESPN television broadcast focused on his untied shoelaces, Robinson took the snap in the shotgun formation, ran to the right, broke a tackle at the 40-yard line, then cut left and ran 43 yards for a touchdown.[22][23]
Two weeks later against Eastern Michigan, he ran quarterback draw plays for touchdowns of 13 and 36 yards, though he also threw two interceptions.[9][24][25]
In Michigan's October 10 game against Iowa, Robinson replaced Forcier in the fourth quarter with the team trailing 30–21. He led the team on a 59-yard scoring drive capped by his own 3-yard touchdown run with 3:16 left to cut the lead to 30–28. However, on the following drive, Robinson's threw an interception at Michigan's 31-yard line with 44 seconds remaining in the game.[26][27]
Robinson led the Wolverines on four scoring drives against Delaware State, throwing his first two collegiate touchdown passes and scoring a rushing touchdown as well.[28][29] His only start of the season came on November 14 as a running back against Wisconsin.[9]
During the 2009 season, Robinson completed 14-of-31 passes for 188 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also ran for 351 yards and five touchdowns in 69 attempts.[30]
2010 track season [ edit ]
Robinson also competed for the Michigan men's track and field team during his freshman year.[31] In January 2010, Robinson told a reporter, "When I was getting recruited I always wanted to run track and play football. It helped me move faster on the football field."[31] Michigan track coach Fred LaPlante said Robinson had one of the 10 fastest 100-meter high-school times in the United States in 2009 and described Robinson the sprinter as "one of the four or five best guys in the Big Ten."[31] LaPlante emphasized Robinson's "quickness"
One thing in football that you don't see in track is quickness. He's incredibly quick and his lateral movement is unbelievable and his ability to go in one direction and get in another. The perception people have is that's speed. That's not speed, that's quickness."[31]
Robinson won the 60-meter dash in his college track debut in "The Dual" against Ohio State on January 16, 2010.[9] His time of 6.81 stood up as the best by a Wolverine for the season.[32] He finished fifth in the 60-meter dash at the Meyo Invitational on February 6, 2010.[9] He finished ninth in the event at the 2010 Big Ten Indoor Championships in late February 2010, failing to qualify for the finals by four-thousandths of a second.[9]
LaPlante recalled becoming panic-stricken during a practice race when Robinson was "running so fast he was having trouble holding the turn."[6] Concerned about an injury to the football team's quarterback, LaPlante yelled out, "Denard! Please, don't do that again! I'll be fired in 2 seconds!" LaPlante recalled Robinson's reaction: "He had that great big smile on his face."[6]
Personal bests [ edit ]
Event Time (seconds) Venue Date 60 meters 6.81 Ann Arbor, Michigan January 16, 2010 100 meters 10.44 Coral Springs, Florida March 28, 2008
Pre-season competition [ edit ]
During spring practice in April 2010, Robinson impressed coaches and observers, leading to speculation that Robinson would overtake Forcier as the starting quarterback.[33][34][35] The competition continued through late August and early September 2010.[36][37][38] In early September 2010, Angelique Chengelis profiled Robinson in The Detroit News: "The prevailing belief is that Robinson has worked hard enough and improved enough to earn the job. He took significant steps in spring practice, and from all accounts, he showed his teammates an incredible devotion to offseason conditioning and film viewing, all in the interest of honing his game and improving Michigan's chances."[39]
Even on the morning of Michigan's season opener, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "the mystery surrounding who would be the Wolverines' No. 1 quarterback was a major story line, with coach Rich Rodriguez keeping his decision secret until the very last minute."[40]
A total offense record against UConn [ edit ]
Robinson did start Michigan's season opener against Connecticut. In the first half, he rushed for 131 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries for an average of 8.7 yards per carry.[41] He finished the game with 383 yards of total offense, including 186 passing yards (19 of 22 passing) and 197 rushing yards on 29 carries (6.9 yards per carry).[42] Robinson's rushing yardage against UConn was the most ever by a Michigan quarterback.[43][44] He also broke Michigan's single-game record for total offense with 383 yards.[9][45] For his efforts Robinson earned Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Week, AT&T ESPN All-America Player of the Week, and Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week recognition.[46][47][48]
Less than a week after his performance in the Connecticut game, the New York Daily News wrote that Robinson had acquired "cult hero" status: "He has started only one game at quarterback for Michigan, but Denard Robinson is already a cult hero to the Wolverine faithful."[49]
502 yards of total offense against Notre Dame [ edit ]
In his second start at quarterback, Robinson led Michigan to a 28–24 win over Notre Dame against its traditional rival. He finished the game with 502 of Michigan's 532 yards of total offense (258 rushing yards and 244 passing yards), breaking the Michigan record he set in his first start.[50][51] The record stood until Devin Gardner totaled 584 yards of total offense on October 19, 2013 against Indiana.[52] In the first half, Robinson had an 87-yard touchdown run that at the time (surpassed on September 19, 2015 by C. J. Prosise)[53] ranked as the longest run from scrimmage in Notre Dame Stadium's 80-year history, but remains as the longest run by a visitor in Notre Dame Stadium.[54] He also scored the winning touchdown with 27 seconds remaining on a two-yard run, capping a 12-play, 72-yard drive.[50] Robinson broke Mike Kafka's Big Ten Conference record for rushing yards by a quarterback and became the ninth quarterback in NCAA history (and the first since Pat White in 2006) to rush and pass for more than 200 yards in a single game.[55][56] His rushing total also ranks as the all-time best in a road game by any Michigan player, regardless of position.[57]
After the game, Brandon Graham, who played with Robinson at Michigan in 2009 and also played with Michael Vick on the Philadelphia Eagles told reporters that Robinson is even quicker than Vick: "Both of them are pretty fast, I just think Vick's older; he's not really that fast like how Shoelace is. I think Shoelace is more quick than Vick, but Vick, he gets away. He's pretty fast still. I think Shoelace might have got him by a couple steps."[58]
Robinson's performance drew praise from the national media. The Wall Street Journal called Robinson "the breakout star of the young 2010 season" and drew attention to his "absurd rushing totals."[59] Columnist Mitch Albom wrote: "Denard Robinson redefined the term 'offensive weapon' on Saturday against Notre Dame."[60] ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit noted the "confident aura" around Robinson
The body language he exudes is, "I'm a winner." He's small in stature, but his heart you can almost see it pounding through his jersey. And then he has, like all the great ones, he plays with a swagger like, "You can't stop me."[7]
Gregg Doyel, national columnist for CBSSports.com, proclaimed Robinson the front-runner for the Heisman Trophy: "Denard Robinson has earned the right to pole position in the Heisman race. It's not close. And if he stays healthy, I fully expect him to walk across a stage in New York City in December and take that trophy home."[61]
For his performance against Notre Dame, Robinson was selected for the second consecutive week as the Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week,[57] the AT&T ESPN All-America Player of the Week,[62] the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week,[63] and the CBSSports.com Player of the Day.[64] He is the first player to earn the Walter Camp honor two weeks in a row,[65] and the fourth to do so twice in a season.[66] He was also named the Capital One Cup Impact Performance of the Week.[67] CBS Sports' Verne Lundquist joked: "He might become the first guy to win both the Davey O'Brien and the Doak Walker."[68]
Robinson totaled 455 rushing yards and 885 yards of total offense in the first two games of the 2010 season, which led Division I FBS.[69][70] Through the first two weeks of the season, Robinson had by himself outgained 87 of the 120 FBS teams in total offense.[71]
Indiana: 494 yards of total offense [ edit ]
Playing against Indiana in the fifth game of the season, Robinson totaled 494 yards of total offense, the second-highest single-game total in Michigan history. He completed 10 of 16 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns, and |
really comes is to say that:
Aaronson makes a sudden leap, and it’s a leap that comes right from the gut, from an honest place of trauma and post-rationalisation, from that teenage misery to a universal story of why nerdy men are in fact among the least privileged men out there, and why holding those men to account for the lack of representation of women in STEM areas – in the most important fields both of human development and social mobility right now, the places where power is being created and cemented right now – is somehow unfair […] This is why Silicon Valley is fucked up. Because it’s built and run by some of the most privileged people in the world who are convinced that they are among the least. I really fucking hope that it got better, or at least is getting better, At the same time, I want you to understand that that very real suffering does not cancel out male privilege, or make it somehow alright. Privilege doesn’t mean you don’t suffer, which, I know, totally blows.
The impression I’m getting is that yes, nerds think they have problems, but actually they’re really privileged. So their problems aren’t structural oppression in the same sense that women’s problems are. So. Quick hypothetical.
I’ve postulated before that “privilege” is a classic motte-and-bailey term. The motte, the uncontroversial and attractive definition, is “some people have built-in advantages over other people, and it might be hard for them to realize these advantages even exist”. Under this definition, it’s easy to agree that, let’s say, Aaronson has the privilege of not having to deal with slut-shaming, and Penny has the privilege of not having to deal with the kind of creep-shaming that focuses on male nerds.
The bailey, the sneaky definition used to push a political point once people have agreed to the motte, is that privilege is a one-dimensional axis such that for any two people, one has privilege over the other, and that first person has it better in every single way, and that second person has it worse in every single way.
This is of course the thing everyone swears they don’t mean when they use the word privilege, which is of course how the motte-and-bailey fallacy works. But as soon as they are not being explicitly challenged about the definition, this is the way they revert back to using the word.
Go back to the original Amanda Marcotte article. Check the title. “MIT Professor Explains The Real Oppression Is Having To Talk To Women”.
That phrasing, “the real oppression is…”, carries a pretty loaded assumption. I’d say “hides a pretty loaded assumption”, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much work to hide it.
If you look through Marcotte’s work, you find this same phrasing quite often. “Some antifeminist guy is ranting at me about how men are the ones who are really oppressed because of the draft” (source). And she’s not the only one. If you Google the term “are the ones who are really oppressed”, you can find an nice collection of people using this exact phraseology, including a few examples from a charming site called “Nerds Fucking Suck”.
But Aaronson is admitting about a hundred times that he recognizes the importance of the ways women are oppressed. He’s not saying his suffering is worse than women’s in every way, just that it’s really bad and maybe this is not the place where “male privilege” should be invoked. The “is really oppressed” isn’t taken from him, it’s assumed by Marcotte. Her obvious worldview is – since privilege and oppression are a completely one dimensional axis, for Aaronson to claim that there is anything whatsoever that has ever been bad for men must be interpreted as a claim that they are the ones who are really oppressed and therefore women are not the ones who are really oppressed and therefore nothing whatsoever has ever been bad for women. By Insane Moon Logic, it sort of makes sense.
As a result, Marcotte is incapable of acknowledging that Aaronson feels pain or has feelings more complicated than “all women exist solely to be my slaves”. She has to be a jerk to him, otherwise it would be a tacit admission that he has problems, which means only he has problems, which means no woman has ever had problems, which means all women are oppressors. Or whatever.
Marcotte is angry that Aaronson doesn’t cite any feminist writer besides Andrea Dworkin, so let’s go with Julia Serano here:
What if you’re trying to hold the same weird one-dimensional system in a way consistent with basic human decency? That is, you don’t want to do the Vogon thing and say Scott Aaronson’s misery is totally hilarious, but you also don’t want to acknowledge that it counts – because if it counted you’d have to admit that men have it bad in some ways, which means that the One Group That Can Ever Have Things Bad spot is taken by men, which means women don’t have it bad?
As best I can tell, the way with the fewest epicycles is to say “Yes, your pain technically exists, but it’s not structural oppression“, where structural oppression is the type of pain that fits neatly onto the one-dimensional line.
Laurie Penny is an extremely decent person, but like a shaman warding off misfortune with a ritual, she must dub Aaronson’s pain “not structural oppression” or else risk her own pain not counting, being somehow diminished.
I mean, I don’t think she thinks that’s what she’s doing. But I’m not sure why else it’s necessary to get so competitive about it.
Absent the one-dimensional view, it would be perfectly reasonable to say something like “You feel pain? I have felt pain before too. I’m sorry about your pain. It would be incredibly crass to try to quantify exactly how your pain compares to my pain and lord it over you if mine was worse. Instead I will try to help you with your pain, just as I hope that you will help me with mine.”
Given the one-dimensional view, any admission that other people suffer is a threat to the legitimacy of one’s own suffering. Horrible people will deny and actively mock the pain of others, but even decent people will only be able to accept the pain if they also mention in an aside that it doesn’t count as the correct sort of pain to matter in the moral calculus and certainly isn’t even in the same ballpark as their own.
But the one-dimensional view sucks. It is the culmination and perfection of the phenomenon I described in my post on social justice terminology, the abandonment of discourse about the world in favor of endless debate about who qualifies for certain highly loaded terms like “structural oppression”. And those terms end up as a sort of Orwellian Newspeak that makes it possible to dismiss entire categories of experience and decree by fiat who does and doesn’t matter.
Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever, saying "I KNOW YOU FEEL UPSET RE STAMPING, BUT THAT'S DIFFERENT FROM STRUCTURAL OPPRESSION" — Scott Alexander (@slatestarcodex) December 31, 2014 The boot acknowledged my pain! So compassionate!
§
The suspect famously says “I didn’t kill him, officer! Also, he had it coming!”
In that spirit, I would like to propose that we shouldn’t make this debate about structural oppression, but even if we do this kind of minimization of male nerd suffering doesn’t stand.
I know there are a couple different definitions of what exactly structural oppression is, but however you define it, I feel like people who are at much higher risk of being bullied throughout school, are portrayed by the media as disgusting and ridiculous, have a much higher risk of mental disorders, and are constantly told by mainstream society that they’re ugly and defective kind of counts.
If nerdiness is defined as intelligence plus poor social skills, then it is at least as heritable as other things people are willing to count as structural oppression like homosexuality (heritability of social skills, heritability of IQ, heritability of homosexuality) If all nerds were born with blue dots on their heads, and the blue-dotters were bullied in school, cast negatively in the media, assumed to be as ravenous beasts hungry for innocent women, and denounced as “entitled” any time they overcame all this to become successful – would anybody deny that blue-dotters suffered from structural oppression? Wouldn’t the people who talked about how clearly blue-dotters are entitled dudebros in the tech industry be thought of the same way as someone who said Jews were greedy parasites in the banking industry?
Actually, let’s take this Jew thing and run with it. I am not the first person to notice that there are a lot of Jews in Silicon Valley. By maternal descent, at least Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Michael Dell, Steve Ballmer, Larry Ellison, and Sheryl Sandberg.
Imagine how an anti-Semite might think about this. “Jews say they’re oppressed. But actually they’re all rich. Oppression disproved!”
In fact, he might he add exactly the same comment we see in the Statesman article: “This is why Silicon Valley is fucked up. Because it’s built and run by some of the most privileged people in the world who are convinced that they are among the least.”
But once again this only works when you have the dumb one-dimensional model of privilege. Some Jews are rich, therefore all Jews are rich, therefore all Jews are privileged, therefore no Jew could be oppressed in any way, therefore Jews are the oppressors.
And much the same is true of nerds. In fact, have you noticed actual nerds and actual Jews tend to be the same people? I’m Jewish. Scott Aaronson is Jewish. Laurie Penny, who declares her nerd-girl credentials, is Jewish. We’re discussing a blog called, of all things, Shtetl-Optimized. A minority that makes up 1% of the Anglosphere also makes up three of the three nerds in this conversation. Probability of this happening by chance is (*calculates*) exactly one in a million. Aside from Zuckerberg, Page, and all the other famous people, about 40% of top programmers are Jewish.
Judaism and nerdity are not exactly the same, but they sure live pretty close together.
And this is why it’s distressing to see the same things people have always said about Jews get applied to nerds. They’re this weird separate group with their own culture who don’t join in the reindeer games of normal society. They dress weird and talk weird. They’re conventionally unattractive and have too much facial hair. But worst of all, they have the chutzpah to do all that and also be successful. Having been excluded from all of the popular jobs, they end up in the unpopular but lucrative jobs, for which they get called greedy parasites in the Jews’ case, and “the most useless and deficient individuals in society” in the case of the feminist article on nerds I referenced earlier.
Propaganda against the Jews is described as follows:
Since Jews were ugly, they depended on reprehensible methods of sexual conquest. Non-violent means such as money were common, but also violence. Streicher specialized in stories and images alleging Jewish sexual violence. In a typical example, a girl cowers under the huge claw-like hand of a Jew, his evil silhouette in the background. The caption at the bottom of the page: “German girls! Keep away from Jews!” These images were particularly striking and consistent with the larger theme. Although Jews were too cowardly to engage in manly combat and too disgusting to be physically attractive to German women, they were eager to overpower and rape German women, thereby corrupting the Aryan racial stock.
I already know the same machine that turned Aaronson’s “I am 97% on board with feminism” into “I think all women should be my slaves” is focusing its baleful gaze on me. So let me specify what I am obviously not saying. I am not saying nerds have it “just as bad as Jews in WWII Germany” or any nonsense like that. I am not saying that prejudice against nerds is literally motivated by occult anti-Semitism, or accusing anyone of being anti-Semitic.
I am saying that whatever structural oppression means, it should be about structure. And the structure society uses to marginalize and belittle nerds is very similar to a multi-purpose structure society has used to belittle weird groups in the past with catastrophic results.
There is a well-known, dangerous form of oppression that works just fine when the group involved have the same skin color as the rest of society, the same sex as the rest of society, and in many cases are totally indistinguishable from the rest of society except to themselves. It works by taking a group of unattractive, socially excluded people, mocking them, accusing them of being out to violate women, then denying that there could possibly be any problem with these attacks because they include rich people who dominate a specific industry.
[EDIT 1/3: Penny’s same article was reprinted at New Republic, which I guess also realized it gotten a piece of the Hot New Nerd Entitlement Trend yet. Their title was “Nerd Entitlement Lets Men Ignore Racism And Sexism”, which is kind of weird, since Penny’s article doesn’t do anything close to argue for that. Also since surveys show nerd men are more likely to be concerned about racism and sexism than other men – see for example this survey where nerds are far more feminist than average, so much so that nerd men are more feminist than non-nerd women, and since Penny’s article makes nothing even resembling an argument for this position. Once again, this only makes sense if you assume a one-dimensional zero-sum model of privilege, where the fact that miserable male nerds are concentrating on their own desire for the release of death, instead of what women think they should be concentrating on, means they must be universally denying women can have problems.]
[EDIT 1/3, Part 2: New Republic has changed their title. You can still see it in the URL, though]
VII.
It gets worse.
What can I say? This is a strange and difficult age, one of fast-paced change and misunderstandings. Nerd culture is changing, technology is changing, and our frameworks for gender and power are changing – for the better. And the backlash to that change is painful as good, smart people try to rationalise their own failure to be better, to be cleverer, to see the other side for the human beings they are. Finding out that you’re not the Rebel Alliance, you’re actually part of the Empire and have been all along, is painful.
She links this last sentence to an article called Why Nerd Culture Must Die, which, I don’t know, kind of makes me a little more skeptical of all of her protestations that she’s exactly as much of a nerd as anyone else and likes nerds and is really working for nerds’ best interests. The article repeats that nerds think they’re “the Rebel Alliance” but actually are “the Empire”. Ha ha! Burn!
You may be wondering whether you missed the part of Star Wars where Darth Vader is so terrified of hurting or offending other people that he stops interacting with anybody and becomes suicidally depressed for years. Finally, Vader mentions this fact in the comments section of a blog about obscure Sith rituals. The brave Rebel Alliance springs into action and gets all of the Coruscant newspapers to publish articles on how Vader is entitled and needs to check his privilege.
I don’t know. Maybe this was one of those things that got taken out in the Special Edition?
(Han shot first!)
But there’s actually something even creepier going on here which may or may not be intentional.
The Transsexual Empire is a very famous book from the late 1970s subtitled “The Making Of The She-Male” in which feminist activist Janice Raymond argues that transsexuals, despite claiming to be persecuted, form an evil empire dedicated to the reinforcing of patriarchy. It contains delightful passages such as “All transsexuals rape women’s bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves”. The Transgender Studies Reader says that the book “did not invent anti-transsexual prejudice, but it did more to justify and perpetuate it than perhaps any other book ever written.” The response, written by a prominent transgender activist, was titled The Empire Strikes Back – an obvious reference to the Star Wars film published around that time.
So the question is – how come various feminists keep independently choosing the Empire as a metaphor for their enemies?
Once again the one-dimensional model of privilege rears its ugly head.
Transsexuals claimed to be suffering. This was a problem, because some of them were transwomen who had started with the male gender role. They had privilege! And they claimed to be suffering! The one-dimensional model of privilege lifts its eyebrows quizzically and emits a “…wha?”
The solution is to deny their suffering. Not only deny their suffering, but accuse them of being out to “rape women’s bodies”. Not only deny their suffering and accuse them of being rapists, but to insist that they are privileged – no, super-privileged – no, the most privileged – no, a giant all-powerful all-encompassing mass of privilege that controls everything in the world,.
So they became an Empire. How better to drive home the fact that they’re definitely powerful and oppressive and definitely definitely not suffering? Because if they were suffering, it would mean we weren’t.
There’s another word the radical feminists like to use about transsexuals. “It’s aggrieved entitlement,” Lierre Keith tells the New Yorker. “They are so angry that we will not see them as women.” The article continues to explain how “When trans women demand to be accepted as women they are simply exercising another form of male entitlement.”
And sigh, now here come the male nerds and say they’re suffering too, not as much as the transpeople but still a nonzero amount of pain! Is there no end to people who are not us, suffering in inconvenient ways? They say that when they feel haunted by scrupulosity, that shaming them all the time actually makes the problem worse! We need to establish that they’re privileged right away! So how better to rub in the concept of very privileged people than to draw in the old Empire analogy, right? Maybe try the “entitlement” claim again as well? Second time’s the charm!
But let’s be clear. There is a Star Wars metaphor to be made here.
Chancellor Palpatine is, by universal agreement, a great guy. According to Count Dooku, he “speaks honestly and champions the underprivileged” (direct quote from source ). But sometimes people get in the way of his mission of helping the underprivileged, and then he has to, you know, tell it like it is.
Like the Senate. When the Senate is not sure they want to hand over power to the Chancellor, he declares that they are corrupt and oppose democracy.
Or the Jedi. When the Jedi resist his rule, he declares that they are obsessed with “gain[ing] power” and “if they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end.”
Whenever he wants to steamroll over someone, Palpatine’s modus operandi is to convince everyone that they are scary oppressors. This isn’t just my personal interpretation. Indeed, in Order 66, Palpatine says straight out:
“Beings believe what you tell them. They never check, they never ask, they never think…Tell them you can save them, and they will never ask—from what, from whom? Just say tyranny, oppression, vague bogeymen.”
If we’ve learned anything from the Star Wars prequels, it’s that Anakin Skywalker is unbearably annoying. But if we’ve learned two things from the Star Wars prequels, it’s that the easiest way to marginalize the legitimate concerns of anyone who stands in your way is to declare them oppressors loud enough to scare everyone who listens.
And if the people in the Star Wars universe had seen the Star Wars movies, I have no doubt whatsoever that Chancellor Palpatine would have discredited his opponents by saying they were the Empire.
(seriously, you wanted to throw the gauntlet down to lonely male nerds, and the turf you chose was Star Wars metaphors? HOW COULD THAT POSSIBLY SEEM LIKE A GOOD IDEA?)
VIII.
Unlike Aaronson, I was also female, so when I tried to pull myself out of that hell into a life of the mind, I found sexism standing in my way. I am still punished every day by men who believe that I do not deserve my work as a writer and scholar. Some escape it’s turned out to be. Science is a way that shy, nerdy men pull themselves out of the horror of their teenage years. That is true. That is so. But shy, nerdy women have to try to pull themselves out of that same horror into a world that hates, fears and resents them because they are women Scott, imagine what it’s like to have all the problems you had and then putting up with structural misogyny on top of that.
Ms. Penny believes that, as a woman, she’s been unfairly excluded from the life of the mind and, indeed, from every pursuit she might enjoy or use as an escape.
There is something to be discussed here, but I am having trouble isolating Ms. Penny’s exact claim.
“Unfairly excluded from the life of the mind” might suggest she didn’t have the same opportunities as men to participate in higher education, but in fact women are now 33% more likely than men to earn college degrees and women get higher grades in college than men do. They also get well above half of all master’s degrees, and just a slice over half of all Ph.Ds (and rising). Their likelihood of becoming professors is nicely predicted by the percent of degrees they earn at a couple decade interval. The articles about the world of higher education now all have titles like Missing Men or Why Are Men Falling Behind.
Industry isn’t a good example here either. Women in her demographic group – twenty-something and childless – out-earn their male counterparts by almost ten cents on the dollar.
And she’s probably not talking about science, since women earn 55% of science degrees nowadays. They are somewhat overrepresented even in some “hard” sciences like biology, but overwhelmingly so in the social sciences. Over seventy five percent of psychology majors are female – a disproportionate which blows out of the water the comparatively miniscule 60-40 disproportion favoring men in mathematics.
(Hi! Male psychology major here, can confirm!)
When Penny says she as a woman is being pushed down and excluded from every opportunity in academic life, she means that women in a very small subset of subjects centered around computer science and engineering face a gender imbalance about as bad as men do in another collection of subjects such as psychology and education.
Penny attacks nerds for believing that “holding men to account for the lack of representation of women in STEM areas…is somehow unfair.” Fine. I hold her to account for the even higher imbalance in favor of women in psychology and education. Once she accepts responsibility for that, I’ll accept responsibility for hers. That sounds extremely fair.
(“But that’s because of patriarchy!” READ SECTION V.)
I propose an alternate explanation to both dilemmas.
By late high school, the gap between men and women in math and programming is already as large as it will ever be. Yes, it’s true that only 20 – 23% of tech workers are women. But less than twenty percent of high school students who choose to the AP Computer Science test are women.
Nothing that happens between twelfth grade and death decreases the percent of women interested in computer science one whit.
I have no hard numbers on anything before high school, but from anecdotal evidence I know very very many young men who were programming BASIC on their dad’s old computer in elementary school, and only a tiny handful of young women who were doing the same.
I don’t want to get into a drawn out inborn-ability versus acculutration fight here. I want to say that I want to say that whether we attribute this to inborn ability or to acculturation, the entire gender gap has been determined in high school if not before. If anything, women actually gain a few percentage points as they enter Silicon Valley.
What the heck do high schoolers know about whether Silicon Valley culture is sexist or not? Even if you admit that all the online articles talking about this are being read by fourteen year olds in between Harry Potter and Twilight, these articles are a very new phenomenon and my stats are older than they are. Are you saying the is because of a high level of penetration of rumors about “toxic brogrammers” into the world of the average 11th grader?
The entire case for Silicon Valley misogyny driving women out of tech is a giant post hoc ergo propter hoc.
What’s worse, I have never heard any feminist give this case in anything like a principled way. The explanation is usually just something like of course men would use their privilege to guard a well-paying and socially prestigious field like programming from women, men have always guarded their privileges, they’ve never given anything up to women without a fight, etc.
My own field is medicine. More than half of medical students are female. In two years, more than half of doctors in the UK will be female, and the US is close behind.
Medicine is better-paying and more prestigious than programming. It’s also terrible. Medicine is full of extremely abrasive personalities. Medicine has long work hours. Medicine will laugh at you hysterically if you say you want to balance work and family life.
But women can’t get into medicine fast enough. Every so often medical journals and the popular news run scare stories about how there are so many women in medicine now that if they take off time to raise kids at their accustomed rates we’re suddenly going to find ourselves pretty much doctorless.
So any explanation of the low number of women in Silicon Valley has to equally well explain their comparatively high numbers in medicine.
Given all this, it’s really easy for me to see why it’s tempting to blame nerds. Look at these low-status people. It’s their fault. We already dislike them, now we have an even better reason to dislike them that nicely wraps up an otherwise embarassing mystery. They’re clearly repelling women with their rapey creepishness. It doesn’t hurt that occasional high profile stories of sexual harassment come out of Silicon Valley aren’t hard to find and bring viral.
(no one ever asks whether there are an equally high number of stories of sexual harassment in medicine – or law, or any other field – that no one had a reason to publicize. When I was in medical school, there was an extremely creepy incident of sexual harassment/borderline attempted rape involving a female medical student and male doctor at an outlying hospital where I worked. Nobody put it on the front page of Gawker, because the doctor involved wasn’t a nerd and no one feels any particular need to tar all doctors as sexist.)
But again, you really can’t blame this one on Silicon Valley nerds, unless they are breaking into high schools and harassing the women there. And possibly breaking into grade schools, demanding the young boys start tinkering with BASIC. Time for a better theory.
A look at percent female physicians by subspecialty is instructive. The specialty with the most women is pediatrics, followed by child psychiatry, followed by obstetrics, followed by – you get the picture. The specialties with the least women are the various surgeries – the ones where your patient is immobilized, anaesthetized, opened up, and turned into a not-quite-color-coded collection of tubes and wires to poke and prod at – the ones that bear more than a passing resemblance to engineering.
(surgeons are the jockiest jocks ever to jock, so you can’t blame us for this one)
It seems really obvious to me that women – in high schools and everywhere else – have a statistical predilection to like working with people (especially children) and to dislike working with abstract technical poking and prodding. This is a bias clearly inculcated well before SATs and AP exams, one that affects medics and programmers alike.
It’s a bias that probably has both cultural and biological origins. The cultural origins are far too varied to enumerate. Many people very justly bring up the issue of how our society genders toys, with parents getting very angry when girls play with stereotypically male toys and vice versa. The classic example is of course the talking Barbie who would famously say “Math is hard! Let’s go shopping!”
On the other hand, I also think people who neglect biological causes are doing the issue a disservice. Did you know that young monkeys express pretty much exactly the same gendered toy preferences as human children? Rhesus monkeys, vervet monkeys, pretty much whatever species of monkeys you try it on, the male monkeys enjoy wheeled toys more and the female monkeys plush toys more. The word reviewers use to describe the magnitude of the result is “overwhelming”. When intersex children are raised as other than their biological gender, their toy preference and behavior are consistently that associated with their biological gender and not the gender they are being raised as, even when they themselves are unaware their biological gender is different. This occurs even when parents reinforce them more for playing with their gender-being-raised-as toys. You can even successfully correlate the degree of this with the precise amount of androgen they get in the womb, and if you experimentally manipulate the amount of hormones monkeys receive in the womb, their gendered play will change accordingly. 2D:4D ratio, a level of how much testosterone is released during a crucial developmental period, accurately predicts scores both on a UK test of mathematical ability at age seven and the SATs in high school.
The end result of all this is probably our old friend gene-culture interaction, where certain small innate differences become ossified into social roles that then magnify the differences immensely. As a result, high school girls are only a fifth as likely to be interested in computer science as high school boys, and sure enough women are only a fifth as well represented in Silicon Valley as men.
All of this information is accessible for free to anyone who spends ten minutes doing a basic Google search. But instead we have to keep hearing how nerds are gross and disgusting and entitled and should feel constant shame for how they bully and harass the poor female programmers out of every industry they participate in. Penny blames nerds for not “holding men to account for the lack of representation of women in STEM areas” but SERIOUSLY WE DIDN’T DO IT.
(except insofar as we helped acculturate kids. But that’s hardly a uniquely male pasttime.)
(before you bring up that one paper that showed research leaders advantaged male over female researchers, keep in mind that first of all it explains only a small portion of the discrepancy, and second of all the female research leaders showed the bias even worse than the male ones. Yet Penny frames her question as “holding men to account”. This is that motte-and-bailey thing with patriarchy again.)
Do you realize how unpleasant it is to be constantly blamed all the time for something we didn’t do, and have that be used to justify every form of insult and discrimination and accusation against us? The oldest pattern in human history is “Here’s a problem. And here’s a bunch of people who are different than us. Let’s blame it on them!”
There’s enough information out there to prove that creepy nerds are not the problem with female representation in STEM. Then again, there’s also enough information out there to prove that gay people don’t cause earthquakes. People will believe what they want to believe.
§
On the other hand, I’ve said above that I don’t like completely ignoring the accounts of thousands of people who say there’s a problem. Although my female friends in computer science keep insisting they’ve never encountered sexism there, many many others say they have.
But let’s keep our causal arrows pointing the right direction. Any space with a four-to-one male:female ratio is going to end up with some pretty desperate people and a whole lot of unwanted attention. Add into this mix the fact that nerds usually have poor social skills (explaining exactly why would take a literature review to put that last one to shame, but hopefully everyone can agree this is true), and you get people who are pretty sure they are supposed to do something but have no idea what. Err to one side and you get the overly-chivalrous people saying m’lady because it pattern matches to the most courtly and least sexual way of presenting themselves they can think of. Err to the other, and you get people hollowly imitating the behavior they see in famous seducers and playboys, which when done without the very finely-tuned social graces and body-language-reading-ability of famous seducers and playboys is pretty much just “being extremely creepy”.
But once you accept this model, it starts to look like feminists and I are trying to solve the same problem.
The problem is that nerds are scared and confused and feel lonely and have no idea how to approach women. From this root problem blossoms both Aaronson’s problem – that sometimes all you can do is go to a psychiatrist and ask to be castrated – and Penny’s problem – that other times people go read pickup artistry books that promise to tell them how the secret is “negging” people.
But Aaronson’s solution to the problem is to talk about it. And feminism’s solution to the problem is to swarm anyone who talks about it, beat them into submission, and tell them, in the words of Marcotte, that they are “yalping entitlement combined with an aggressive unwillingness to accept that women are human beings just like men”
IX.
Every article about male nerds calls us “entitled”.
I’m pretty sure they don’t mean financially, since nerds for example give disproportionately more to charity than other groups (see: Bill Gates, the joke in the effective altruist movement that it contains “all kinds of people – mathematicians, economists, philosophers, and computer scientists”).
And I’m pretty sure they don’t mean politically, since nerds are far more likely to support wealth redistribution than the general population (compare political alignment here to your choice of nationwide poll).
And I’m pretty sure they don’t mean psychologically. In psychology, entitlement as a construct is usually blended with narcissism. Predictors of narcissism include high emotional intelligence, high social skills but (uniquely among Dark Triad traits) not high nonverbal (ie mathematical) intelligence, and high extraversion. Another interesting fact about narcissists is that they tend to have more sexual partners than non-narcissists. Jonason describes the research on narcissism and sex by saying that “Narcissists find it easy to start new relationships but are less committed to and interested in staying in existing relationships.” I feel like even feminists should be able to agree that “extraverted people with excellent social skills but no particular mathematical aptitude who find it easy to start new relationships” is not a perfect match for nerds here.
So I don’t think these articles are talking about entitlement full stop. I guess they’re using this to point solely at sexual entitlement. But even this seems to require further clarification.
Do they mean nerds hold sexist attitudes? The research (1, 2, 3, 4) shows that sexist attitudes are best predicted by low levels of education, high levels of religious belief, and (whites only) low neuroticism. Once again, I don’t feel it should be controversial to say that “very religious people who drop out of school early and are psychologically completely healthy” is not how most people would describe nerds. Besides, in a survey I did of 1500 people on an incredibly nerdy forum last year, the average was extremely feminist, so much so that the average nerdy man was more feminist than the average non-nerdy woman.
Do they mean nerds are more likely to rape people? There is an appropriate caveat here that it is difficult-to-impossible to profile rapists – but if people took that caveat seriously then you couldn’t profile nerds as rapists either. Since we’re already talking about profiling, let’s go all the way and find that the best research about rapists (source: David Lisak) does find various characteristics of undetected campus rapists (ie primarily date rapists who get away with it, we’re not just talking about scary felons with knives here as a red herring). Some of these are purely psychological (“they’re sexist and don’t like women”). But the rest include: rapists are more sexually active and “engage in consensual and coercive sex far more often than is typical for men of their age group”. They are members of “sexually violent subcultures” including “fraternities and gangs”. They are “hypermasculine” and “strive always to behave in rigidly and stereotypically masculine ways” They are heavy drinkers, often using alcohol to release either their own inhibitions or those of their victims.
Once again, I feel like “hypermasculine frat boys and gangsters who party too hard and have a large number of partners” is a really poor description of nerds.
When people talk about nerds feeling “sexually entitled”, it’s never about any of these things. It’s always the same: A male nerd has dared to express that he is sad about being alone and miserable. Then they round this off to “therefore he believes everyone else owes him sex because he is so great” in precisely the way Amanda Marcotte does explicitly and Penny allows to lie beneath the surface.
Once again, Scott Aaronson’s entire problem was that he was so unwilling to hurt women even unintentionally, and so unclear about what the rules were for hurting women, that he erred on the side of super-ultra-caution and tried to force himself never to have any sexual interest in women at all even to the point of trying to get himself castrated. If entitlement means “I don’t care about women’s feelings, I just care about my own need for sex”, Aaronson is the perfect one hundred eighty degree opposite of entitlement. He is just about the most unentitled (untitled?) person imaginable.
Yet Aaronson is the example upon which these columnists have decided their case for “nerd entitlement” must rise and fall. You have better examples? Then why didn’t you use them?
I’ve already admitted that when a girl asked me out in middle school, I ran away terrified because I figured nobody could actually like me and it was obviously some kind of nasty trick. If entitlement means “believing you deserve all the sex”, then teenage-me also sounds pretty untitled.
Yet I, too, get to forever read articles about how entitled I am.
I’m not making some kind of #NotAllNerds statement here, any more than someone who disagrees with the claim “elephants are tiny” is claiming #NotAllElephants
A better word for this untitlement is, perhaps, scrupulosity, where you believe you are uniquely terrible and deserve nothing. Scrupulosity is often linked to obsessive compuls |
will be subject to a $5000 fine. It sounds outrageous to me. What do you think?"Hope" (Picture courtesy of Hope's family)
"Ariana Grande is an actress and a singer," 10-year-old Hope says excitedly. "But I'd like to be an actress and a nurse. I'll be a nurse part-time, then perform in the evenings."
Unlike most starry-eyed preteens, Hope will struggle to realise either part of her dream. She was born in Britain, speaks only English and has lived her whole life here, but unless her impoverished single mother can raise a £936 registration fee, she will be denied her right to register as a citizen.
She will not be able attend university, or train and work as a nurse. In fact, she will not even be able to access basic NHS services without paying.
After a decade spent living in the UK, children are legally entitled to become British citizens, even if their parents are here illegally or on limited visas. That means access to the NHS, universities and legal work: it means freedom of movement, freedom from the fear of deportation.
But their parents can come up with nearly £1,000, already-impoverished children like Hope to a precarious, fearful existence, with a temporary and insecure Leave to Remain (LTR) status or no legal status at all.
While Hope hones an Akon dance routine, her mum Tabitha, 37, draws me aside: she does not want her daughter to know how worried she is. "We don't have that kind of money," she says simply. "At the moment, I can't access any public funds, Jobseekers' allowance, tax credits… My children don't have child benefits. They don't have anything."
"But Hope would have a lot to give to society. She does very well at school, she participates in everything, and she's very caring."
The fee was hiked by 25 percent last year and comes backed by a host of harsh legislation further distancing the vulnerable from their rights. By the government's own admission, it's three times higher than the actual cost of processing an application.
Immigration solicitor Solange Valdez runs the Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens (PRCBC). "It's daylight robbery," she tells VICE. "You cannot charge someone who has a statutory right to British citizenship. But slowly, silently, those rights are being chipped away."
Children discovering they are not and cannot be citizens like their schoolmates suffer distress, shame and anger. One 18-year-old, whose dreams of studying politics at university were shattered after he failed to gain citizenship, told PRCBC: "It became apparent that if you weren't British… your life pretty much ended."
Tabitha says she can already see Hope suffering: "She's a sensitive child and she's already asking me questions – 'Why do they have to decide [about] my life?'"
There can also be knock-on effects for children's families. Tabitha's status is under review by the Home Office. She can't gain citizenship, and may be deported. "If I'm not deported, I can work to contribute to the community and support my children, to help others and help myself," she says.
"They're treating British-born black kids as migrants – it's disgraceful."
Unable to work legally, Tabitha and her three children were recently evicted from a flat by Haringey Council. "They said my children were not in need," she says. "But we could have been in the street." Someone who knew Tabitha through volunteer work gave up their own spare room as temporary accommodation, and the family has since been rehoused in Islington.
Tabitha's own case will be bolstered if Hope becomes a citizen. Conversely, in circumstances where a child aged ten to 18 cannot afford a citizenship application and a parent is deported, Solange says "children might be returned to [a foreign country], though the right by Parliament to citizenship is retained".
Hope's case is far from unique. There are an estimated 120,000 undocumented children in the UK, around half of whom were born in the UK. But it is impossible to know how many children turn 18 without raising the funds to exercise the rights they have to stay in the UK, including rights to citizenship.
A Home Office spokesperson told VICE: "UK Visas and Immigration fees are based on an estimated cost of dealing with an individual application plus a contribution to the costs of operating the overall border, immigration and citizenship system."
The Home Office has previously said fees are so high because "the benefits of British Citizenship are considered to be amongst the most valuable offered by the Home Office", and so children are charged on the understanding they will "profit" from British citizenship later in life.
But like every other British citizen, they will be paying taxes all their working life to fund these services. "These benefits are not for the Home Office to sell; the right to them has been given by Parliament," says Solange. The 3,000-plus children each year who have their applications denied are not refunded a penny.
It is perhaps more telling that Gordon Brown's security advisor told the House of Lords a fee waiver "may encourage migrants to remain unlawfully in the UK and submit speculative claims". These fees function as a deterrent.
Tabitha points out this can't apply to children like Hope: "These children are born here, they're not coming here." Solange agrees: "They're treating [British-born] black kids as migrants – it's disgraceful."
Children in care find it particularly difficult to gain citizenship. Cash-strapped councils are often more ready to seek precarious, limited Leave to Remain status, for which a fee waiver is available, and unwilling to cough up £936 for citizenship. Looked-after children, already exceptionally vulnerable, are left with a lesser status and insecure future as they enter adulthood.
Asked why she wants to be a nurse, Hope says with a grin: "Mary Seacole is bae." It seems needlessly cruel that this excitable schoolgirl, who clearly knows her British history, may be denied the chance to emulate the Jamaican-born nurse who tended to British soldiers in the Crimean war.
"Our food is British food," says Tabitha, over a slice of homemade pizza prepared by Hope. "We know everything about Britain; we know the values and the culture – we are British already… we just need the official paperwork."
Hope's family are crowdfunding to raise the citizenship fee: you can donate here. The family's names have been changed to protect their identities.
@hashtagbroomTexas Senator Ted Cruz launched an online petition to rally support for his effort to use seized Mexican cartel funds to pay for the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The petition, “Build the Wall and Make El Chapo Pay for It,” seeks to support a proposed bill by the senator to do just that.
Specifically, the effort refers to Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and his roughly $14 billion in assets.
Readers interested in signing the online petition or viewing the effort can do so HERE.
“Fourteen billion dollars will go a long way toward building a wall that will keep Americans safe and hinder the illegal flow of drugs, weapons, and individuals across our southern border,” Senator Cruz stated, according to a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas from the senator’s office. “Ensuring the safety and security of Texans is one of my top priorities.”
The issue of a border wall, or more accurately, portions of a border wall, has been controversial in both the U.S. and Mexico. President Donald Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the costs of the wall, but has since backed away from such claims and changed his position to U.S. taxpayers footing the bill and Mexico paying it back eventually. Senator Cruz and his proposed “El Chapo” bill provide a means for the Trump Administration to keep its promise to U.S. taxpayers while also providing a means for Mexico’s corrupt elite to pay, rather than the majority of Mexicans who live under tyranny.
Breitbart Texas covered the proposed bill when the senator first announced it. Bob Price wrote:
The Texas senator said that leveraging criminally forfeited assets from El Chapo and other Mexican cartel members and drug dealers can “offset the wall’s cost and make meaningful progress toward achieving President Trump’s stated border security objectives.”
Senator Cruz introduced the Ensuring Lawful Collection of Hidden Assets to Provide Order (EL CHAPO) Act on Tuesday. “The U.S. Government is currently seeking the criminal forfeiture of more than $14 billion in drug proceeds and illicit profits from El Chapo, the former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel who was recently extradited to the U.S. to face criminal prosecution for numerous alleged drug-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and money laundering,” Cruz stated.About Last Week:
Sometimes it feels like all of your goals are ahead of you, then all of a sudden they’re above you, then they’re behind you, and you’re like, “the hell, goals?”
The Road Ahead:
Wisconsin (10-0, 7-0 B1G)
Last week: Beat Iowa, 38-14
Recap: Look, we could use this space to talk about Wisconsin. But Brian and Ace and Seth are more qualified than I to do such things, and my analysis would be superfluous at best, and objectively wrong at worst. No, instead, we’re going to use this space to talk about Iowa.
WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH IOWA?
the Hawkeyes beat Iowa State (who actually turned out to be good, because 2017 has gone full Honey Badger), and came within a fingertip of beating Penn State. Then they lost to Michigan State and Northwestern and beat Minnesota by a touchdown, all in awful, unwatchable games. Then they laid an unholy murderstomping on Ohio State where they put up FIFTY-FIVE POINTS and more than 500 yards at over 7 yards per play. Cool.
Then they put up 56 YARDS against Wisconsin. Fifty-six. With sacks included, their 28 pass attempts netted a total of 144 inches. Josh Jackson’s two pick-sixes covered about 40 yards more than Iowa’s offense for the game.
Iowa is that guy you know who is just awful with money. Like, he has a decent job, but he’s always broke. He gets his cable shut off pretty regularly, his credit is awful, and his diet consists primarily of off-brand ramen noodles purchased in bulk. But once per year he shows up with a new car, and when you’re like, “Kirk, how the HELL did you afford that,” and he’s like, “eh, I’ve been setting a little bit aside here and there.”
This team is as frightening as: A black diamond ski hill after you've managed to get your feet under you on the bunny hill. It's the same principles, but there's no way to know how your French Fry/Pizza skills will translate. Also, it's really cold. And reeeeeally white. Fear Level = 9
Michigan should worry about: Wisconsin is riding in with a 55-point transitive win over Ohio State over the last two weeks. That is many.
Michigan can sleep soundly about: Alex Hornibrook threw 3 more interceptions on only 18 passes against Iowa, 2 of which were returned for touchdowns. Of QBs nationwide with 125+ pass attempts in conference play, Hornibrook’s 8.1% INT rate is way worse than any other QB, with second place at 5.7% (Temple’s Logan Marchi), and is more than 3% worse than the second-worst Power Five QB (Jeff George Jr. is at 5.0%). Only six QBs have a conference INT rate even half as bad as Hornibrook's. And now he gets David Long and (hopefully) Lavert Hill.
When they play Michigan: Just large humans crashing into large humans. They may forget that there is a football involved for stretches of the game.
Next game: vs. Michigan, noon, FOX (UW -7.5)
Ohio State (8-2, 6-1 B1G)
Last week: Beat Michigan State, 48-3
Recap: That was… comprehensive.
This is like one of those Rutgers games from last year where you can fold the box score however you want and it remains astonishing. Like, you could just crumple the box score up with your hands and it would still turn out looking like a perfectly formed crane wearing an Ohio State jersey peeing Calvin-style on a Block S.
MSU averaged 2.8 yards per play. OSU averaged 8.1.
MSU averaged 2.1 yards per dropback. OSU averaged 8.2
MSU’s running backs ran 18 times for 57 yards. Mike Weber and JK Dobbins ran 27 times for 286 yards
MSU took the opening kick and moved the ball 27 yards. The score was 28-0 before MSU had another drive that moved forward.
OSU had scoring drives of 86, 73, 68, 25, 82, 72, 56, and 79 yards. MSU’s scoring drive covered 24 yards, and resulted in a sad field goal to cut the deficit to 32.
Through 31 minutes, Ohio State had 7 touchdowns. MSU had 8 first downs.
I could go on. The stats lend themselves to rubbernecking. But we have other business to attend to.
What this means for Ohio State going forward is anyone's guess. Maybe they've figured it out. Maybe they will continue to yo-yo between pigeon and statue. But it's disconcerting to know that they still have this club in their bag, even if they have to wipe some Michigan State remnants off of it before they try to use it again.
This team is as frightening as: A team that has outscored their common opponents with Michigan (Indiana, Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, Nebraska) by an average of 35.6 points, whereas Michigan has outscored those opponents by an average of… 4 points. Fear Level = 9.5
Michigan can sleep soundly about: JT Barrett threw two more picks in this one, including one in the end zone, and one that led to MSU’s only points.
Michigan should worry about: …whiiiiich means Ohio State probably should have won this game at least 55-0.
When they play Michigan: Michigan will not lose by 45. But Michigan will also probably not put up 55 like powerhouse Iowa. So, there is at least a limited range of outcomes.
Next game: vs. oh god they’re going to do unspeakable things to Illinois, 3:30 p.m., ABC (OSU -all the points)
[AFTER THE JUMP: The rearview mirror had themselves some struggles this week]
Objects in the Rearview Mirror
Florida (3-6, 3-5 SEC)
Last week: Lost at South Carolina, 28-20
Recap: Have you ever bumped into an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend at the absolute wrong time? Like, you’re in the supermarket, you haven’t showered, and all you have in your cart is toilet paper, Doritos, and canned soup? The cruel irony is that *you* dumped *her* because she needed to get her shit together, and now here you are in a decade-old Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt and sweatpants obviously stressed about the choice between taquitos and Hot Pockets.*
Florida lost to Will Muschamp on Saturday.
The loss extended the Gators’ losing streak to five games. South Carolina jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, and stayed comfortably ahead for most of the game. This was the first time under Will Muschamp that South Carolina put up 450+ yards against a Power 5 team. I mean, it’s good to see you, Stacy, but I’m late for… uh… something. Gotta go.
Unsurprisingly, Scott Frost is the current favorite for the vacant head coaching position, but there is no real word on whether that is a “both sides have interest” thing or a “Jim Harbaugh to the Roughriders is likely because the Roughriders would love to have him and Harbaugh’s plane once had to land in Regina due to engine troubles” thing. Also they're going to have to fend off teams like Tennessee and Nebraska (as soon as they fire MIke Riley, which... more about that shortly).
*Taquitos, obviously.
Next game: vs. UAB, 4:00 p.m., SEC Network (UF -11)
Cincinnati (3-7, 1-5 AAC)
Last week: Lost to Temple, 35-24
It was either this or a picture of Harambe. I chose the more shameful cultural touchstone.
Recap: Alas, it appears the world will be deprived of the Queen City’s presence in a bowl game this year. Which is probably for the best, because when we let Cincinnati put things into bowls, everyone gets disappointed
Next game: at East Carolina, noon, CBSSN (UC -3.5)
Air Force (4-6, 3-3 MWC)
Last week: Lost to Wyoming, 28-14
Recap: Air Force came off of their Army loss slowly, going down 21-0 to Wyoming early. They fought back to 21-14, and drove into Wyoming territory twice with a chance to tie, but one drive stalled and the other ended in a fumble at the Wyoming 30.
Air Force outgained the Cowboys 378-229, and had the per-play advantage, but three turnovers doomed them; two resulted in short field Wyoming touchdowns, and the third was the above-mentioned drive-killer.
Things do not get any easier for the Falcons, as they travel to Boise State to play on the blue turf on Saturday night.
Next game: at Boise State, 10:15 p.m., ESPN2 (AFA +17.5)
Purdue (4-6, 2-5 B1G)
Last week: Lost at Northwestern, 23-13
Recap: Not unlike the Michigan/Maryland game, this contest was pretty even from a yardage standpoint, but was never really a game. Northwestern took a 20-0 lead late in the 3rd quarter, and Purdue only cut it to 10 with about five minutes left. That’s enough of a lead that not even Pat Fitzgerald could turtle it away.
Elijah Sindelar and Clayton Thorson combined to throw for 672 yards, which seems like a lot until you see that it took them 104 combined pass attempts to get there. Sindelar alone threw the ball 60 times. If you were wondering, this wasn’t even close to a Purdue record: Drew Brees threw the ball 83 times in a game in 1998, which I believe* is still a Big Ten record.
Purdue now travels to Kinnick, where Iowa beat Ohio State by 31… and Minnesota by 7.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
*You should read this as “Google didn’t tell me otherwise.”
Next game: at Iowa, 3:30 p.m. (Purdue +8)
Michigan State (7-3, 5-2 B1G)
Last week: lost at Ohio State, 48-3
Recap: I’m not going to bag on Michigan State too much this week, for several reasons. First, Ohio State liquefied Michigan State, which makes “bagging” physically difficult. It would be more of a mopping, or perhaps a sponging. But I’m not going to sponge on Michigan State too much either. Because these things happen. They’ve probably been playing above their heads this year, so the combination of a reversion to the mean and a pissed off Ohio State team was bound to lead to something like this. Maybe they were also confused by the footballs being so dry. Who knows.
Still, getting outgained by 350 yards was an odd choice by Dantonio. I’m not knocking it, necessarily; I’m sure it’s part of the grand plan, and somehow has something to do with #disrespekt and will pay dividends down the road. But regardless, long-term benefits aside, it seemed to put Michigan State at a distinct disadvantage vis-à-vis this particular game.
Next game: vs. Maryland, 4:00 p.m., FOX but probably starting on that Fox Business Channel because they don’t understand how to space games (MSU -16)
Indiana (4-6, 1-6 B1G)
Last week: Won at Illinois, 24-14
Recap: Indiana didn’t play well enough to beat a Big Ten team on Saturday. Fortunately, they didn’t play one.
The “O” stands for “offside”
Grading on the Lovie Curve, this was not Indiana’s finest afternoon. Getting outgained on a per-play basis by Illinois in 2017 is damn near unforgivable. Indiana’s offensive output was the worst by a Power Five team this year on a per-play basis. Indiana’s 139 rushing yards were the lowest allowed by Illinois against a Power Five team this year. No Power Five team has scored fewer than 24 points on the Illini. And this wasn’t an “Indiana runs out to a 21-0 lead and farts around for 45 minutes” thing, either; This was a 17-14 game midway through the 4th quarter.
This might be a good time to point out that the last three people to hire Mike DeBord prior to his participation in this moribund squad were Lovie Smith, Dave Brandon, and Butch Jones.
Mike DeBord: Not. Even. Once.
Next game: vs. Rutgers, noon (IU -11)
Penn State (8-2, 5-2 B1G)
Last week: Beat Rutgers, 35-6
(Adriana Lacy/RLR)
Recap: For a brief moment, this looked like it could join or surpass the other I DON’T UNDERSTAND FOOTBALL ANYMORE performances of Iowa, Ohio State, and Michigan State. Rutgers led 6-0 late into the 2nd quarter, before Rutgers Rutgers’d and gave up the next 35 points.
Offensively, this was an uninspiring performance by Penn State. Their 2.9 yards per carry average was the worst of any of Rutgers’ FBS opponents in the last two years. Saquon Barkley also continued to struggle; he gained a season-low 35 yards on 14 carries. His issues were understandable when he was playing Ohio State and Michigan State, but Rutgers is not in the same league as those defenses.
Wait… they are?
DAMN YOU DELANYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY…
Next game: vs. Nebraska, 4:00 p.m., FS1 (PSU -26)
Rutgers (4-6, 3-4 B1G)
Last week: Lost at Penn State, 35-6
Photoshopped, I'm assuming
Recap: I wasn’t in Rutgers’ team meetings this offseason, so I don’t know if Rutgers’ explicit goal this season was “find something to not completely suck at.” But if it was… Mission Accomplished-ish?
Rutgers won three conference games (thus far!) this season. But they still absolutely blow at almost all of the individual components of football. They are 2nd-to-last in the Big Ten in points per game, dead last in offensive yards per play, 2nd-to-last in yards per play allowed, 2nd-to-last in yards per passing attempt allowed, 2nd-to-last in rushing yards per carry allowed, and dead last (by a mile) in passing yards per attempt.
But Rutgers can kinda sorta run the ball. They are 5th in Big Ten play in rushing yards per game, and 6th in yards per carry. Rutgers is averaging over 4 yards per carry in conference play for the first time in over a decade, which is made even more impressive when you consider that Rutgers is the only Big Ten East team that doesn’t get to face Rutgers’ run defense. The fact that they outgained Penn State on the ground is not a fluke; Rutgers averages more yards per game and more yards per carry in Big Ten games than Penn State does.
Next year’s goal: use the run to set up something other than getting sacked on play action.
Next game: at Indiana, noon (RU +11)
Minnesota (5-5, 2-5 B1G)
Last week: Beat Nebraska, 54-21
Recap: Remember Minnesota? You know, these guys? Yeah, Minnesota ran for over 424 yards at nearly 10 yards per carry against Nebraska. Demry Croft had 9 non-sack carries for 197 yards. This included a 73 yard keeper on a simple read option play that saw Nebraska’s entire defense get pancaked. Seriously, I count four defenders on their feet. None are in what you would call “textbook tackling position.”
How the tapdancing hell is Mike Riley still employed?
Next game: at Northwestern, noon (Minn +7)NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s top court on Wednesday upheld the ban on use of petroleum coke in and around New Delhi as the country battles to clean the air in its capital, one of the world’s most polluted cities.
India is the world’s biggest consumer of petroleum coke - a dirtier alternative to coal composed mainly of carbon - which emits 11 percent more greenhouse gases than coal, according to the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. Burning it also emits several times more sulphur dioxide, which causes lung diseases and acid rain.
“Keeping in view the fact that pollution is increasing, we are not lifting the ban on use of petcoke and furnace oil in these industrial units in three states,” a top court bench headed by Justice Madan Bhimrao Lokur said in its order, referring to polluting units.
The ban, which covers the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, came into effect on Nov. 1.
Record levels of smog earlier this month in New Delhi and other major centers have piled pressure on the government to tackle a growing public heath crisis.
Sulphur-heavy petcoke and other cheap, highly polluting fuels such as furnace oil are widely used by cement factories, dyeing units, paper mills, brick kilns and ceramics businesses.
India’s annual demand for the fuel, which is more energy efficient than coal, has nearly doubled over the past four years to more than 27 million tonnes.
Indian health ministry data shows that respiratory issues killed about 10 people per day in the year ended March 2017 in the National Capital Region - a rapidly urbanizing and polluted area around New Delhi that is a third the size of New York state, but houses 2.5 times more people.
The continued ban on the sale and use of petcoke could hit the country’s small and medium scale industries, which employ millions of workers and operate on thin margins.On this day in September 1914, as war broke out, Tolkien created the mythical land that led him to The Lord of the Rings. Here’s the story of the poem that changed his life • Mordor, he wrote: how the Black Country inspired Tolkien’s badlands
A century ago today, Russian forces were beginning the 133-day siege of Przemyśl and the German army took Péronne. Meanwhile, in a Nottinghamshire farmhouse, a young man wrote a poem about a mariner who sails off the earth into the sky. The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star deserves its day in the spotlight alongside war commemorations. It was the founding moment of Middle-earth.
Neither elves nor hobbits were yet in JRR Tolkien’s mind. But the star mariner is remembered in The Lord of the Rings, as Eärendil, forefather of kings, whose light in a phial wards off Mordor’s darkness. In the vast backstory of The Silmarillion, he carries the last Silmaril, a jewel preserving unsullied Edenic light, seeking aid against the primal Dark Lord.
None of this is in Tolkien’s poem from 24 September 1914. As an invented origin myth for the evening star, it is all energy and enigma:
Éarendel sprang up from the Ocean’s cup
In the gloom of the mid-world’s rim;
From the door of Night as a ray of light
Leapt over the twilight brim,
And launching his bark like a silver spark
From the golden-fading sand;
Down the sunlit breath of Day’s fiery Death
He sped from Westerland.
The poem hurtles on for a further five stanzas, but reveals nothing of background or motives. Yet Éarendel’s maverick course has much to do with Tolkien’s predicament as war broke out.
His taste for poetry had been formed at school when he translated poetry into Latin and Greek, and by his interest in the epics of Virgil and Homer. Until 1913, he had pursued a classical education at school and Oxford. But then he switched to English, an upstart discipline with a stiff backbone of Germanic philology. This was the study of the history of English and its cousin languages, German, Norse and Gothic, and it used rigorous comparison to reconstruct the common ancestral language spoken in pre-literate times. Philologists also reconstructed the unrecorded legends that could be glimpsed in fragments scattered through medieval literature.
JRR Tolkien at 24 in 1916 in his military uniform
By the time the 22-year-old Tolkien visited his aunt’s farm in Gedling in September 1914, he was laying the groundwork for an academic career. War threatened everything; relatives urged him to enlist. He was determined instead to complete his degree. Éarendel’s oblique voyage across the paths of the fixed stars accords with the visible movements of Venus but also, I suggest in Tolkien and the Great War, matches Tolkien’s journey off the well-trodden path of enlistment.
An insight from the historian Hugh Brogan got me looking at the poem again for the journal Tolkien Studies. What I found reveals the poem as a daring piece of cultural reappropriation, and one of two steps in late 1914 which set Tolkien on the threshold of Middle-earth. It is almost too perfect that this should be a myth of origin and transformation.
Brogan told me he thought Tolkien had plagiarised Shelley:
Arethusa arose
From her couch of snows
In the Acroceraunian mountains,
From cloud and from crag,
With many a jag,
Shepherding her bright fountains.
He certainly appears to have borrowed the rhyme scheme and much of the rhythm, plus some of the spirit. Shelley describes how a nymph flees a river god by diving under the earth – a transformation myth to explain the origin of natural phenomena. This is just the kind of thing Tolkien was trying to emulate for the evening star.
His opening also closely echoes a phrase in the Aeneid, translated by one contemporary as “Aurora arose/ and left the ocean’s rim.” However, the “Ocean’s cup” is translated from Beowulf. Éarendel is Old English, too, and has kindred names in other Germanic legends that also relate to stars.
Yet others refer instead to the sea; a German philological book Tolkien had just read argues that all these names hark back to a lost tale of the ultimate seafarer, an Odysseus of the northern oceans. But that didn’t explain the star references. He abandoned philological rigour to imagine a myth in which the seafarer became the evening star.
This is not plagiarism. Tolkien consciously uses Shelley’s classical template as a vessel for a Germanic-style myth, as if to say: enough with the Mediterranean, it’s time English literature looked north. The big step, however, was the realisation that he could turn philological reconstruction into creative narrative. That is one of two principles underpinning Middle-earth.
The other principle followed within weeks, when he was immersed in a literature and language entirely unrelated to Latin, Greek, Germanic or any other Indo-European language. In a talk to fellow students about the Finnish epic Kalevala, he put its distinct flavour down to the fact that Finnish comes from Finno-Ugric stock. If the language is different in descent, its legends will be too, he said.
Meanwhile, he was privately reworking the Kalevala story of Kullervo. As if he could not help himself, he illogically began replacing some of the names with ones in an entirely invented language. It looks and sounds a lot like Finnish, yet it is recognisably a prototype of Quenya or “high-elven”. Tolkien had been inventing languages for years, often inspired by real languages, but now for the first time one of them set up home in story.
It was a breakthrough that promised to breathe life into his linguistic creation. He abandoned The Story of Kullervo for something far more original. If languages and legends were interdependent, as he now saw, he would create legends with their own nomenclature – the hallmark of Middle-earth. And with his 24 September 1914 poem, he had found a way to invent those legends. He could go beyond philology, in imagining the half-forgotten origins of recorded legends.
While finishing his degree and after enlisting in June 1915, Tolkien worked on this formula. On his return from the Somme in 1916, he used it as the basis for The Book of Lost Tales, the first version of The Silmarillion. That seminal opening line “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” is usually seen as Tolkien’s breakthrough moment. The real honour should go to “Éarendel sprang up from the Ocean’s cup”.
• The Voyage of Éarendel the Evening Star appears in The Book of Lost Tales, part two, edited by Christopher Tolkien
• Mordor, he wrote: how the Black Country inspired Tolkien’s badlandsFox News host Bill O'Reilly said picking New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez as his running mate would give Donald Trump the best shot at winning the White House. | AP Photo O'Reilly puts a name on Trump's VP short list
If Donald Trump wants to be the next president of the United States, he has one choice and one choice only for his running mate, according to Bill O'Reilly: New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez.
“There’s only one choice for vice president if Donald Trump wants to win the White House. Only one person. Do you know who that is?" the Fox News host asked former White House press secretary and current colleague Dana Perino during a segment on his Thursday night show.
O'Reilly dropped the name: "Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico."
"That is the only choice if Mr. Trump, with all due respect, wants to be president, he must give it to the governor of New Mexico," O'Reilly said, adding that the chair of the Republican Governors Association "cuts across all ethnic boundaries that he’s weak in, she’s very bright, she is a Republican conservative in a state that would go, you know, it’s not a lot of electoral votes, but if he can persuade Gov. Martinez to be on the second, that will help him immensely.”
Perino, who had suggested a "conservative Westerner of some sort," did not seem sold.
“It’s not a bad one," she said. "I don’t know if it’s a good fit.”
Martinez, however, endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio less than two weeks before the end of his campaign, suggesting in the same week that she would not commit to vote for Trump as the GOP nominee. She also supports comprehensive immigration reform, a position wildly at odds with Trump's call to revoke birthright citizenship, deport millions of undocumented immigrants, and build a wall along the Mexican border.
Speaking at a dinner for New York Republicans last Thursday, Martinez struggled to grab attention, and on Monday canceled her speech for North Carolina's GOP convention in May. Martinez's spokesman cited a "scheduling conflict" as the reason for the cancellation, rejecting the idea that it had anything to do with the state's recent controversial law banning transgender people from using the bathrooms or locker rooms that do not match their assigned gender at birth.Daniel Tosh volunteered to personally fire Tom Crean
Indiana's basketball season started with such promise - a win over now-No. 1 Kansas - but injuries and poor play have quickly thrown head coach Tom Crean back on the hot seat.
Well, Daniel Tosh has offered to help.
Tosh's college tour starts in April at Nebraska, but he will make his way to Indiana's campus on April 18. If the school doesn't fire Crean by then, the Comedy Central star volunteered his services.
no pressure @iubloomington but do you want me to fire tom crean while i am there? #hoosiershttps://t.co/Pm1zrxlZMH — daniel tosh (@danieltosh) February 28, 2017
Indiana would probably want Tosh to help on that buyout, though. If the school fired Crean before July 1, then it would owe Crean $4 million. Crean's contract runs through 2020. The Hoosiers are 164-132 under Crean.
The school has yet to respond to Tosh's offer.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2mBCgmbDear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
As US President Donald Trump is in Asia this week, a topic of conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping could be his ambitious multi-billion- dollar plan to create the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) – a modern Silk Road of trade and infrastructure connecting Asia to Europe and the Middle East.
Israel has a great opportunity to expand relations with Central Asian countries, which are the linchpin in the project, to tap into this bonanza.
By expanding Israel’s strong ties with the largely secular moderate Muslim states in Central Asia, and particularly with Kazakhstan, the “buckle in the belt” that serves as a hub through which East-West rail lines run, Israel could tap into this economic epicenter that would be connecting Europe and China.The planned New Eurasian Land Bridge would be made up of railroads passing from China through Kazakhstan, and could include other countries such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The routes then would continue on to |
of feuds against Ezekiel Jackson, and Sheamus (who tends puts less people over than Cena…but more about that in coming weeks).
October 2011, Barrett received another push by the WWE creative during his ‘Barrett Barrage’ where he would go on an impressive winning streak, beating the likes of Daniel Bryan, John Morrison, Trent Barreta, Sheamus, and Randy Orton. Wade Barrett would spend the rest of 2011 battling Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship, but failed to capture the title in this time (as Randy Orton was untouchable in this year, just ask Christian). Wade Barrett then would dislocate his elbow during a Battle Royal on Smackdown putting him out of action for the first half of 2012.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo9n2DyajH8[/youtube]
A new look Wade Barrett returned in August 2012, and again started with an impressive winning streak, although this time his streak was against bottom feeders Tyson Kidd, Zac Ryder, Justin Gabriel and Yoshi Tatsu. But again his initial push was halted by losses to Sheamus, before eventually winning his second Intercontinental Title against Kofi Kingston.
But the momentum from winning the Intercontinental title was quickly extinguished, with Wade Barrett being eliminated by NXT rookie star Bo Dallas at the Royal Rumble. An upset win by Bo Dallas followed on RAW, before Wade Barrett would defeat Bo Dallas, but the damage had been done. He would move on to The Miz where they would share Intercontinental Championship wins during Wrestlemania season, before final losing the title again to Curtis Axel on June 16 2013 at Payback and going on a losing streak. Although getting his beard shaved by Daniel Bryan, it was the series of matches he had with Daniel Bryan (as ordered by the Authority) that were making people sit up and take notice of his in ring skills again. But just as he was starting to build momentum, Visa issues returned, and Wade Barrett was taken off air for an extended period of time.
[youtube]http://vimeo.com/72070878[/youtube]
Upon his return, Wade Barrett has adopted his ‘Bad News Barrett’ character, and would pop up on shows and Pay Per View to deliver some BAD NEWS to us fans. This character whilst being heel orientated was generating positive responses by fans. He would eventually return to inside the ring where he would again go on a winning streak defeating Rey Mysterio and Kofi Kingston, before winning the Intercontinental number 1 contenders tournament and then Title.
Wade Barrett is now in a very similar position to what he has been in over the past 4 years. He has through some great promo work, and outstanding performances in the ring, lifted his profile and level to sit just under the main event tier. We can only hope he avoids injuries, visa problems and that the WWE creative can give him some great feuds and stories that will eventually see him battling it out for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The WWE needs an arrogant, hated, and talented Englishman in their roster.
Hooroo and see you next week.
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Or get my book at all good online bookstores (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million or Powell’s Books)
http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Telling-Its-Fake-Wrestling/dp/1489585508
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http://www.booksamillion.com/p/Stop-Telling-Us-Its-Fake/MR-Craig-N-Higham/9781489585509?id=5788500481133Don't look now, but hockey season is upon us, which means it's time for the annual Uni Watch NHL Season Preview. And it's a particularly momentous season for NHL gear, because the league has a new equipment outfitter: Adidas, which is taking over for Reebok.
Most teams have simply transferred their existing uniform designs onto the Adidas tailoring template, so their on-ice looks will be largely the same. Still, there are some league-wide changes worth noting, so let's take a few minutes to examine some of the features of the new Adidas uniforms:
1. The collars. For most teams, the most visually obvious change involves the jersey collar. The Adidas template includes an option for contrasting collar striping that, in many cases, has left teams looking like they're wearing a faux polo collar. Reader Kyle Good has coined the term fauxlo, which is what we're going to use here at Uni Watch HQ.
Many of the new Adidas NHL collar treatments have the visual effect of a faux polo shirt collar. pic.twitter.com/FXAVkcYxuM — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
Also, Adidas' tailoring pattern calls for the NHL logo to be positioned within a five-sided fabric panel at the base of the neckline. Many teams have opted to have this pentagon panel rendered in a contrasting color, which sometimes looks jarringly out of place.
Many of the new Adidas/NHL collars feature the NHL logo positioned within a contrast-colored pentagonal fabric panel. pic.twitter.com/rNajPut33K — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
The new collars have been the target of a fair amount of criticism -- much of which, unfortunately, seems to be well deserved.
2. The hemlines. The Reebok Edge template, which the NHL began wearing in 2007, featured a scoop hemline that looked particularly bad on teams whose jerseys featured belly striping. The good news is that the Adidas template has a less severe scoop; the bad news is that the belly stripes now conform to the contour of the hemline as they wrap around the back of the jersey, producing a wavy effect that some fans are already complaining about.
Rear-view comparisons of Rangers and Blackhawks uniforms, showing how belly stripes now mimic contour of new hemline. pic.twitter.com/3xyF5atmkM — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
3. Dimpled shoulders. The shoulders of the new jerseys feature a performance fabric with a dimpled surface. It isn't visible from a distance, so fans won't be able to see it at the arena or during most TV coverage, although it might be perceptible in a close-up shot. It will definitely be visible when you're shopping for a jersey at the mall, however.
The new Adidas/NHL jerseys have a dimpled treatment for the fabric across the shoulders. pic.twitter.com/ROP8WXfoOO — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
4. Alternate uniforms. Except for the Winter Classic and one other game, there will be no alternate or throwback uniforms this season, because the league and Adidas need time to transition all the designs over to Adidas' template. The alternates will return next season. This is similar to the one-year suspension of alternates that took place in the 2007-08 season, when the Reebok Edge uniform system was introduced. (You might be thinking, "The NBA is switching to Nike this season and they don't seem to have any problems maintaining their alternate uniforms." Hockey uniforms are a lot more complex than basketball uniforms, of course, but it's still a fair point.)
Those are the major visual features that run across all of the uniforms. As for the individual teams, here's our annual rundown, broken down by division:
Atlantic Division
• Big shift for the Bruins, who've changed their yellow home socks to black. The socks now match the sleeves, which was apparently the idea, but overall effect still feels like a downgrade. Also: New nameplate and number typography.
Comparison of Bruins' home uniforms, showing new black socks and new sleeve number treatment. pic.twitter.com/NjsHPhaCvu — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017 Rear-view comparison of Bruins' home jerseys, showing how black outline has been eliminated from name/number. New nameplate font, too. pic.twitter.com/NXXHRUbRyV — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
The road socks are still white, but the sock striping now matches the sleeve striping, which is a solid upgrade:
Comparison of Bruins' road uniforms, showing new collar, new number treatment, and new sock striping. pic.twitter.com/6xjvZ9dHDw — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 24, 2017
• You wouldn't expect the Canadiens to make many changes. And aside from a tweak to their collar, they haven't.
• The Lightning have scrapped their lace-up collar and replaced it with the fauxlo. And in a huge upgrade, they've removed the "Tampa Bay" lettering from their road jersey:
Comparison of Lightning's home uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/tu6GkTkq64 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 20, 2017 Comparison of Lightning's road jerseys, showing new collar, removal of chest lettering, addition of All-Star patch. pic.twitter.com/bmb125gbYH — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 27, 2017
In addition, the Lightning will have two jersey patches. The first is a 25th anniversary patch, which will be worn on the blue home jerseys all season. The second is a patch for the 2018 NHL All-Star Game, which the Lightning will be hosting on Jan. 28. That patch will be worn on the team's white road jerseys up until the All-Star Game, after which it will be replaced by the anniversary patch.
The anniversary logo has also been incorporated into the team's new center ice design:
Also: The Lightning will retire Vinny Lecavalier's No. 4 -- the second retired number in team history -- on Feb. 10.
Meanwhile, if you want to look ahead to next season, the Lightning have been asking fans for feedback on the team's next alternate jersey (additional info here):
We know it's a hot topic around here, so we're asking you for your opinions on a potential 2018-19 third jersey.
🗣 https://t.co/EqJHZjO2IA pic.twitter.com/WnYlsY8dca — Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) July 25, 2017
• The Maple Leafs have adopted the fauxlo but have otherwise stuck with their traditionalist look:
Comparison of Maple Leafs' home uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/PoHrFiDK9A — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017 Comparison of Maple Leafs' road uniforms, showing updated collar. pic.twitter.com/aSQcQiadtK — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
Also: Although the NHL is not using alternate or throwback uniforms this season, an exception will be made on Dec. 19, when the Leafs will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the franchise's first game by dressing up as the 1917 Toronto Arenas (additional info here):
Finally, this will be the last season that the Leafs' arena will be known as the Air Canada Centre. It will be renamed as the Scotiabank Arena starting next July.
• Aside from the new collar, the Panthers have kept their look intact.
• Of all the teams in the league, the Red Wings have made the most subtle changes. Their new collar style is similar to their old one, and the rest of their design appears to have been imported onto the new Adidas template fully intact.
Comparison of Red Wings' home uniforms. Although the collar has been tweaked, it's barely perceptible. pic.twitter.com/es8jYG8g58 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 24, 2017 Comparison of Red Wings' road uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/59L6w5qEL6 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 20, 2017
Also: You might have noticed the Wings using a different nameplate font during the preseason. That's an annual rite of autumn -- they'll go back to their usual vertically arched font when the regular season starts.
As usual, Red Wings using block nameplate font in preseason. They'll restore the familiar vertical arching when the regular season starts. pic.twitter.com/skdOp07V1r — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017
• The bad news is that the Sabres are going with the fishbone collar. The good news is that they've gotten rid of the side stripes. The best news would be if they got rid of the uni number on the front of the jersey, but Buffalo wasn't built in a day.
Comparison of Sabres' home uniforms, showing updated collar, removal of stripes. pic.twitter.com/qzcOpo5dky — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017 Comparison of Sabres' road jerseys, showing updated collar, removal of side stripes. pic.twitter.com/cMQN2jQq7H — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 24, 2017
Also: The Sabres will be playing the Rangers in this season's Winter Classic, which will take place on New Year's Day at Citi Field in New York. The uniforms haven't yet been unveiled, but the preliminary logos suggest that an old-school look is in the works (additional info here).
Logos for the 2018 NHL Winter Classic. Uniforms to follow later this year. pic.twitter.com/dyiD5erwGx — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
• The Senators are the rare team whose collar has actually gotten simpler. It's now just solid black, which is an improvement. Meanwhile, they have a new sleeve design (note how the red now butts up against the white), new nameplate and number fonts, and higher positioning for their shoulder patches:
In addition, the Sens have a new center ice design featuring their "O" secondary logo:
Doing a media tour with Sens president Tom Anselmi. He says Heritage "O" now at centre ice remains club's secondary logo. pic.twitter.com/sJS5B5U8N7 — Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) September 7, 2017
Metropolitan Division
• Lots of changes for the Blue Jackets. In addition to the obligatory new collar, they've changed the way their shoulder yoke runs across the chest (an upgrade), gotten a new number font (another upgrade), and changed their sock striping (a big downgrade).
• The Capitals are sporting the fauxlo and have also adjusted the angle and positioning of their upper-chest striping.
Comparison of Capitals' home uniforms, showing new collar and adjusted upper-chest striping. pic.twitter.com/vOEq9xF88Q — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 23, 2017 Comparison of Capitals' road uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/6crpYYVDYS — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
• At first glance, the Devils' uniforms look pretty much the same. Take a closer look, though, and you'll see that they've changed their sock and sleeve striping, removed their belly striping and replaced it with a black stripe at the jersey hemline, squared off the edges of their shoulder yoke, and -- of course -- updated their collar. For this notoriously change-averse franchise, those design revisions practically qualify as a seismic shift (additional photos and info here):
Comparison of Devils' home uniforms, showing new collar, more squared-off shoulder yoke, update sleeve/sock striping. pic.twitter.com/LIDK3geHd4 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017 Comparison of Devils' road uniforms, showing new collar, squared-off shoulder yoke, thicker sock/sleeve stripes, removal of belly stripes. pic.twitter.com/YyEhGyc09U — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 21, 2017
Also: The Devils will retire Patrick Elias' No. 26 on Feb. 24.
• The Flyers have tweaked their collars but have made no other changes of note:
Also: The Flyers will retire Eric Lindros' No. 88 before the team's Jan. 18 game against the Maple Leafs.
• Good news out of Carolina, where the Hurricanes have updated the striping on their home uniform, including a restoration of the storm warning flag pattern on the belly stripes:
Comparison of Hurricanes' home uniforms, showing updated striping on sleeves, torso, and socks. pic.twitter.com/GXctmkmeEN — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017 Hurricanes' new home jersey includes revival of the old storm warning flag pattern, although it's less prominent than before. pic.twitter.com/UrxTknHHDs — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
The changes to the road uniform are more subtle, as they're going with the fauxlo and have also tweaked the way their shoulder yoke intersects with their collar:
Comparison of Hurricanes' road uniforms, showing new collar/yoke intersection. pic.twitter.com/bysXpGxfN7 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
Also: The Hurricanes are marking their 20th anniversary in Carolina with a commemorative logo, but they've opted not to wear it as a jersey patch. Instead, it will be a helmet decal and is also being featured at center ice:
• The Islanders' home uniform has one of the worst-looking new collars in the league. It almost looks like a necklace with a pendant, and the laces sit way too low:
Comparison of Islanders' home uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/IH0I1oD4FV — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
By contrast, the road collar isn't as bad, and comes closer to mimicking the old Reebok style. Also, the chest logo is now outlined in blue:
Comparison of Islanders' road uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/8mZL6EY4JI — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
• The defending Stanley Cup champs, the Penguins, are going with the fauxlo collar. In addition, Adidas' new tailoring template makes the shoulder yoke a bit less prominent:
Comparison of Penguins' home uniforms, showing new collar and less defined shoulder yoke. pic.twitter.com/JY1219q7v2 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 21, 2017 Comparison of Penguins' road uniforms, showing new collar. pic.twitter.com/6Xe89ykHSG — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 23, 2017
• Big downgrade for the Rangers, whose new home collar features that annoying red pentagon at the center:
Comparison of Rangers' home uniforms, showing updated collar. pic.twitter.com/ICytA90Ox0 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
The visual effect isn't quite as bad on the road jersey:
Comparison of Rangers' road uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/4hZ22H83iF — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 23, 2017
Also: The Rangers will be playing the Sabres at this season's Winter Classic, which will take place on New Year's Day at Citi Field in New York. The uniforms haven't yet been unveiled, but the preliminary logos suggest that an old-school look is on the way:
Logos for the 2018 NHL Winter Classic. Uniforms to follow later this year. pic.twitter.com/dyiD5erwGx — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
Also-also: The Rangers will retire Jean Ratelle's No. 19 before their game against the Red Wings on Feb. 25.
And if you're into goalie gear, it's worth checking out this video report on Henrik Lundqvist's custom-printed pads:
Central Division
• Major upgrade for the Avalanche, who have jettisoned the annoying apron strings from their jersey and also scrapped what had long been the league's most illegible number font. Oh, they're also going with the fauxlo and their shoulder patches have moved up a bit, just like everyone else.
• Blackhawks fans will likely be happy with the team's new look. Aside from a collar tweak and a slight repositioning of the shoulder patches, everything looks just about the same.
Comparison of Blackhawks' home uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/oRMtnNGnnp — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017 Comparison of Blackhawks' road uniforms, showing new collar style and higher shoulder patch positioning. pic.twitter.com/clFtji27mR — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 20, 2017
And here's an interesting wrinkle: For reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained, the black sleeve stripes on Chicago's road goalie jerseys have been unusually thick in recent year. Adidas appears to have fixed that problem:
Blackhawks' goalie jerseys have had unusually thick black stripes in recent years. Seems to have been fixed this season. pic.twitter.com/jyAzDPIKK6 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 29, 2017
Also: Adidas is using a new material that supposedly makes the jersey crests significantly lighter. But the Blackhawks are the one NHL team that uses chain-stitching, an old-school embroidery technique that really makes the graphics pop. When Adidas proposed using the newer, lighter fabric, the Blackhawks said, "Nope -- we'll stick with the chain-stitching." In other words, they stuck to their aesthetic guns, even if it means they'll be at a slight competitive disadvantage.
Meanwhile: Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy got to help paint the team's center ice logo. Check out this great video clip:
Hawks defenseman Connor Murphy on painting the team logo: "You've got to keep between the lines; I can handle that" https://t.co/sOt3aa9ywG pic.twitter.com/e2KHyx5Lti — Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) September 13, 2017
• The Blues have changed the numbers of their home jersey from yellow to white. Aside from that, it's hard to spot any differences.
• The Jets have one of the more annoying new collars, with the contrasting NHL logo panel really sticking out like a sore thumb on their home jersey. And as with several other teams, their shoulder patches are now positioned a bit higher:
Comparison of Jets' home uniforms, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/77LDHrSWD8 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017 Comparison of Jets' road uniforms, showing new collar and higher shoulder patch positioning. pic.twitter.com/twrtqKAlCi — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
• Big upgrade for the Predators, who've finally scrapped those annoying shoulder horns, or talons, or whatever they were.
There appears to have been some quality control issues with the road jersey. It's supposed to have navy piping along the edges of the yellow shoulder yoke, but some players' jerseys have been piping-free:
Shoulder yoke striping inconsistency for Predators' road unis on Sunday (h/t to NHL Uniform Database's Facebook page and Mike Engle). pic.twitter.com/9crk748tkX — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017
Also: The Preds have a new 20th-anniversary logo, although they're not wearing it as a jersey patch or helmet decal.
Take a first look at the logo celebrating the #Preds 20th anniversary season in 2017-18! https://t.co/Up9ubXoz0v — Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) July 13, 2017
• The Stars are celebrating their 25th season in Dallas. So in addition to a new collar style and larger sleeve numbers, they also have a new commemorative patch.
The anniversary logo is also featured as part of the team's new center ice design:
The ice is down. Now let's play some hockey. #GoStars pic.twitter.com/OkdtNnr8AQ — Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) September 4, 2017
Also: The Stars will retire Jere Lehtinen's No. 26 on Nov. 24. Further info here.
Also-also: The Stars will wear 1993 throwbacks during pregame warm-ups for their game against the Wild on Feb. 3.
• The Wild have scrapped their red home uniform and replaced it with a green uni that's similar to their original green design from the early 2000s. The road uniform remains essentially unchanged except for the collar.
Wild going back to wearing green at home this season. pic.twitter.com/Aij3cxxpGB — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017 Comparison of Wild's road jerseys, showing new collar style. pic.twitter.com/2sWt6hBRxC — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
Also: In an apparent NHL first, the Wild have announced that the ice at their arena will include water taken from local hockey ponds, lakes and rinks.
Pacific Division
• The Canucks are going with the fauxlo collar on both of their jerseys, plus they've tweaked the striping on their socks:
Comparison of Canucks' home uniforms, showing new collar and thinner white striping on socks. pic.twitter.com/nFwmMuzV27 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017 Comparison of Canucks' road uniforms, showing new collar and new striping on socks. pic.twitter.com/Td5ikjlpu3 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017
• Aside from the new collars, the Coyotes look largely unchanged.
• The Ducks are going with the fauxlo but otherwise look largely unchanged:
• The Flames are going with the fauxlo. They've also scrapped the annoying side stripes (an upgrade), traded in their real lace-up collar for faux laces (a downgrade), moved their shoulder patches up a bit on the jersey (not a big deal either way), and changed their name and number typography (an upgrade).
• The look of the league's newest team, the Golden Knights, is a mixed bag. The jersey crest, featuring a knight's helmet with a V-shaped opening, is mediocre at best. But the home color scheme -- black and gray with gold and red trim -- works surprisingly well, and the road uniform looks sharp. Also of note: white gloves, an NHL rarity. And, of course, the fauxlo collar.
Front and rear views of Golden Knights' home uniform, which made its on-ice debut last night. pic.twitter.com/V2M3g3Dwdy — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 27, 2017
Front and rear views of Golden Knights' road uniform, including white gloves. pic.twitter.com/f0L0b4rFHa — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017
Meanwhile, there are some interesting details on the team's ice surface, beginning with the jersey crest being incorporated into the red-line design (additional info here):
Golden Knights' red line design features the team's primary logo (more info: https://t.co/HVpu7NPgaZ). pic.twitter.com/va6DY83tPf — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017
And in an NHL first, the Golden Knights are embedding their season-ticket holders' names into the ice (additional info here):
Golden Knights embed season ticket holders' names inside blue line (more: https://t.co/luMnKVJkhF). pic.twitter.com/IyGXpchToR — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017
• The Kings are going with the fauxlo, and have also adjusted the angle and positioning of their upper-chest striping:
Comparison of Kings' home uniforms, showing updated collar and upper-chest striping. pic.twitter.com/v3nxXJ4H9o — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 19, 2017 Comparison of Kings' road jerseys, showing new collar and adjusted upper-chest striping. pic.twitter.com/8lGftVrVSk — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 23, 2017
• The Oilers have redesignated orange as their home jersey color. They had been wearing an orange throwback as an alternate, which they've updated to create their new home jersey. But they've chosen not to wear the new orange uniform during the preseason, so it will make its on-ice debut at the team's home opener on Oct. 4. They've updated the throwback version with new sleeve and belly striping, and have also changed the nameplate lettering from blue to white.
Oilers not wearing new home orange uni during preseason (will debut on Oct. 4), but here's a comparison vs. last year's throwback alternate. pic.twitter.com/rLz50ooc07 — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 21, 2017
Meanwhile, the Oilers are also going with a darker shade of blue, changing from royal to something closer to navy. They've also changed the trim on the uni numbers for their road jersey and tweaked the lettering for the players' names. And of course they have new collars.
Comparison of Oilers' road uniforms, showing new collar and darker shade of blue. pic.twitter.com/YdkUVp8UwI — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 26, 2017 Rear-view comparison of Oilers' road uniforms, showing darker shade of blue and new number/nameplate typography. pic.twitter.com/HVVS3shrqE — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 21, 2017
• The Sharks are going with the fauxlo, plus they've changed their shoulder logo:
Additional notes
• If you want to see comparisons of just front views of each team's old and new home jerseys (no full uniforms, no side or rear views, no road jerseys), the excellent Icethetics site has that covered. You can click on each team's pairing to see a larger view.
• Back on Jan. 1, teams began wearing the NHL centennial patch on their right sleeves. The patch will be worn again this season, through the end of the calendar year.
NHL centennial patch, which teams began wearing on Jan. 1, will be worn this season as well, for the rest of the 2017 calendar year. pic.twitter.com/NRckqHdZ1B — Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) September 22, 2017
• The league's new deal with Adidas has also brought a new batch of practice jerseys, all of which feature a circular logo treatment. Here's a sampling:
• Thanks to the awesome Frozen Faceoff site, you can see all of this season's center ice designs in one place. Ditto for arena scoreboards and even audio clips of goal horns.
That's it. Did we miss anything? Yeah, probably. If so, you know what to do.
Paul Lukas will have his annual NBA and college basketball season previews later this fall. If you like this column, you'll probably like his Uni Watch Blog, plus you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Want to learn about his Uni Watch Membership Program, check out his Uni Watch merchandise, be added to his mailing list so you'll always know when a new column has been posted, or just ask him a question? Contact him here.WASHINGTON — When Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, went on television on Thursday morning to compare himself and his adversary, Reince Priebus, the chief of staff, to Cain and Abel, it seemed to encapsulate the fratricidal nature of an administration riven by biblical rivalries. Cain, after all, killed Abel as they vied for God’s favor.
As it turned out, that was the cleaned-up version. In a vulgarity-laced telephone call with a New Yorker writer reported on the magazine’s website on Thursday evening, Mr. Scaramucci railed against Mr. Priebus and Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s chief strategist, both of whom opposed his hiring last week. He even vowed to get the chief of staff fired. “Reince Priebus — if you want to leak something — he’ll be asked to resign very shortly,” Mr. Scaramucci said.
Whether Mr. Scaramucci will turn out to be Cain or Abel, it was clear that his appointment has added another layer of drama and dissent to a White House suffused in it — and revived the perpetual questions about Mr. Priebus’s fate. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary and an ally of Mr. Priebus, resigned in protest when Mr. Scaramucci was hired last week because, he predicted, it would only add more chaos to the team. On that, at least, he seems to have been proved right.
But President Trump not only tolerates feuds within his team, he fuels them, playing one courtier off another and leaving them all unsteady. He chooses favorites and casts others aside, but even those decisions seem subject to change at any moody moment. And by several accounts, he personally encouraged Mr. Scaramucci’s jihad against Mr. Priebus, once again subjecting his chief of staff to a ritualistic public lashing even as he considered pushing him out.It may be Carnival Monday in Brazil, but for Luiz Felipe Scolari it’s just another working day. The World Cup-winning coach, now back in his homeland with Palmeiras, is en route to meet FFT direct from a training session – and we’ve been briefed that he might not be in the best of moods. With most of his squad still suffering from the weekend celebrations, Big Phil called an early halt to training, warning his charges to return tomorrow fully rested. Thanks for getting him in the mood, guys.
It’s not long before Scolari enters the room, when it’s our turn to get a scolding. After all, isn’t that what Scolari’s all about? Er, not really, as we discover with relief. It’s rare that we interview someone so willing to talk about everything, without even attempting to dodge a single bullet. The former Chelsea manager even throws in some unexpected revelations, from late-night golf on the eve of the World Cup final to his Oscar-winning turn of impersonating Gene Hackman. And then there’s the story of how England could have beaten Brazil in 2002 – if only Sven had read just one book. Over to you...
You followed your father Benjamin into pro football. What influence did he have on you?
Rachel Barker, London
Not much, actually. Despite being a good player he never encouraged me to follow him. What he wanted me to do was study and get a proper job. At that time, 40 years ago, football players didn’t have anything like the status they have now.
Where did the ‘Big Phil’ moniker come from?
George Lane, via Facebook
It came from my playing days. I was a strong defender, and Ruy Carlos Ostermann, a great journalist, started calling me Felipao [Big Phil] due to my power. Only later, people in England started calling me ‘Big Phil’, and I don’t have a problem with that. But for Brazilians I’m Felipao. Once, in Portugal, a guy asked for an autograph, so I signed it ‘Scolari’. He returned it, saying: “Sign Felipao!” Turns out he was Brazilian.
You were known as ‘Wooden Leg’ as a player. Were you really that bad?! And how would you cope with the modern game?
Tyler Charlton, Flint
No, no! OK, I wasn’t a classy, skilled player, but I was good, and I used my physical strength to help my team. I had good sense of positioning and I was a leader. I was made team captain at 20, and I carried the armband for every team I played for. With my qualities and based on what I see today, I could be playing for a good team in the Brazilian league, that’s for sure!
Lots of great managers such as yourself were average players. Why do you think this is?
Zara Thorpe, via Twitter
What I do think is that most good coaches who played professional football were defenders or midfielders, meaning they had a full view of the game. Playing at the back, it’s easier to analyse tactics – which helps when you want to become a coach. Coaching was always in my plans. When I was still playing, I majored in physical education and spent a year specialising in football and volleyball coaching. Yes, I could have been a volleyball teacher! I chose football.
You managed in the Middle East, including a spell as manager of Kuwait. What was that like? Were you given any lavish gifts?
Sophie Lowe, Reading
I spent three years coaching in Saudi Arabia and three years in Kuwait, and it was great. It’s?a different world culturally, but when you have your family alongside you, it’s easier to adapt. The biggest gift I was given was a watch, although I did get some rugs and silk fabrics. That’s their way of showing appreciation.
In the wake of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 you were forced to depart after winning the Gulf Cup with the Kuwaiti national team. Were you ever in danger?
Tilly Scott, Sandbach
No, we were never in danger, because when the invasion happened, the Kuwait squad was doing pre-season in France, while my family was on vacation in Brazil. When the news broke, it was hell for the players. They had to enter Kuwait by land so they could protect their families, but I went to Brazil, since there was nothing for me to do in Kuwait. Back home, I became Criciuma coach and we won the Copa do Brasil, my first big title in Brazil. I returned later to coach in Kuwait.
You won two Copa Libertadores yet some accused you of playing ‘un-Brazilian football’. How did you feel about such criticism? Is Brazil is too obsessed with stylish football?
Musheera Ayat Bahar, Sydney
In Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, people are used to technical, skilled football, but in Rio Grande do Sul, where |
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